CBS "Face the Nation" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Will Hurd
Interview
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And, as you said, we are bringing now into the conversation your friend Texas Republican Congressman Will Hurd. He joins us this morning from San Antonio. Good morning to you, Congressman. Let's-- let's start on that point of discrepancy between the two of you. Congressman Himes said there is nothing being withheld from the minority. You signed a letter with eight other Republicans saying yes, there is information being withheld from you.
REPRESENTATIVE WILL HURD (R-Texas/@HurdOnTheHill/Intelligence Committee): Well, Margaret, it's always a pleasure to be with you on a Sunday morning talking about important issues and-- and I want to confirm one fact. Jim Himes and I are indeed friends and we have worked together. That may shock a-- a lot of the American people that Republicans and-- and Democrats actually work together. Here-- here's why I signed that letter. My-- my issue is not necessarily with the information we're getting in advance because Congressman Himes is right. Sometimes those documents are given at midnight before the hearing. My concern is with the information that the committee has access to after these depositions are done. As a member of the committee, I was only able to get access to the transcript of the Ambassador Volker interview a couple of days ago and that interview had been conducted almost three weeks prior. You know why haven't we gotten access to all the text messages that Ambassador Volker has sent over? I haven't been able to review that. These depositions have been going on for ten or-- or twelve hours a day and you're not able to sit in all of them. So I want to know why hasn't that information been made available to you, Margaret? And I appreciate you asking the question about when some of this stuff is going to be made available because I think the press and the Fourth Estate plays an important check and balance in this. And-- and I would say, you know, this is also not an impeachment inquiry. These are just regular-- these are just reg-- regular oversight hearings. And why are we doing this in the Intelligence Committee? You know this is-- when it-- when it started this was a whistleblower, whose identity we should be protected. I was one of the few Republicans that said the whistleblower allegations were significant and serious enough that we should investigate. Even--
MARGARET BRENNAN: So--
REPRESENTATIVE WILL HURD: --Chairman Schiff has said this-- this-- that we shouldn't have the whistleblower in front of the committee so why is-- why is the intel committee doing this when the intel committee should be looking at the intelligence we had on Turkey before they moved in to Syria where we should be calling--
MARGARET BRENNAN: Mm-Hm.
REPRESENTATIVE WILL HURD: --intelligence professionals to come in and tell us, you know, how are we going to be prepared to fight a resurgent ISIS which is going to happen--
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, I do want to ask you--
REPRESENTATIVE WILL HURD: --after this?
MARGARET BRENNAN: I do want to ask you about Syria but just to be clear you are permitted to sit in on those depositions. You just have not--
REPRESENTATIVE WILL HURD: Well--
MARGARET BRENNAN: --chosen to, correct?
REPRESENTATIVE WILL HURD: For-- for sure. I-- I've- I've sat--
MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay.
REPRESENTATIVE WILL HURD: --in a lot of them, but I haven't also gotten the information after it was over. Those are all being transcribed. The evidence that is given in those meetings has not been made fully available to-- to Republicans and there's issues like Republican staff is being limited from being in some of these hearings when the majority staff is able to have more and-- and having staff in those-- those interviews are-- are super-important.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Do you think that there was, if not a quid pro quo, an understanding or a perception of one between the White House and Ukraine?
REPRESENTATIVE WILL HURD: That-- that's a good question. And to me that's the heart of this-- this-- this matter. And what was the-- you know, if there was a quid pro quo, what was it for? Was it for investigation of the previous election? Or was it to get dirt on-- in-- it for-- for 2020? And what we haven't heard yet-- we haven't heard from any Ukrainian official that felt like there was this arrangement. We haven't even had an-- a Ukrainian official tell a State Department official that their-- that they felt like their arms were being twisted. I would have thought based on some of the State Department officials that we've met-- that we've interviewed so far, that you would even get an inkling of that was happening. When I was in the CIA, I participated in, you know, diplomacy as well. And this is very often that a-- the-- the country you're posted to, in this case, let's say, Ukraine, if they hear something, they're going to go to their contacts at the embassy and say--
MARGARET BRENNAN: Right.
REPRESENTATIVE WILL HURD: --hey, what does this actually mean? And we haven't gotten any whiff of that when it comes to this-- to this issue. I also want to know who did Rudy Giuliani actually talk to.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Mm-Hm.
REPRESENTATIVE WILL HURD: We know he's-- we know for a fact he's talked to two Ukrainians. The former--
MARGARET BRENNAN: So you'd like him--
REPRESENTATIVE WILL HURD: --AG--
MARGARET BRENNAN: --to come before the committee and answer questions--
REPRESENTATIVE WILL HURD: Oh, for sure--
MARGARET BRENNAN: --from Republicans too?
REPRESENTATIVE WILL HURD: I think-- I think-- I think--
MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay--
REPRESENTATIVE WILL HURD: --having Rudy-- Mayor Giuliani come and testify is-- is important.
MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to get to Syria because I know you--
REPRESENTATIVE WILL HURD: Yeah.
MARGARET BRENNAN: --feel strongly about this and do agree with Leader McConnell who said it was a grave mistake for the President to have pulled out of Syria. Is Congress just completely powerless here to limit-- limit the damage that you see?
REPRESENTATIVE WILL HURD: Our-- we have some restrictions, it's always easier to compel an administration to stop doing something than it is to-- to begin something. I think what we could be doing now is bringing in some of the-- the heads of the military, the heads of the intelligence service, the heads of our humanitarian organizations to talk about what are we going to do to-- to prevent ISIS from becoming resurgent, to prevent ISIS from doing some coming back into that region. How are we going to be prepared for the humanitarian crisis, which is already happening and that's why I think the-- the leader of the Senate, Mitch McConnell, was-- was correct in saying that this is, indeed, a grave mistake. ISIS is going to come back. We know that there is about thirty thousand ISIS fighters that are throughout that region. We know the leader of ISIS is still around. And now in-- instead of saying this is a peace deal, unfortunately, and I still-- I still haven't seen all the details but what I am learning it looks more like terms of surrender than a peace deal. And--
MARGARET BRENNAN: Should--
REPRESENTATIVE WILL HURD: --unfortunately, our-- our-- our enemies and our adversaries like Iran, Russia, Turkey, they're playing chess and unfortunately--
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah.
REPRESENTATIVE WILL HURD: --this administration is playing checkers.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Quickly, yes or no. Should President Erdogan of Turkey come to the White House next month?
REPRESENTATIVE WILL HURD: That's-- that's a tough question. I think--
MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay.
REPRESENTATIVE WILL HURD: You know-- yeah, it's a tough question.
MARGARET BRENNAN: All right. That's not a yes or no, but we'll give you time. Thank you, Congressman. I got to leave it there.
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