CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview With Rep. Mike Quigley

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, now says she's preparing to send the two articles of impeachment to the Senate next week.

Let's bring in Congressman Mike Quigley. He is a Democrat. He serves on the House Intelligence Committee.

Congressman, as you know, the House speaker says she will turn the articles of impeachment over to the Senate next week.

Do you worry, though, that momentum is no longer in your favor?

REP. MIKE QUIGLEY (D-IL): I think the American people will wake up after the holidays and realize this is back on. And it's extraordinarily important.

I think this time has given them the opportunity to see exactly what Mitch McConnell was doing. And I think they're overwhelmingly in favor of bringing witnesses and the documents that come with it to a real trial in the Senate.

BLITZER: But there's no agreement on the issue of witnesses and documents, Congressman. Was the standoff with the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, worth it?

QUIGLEY: Yes, we're hoping that we need, what, four Republicans in the Senate to develop a sufficient backbone to do the right thing.

I would like to think they recognize that the American people do want the truth, and without Mr. Bolton's testimony or Mr. Mulvaney or the documents, it would be hard to do that.

We have also witnessed in that time period in which the speaker has held back articles a critical e-mail release from private litigation that show the president knew just two hours after the phone call that he gave the order to withhold that aid, and that there were Pentagon officials extremely concerned about the president's actions being legal.

BLITZER: We will see how confident -- Mitch McConnell seems pretty confident he has the votes in the Senate to prevent those witnesses from appearing.

The resolution to appoint impeachment managers from the House will also be introduced next week by the speaker. Would you like to see yourself in that role?

QUIGLEY: Oh, I think most of us would, especially those who have served since the first day over three years ago that we heard that the Russians had interfered with the election process, and we saw just how involved the Trump campaign was, and how they obstructed that investigation, and, obviously, as a member of the Intel Committee, have watched firsthand through this impeachment process and the investigation.

All that being said, it is a deep talent pool. There's a lot of people in my House that could do this job well. I have been honored to serve at the role that -- in the role that I have played so far and look forward to helping if I can.

BLITZER: Your colleague Democratic Congresswoman Jackie Speier joined me here in THE SITUATION ROOM yesterday.

I want you to listen to what she told me about the plane crash that took the lives of 176 people outside Tehran. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JACKIE SPEIER (D-CA): But if what is being projected is true, this is yet another example of collateral damage from the actions that have been taken in a provocative way by the president of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Do you agree with her?

QUIGLEY: Well, let me put it this way.

The maximum pressure campaign was designed to change Iranian behavior. It has. It has made it worse.

The attacks in the strait, the attacks on the Saudis, the attacks on U.S. troops, this effort, which began by unilaterally pulling out of the Iranian nuclear deal, has strategically set us back.

I think you have detailed some of the measures, those matters. I think you have to add the fact that they pulled out of the Iranian nuclear deal, feel free to move forward, which will make us far less safe, the region far less safe.

[18:25:11]

And I have to add the fact that, while they were -- the Iranians were facing protests in their capital, we have now unified, the president has now unified the Iranians against us.

And the Iraqis who were mad at the Iranians before are now unified against us. The hard-liners, the reactionaries in Iran have only hardened their grip.

So, unfortunately, this maximum pressure campaign has made this all much harder for us, and, frankly, has made us less safe.

BLITZER: So, do you...

QUIGLEY: The only thing I will say about the plane being shot down, the plane crashing, or whatever took place, is, it is a tragedy.

It is, if those reports are correct, part of the tragedies of a fog of war. But we're going to let this investigation take place in terms of what the intelligence community tells us. And I can't talk about it further.

BLITZER: Well, do you agree with Congresswoman Speier that the president shares some of the responsibility for that plane going down?

QUIGLEY: You know, look, I will just put it at this, that the maximum pressure campaign has made things worse and made us less safe.

And there are unfortunate incidents and tragedies as part of the fog of any war like this.

BLITZER: Congressman Mike Quigley, thanks so much for joining us.

QUIGLEY: Thank you.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source