CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: Interview with John Garamendi

Interview

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MARQUARDT: So Secretary Blinken there under tough grilling from Senator Rand Paul.

The Pentagon also says it is investigating, but insists that the strike was based on what they called good intelligence -- Alisyn and Victor. CAMEROTA: Alex Marquardt, thank you very much for the investigation.

And joining us now to discuss this and more, we have Democratic Congressman John Garamendi of California. He's a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee.

Congressman, thanks so much for being here.

REP. JOHN GARAMENDI (D-CA): Sure.

CAMEROTA: Can we just start with the investigation into that drone strike? Do you believe the Pentagon and the military's version of events? Do you think they're being truthful?

GARAMENDI: That's what we're going to investigate. Congress is investigating it. The military is and certainly the intelligence community.

We will find out and we will find out in short order. At the moment, what we know is what I believe is that we really don't know. And we're going to have to find out. And that's the process that's under way.

CAMEROTA: I mean, the Pentagon, the U.S. military says that they killed an ISIS-K terrorist in that drone strike, and that two other civilians were killed.

But witnesses say -- I mean, this is according to CNN and "The New York Times" and "The Washington Post" -- that 10 civilians were killed, seven of them children. So how do you explain that discrepancy?

GARAMENDI: Well, certainly, it's inconsistent.

And the fact of the matter is that drone strike did kill children. And was the driver an ISIS-K or not? That's what the investigation will ultimately show. It also shows the risks and speaks to the concerns that the American military had at that time, just days after the horrific bombing; 13 American soldiers were killed.

And we still don't know the exact number of others that were killed in that. So there was a very intense situation, and there was a lot of information that there would be an additional bombing. Now, where -- what actually happened? Was this fellow ISIS-K or not? No doubt that there were children killed. That's a fact.

Beyond that, it remains to be determined in a thorough investigation. And we will know, I believe, in short order what the facts are.

CAMEROTA: OK, I want to move on to what Secretary of State's Tony Blinken said today. He appeared, obviously, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

[15:25:00]

And he still had a hard time answering the question of how many people, our allies and Americans, exactly the U.S. needs to help evacuate from Afghanistan. So here's that exchange.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have the numbers for SIV and for...

BLINKEN: So, the SIV numbers, that, we're tabulating right now, because we're trying to account for everyone who has come in. Some people remain in transit countries. Other people are now in the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Congressman, do you think that should -- that question should be easier to answer?

GARAMENDI: No, I don't.

Let's go back to where we were two-and-a-half months ago. On the 25th of June, Ghani was in the U.S. Capitol and in the president's office assuring all of us that everything -- that the military was there, they were strong.

A month-and-a-half later, he left town, the total government collapsed and chaos ensued, most of which was on CNN and other stations. The reality is, it was a very chaotic situation, as people suddenly became aware that there was no government, and that the Taliban were going to take over Kabul.

So, in that situation, 120,000 Afghanis and other -- citizens from other countries were evacuated in a 14-day period, an incredible show of the ability of the American military to do something.

Now what is left in Afghanistan? Well, there's -- the numbers range from 200 to 100 or less than 100 Americans. Why they are still there, what their situation is, I think that the State Department and the intelligence community has more information, doesn't want to share that information for what should be obvious reasons.

With regard to the Afghan men and women that supported us over those 20 years, we know that perhaps 100,000 or 120,000 have left. There are others in other countries that have left. And we continue to work to bring out of Afghanistan additional Afghans who worked with us.

Some of that is done by private organizations. There's a military veterans organization that is very, very good at this. We continue in my own office to continue to work at this. I know the State Department is working very closely.

Wrong word. The State Department is working through others with the Taliban government to identify Americans and others that want to leave and should leave. So it's a work in process, obviously, a very difficult situation all the way around.

CAMEROTA: Congressman, while I have you, I just want to quickly get your comment on this new book by Bob Woodward called "Peril" in which he reports that General Milley, Joint Chiefs, was so worried by President Trump's unhinged behavior after the election that he, General Milley, called a secret meeting in his Pentagon office of top military brass and basically said to them, if you get calls, no matter who they're from, there's a process here, there's a procedure.

No matter what you're told, you do the procedure, you do the process, and I'm a part of the procedure, meaning he didn't want them responding really to calls from the commander in chief, unless he was involved.

As a member of the Armed Services Committee, do you see that as an end-run somehow around the commander in chief?

GARAMENDI: Of course.

Trump was unhinged by the election, by his loss in the election. And he displayed that clearly from the evening of the election right on through to today. And he remains unstable with regard to his election loss. He clearly was deeply engaged in the 2,000 -- excuse me -- 1,000 January 6 insurrection.

He brought those people. He encouraged them to come. And he then encouraged them to march on the Capitol. All of that is known. The investigations of all of this will -- are under way now. The select committee is delving into all of these communications.

And it does not surprise me one bit that Woodward is ahead of the game. He has an incredible ability to get the facts out.

CAMEROTA: But does it surprise you to hear that General Milley -- I mean, I'm talking about what General Milley did.

GARAMENDI: Oh.

CAMEROTA: You think that that's legitimate, that he would call a secret meeting and say don't listen to the commander in chief, basically?

GARAMENDI: I believe that Milley would do that.

Now, did he do it? Well, that remains to be seen, but I -- what I know of that general and his role as chief of staff is that he would call a meeting, given the concerns of an unhinged president at that period of time.

CAMEROTA: Congressman John Garamendi, we really appreciate you being on. Thank you.

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