CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Ro Khanna

Interview

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BLITZER: Let's discuss this with Democratic Congressman, Ro Khanna. He's a member of the Oversight and Armed Services Committees. Congressman, thank you so much for coming in.

REP. RO KHANNA (D-CA): Thanks for having me on.

BLITZER: Let me get your reaction. Was this an act of revenge on the part of the president, as some are already suggesting?

KHANNA: It's clearly retribution. And the Senate should have expected this. I mean, this is a president who has never expressed remorse, never expressed contrition. So I don't why senators thought he would not do this. This is exactly what he did with Comey and it's clear he has not learned any of the lessons.

BLITZER: And Lieutenant Colonel Vindman served in Iraq. He was wounded. Probably still has some shrapnel in his body, has received medals for his service, and a lot of people are wondering is this the way he really should be treated?

KHANNA: Well, it's appalling. I mean he's a true patriot. He served this country. As you put it, in Iraq, he sacrificed his own body for this nation. And for this president to exert retribution as opposed to just wishing that this whole thing goes away. And most politicians, they would say, wow, I escaped from the skin of my teeth. Let's just move on. But this president is not that type of person.

BLITZER: And you heard that emotional statement that he made before the committee. He's a son of Soviet Jewish immigrants, who has escaped the Soviet Union, settled in Brighton Beach in Brooklyn, established a new life, they came over with nothing, and he wound up in the U.S. military as a lieutenant colonel, and a lot of people are wondering is this how somebody like that should be treated? He's a real patriot.

[17:10:17]

KHANNA: He's a patriot. And this is the deepest concern that people have with this president. That he is undermining the very essence of what it means to be American. When you come to this country, you know that you will be treated fairly, that you won't have some government official no matter how powerful target you. And here is an individual who's been targeted, first as he put it, telling the truth.

BLITZER: And his brother, Eugene, his twin brother also kicked out today. He didn't testify or anything like that. I wonder, why they decided to get rid of him.

KHANNA: I mean this is -- it's almost a mob's work. And maybe that works in New York City when you're doing development. But certainly, you don't want to have that running the United States government. I mean it's really just unconscionable.

BLITZER: You're on the Oversight Committee, the Armed Services Committee, is there anything the U.S. Congress can do about this?

KHANNA: Sure. We will investigate it. We will try to subpoena the information. But the question that has to be asked is what more can the Congress do? We impeached. And the question is what are the senators doing? What are the senators Portman and Murkowski and Collins, what is their call now? What are they going to say about how we hold this president accountable?

BLITZER: Well, a lot will depend now on what the Department of Defense, the U.S. Military, he's in the Army, what they do about the - about Lieutenant Colonel Vindman and his twin brother, what kind of positions they get? Are they effectively sidelined or are they allowed to pursue their military careers?

KHANNA: My understanding is they have to go and return to the Pentagon, but obviously, there's a concern if they will be sidelined and they are not going to be able to achieve what their potential is. But I think all of this shows that we need an independent (INAUDIBLE) agency in our government to investigate the president and officials and not leave that to the Senate and Congress. We obviously have not been successful in holding this president to account.

BLITZER: Let me show you some images we've obtained. CNN has obtained of Rudy Giuliani's criminally indicted associate Lev Parnas - you can see there. They were in Spain. Apparently, having a nice time. Do you expect House Democrats to continue to pursue this entire investigation now that the president has been impeached? is it over?

KHANNA: It's not over, and partly because the Senate did not have a real trial. There were no witnesses. I expect that John Bolton will be called and will testify in the House. He can't now avoid the testimony when he was willing to testify in the Senate. And I think the American people are owed an explanation of everything that went on, including Rudy Giuliani's role.

BLITZER: We will see what happens on that front. Congressman, Ro Khanna, thank you so much for coming in.

And stay with us. We have more on the breaking news, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, the White House Ukraine expert on the National Security Council who testified at the Trump impeachment hearings, getting fired from his White House job late today. Will other White House officials who testified also be escorted out?

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