CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Gerry Connolly

Interview

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Congressman Gerry Connolly of Virginia joins us now. He serves on both the Foreign Affairs and the Oversight Committees and was in the briefing room in the House, which it received on that decision to kill Iranian General Qasem Soleimani.

Congressman, the President claims Soleimani was planning to attack four U.S. embassies. Were you shown any intelligence that Soleimani was targeting multiple embassies?

REP. GERRY CONNOLLY (D), VIRGINIA: We were shown no evidence of Soleimani targeting anything or anyone.

CABRERA: So do you think the President --

CONNOLLY: Zero evidence.

CABRERA: Do you think the President is then making this up?

CONNOLLY: This is a president who has been impeached for using military aid for a country that's under siege by the Russians on the eastern part of its border for partisan political gain. So do I believe he might make it up to try to justify after the fact an impulsive action that has led to lots of ramifications and could yet -- excuse me -- lead to more? Yes. Of course, he could.

CABRERA: Even though he didn't provide evidence, Defense Secretary Mark Esper says the risk of doing nothing was greater than the risk of taking Soleimani out. Listen to this.

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ESPER: A very, very senior intelligence community official said to us that the risk of inaction is greater than the risk of action. To me, that is very compelling.

I'm glad we're having this discussion today. Because I'd rather be here discussing this topic with you than going up to Dover Air Force Base and standing there while flag-draped coffins come home, and I have to explain to husbands and wives, sons and daughters, why their service member died when I had information that could have prevented that from happening.

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[19:10:08]

CABRERA: Congressman, is that an assessment you can get behind?

CONNOLLY: No, and I say shame on the Secretary of Defense for trying to provide the best cover he can for the President and using patriotism and the death of U.S. service members to hide behind. I say shame on him. He knows better.

There was no intelligence. And the idea that it's better to act than not act, well, it depends on the consequences. Was there a careful vetting of the consequences that would flow from the assassination of a foreign leader, a leader from Iran, in particular? There was no evidence that that kind of careful vetting was done. And frankly, what the Secretary just said is a nice try but not true.

CABRERA: I want to ask you about the President's tweets to Iran, written in both English and in Farsi. And he warns the government not to harm protesters and to allow journalists to roam freely. Your reaction?

CONNOLLY: Well, I just think that it's a bit much for this president to be lecturing other people about press freedoms when he calls his own press the fake media and has banned individual members of the press from the White House, you know, following.

But having said that, there are a lot of forces at work in Iran that wants to see reform and want to see accountability. And I think that the shooting down of the Ukrainian airliner and initially denying responsibility for it has really put the current Iranian government and the revolutionary leadership in a bind with its own public in terms of credibility. And I think we're seeing that play out somewhat on the streets of Tehran and some other urban areas of the country.

CABRERA: Let's turn to impeachment. Speaker Pelosi is now warning Republicans against having a trial without calling witnesses. Listen to her today.

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REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), HOUSE SPEAKER: He signed on, on Thursday, to a resolution to dismiss the case. The dismiss -- dismissing is the cover-up. Dismissing is a cover-up. If they want to go that route again, the senators who are thinking now about voting for witnesses or not, they will have to be accountable for not having a fair trial.

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CABRERA: As you know, former national security adviser John Bolton says he'll testify if subpoenaed. That is something the House never did. Why not do it now?

CONNOLLY: The House did not want to get into litigation for, potentially, years and delay consideration of the articles of impeachment. There is nothing, however, to prevent and, as much, to recommend the Senate from hearing some witnesses we could not or would not hear from.

Bolton's one of them. Mulvaney is another, the Acting Chief of Staff. The White House General Counsel -- former White House General Counsel McGahn. Those are all people we would have liked to have heard from that I think the Senate --

CABRERA: Right. And I know the House --

CONNOLLY: -- should hear from and would benefit from.

CABRERA: I know the House wanted to hear from all of them and there were efforts to hear from them, but I recall John Bolton was asked to come and speak to the House and declined the voluntary --

CONNOLLY: That's right.

CABRERA: -- you know, testimony. However, he wasn't subpoenaed. And now, he's stating on the record, if I'm subpoenaed, I will testify. He's not saying he's going to take, you know, you or the members of the Senate to court, so I just -- I just want to come back to why doesn't the House still subpoena him now? The investigation, we're told, is still continuing in the House, right?

CONNOLLY: That's correct. And there's nothing to prevent the House from doing that, but I also think that moving toward the trial in the Senate, the bigger question is why doesn't the Senate call witnesses? And John Bolton ought to be one of them. That is a normal part of a trial.

In the previous two impeachment trials in the Senate, the only two we have, witnesses, in fact, were heard from. Depositions were, in fact, taken as part of the trial. And I think the burden really, at this point, ought to be on the Senate to answer the question. Why aren't you going to hear from witnesses so that the public and all members of the Senate can hear the evidence and make an impartial and objective decision?

CABRERA: We know that the President and his allies are hoping this impeachment trial is over by the state of the union, which is February fourth. Are you concerned at all about the President going out there in primetime, you know, this primetime address and taking a victory lap?

CONNOLLY: I think it's a risk, but the normal business of government has to proceed and the state of the union address is part of that normal business. So it's a risk we have to take. We'll see how he comports himself, whether the trial is still underway or whether it's been completed.

[19:15:05]

The ultimate jurors here, though, Ana, are the American people. And they'll get their judgment day in November, and they'll render their verdict on this president.

CABRERA: Congressman Gerry Connolly, I really appreciate your time. Thank you for being here.

CONNOLLY: My pleasure, Ana. Thank you for having me.

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