CNN "The Lead With Jake Tapper" - Transcript "Interview with Rep. Debbie Dingell"

Interview

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Let's bring in Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Dingell of Michigan. Congresswoman, thanks for joining us. What's your reaction to Bill Taylor's opening statement and his testimony? He says he was informed, told, that President Trump wanted a public commitment from the President of Ukraine to conduct these investigations that would help Trump politically in exchange for military aid.

REP. DEBBIE DINGELL (D-MI): So, Jake good to be with you. Again, I was not in those hearings. It is reports that we are hearing of what he said. So -- and I think it's good that these hearings are happening in a classified setting because I think this whole investigation matters because of what it's doing to our national security. But if true, if that is what he said, it should be deeply disturbing. We cannot have somebody using our country's national security, our resources, for personal gain or to undermine an election.

So I'm continuing to let the committees do their work, get the information, be as transparent at possible, tell the American people what's happening, but if these reports are true it should bother all of us.

TAPPER: Just this afternoon Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell denied telling Trump that his call with the Ukrainian President was perfect, despite the President's assertion that McConnell had said the call was perfect. What do you make of that?

DINGELL: I think that the President's got to start to be very careful. I think this is a very solemn time in our country, I think it's a sad day. But you know, I tell people that when I was young, I'm not old, but I was younger in college, high school, college, I worked for a Republican Senator from Michigan. And I flew with him the day that he came back to Washington and called Richard Nixon and told him he had to resign. And I'll never forget that airplane ride and the things he talked me about, ethics and morality.

And I remember how all the Republicans were totally against impeachment until the facts became such that they felt and knew what their oath of office meant and where the duty was to the country.

So it's not only this particular comment but even the fact that the leaders of both the House and Senate actually had the courage today to speak up about inappropriate language in a tweet, or Twitter. I think the President needs to be careful, because I think a lot of Republicans are becoming very uncomfortable about where they are.

TAPPER: I want to ask about this new CNN poll that's out today. It finds that half of the American people polled support not only impeaching President Trump but removing him from office. 43 percent say no. 50 percent, yes. A New York Times/CNN college survey in six swing states, battleground states including your home state of Michigan finds that the majority, 53 percent, do not support impeachment and removal. It's 53 percent oppose, 43 percent support.

Obviously, you're very attuned to what your constituents in Michigan think and want. That's a state that President Trump won. Why do you think there's such a difference and does that concern you that maybe Democrats are moving too fast even?

DINGELL: I'm going to give you two different -- first of all, I don't trust polls. You and I had discussions before the last election that I thought Donald Trump could win Michigan and everybody thought I was crazy and you were reading polls.

TAPPER: I remember that. Absolutely.

DINGELL: So, these are merely polls. But I will tell you that I'm talking to people from one end of my district to the other that have very different feelings. And I think one of the things that we really have to worry about, it's in the Mueller report, we're hearing from intelligence agencies across the world that Russia tried to interfere in our election, Russia is trying to destabilize governments. Part of what we are seeing here is people are trying to divide us as a country.

And I was reluctant at first while I have deep concerns about much of what he did, until a whistleblower came forward and a President Trump appointed Inspector General said it's credible, it's urgent and of danger to our national security. People understand that, and I think as an elected official my job is to protect the Constitution, rule of the law, nobody's above the law.

But I also have to make sure we protect our democracy and the fundamental foundations of our democracy are under attack and I think people are just trying to sort it out. Which is why we have to do some of these debriefings in a classified setting. I'm not in them. We've got to get the facts. Nobody's above the law. But as much as we can make it transparent so everybody understands it and we do not allow Russia and other evil governments that want to divide us to do so and I think it's very complicated.

[15:35:00]

TAPPER: Congresswoman, I want to ask you about a story that CNN broke top of the hour. Which is the author, the senior administration official from the Trump administration who wrote that op-ed for the "New York Times" last September 2018. Has written a book, it's titled "A Warning." It's coming out November 19th. It is, the literary agents and publishes say, it is definitely the same person. He or she is remaining anonymous. They won't say whether or not the person still works for the administration but it is clearly as stated, according to sources close to the book, an attempt to convince the American people especially Trump voters, do not vote to re-elect President Trump. What do you make of it?

DINGELL: I haven't read the book. I obviously --

TAPPER: It's not out yet. I haven't read the book either.

DINGELL: So we're speculating. But I think we all need to pay attention. I love this country. And you know, I'm not a Democrat or a Republican first. I'm an American. And I think we worry -- need to worry about forces that are dividing us. I, every day am home and I get yelled at by everybody. People are more engaged than they've been. People are more on all sides of the issue than they've ever been. There's a lot of intense and emotional feelings.

You know, last week I was emceeing something and it quite frankly bring a group of business, labor, nonprofits and education together, and I'm co-chair of the group. And I talked about it being more important than ever, and maybe we all could learn from President Bush and Ellen DeGeneres. I got followed into the ladies' room and by these two young people, and they're screaming at me about defending George Bush and I looked at them and said, you are too young to hate.

You can't have hatred like in you and we've got to stop the hatred, we've got to respect each other. You can disagree. A good disagreement can get me energized, people have different life experiences, different perspectives but the hate that's in the country, the fear in this country is destroying us and we have to fight against that.

TAPPER: All right, Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, Democrat from Michigan. Thanks for your time we appreciate it.

DINGELL: Thank you.

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