CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: "Interview with Rep. Sean Maloney"
Interview
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KEILAR: Jim Acosta at the White House. Thank you.
Let's get more now on all of this with Democratic Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney of New York. Sir, thanks for joining us.
[17:10:00]
REP. SEAN PATRICK MALONEY (D-NY): My pleasure.
KEILAR: You have endorsed Beto O'Rourke for president here in the 2020 race. And during the debate last night you heard what he said that he would enforce mandatory buybacks of assault-style weapons. Do you support mandatory buybacks of assault-style weapons?
MALONEY: No. I make it voluntary. But I'm so proud of my friend Beto for just letting it fly on an issue that Americans want action on. And they don't want the same old political calculations and they don't want people telling them what can't happen because we are this close to falling into despair that nothing could change with this epidemic of gun violence and that is the most dangerous thing when we stop believing that we could shape our own future and what Beto was talking about last night was making -- making it real. And getting serious about getting AR-15s out of circulation because we have 10 million of them in the country and they are slaughtering kids and church-goers and people showing up at concerts. And enough. Some of us want to do something. Not talk about it. Not -- not fine tune the politics. Get something done that will save lives. And that is what he was talking about and I'm very proud of him.
KEILAR: Would you support a ban on those weapons?
MALONEY: Yes.
KEILAR: OK. So you would support a ban but on a buyback you would want to see that voluntary. It is just an important distinction to make. I'm glad that you could explain that to us.
MALONEY: I want to be crystal clear. We should ban them, but we should -- I would go with the voluntary program first. The point is there are too many AR-15s. They destroy the human body. High- capacity magazine should not be --
KEILAR: Sure but if you ban them, and then you just have a voluntary buyback, I mean, how would that work considering you have Republicans who already are fundraising off of these concepts. Politically and realistically, how would that work? MALONEY: Right, right. And if you want to get dragged into like who is going to benefit red team, blue team and how it's going to work. That is great. What I'm telling you is, when you meet with the Parkland kids, they want a real solution. They want real action. So if you want to pilot -- or do it voluntary or if you want to be smart about it that is I think the right approach and I'll do it. But the big thing is the big thing.
We need to do something differently. We have been kicking around on this issue for 20 years and the body count keeps going up. And some of us really want to act. The House of Representatives, by the way, the Democratic-led House has acted, back in February. We're going to act again in a couple of days, and the Senate is sitting on the sidelines and it is disgraceful. So we need action. And the number one thing is to reduce the number of weapons that are in the hands of the wrong people that are unbelievably lethal and that are creating so much damage.
KEILAR: What did you make of that moment during the debate last night when Secretary Julian Castro took aim at former president Joe Biden because of his memory? Do you think that crossed a line?
MALONEY: It was a mess. I think he probably regrets it and I think he's going to pay a price for it. But look, it is harder than it looks up there. I think he's a good man and he's done good work for his country. We have a good field of candidates up there. But I think he probably wish he had it back.
KEILAR: Why does that cross a line to you?
MALONEY: I think it is pretty obvious, isn't it. I mean it was an ill-conceived attack and he got the substance of it wrong. Look, it is harder than it looks up there. You know Secretary Castro has done some things he should be very proud of. He had a bad night.
KEILAR: I want to talk to you about impeachment. Because this is clearly on the president's mind today. He said Democrats know they can't beat him in 2020 so they are turning to impeachment instead. What is your response to that?
MALONEY: My response to that is we just won 40 seats in the House. And this president is whistling past the graveyard. And he is -- he is separating himself from the voters he needs to be re-elected and he deserves to lose because he is doing nothing to stop the epidemic of gun violence, to really respond to the cost of health care that are hurting so many families, to really build infrastructure that we need in this country, things that really matter. And his foreign policy is a mess and his personal conduct is disgraceful and he traffics in racism and white supremacy. Those are the reasons he's going to lose, that he deserves to lose and he can say all he wants and he can spin plates and juggle flaming chainsaws and try to distract the voters as best he can. But I think the ground is eroding underneath him and we're going to win when we focus on what matters to people in their families and in their daily lives and I'm proud the Democratic Party and candidates are doing that. KEILAR: When we listen to what you've said in the past about impeachment it really seems like you want to see this happen by vote, by voters deciding what to do, not necessarily by Congress deciding what to do. The House Judiciary Committee just voted yesterday to set ground rules for an impeachment investigation. Are you still holding back on thinking that that is something that should move forward?
MALONEY: What I believe is that Congress has a real responsibility to do aggressive oversight and what we're seeing in the Judiciary Committee is the Congress asserting that Article One oversight authority in the context of possible impeachment inquiry where it is on the strongest legal ground.
[17:15:07]
So that is kind of inside baseball. If you tell me or ask me whether we should spend the next year full blown trial in the Senate only doing that partisan exercise, I have real tactical concerns with that and I don't think it is - what most the people I want - excuse me - I represent want us only doing. And so we have an election coming up and there is no better way to make your feelings known and to hold the president accountable than to throw him out of office. And I think he deserves it and that I think is what is going to end up happening.
KEILAR: All right. Congressman Maloney, thank you so much for joining us.
MALONEY: Hey, it is my pleasure.
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