CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) is Interviewed about Impeachment

Interview

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For more on all of this evolving news, I want to bring in Louisiana Republican Congressman Mike Johnson. He also serves on the House Judiciary Committee, of course, central to the inquiry going forward.

Congressman, we appreciate you taking the time this morning.

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): Hey, Jim. Glad to be with you.

SCIUTTO: First, let's start with politics. You know, you look at those Kentucky results and what was striking to our political analysts here was that it wasn't just tough results for Republicans in suburban and urban districts, but some of those rural districts that had voted for Trump in 2016 in Kentucky, particularly coal mining districts, they swung the other way here.

I wonder how concerned you are about what this says about Republican chances in 2020.

JOHNSON: We're not concerned at all. You know, some of those governors' races are very specific, very parochial and, of course, Governor Bevin was a controversial figure there because he took on a lot of big issues and made a lot of political enemies. That's how it works.

I'm down in Louisiana. The president is coming here tonight for our governor's race. A run-off that happens on November 16th. He'll return again before that run-off. We're going to win that race in Louisiana, and it will be largely because of the president's influence.

SCIUTTO: Well, you know, the president went to Kentucky and that doesn't appear to have gotten Bevin across the line here.

JOHNSON: Yes, but, you know, some of those governors races, as I said, are very specific to things going on, on the ground there. There's a lot of factors that are in play. And that was a tough race. I think Governor Bevin was down pretty significantly in the polls before the president got involved. So, clearly, his assistance helped and I don't think that one's fully decided yet. It sounds like Bevin may not have conceded, so there may be more to come.

SCIUTTO: Yes, about 5,000 votes. He did win by 9 percent the last cycle.

Let's talk about the impeachment inquiry.

As you know, the president's appointee as ambassador to the EU, a big donor to Trump's inauguration, Gordon Sondland, he revised his testimony on Tuesday. And he said, in his view, there was a quid pro quo, that U.S. military assistance was withheld from Ukraine in the middle of a war against Russia to force, in effect, an investigation of Biden, his son and other issues here.

Do you deny a quid pro quo took place here?

JOHNSON: Well, look, we reject the narrative that Sondland somehow said the president demanded x for y. There's nothing in the transcript that says that. And, clearly, what's happened here and what you can infer from reading all of his (INAUDIBLE) is that Sondland's actions were based on Sondland's assumptions. There are many assumptions about a lot of what he said and that was based on his ideas about what was happening, not necessarily about what the president said.

I will say this, Jim, when he asked the president point blank --

SCIUTTO: Well, Sondland -- Sondland -- I've heard that argument -- I've heard that argument, Congressman. This is a senior official in the Trump administration, an ambassador to the EU, appointed by the president, and he said in his statement that he assumed this was illegal to make this connection. By the way, and it wasn't just the transcript of the call because Sondland describes meetings weeks before that call, weeks after the call, where this explicit connection was made. So the transcript itself is not the only piece of evidence here.

JOHNSON: Yes, but he also said, and this is in the transcript, when he asked the president directly, point blank, what do you want from Ukraine, I have the quote right here, the president responded, quote, I want nothing. I want no quid pro quo. I want Zelensky to do the right thing.

SCIUTTO: Why was the aid withheld then? Why was the aid withheld then in the middle of a war?

JOHNSON: Well, first of all, we don't know all those facts to be certain. We know there's a timeline problem because some of the actions that Sondland is describing is six weeks after the infamous phone call the president had with Zelensky.

[09:35:04]

And, again, everything that we're all talking about right now is conjecture. It's based on a transcript of what Sondland said based on his own assumptions and the fact that we don't have all the evidence is what we're really mostly concerned about. You have Adam Schiff in the basement doing these secret inquiries and he's releasing things by drip by drip.

So you and I -- look, I'm on the House Judiciary Committee. The committee with appropriate jurisdiction.

SCIUTTO: Well, as you -- as you know, Congressman, I've heard the talking point secret and I know you said that before.

JOHNSON: Go ahead.

SCIUTTO: As you know, and as the transcripts show, Republicans are in that room, dozens of them, and they had equal time with Democrats to ask questions. And, by the way, the transcripts clearly no longer secret because you and I are reading them. They're public.

JOHNSON: This -- yes, this transcript has been leaked, but many of the others have not. And what Adam Schiff is doing with unilateral authority --

SCIUTTO: Not leaked. Released. Two a day this week. Not leaked. They're being released two a day in public. It's not a leak, it's being provided to the public.

JOHNSON: We want all of it to come out. This is -- this is my point, Jim, I'm not -- this is not a talking point, it's a fact. I'm on House Judiciary Committee. It's the committee with appropriate jurisdiction. I'm the ranking member on the Constitution subcommittee. And I, as a duly elected member of Congress, cannot -- I don't have access to all this evidence supposedly that they've been deriving down in the basement. This is a sham impeachment process. And that's what we're concerned about.

Ultimately, the American people lose faith in the institution if they can't trust the process. So on substance and on process, we have a lot of problems with this in the way it's proceeded.

SCIUTTO: To be fair now, everybody has access to those transcripts because they're posted on the website.

But I do want to ask you this. You voted against the rules for the inquiry, as did all Republicans and two Democrats. I just want -- and those rules for the inquiry going forward include public testimony from these witnesses with an opportunity for Republicans in public to cross-examine them and challenge them.

JOHNSON: Sure.

SCIUTTO: I just wonder if -- if your goal here is transparency, why not vote for those rules that would give you greater access but also your constituents and people at home can watch and make judgments themselves?

JOHNSON: Boy, how I wish we could achieve that end. And that's what we've been demanding from the beginning. But in addition to that -- SCIUTTO: A little Skype freeze there. Let's see if it comes back.

We've all been through this before in calls.

Goodness.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Oh.

SCIUTTO: We lost the Skype connection there.

Listen, we will give the congressman an opportunity to come back so he can complete the thought there. But our thanks to -- oh, he's back.

Congressman, sorry, we lost you midway and I know everybody at home has had a Skype call freeze before, but complete your point there. I want to give you a chance to explain.

JOHNSON: Thank you, Jim, I appreciate it.

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