CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: "Interview with Rep. Jackie Speier"

Interview

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ACOSTA: It sounds like he and the White House like what they saw in Mississippi. Kaitlan Collins, thank you very much.

With us now is California Democratic representative Jackie Speier. She's a member of the Oversight and Intelligence Committees. Congresswoman Speier, thanks for joining us. The El Paso shooter admitted to authorities that he was the shooter and he told them he was targeting Mexicans. What is your response to that?

REP. JACKIE SPEIER (D-CA): Well, it is consistent with his manifesto. It's also consistent with the kind of language used by the president in terms of wanting to target Mexicans. In the rhetoric he uses, it is very hot, he's very pointed and he is reaping what he has sewed.

ACOSTA: And have you heard President Trump offer any condolences specifically to the Mexican community or the Latino community and has he acknowledged the motivation behind this attack to your satisfaction?

SPEIER: Not at all. And president is not likely to do either of those things because he never apologizes, he never backs down. It is always about him. And that horrible creepy picture of him with a thumbs up with Melania holding an orphaned infant I think says it all. He is as the psychologist and psychiatrists have said, he's a malignant narcissist and it is always about him.

ACOSTA: You were disturbed by that photo?

SPEIER: Of course I was. I'm also disturbed by the crying children of these undocumented workers in Mississippi. What about throwing the book at the employers that intentionally hire undocumented workers and use them and abuse them and then fill comfortable releasing them and getting another whole group of people? These are jobs that Americans frankly won't take.

ACOSTA: And let's turn to our nation's gun laws. President Trump now says the country needs what he calls intelligent background checks, although we're not sure what that means precisely and he says the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is, quote, "totally on board."

Do Democrats have a strategy to keep up the pressure until the Senate returns from recess because as you know Congresswoman, when you are on recess like this and people come back in a couple of weeks, folks move on.

SPEIER: That is right. But this issue is not moving on. This issue is going to plague this administration and Mitch McConnell until we start taking action. This is not the last of the kinds of mass shootings that we will see this year. We will typically see more than 250. We've already seen 253 this year. More than 39,000 people were shot and killed last year from guns. So there will be another one. I say that with great pain. But it is not going away and we're certainly not going to let it go away.

Let me also point out that this background check bill is a modest provision that basically closes loopholes in an existing law. So this is not a heavy lift for Mitch McConnell, for the president, or for the Senate.

ACOSTA: What is stopping them, do you think?

SPEIER: Well, in the past what stopped them is the NRA. Now maybe the president is recognizing that the NRA is not going to get him re- elected like they did the first time with a $30 million contribution and that he has to recognize that this is a very modest proposal but should be on the books. There is about 180,000 people every year that are declined guns because of background checks. Now, that number will grow if we close the loophole for gun shows and for online purchases. ACOSTA: And what about these red flag laws that you hear about, that have been talked about? You survived a shooting as a young woman, Congresswoman, do those kinds of provisions go far enough, do you think? Do you think there is an appetite for a new assault weapons ban?

[17:15:09] SPEIER: I believe very strongly that we need to re-impose the assault weapon ban that Senator Feinstein put on the books over 14 years ago. I also think high-capacity magazines need to be abandoned and need to be banned. The Dayton shooter had 100-shot drum that he was -- had in his possession at the time. So when they have more fire power than the police officers that are trying to subdue them, we've got a problem. And I think there is much more that has to be done over the next few months besides passing this modest bill on background checks.

ACOSTA: And getting back to that workplace enforcement raid down in Mississippi, we're learning that in the aftermath of that I.C.E. raid, the White House is now directing I.C.E. to conduct more of those types of raids. What does that tell you?

SPEIER: It is very consistent with the White House attitude which is instilling fear on the Mexican-American community and those who are here, whether documented or undocumented. I just came from a town hall in an area in my district where there are a large number of Latinos. They're all afraid. They're afraid to go out. They're afraid to go to the store. And frankly, that is the case for people who are white now as well. So this is a problem that is affecting all of us. And we have got to get serious about ridding our country of guns that are weapons of war.

ACOSTA: And Congresswoman, you serve on the Intelligence Committee so I want to get your reaction to this "New York Times" report that President Trump rejected an intelligence briefing from Sue Gordon, the former director, or deputy director of National Intelligence last week. The White House denies this. But could that potentially put the country's national security at risk if he's objecting to this brief or that brief during a national security briefing?

SPEIER: Well, I think the president puts our country at risk frequently. He does not have daily briefings by the Intelligence Community like our previous presidents have done. He gets briefings maybe once or twice a week. And as we know, there are certain people he just doesn't even want to have come brief him because he just doesn't like their personality. Well this is not a personality game. This is our country's security at stake. And he needs to be briefed. He needs also to be willing to listen to what the briefers are telling him.

The fact that Russia has so impacted our elections in 2016 and again the attempted in 2018 is something he doesn't want to hear so he wants to rid the Intelligence Community of the people that came up with that intelligence analysis. That is not going to keep us safe.

ACOSTA: All right. Representative Jackie Speier, thank you so much for your time. We appreciate it. Up next, President Trump today dismissed all of them as lousy candidates but the 2020 Democrats are firing back and eager to take him on.

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