CNN "The Lead With Jake Tapper" - Transcript: Interview With Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA); Inspector General Testifies on Trump-Russia Probe Report

Interview

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Joining me now is Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell of California. He's on both the House Judiciary Committee and the House Intelligence Committee.

Congressman, I want to get back to those voters' concerns in a minute.

But I do want to ask you. Looking ahead, in just a few hours, just over two hours, you will be in the first House Judiciary Committee debate over the articles of impeachment. What are you expecting?

You think it's going to be contentious, I assume?

REP. ERIC SWALWELL (D-CA): Well, Jake, we're going to lay out that this president abused his office, asked a foreign government to help him cheat in an election, and doing that jeopardized national security and the integrity of our elections.

And he, like anyone who would do something like that, should be held accountable.

Now, yes, that may come with some heated moments. But I think you will see passion and conviction on our side to hold him to account.

TAPPER: You heard Congresswoman Slotkin there talking about the flood of calls she's getting about impeachment from both sides of the issue.

Your California colleague Congressman Gil Cisneros told CNN today that there might be a lot of blowback in his district for supporting impeachment.

Do you worry about how impeachment will affect these vulnerable Democrats, these colleagues of yours next November?

SWALWELL: Well, it's many of these vulnerable Democrats, like Mr. Cisneros and Ms. Slotkin, who served in the military and in the intelligence community, who came forward saying this warranted an inquiry that put us in this position.

They didn't have to do that. But they thought what the president had done justified doing that.

But these colleagues of mine and myself, we will be able to go back to our districts, hopefully before Christmas, and show that we just passed this week a farmworkers bill of rights essentially, that, hopefully, there's going to be a bill and a passage on a U.S.-Mexico- Canada trade deal, as well as reforming prescription drug prices.

So, it will not only be impeachment, but we also have 275-plus bills that are bipartisan that have been sent to the Senate that Mitch McConnell has not taken action on. TAPPER: If Democrats lose the House majority in 2020, will you regret backing impeachment?

[16:50:03]

SWALWELL: No.

TAPPER: Your chairman on the Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff, defended the decision today to not include obstruction of justice in the articles of impeachment.

There is obstruction of Congress, not obstruction of justice, which would have been from the Mueller investigation.

You believe President Trump obstructed justice, I assume?

SWALWELL: I'm with Chairman Schiff. And I believe that the pattern of conduct of asking the Russians in the past to help him cheat, and seeking to obstruct that investigation, will be shown in our articles of impeachment in what we send to the Senate.

But, also, if there is a Senate trial, and successful court rulings come out our way as it related to obstruction of justice and the Mueller report, we hope that that would be used as pattern evidence in the Senate.

TAPPER: Did Democratic leaders make a mistake by not including obstruction of justice?

SWALWELL: No, I don't believe so.

TAPPER: Does it concern you that no House Republicans have indicated they're considering voting for impeachment, none?

SWALWELL: Well, we have a former House Republican in Justin Amash who has supported us and had to leave the party.

But I'm not giving up on them, Jake. And what I'm going to do tonight, and I think a lot of my colleagues will do the same, is appeal to the constituents of my Republican colleagues, and make -- basically make the case that no one else in their life, in any power dynamic that exists, boss, worker, teacher, student, producer, actress, any power dynamic that exists, would get away with leveraging their power over somebody for a purely personal benefit.

And the president of the United States certainly should not either.

TAPPER: Have you heard from any House Republicans considering voting for impeachment?

SWALWELL: I have heard Republicans tell me they don't want to see this process rushed. They want to see us proceed carefully, and that they are still open-minded.

But I'm not going to write them off, Jake. I think that'd be a mistake.

TAPPER: Take a listen to President Trump talking about impeachment during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Here are the facts on Shifty Schiff, dishonest guy, makes up my statements.

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: He said -- the president of Ukraine repeatedly declared that there was no pressure, but he didn't want to say that.

We said, say it. Say it, you crooked bastard. Say it.

(LAUGHTER)

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Well, that's that's the competing message. How do you respond?

SWALWELL: It's time to get serious.

This is only the fourth time in the Judiciary Committee's history that a president has undergone an inquiry like this. And the president, by not participating, by acting the way that he did yesterday, and by not turning over documents or allowing witnesses, I think, shows a powerful consciousness of guilt.

We know what he did. It's really a matter of, what do we do now in Congress to hold him accountable?

TAPPER: Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell of California, thanks so much for your time, sir. Appreciate it.

SWALWELL: My pleasure. Thanks, Jake.

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