CNN "Erin Burnett Outfront" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Ben Ray Lujan

Interview

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BURNETT: All right. Let me now go to the assistant House speaker, Democratic congressman from New Mexico, Ben Ray Lujan.

Congressman, good to have you. Your reaction from this reporting from "The Washington Post"? Bob Mueller says Bill Barr got it wrong.

REP. BEN RAY LUJAN (D-NM): This is both concerning and not surprising, Erin. This is the problem when Bill Barr acts as the personal attorney to the president as opposed to the attorney general of the United States of America. And tomorrow, there is going to be a lot of very important tough questions that have to be asked and that must be answered.

It also shows the urgency of why the attorney general must also testify before the United States House of Representatives before Chairman Jerry Nadler and the Judiciary Committee.

BURNETT: Why do you think this is coming out tonight, right? I mean, this didn't happen yesterday. Mueller had this issue, they had this phone call, this happened.

Obviously, Bill Barr is testifying again tomorrow. So, some -- you know, there is obviously, it would appear very fair to ask if there is a method to the timing of this information coming out.

LUJAN: Well, one thing I always appreciate is good journalism and

investigative reporting. And whenever we're able to be fortunate to learn the important stories of what must be told that matters. But people probably find out tomorrow morning, maybe a little bit more as to the timing of this nonetheless, this is important to the American people to find out. Those are the merits that should be talked about.

BURNETT: So should Democrats impeach Bill Barr?

LUJAN: Well, I think that Jerry Nadler, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said there are a lot of important questions that need to be asked. What is concerning now is that the attorney general has lied to Congress not just once but on several occasions and once we get to the bottom of the attorney general, whether it was misleading the Congress intentionally based on the conversation and the reporting with the special counsel, Mueller is concerned with the summary of the reports.

BURNETT: So you are not going there yet. You want answers before you go there?

LUJAN: I'm not going there yet. This is concerning when you have someone that lied to Congress not just once but on multiple occasions. And now, there are questions brought forward as to the intentions associated with that letter. We need to get to the bottom of that.

BURNETT: All right. So, the letter, the Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler who, of course, would oversee any possible impeachment proceedings just tweeted about "The Washington Post" report in which he says Mueller has written a letter of rejecting the Barr summary of his report because it did not fully capture the content, substance and nature of the investigation, that's the quote from Mueller to Barr. Nadler writes, I have demanded the letter and Barr must answer for this Mueller must be allowed to testify.

Is that now going to be the number one focus and battle for you all that you want Mueller to testify?

LUJAN: Well, I again, I fully support our chairman, Jerry Nadler, with his approach and the investigations. Jerry has been abundantly clear that both should be in front of the committee to testify. I think it's imperative now we identify where these lies are coming from and who was misleading the Congress and get them before the Judiciary Committee as soon as possible.

BURNETT: So, you were at the White House. You were with the president. There was that meeting on infrastructure. There were a lot of nice things that were said that was before this report.

Here are some things Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer said when they came out of that room.

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REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): We just had a very productive meeting with the president of the United States. SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): There was good will in this meeting. We

agreed on a number, which was very, very good, $2 trillion for infrastructure.

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BURNETT: All right. Is that all now back to ancient history, now that this happened?

LUJAN: Absolutely not. It was a very productive meeting we had on infrastructure that took place at the White House today. And I came out optimistic that we can put together a bipartisan deal with investment infrastructure across the country. But we have many responsibilities.

BURNETT: So you're still thinking as working with this president and not impeaching him?

[19:45:03] LUJAN: I am still looking at working to pass an infrastructure package that will create jobs across America, while Congress also takes its constitutional oversight responsibility serious on behalf of the country. We can do both.

BURNETT: Thank you very much. I appreciate your time.

LUJAN: Thanks, Erin.

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