CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: "Interview with Rep. Katie Porter"
Interview
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HARLOW: Congresswoman Katie Porter is here.
I should note she's the first Democrat elected ever to represent California's 45th district.
Thank you for being here, Congressman.
What did you learn yesterday?
REP. KATIE PORTER (D-CA): I think the main takeaway was that Mr. Zuckerberg is struggling to manage Facebook given its tremendous size and tremendous influence. He was unable to answer the question I asked him about why he's coming to Congress with one message, which is that Facebook values privacy, and yet his lawyers are arguing in federal court in a high-dollar lawsuit that Facebook has no responsibility and no liability for violating consumer privacy.
And we saw that theme again and again. He's unaccountable for Facebook, even though he is the largest shareholder, the controlling shareholder.
HARLOW: Hearing that and watching your testimony yesterday, it sounds to me like you may be saying that you think Mark Zuckerberg is not capable at this point of running Facebook in a way that is beneficial to the majority of American society. Is that what you're saying? PORTER: Well, Poppy, what's interesting is that actually Facebook
shareholders have said that. So 68 percent of Facebook shareholders voted that Mr. Zuckerberg should step down as CEO. But because of the corporate structure of Facebook that Mr. Zuckerberg himself set up, he overrode their decision.
So I absolutely think that Mr. Zuckerberg showed yesterday that he doesn't have the knowledge or the level of responsibility and maturity to manage Facebook. Not only did he not know how many lobbyists Facebook employs, the answer is 60, he also couldn't answer one of my colleagues' questions about how many users Facebook has in the United States. So if you're coming to Congress and you're running a huge company and you don't even know how many customers you have, what promises you're making to those customers, what you're being sued for, you're not -- you're not capable of running a company with this kind of influence in our society.
HARLOW: Congresswoman, the focus of the hearing was meant to be digital currencies, namely Libra and the Libra Association. It's an importance topic. He was asked about that and other important issues.
But I'd like you to listen to the argument he made about why he believe the U.S. should permit Facebook to be part of Libra Association and help lead on this.
Here's his warning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK ZUCKERBERG, CEO, FACEBOOK: China is moving quickly to launch a similar idea in the coming months. Libra's going to be backed mostly by dollars. And I believe that it will extend America's financial leadership around the world, as well as our democratic values and oversight. But if America doesn't innovate, our financial leadership is not guaranteed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: Does he have a point?
PORTER: Well, first, if I would just say it's rich for Mr. Zuckerberg to talk about (INAUDIBLE) that's something that he himself is struggling with as false ads are up on Facebook as we speak. But I also think, you know, it's true that we need to develop new banking products, but we need do them in a way that we're going to be responsible for the people who are going to use them.
One of the problems that Mr. Zuckerberg has himself created is such a monopoly power in Facebook that there aren't alternative companies that could be competing so we can have a number of different products and truly be competitive with China and other countries in this space.
HARLOW: It sounds like you are in agreement with Republican Senator Josh Hawley, who asked Mark Zuckerberg when he visited Washington last time to spin off WhatsApp and Instagram. PORTER: I think there's a strong argument for breaking up some of
these companies. The way that they control power is really limiting competition. And as a proud capitalist and someone who's really a champion for competition and for transparency, for putting businesses on a level playing field, the way Facebook has consolidated market power and the way Mr. Zuckerberg is running the company is stifling American innovation, not encouraging it.
HARLOW: OK. I want to ask you a few other political questions while I've got your time.
On presidential politics. We know that you've been considering endorsing Senator Elizabeth Warren. Obviously she was your professor when you were at Harvard. Or Senator Kamala Harris. Have you chosen one?
PORTER: I will be making an announcement soon about my endorsement. But in the meantime, I am just very encouraged that these candidates continue to treat each other with respect.
HARLOW: Is --
PORTER: I have a tremendous admiration not only for Senator Warren and Senator Harris --
PORTER: OK. Is --
PORTER: But for Senator Booker, for Senator Klobuchar. We have a great field of candidates, and the job of the voters is to make up their own mind. It's not to listen to what I tell them to do. It's to get out there and listen to these candidates, shake hands, get in the selfie line, make up their own minds.
HARLOW: All right, is it fair to say, though, that your -- will your endorsement be one of those two candidates, Elizabeth Warren or Senator Harris, that I just named?
PORTER: Nice try, Poppy.
HARLOW: It's my job, right?
[09:55:00]
Final question.
PORTER: It's your job.
HARLOW: Final question to you. Yes, you've been close to Elizabeth Warren. As I said, she was your professor at Harvard. Are you concerned at all, though, Congresswoman, that she has not yet put forth a plan to pay for her Medicare for all proposal?
PORTER: I have every confidence that Senator Warren will come forward with a well thought out, well crafted, and most importantly well written, easy to communicate plan. She absolutely needs to do that. She knows that and she's said that. And I agree with Senator Klobuchar that Elizabeth Warren isn't the
only one with a plan or that there isn't just one plan. But I do really think that Senator Warren has led the way in pushing other candidates to take up some of these substantive policy issues, to get beyond bashing the president, and explain how are they going to govern, how are they going to lead, how are they going to create opportunity for every single American.
So I look forward to seeing the senator's plan. And I think the American public should look forward to reading it and examining it and questioning her about it.
HARLOW: Congressman Katie Porter, thank you for the time. Come back. Come make that endorsement on this show. You're welcome any time.
PORTER: Thank you so much.
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