CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Judy Chu

Interview

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SAVIDGE: All right, so there is a lot for us to go over here. And joining me from California is California Democrat, Representative Judy Chu, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee. Good morning to you. Thank you very much for joining us.

REP. JUDY CHU, (D-CA): Thank you very much for having me.

SAVIDGE: So as you know, the chairman of your committee has issued a subpoena to basically try to get IRS, Treasury to turn over tax documents, not just his personal tax forms, but I understand business as well. This is something, of course, you could ask for without a subpoena. So what's the reason for a subpoena?

CHU: Well, a subpoena is one more tool in the toolbox, and it demands that those Trump tax returns be turned over. The subpoena's been issued to the Department of Treasury Cabinet Secretary Mnuchin as well as IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig, and it says that the tax returns must be turned over by Friday. If not, then the House Counsel can request that we go to court, and then we can accelerate the court process even sooner, which may be a very good thing.

SAVIDGE: It looked like you were headed to court anyway, right?

CHU: That is right. But there is a difference between answering a court process on a subpoena versus the tax code provision that allows us to get the return. Regardless, both cases are very legitimate, and, in fact, the law says that we shall get the return of the president or of any individual if so asked by the chair of Ways and Means.

SAVIDGE: Yes, "shall" is one of those very tricky legal words. Do you expect that the White House is going to readily just turn all of this over, in other words, the IRS is going -- you're going to see these documents, do you really expect that before the timeframe of the subpoena wears out?

CHU: Remember, that this is interaction between the chair of the Ways and Means and the IRS, so it's not an issue of the president requesting it or saying that he wants to do it. It's between Ways and Means and the IRS.

Nonetheless, the pattern has been that they have not done it. However, we shall wait until Friday. If they still don't do it, then we go to court.

SAVIDGE: Why do you want to see the documents? What are you going to do with them?

CHU: The president is the most powerful person in the United States. The president has the sole ability to sign federal laws into action, and he is also having exclusive ability over an entire branch of government. It is important for us to have accountability. But besides that, four decades of presidents, both Democrat and Republican, have voluntarily turned over the tax returns to the American public because they know that the American public wants to see that our presidents are complying with the law.

SAVIDGE: I want to ask you something before we run out of time here. It's something that we put to a Republican counterpart we had on the air earlier. As you know, we've had another tragic shooting inside of a school this year. We've had so many heartbreaking episodes of this to the point where children are now having to fight back. And I'm wondering what are Democrats doing to focus on the issue of resolving this, whether it's background checks, whether it's gun control, whether it's mental health? What is being done now to prevent this from happening again next week?

CHU: Well, you know that we have been working very hard on this, and, in fact, one of the first things we did was to pass a bill that did, amongst other things, a universal background check that could actually encompass everybody, that could make sure that those that were selling guns at gun shows or online or in person also had to comply with a background check. That is the most effective way of making sure that people who have these guns but shouldn't have them indeed don't have them.

SAVIDGE: And why hasn't it happened?

CHU: The Senate has refused to take up this bill. We believe that there should be pressure on the Senate to take up this bill so that there can be finally commonsense gun reform in this country.

SAVIDGE: Representative Judy Chu, thank you very much for coming in and talking to us today. It's a pleasure to see you.

CHU: Thank you so much.

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