CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview With Rep. Steve Cohen

Interview

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We're joined now by Congressman Steve Cohen, Democrat. He serves on the Judiciary Committee.

Congressman, thanks so much for joining us.

Your colleague the House Intelligence Committee chairman, Adam Schiff, calls these new e-mails deeply incriminating, while the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, calls this a devastating blow to the majority leader Mitch McConnell's strategy. Does this help Democrats make the case for calling Trump

administration witnesses before a Senate impeachment trial?

REP. STEVE COHEN (D-TN): Well, it certainly helps the case.

And it helps the case with the public, who I think would like to know the truth. And it puts a real burden on the Republicans, because if they don't have a fair trial, and allow these documents and the witnesses to these events to testify, they will be held responsible at the polls, because the public will know about it.

And there's going to be more information, I think, coming out. And if they don't allow this information to be introduced in evidence, they will suffer.

So they have got a real conundrum. They can allow evidence in, which makes it more difficult for Trump, and it makes Trump look more guilty. But, at the same time, they -- if they don't do it, then they're going to be guilty. And at some point, they're going to have to decide whether they look out for themselves or they look out for the president.

And they may have to -- there could be a point where there's a divergence of interests, and they may have to look out for themselves and figure they're better off by voting what is right than sticking with Trump.

BLITZER: Do you think the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, anticipated that additional information would come out when she decided to hold off on actually delivering the two articles of impeachment during this recess?

COHEN: I think it's entirely possible.

Speaker Pelosi has played this extremely well. She's a talented speaker, maybe the best ever. And I think that she knew that this evidence would be forthcoming. And I think there's more evidence that could be forthcoming.

What we've seen is clear from the witnesses who testified, the former Ambassador Fiona Hill, Volker, et cetera, all of them. It basically was clear that the president was involved in this project, drug deal, as Bolton called it, and he didn't want any information to come out.

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Now we're seeing some of the information they redacted. And it's damning of the president, showing he knew what he was doing. He knew it was, more likely than not, illegal. And he resisted the information, the advice of the secretary of state, secretary of defense, and his own national security aide, because he thought he could play his politics with Rudy Giuliani and get around the Constitution, and not be concerned about our national security and get a benefit for himself.

And that's why he's been impeached. BLITZER: Would you support Speaker Pelosi if she decided to withhold

delivering the articles of impeachment indefinitely?

COHEN: Yes. Yes, I definitely would, because I think more and more information is going to come out. And I think it puts more pressure on McConnell.

And it makes the American public realize just how serious a situation this is and how compelling the evidence will be and is, if it's allowed to be seen by the American public and the Senate.

And, further, I think it's incumbent on all Democrats to support Speaker Pelosi. She's been right so many times in this particular episode, that we need to stay strong and support her.

BLITZER: What would be wrong, Congressman, with following the precedent set by Bill Clinton's impeachment trial?

They let the opening arguments from both sides go forward, and then they decided on whether or not to call witnesses.

COHEN: Well, because, in that situation, Tom Daschle had not said that he personally had communicated with the Clinton team to form their defense.

And Daschle -- Clinton hadn't totally stonewalled the Congress, and he had let information -- people testify and information that the Congress wanted to be delivered.

This is a different situation here, where the president has totally stonewalled the Congress. And that's one of the articles, is obstruction of Congress.

So, we come in with unclean hands. McConnell has said he wants to make this a quick trial, get it over with, and he's working strictly with the president, and he wants to get an acquittal. That wasn't the situation with Daschle.

And everything about Clinton was pretty much known before it occurred. We knew he had sex with an intern. And we knew he lied about it. And those are the only issues.

With this situation, there's a lot of proof and a lot of information that's been hidden by the president, obstruction of Congress. This is more obstruction of Congress.

So I don't think you could go with the Clinton rules, because you were dealing with a different president who responded to Congress and understood Congress' Article powers. And you were dealing with a different set of facts that the American public knew, which is -- right now, there's still information to be brought forward.

BLITZER: Congressman Steve Cohen, thanks, as usual, for joining us.

COHEN: Good to be in THE SITUATION ROOM. And happy new year.

BLITZER: Happy new year to you as well.

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