CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: Interview with Gary Peters

Interview

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SEN. GARY PETERS (D-MI): Well, certainly, the comments that are coming out and hearing from General Milley and his statements that he made are all shocking. But I suppose you can say they're not surprising, given the fact we had a president of the United States basically telling supporters to come to the Capitol, it was going to be wild, and then send them to the Capitol to try to disrupt the peaceful process of transferring power and having the Electoral College come before the Capitol to disrupt that.

Clearly, the president was doing everything -- the former president was doing whatever he could to try to stop this peaceful transfer of power. So it's certainly -- it's shocking, it's frightening, but certainly something that is not something unexpected, given the events that we saw transpire on January 6.

CAMEROTA: Senator Angus King has said that General Milley told him -- had a call with him about some of the concerns that General Milley had about what was transpiring, whether or not President Trump was going to willfully leave the White House.

Did you have any calls with General Milley? Did he ever express any of that to you?

PETERS: No, I did not have a conversation with him regarding that at all.

CAMEROTA: January 6.

As you know, Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy is meeting with Donald Trump today in Bedminster. Do you think that they will be discussing their roles on January 6? Do you think that it is, I don't know, suspicious that they're meeting today? They claim that they're going to be talking about the midterms more than a year from now.

PETERS: Well, it's hard to speculate, and I don't want to speculate what those two individuals will be talking about.

But they may be comparing notes to make sure they get their stories straight, because, clearly, this is very damaging to the former president. And I'm sure they're trying to figure out how they can control that damage. But--

CAMEROTA: But isn't that a problem? I mean, isn't that a problem if before the select committee they're meeting to get their stories straight?

PETERS: Absolutely. There's no question it's a problem.

It's why we needed to have this commission. Should have passed a long time ago. I was engaged in an investigation, as you know, through Homeland Security as chairman there. We did a joint investigation, but it was limited in scope to just the security arrangements on the day of the attack.

And I have consistently said you needed to have a commission to look at what inspired folks to come to the Capitol, what led up to that horrible day. We needed to get the facts. The American people needed to get the facts. This was clearly an attack on the American democratic republic. It was about our democracy, and that we demand to have answers to some very tough questions.

So this is very troubling, which is why we need to get to these facts as quickly as possible. The American people deserve nothing less.

CAMEROTA: Do you think that the select committee will be able to flesh out what Donald Trump's role was that day and will be able to get to the bottom of it, particularly if former President Trump is already on some level talking to a witness?

PETERS: Well, I would hope so. I would hope so.

They have to get to the job as quickly as possible and to put that effort in. So I certainly welcome -- the more people that are asking questions, the more people that are pressing to get information as to what led up to this insurrection the Capitol on January 6, the better.

But we have to try. We have to try and we have to put every effort into it.

CAMEROTA: I want to talk to you about the child tax credit also that's hitting bank accounts today.

You know that there is also this kind of ad campaign that will be out in swing states today. Why do you feel the need to trumpet this? I mean, is it that Democrats don't -- worry that they won't be getting credit for this tax credit without another ad campaign?

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PETERS: Well, I think it's important for folks, one, to know that they're going to see money coming into their account today, which is very exciting for American families to know that this help is on the way for those families that have children to deal with the additional expense of child care and other expenses that they face every single day.

And I think it's important for folks to know why they are getting that money in their account today. It was the result of Democrats who stepped up for American families with children. And I think it's very important for them to realize that not one Republican voted for it. Republicans were against this program.

And as they receive these checks, as they receive the assistance so important for the -- for their family, they have to know who's on their side. Democrats are on their side. We have proven it. And, clearly, Republicans are not on their side.

CAMEROTA: To that point, Senator Marco Rubio says that this is -- basically amounts to welfare. I'll read it for you.

He says -- here's his statement. He says: "Over the next six months, some American households with no working adults will receive over $6,000 in cash payments from the federal government. In reality, President Biden has transformed the pro-worker, pro-family child tax credit into an anti-work welfare check."

What's your response?

PETERS: The response is that this is a tax cut for American families to help them pay the central costs that they have to deal with each and every day.

American families are struggling. American families appreciate the opportunity to have these additional resources to pay the bills that are confronting them each and every day. And I think Senator Rubio would much rather be giving tax breaks to multimillionaires and billionaires and corporations that are showing record profits.

He has supported and his other fellow Republicans support huge tax breaks to the wealthiest individuals in the country. And now the folks who are not billionaires, who are not millionaires are going to get help to pay some of their basic expenses. He's opposed to that.

It's a clear difference between Democrats and Republicans. And I think the American people need to see that, and certainly they should be able to see that in very stark terms with what's going on right now.

CAMEROTA: Senator Gary Peters, we appreciate the time. Thank you.

PETERS: Thank you.

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