CNN "State of the Union" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Seth Moulton

Interview

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TAPPER: Welcome back to STATE OF THE UNION. I'm Jake Tapper.

A few months before 9/11, future Congressman Seth Moulton, Democrat of Massachusetts, joined the U.S. Marine Corps.

And now, for the first time, he's revealing the unseen effects of some of his military service.

Here's my exclusive conversation with Congressman and 2020 presidential candidate Seth Moulton about his struggles with post- traumatic stress.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: Post-traumatic stress can manifest itself in many, many different ways. How does yours manifest itself?

REP. SETH MOULTON (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know, after I got back from the war, there were times when I woke up with cold sweats, when I had -- had flashbacks, would have bad dreams. There are times when I just couldn't get through a day without thinking about some of the experiences that I went through.

And my story is one of success, because I got help for it. I decided to go talk to someone, to see a therapist. And now those issues are under control. Now I control when I want to think about these things.

They're still very emotional. They will stay with me for the rest of my life, but -- but I have a handle on them.

TAPPER: People don't discuss it. There's still a stigma about it.

Are you worried at all that coming forward as a presidential candidate, saying you have post-traumatic stress, that that could be used against you, that that might cause some voters to be concerned?

MOULTON: Absolutely. Absolutely. And, candidly, that's why I haven't talked about it before.

And I'm someone who talks a lot about the importance of courage, the value of courage in our politics, how so much could be better in Washington if politicians on both sides of the aisle just had the courage to do the right thing.

And I admit this is a place where I did not have the courage to share my own story, because I was afraid of the political consequences.

TAPPER: Tell me, if you would, what was tough for you in terms of what you now deal with and what you have been dealing with since you left the Marines. What was it -- I don't want to probe too much, because I don't want to ask anything that you think is inappropriate. I want to be sensitive to this.

But is it the action of taking a life? Is it survivor's guilt from a battle buddy that didn't make it home? Is it the carnage of war? What exactly is your PTS rooted in?

MOULTON: All those things. I have experienced all those things, all three.

There are a lot of stories that I have -- that I have never shared. But one I decided to share for the first time this week is from when we were on the third or fourth day of the invasion heading north towards Baghdad.

And the Iraqi army and some special forces were attacking us heading south. And there were a number of vehicles heading south. The Marines just a few hundred yards ahead of us shot up some cars and buses that they thought were full of enemy troops. But at least one car was an Iraqi family just fleeing the violence.

And we came upon this car. It had careened off the side. The parents were obviously dead. But there was a boy, probably about 5 years old, lying in the middle of the road wounded and writhing in pain.

And, at that moment, I made one of the most difficult decisions of my entire life, which was to drive around that boy and keep pressing the attack, because to stop would have stopped the entire battalion's advance. It would have endangered the lives of dozens, if not hundreds of Marines.

But there is nothing I wanted to do more at that moment than just get out of my armored vehicle and help that little kid.

And there was a time when I got back from the war when I couldn't get through a day without thinking about that 5-year-old boy and leaving him in the middle of road.

And that's why I decided to talk to someone and get help. And I will remember his face until the day that I die. But at least I can control when I think about it, when I think about him.

[09:45:03]

TAPPER: You feel guilty?

MOULTON: Of course. But I will never forget him. And it was the first time in the war,

certainly not the last, but the first time that I came face to face with the just brutal inhumanity of war.

And you know what? I think that, having seen that, having experienced it and dealt with it has made me stronger. It's -- it certainly made me a better father. I think about that boy sometimes when I -- when I see my 7-month-old daughter.

TAPPER: And that was carnage caused by the Americans, that kid's pain and that kid losing his parents?

How does that affect, if at all, the way you, as a member of Congress, think about the role of the United States in the world, because we like to think of ourselves in the United States as a force for good?

MOULTON: It makes me a lot more thoughtful and careful about making these decisions.

It makes me take my role on the Armed Services Committee incredibly seriously. And it makes me think a lot about the responsibilities that I will have if I am the next commander in chief.

TAPPER: You talk to a therapist like once a month, just to -- just as a check-in?

MOULTON: I keep in touch with my therapist, the one who helped me through all of this, because I just think it's healthy. It's good practice.

It's just like when you get -- get a physical, and the doctor says, you know, you should go to the gym, you should go on runs, you should eat healthy. That's exactly what I believe about -- about mental health care.

And that's why I'm introducing these policy goals to talk about making sure that every soldier, sailor -- soldier, sailor, airman, and Marine gets regular mental health care checkups, just like they get physicals, that it becomes routine, both for active duty and for veterans at the VA.

And I hope that that will be a model for the rest of the country. That's why, if I'm elected president, I will make sure that every high schooler in America gets to get a checkup with a mental health care professional, and not only that, but learn how to proactively take care of themselves mentally.

And I have become a devotee of yoga and meditation. And I have learned that a lot of the top leaders in the world, a lot of the top CEOs in America believe in that too.

TAPPER: President Trump recently announced he's sending another 1,500 troops to the Middle East.

This comes amidst the United States government, the Trump administration talking about the increased threat from Iran. What do you -- what do you make of all that?

MOULTON: I think it's incredibly dangerous. And the parallels...

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: To send those troops?

MOULTON: Well, the parallels between how the Bush administration pushed us into war with Iraq and how the Trump administration, under a draft-dodging commander in chief, is pushing us into war with Iran are uncanny.

But I also think there's a parallel here with Vietnam, where what Bolton and Pompeo are trying to do is put enough troops in the Gulf, that there's just a good chance there will be a Gulf of Tonkin-type incident, the kind of interaction, the kind of altercation that set off Vietnam, that that will set off war with Iran.

And it's been very clear from things that the secretary of state in particular has said that that's -- that's what he hopes happens.

And the bottom line is that we have a commander in chief who's not tough enough, who doesn't have the credibility to stand up to these chicken hawks.

TAPPER: Who are you calling a chicken hawk specifically?

MOULTON: Well, John Bolton.

He was one who pushed us into war in Iraq. He's trying to push us into war in Iran. And, I mean, look, if you saw a definition of chicken hawk in a dictionary, you would see Donald Trump and John Bolton right next to each other.

And I think we all know who's the chicken and who's the hawk.

TAPPER: You fought in Iraq, even though, intellectually, you opposed the war.

Joe Biden was in the Senate at the time. He voted to go to war in Iraq. Was that a mistake? Does that say something about his judgment?

MOULTON: I have a lot of respect for Joe Biden. He is a mentor and a friend.

But I do think that it's time for the generation that fought in Iraq and Afghanistan to step in for the generation that sent us there.

TAPPER: But was it a mistake for him to vote to go to war in Iraq?

MOULTON: Well, I wasn't in the Senate at the time, so I'm not going to say that, but...

(CROSSTALK) TAPPER: I'm sorry, but that's a cop-out, because you were on the front lines. You have more of a right to make a judgment about that vote than -- than anyone I have interviewed who is running for president.

[09:50:01]

MOULTON: All right, fair enough, Jake.

It was a mistake, because we should have been a lot more careful about going into Iraq. We should have questioned the intelligence. We should have made sure -- made sure that we exhausted every opportunity before we put young American lives in danger.

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