CNN "Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees" - Transcript: Interview with Adam Kinzinger

Interview

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COOPER: Yes, 13. Kaitlan Collins, thank you very much.

Joining us now, a Republican lawmaker who is not, we should say, a reflexive critic of the President, Illinois Congressman Adam Kinzinger, he is however sharply critical on this episode as well as the decisions leading up to it in the past administration, and as a veteran of the war, a current Air National Guard member, he speaks from experience. [20:25:11]

COOPER: Quoting now from his piece today in "Foreign Policy" Magazine, quote: "The Taliban cannot be trusted, not before, not now, not ever. It's shameful that our past President Donald Trump negotiated a deal with the terrorist organization. It's appalling that our current President, Joe Biden, underestimated the impact of his withdrawal announcement and the chaos that would ensue."

"Worse, the lack of strength being shown by our Commander-in-Chief is embarrassing."

Congressman Kinzinger, thanks for being with us.

But before we get to the foreign policy, what you wrote, I just want to talk to you about this fallen U.S. Marine that we're learning about tonight. It's really the first person whose name we know. His families spoke to CNN, Rylee McCollum is his name. His wife has a baby due in just three weeks, wanted to be a Marine his whole life, so much of that he carried around a toy rifle in his diapers and cowboy boots, as a toddler, which I loved the image of that. This was his first deployment.

You know, when you see it in black and white who this person was and the devastation that his family will feel for the rest of their lives, it is just -- it's just another -- it's just horrific.

REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R-IL): It is obviously incredibly sad, and as we get the rest of the names, it is going to be repeated over and over, and our sorrow will pale in comparison to the families. You know, it is a reminder, I'd heard somebody earlier mention, you know, while it's extremely tragic that these 13 people were killed, you know, what were they killed doing?

They were killed saving lives, saving American lives, saving green card holder's lives, saving the lives of people that, you know, worked with us in Afghanistan. And so while of course, we certainly, you know, wish this was far different, I think it's important to note that this was something that, you know, people often say, is that death in vain? It is a death, we certainly wish didn't happen.

But I think you can look at what we were accomplishing and say there are many lives that are going to be touched in generations because of this.

COOPER: Well, and also, I mean, I do think it's important to point out as well, that they were standing there exposed knowing that there was a likely attack. I mean, knowing that there was very specific Intelligence. In fact, the U.S. had warned Americans to get away from that area because it was not safe, and yet they were standing there. If the images from days past are any indication, shoulder to shoulder with their fellow Marines and others, knowing what, you know, any second could happen in that crowd.

The White House is saying that President Biden has been warned another attack is likely as the mission enters its most dangerous period. How concerned are you about that? And is there anything you think that

can be done that may not be being done?

KINZINGER: I don't know if there is anything that we can do that we're not kind of looking at where we are in this moment. You know, unfortunately, having to rely on the Taliban, there's a series of bad choices that led us to this moment.

But it is a very real threat. I've heard from people on the ground there, as well as of course, what's being reported in open source and this is very reminiscent of what we were hearing a day or two prior.

Now, hopefully, with the knowledge of this with a perimeter that has been extended a little more, you know, and with knowing how it happened last time, we may be better prepared. But this is certainly probably as you know, you've been saying here one of the more dangerous moments probably in the entire Afghanistan war in the next few days.

COOPER: After this attack, some people in your party have called for President Biden to be impeached or resign. Most of those people never spoke up when President Trump made the deal that President Biden has been following through on.

But I do want to ask you something you said earlier today on CNN that some people on his National Security team should resign. If they don't resign, should President Biden fire them in your mind?

KINZINGER: Yes, I mean, look, I think there needs to be accountability. And I think frankly, President Biden needs to take better ownership of this. You know, people have used the Kennedy Bay of Pigs analogy where he took full responsibility, and actually his poll numbers recovered, because that's what Americans want. They want leaders who take responsibility.

So, a firing or removal or resignation of a National Security leader team should not be, you know, kind of a scapegoat. I mean, ultimately, President Biden owns this, but we need to know what happened.

And as far as you know, my party's knee jerk reaction, look, this is tragic. I agree that there was a ton of things done wrong. Calling for the impeachment of a President is not in line with what the Constitution prescribes. And secondarily, let's give it at least a potato or two, you know, before we start focusing on that only.

I've been very critical of President Biden in this moment, because my hope is through that criticism, we would be able to change kind of how we were doing things. I've been very critical of the prior President.

But this country really needs to get back to where we see ourselves as Americans before party members and unfortunately, I think that is flipped around at this moment.

[20:30:14]

COOPER: Yes, you are consistent in your criticism and your praise, which speaks to your favor. I do want to read something that from your op-ed, for Foreign Policy, you said we have the strength, power and fortitude to stand up for freedom. And we must take that stand now by pushing back on the arbitrary deadline the President has set for withdrawal, securing the airport, expanding our efforts to ensure the safety and security of all Americans, Afghans with special visas, and our Afghan allies in danger, anything less is unacceptable and un- American.

What would you do differently at this point, I spoke to, you know, Chairman, former chairman, Mike Rogers yesterday to talk about expanding the perimeter to me, and I'm certainly no expert. But that that only seems to I'm not sure what that actually does on a tactical level, it seems to just expose need more. First of all, you would need more American troops there, you would expose them to just a greater number of people over a greater massive area. What do you think should be done?

KINZINGER: Yes, I mean, look, you're exactly right, in that all you're doing is basically pushing out the potential work where people gather. Look, I mean, if I could go back, you know, two weeks, I would have basically secured the city of Kabul and told the Taliban not to come in, they weren't going to come in until the government collapse until we had everybody out. But given where we are now, and given that there's already a wind down detonation of American equipment, we're running out of options.

But I think the bottom line is as botched as this has been the one way we can redeem a really bad situation and not redeem it, but I guess try to try to do something good is to say that every American that needs to get out can get out and every Afghanistan SIV. Look, I may be wrong here, but the indications we're getting on the ground have been very different than what the administration is briefing, they keep talking about, we're still adding Afghan SIVs in. And what we're hearing from people on the ground is that Afghan SIVs are being kicked out of the airport. And there actually are planes sometimes with open seats.

So look, and we'll be able to figure out what's going on in a few weeks when we have hearings and stuff, but I certainly hope I am wrong, and that they are still allowing these folks in the airport to leave as long as we have time to do that.

COOPER: Yes. Congressman Kinzinger, I appreciate your time. Thank you.

KINZINGER: Anytime.

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