CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview With Sen. Chris Coons
Interview
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Joining us now, a Democratic senator who just voted to convict the president, Chris Coons of Delaware.
Senator, thanks so much for coming in.
SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): Thank you, Wolf.
BLITZER: He's been acquitted. He's going to stay on as president. He's not guilty. You voted guilty.
What does this mean for the Trump presidency? What does it mean for the country?
COONS: Wolf, I think it's a somber day for our country.
I am encouraged that President Romney chose this moment to have a...
BLITZER: That's Senator Romney.
COONS: Excuse me.
(LAUGHTER)
COONS: That Senator Romney, former Governor Romney, former presidential nominee Romney --
BLITZER: Yes.
COONS: -- chose today for a profile in courage, to show that he took seriously the oath to do impartial justice that all of us took.
Each of us ultimately has to vote our conscience. But I'm struck that it was a bipartisan vote to convict the president in the Senate.
BLITZER: Were you surprised by Senator Romney's decision to vote in favor of convicting the president?
COONS: I was. It certainly means he's going to face an enormous amount of abuse, both politically and personally.
But I'm encouraged that he stood up for what I think the evidence proved, which was that President Trump abused the power of his office to try and seek foreign assistance in his upcoming election.
Your first question, Wolf, was, what's this mean for the country? I'm really concerned about what it means, not just for this election, but for elections going forward.
[18:10:00]
Our founders were very concerned about foreign interference in our politics. And the new standard set by this acquittal suggests that the current and future presidents might feel free to invite foreign interference in our elections.
BLITZER: Well, you don't think President Trump learned a lesson from all of this?
(LAUGHTER)
COONS: No, I don't.
BLITZER: That he -- maybe he should move on? He has been impeached, only the --
COONS: He has.
BLITZER: -- third U.S. president in American history to have been impeached.
COONS: A number of my Republican colleagues -- you just played a clip from Senator Collins and Senator Alexander and others -- have said that what he did was wrong, and that he's learned his lesson.
I only hope that's true, but I see no evidence of it. And I think that Republicans and Democrats should now work together to pass legislation to strengthen protections for our upcoming election, because we know our adversaries are trying to interfere in our upcoming election.
BLITZER: The Senate voted against subpoenaing new witnesses in the Senate trial. COONS: That's right.
BLITZER: Do you think the House of Representatives now, after the Senate trial, should go ahead and subpoena, for example, John Bolton, the president's former national security adviser, to continue their investigation?
COONS: Well, if, as some of my colleagues have said, they want to leave this up to the electorate, they want to let the public decide about the future of President Trump, then the electorate, the American citizenry needs to know what happened.
If they can't get access to John Bolton's book, if they can't get access to a lot of information that was blocked from Congress, then they will have a hard time making that decision in the election in the fall.
So I do think there's legitimacy to trying to get to the bottom of what actually happened.
BLITZER: Was this whole impeachment process, knowing you were not going to get 67 senators to vote to convict and remove him from office, knowing what you know right now -- his job approval number is the highest it's been since he took office three years ago, 49 percent of the American public, according to the new Gallup poll, approve of the job he's doing, 50 percent disapprove, 94 percent of Republicans, according to the poll, approve of the job he's doing.
The numbers have gone up as the impeachment process has continued.
COONS: That's right.
BLITZER: Was it worth it, from your perspective?
COONS: Well, it's a challenge.
If you look at it just from a political perspective, a narrow, does this embolden and strengthen the president and his base, it wasn't. But I think Speaker Pelosi and the House managers looked at the precedent that was being set, looked at the actions that President Trump took on that July 25 call with President Zelensky and said, we can't let this go.
He's committed an offense that the Constitution will not tolerate.
BLITZER: Let's shift to politics for a moment, while I have you.
You have endorsed your fellow Delaware resident Joe Biden for president of the United States. Look at the numbers now. And I think we can put them up on the screen, 86 percent of the precincts reporting in Iowa right now.
Pete Buttigieg number one, 26.7 percent, Bernie Sanders number two -- this is state delegates -- with 25.4 percent, Elizabeth Warren 18.3 percent, Joe Biden in fourth place, 15.9 percent, Amy Klobuchar, your fellow senator, 12.1 percent. This is with 86 percent. For a former vice president -- he was vice
president for eight years under President Obama. It looks like he is going to come in fourth. That's not good.
COONS: Well, I look forward to seeing how Joe does in New Hampshire and in Nevada and South Carolina.
These first four contests are important early indicators. I will note that Senator Sanders got roughly half the result in Iowa that he got four years ago. And he has had four years to prepare and organize.
I think that Joe will do better in more representative, more diverse states like Nevada and South Carolina.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: How come he didn't do well in Iowa?
COONS: And I will remind you, we still don't have full results.
So I, frankly, think Iowa is a contest that has shown that they had four years to organize these caucuses. They weren't tightly and well- run.
BLITZER: Do you believe the results are fair, the results we're seeing from the Iowa Democratic Party? Can we trust those results?
COONS: I don't have any reason to question the legitimacy of that vote.
BLITZER: Because some Biden campaign people are raising questions.
COONS: I think they're raising questions about why it took so long to report these results, but they're not suggesting there was foreign interference or hacking or anything like that.
BLITZER: No.
COONS: This is a cautionary note for all of us. If we get to the November elections, the presidential elections, and we have a comparable meltdown in the ability of a state to deliver the results in a timely fashion, and that determines who's the next president, we need to do everything we can to protect the election this November.
BLITZER: You will be interested that Vice President Biden will be in one of the CNN town halls later tonight, 8:00 p.m. Eastern.
COONS: Yes.
BLITZER: He will be there with Anderson Cooper.
COONS: I think he will do well.
BLITZER: Eight Democratic presidential candidates for tonight, for tomorrow night will be at these town halls. And we will be watching.
COONS: Thanks, Wolf.
BLITZER: Senator Coons, thanks so much. He's fortunate to have you as a supporter. Thanks so much for joining us.
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