CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: Rep. Francis Rooney (R-FL) is Interviewed on Impeachment

Interview

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SCIUTTO: More than 20 House Republicans are retiring at the end of this term, compared with about six Democrats. But will any of those retirees break from the party on impeachment?

Let's speak to Republican Congressman Francis Rooney of Florida.

[09:40:01]

He is one of them.

Congressman, we appreciate you taking the time this morning.

REP. FRANCIS ROONEY (R-FL): Thank you very much for having me.

SCIUTTO: On this broadcast, you said two months ago that your mind at that point was still at least open on the question of impeachment. As the House heads towards a vote, I wonder, is that still the case or have you made up your mind to vote no?

ROONEY: Well, I think I've gone from being open and wanting to hear all the facts to being extremely frustrated and disappointed that the Democrat process didn't slow down, didn't get the primary sources, didn't fight executive privilege and do it like Congressman Rodino did Watergate and build a kind of national consensus it takes to succeed, if that's what they want to do.

SCIUTTO: Well, as you know, the White House obstructed here, right? They refused for these key witnesses to testify. They refused to submit emails, other communications. Is that on the White House or is that on Democrats?

ROONEY: Well, that's something I'm going to try to get one final answer on today, speaking to a couple of ex-White House counsels that are friends of mine.

But I'm not sure you can obstruct if you're claiming executive privilege until that's been litigated. Then if you don't do it, you're obstructing. But I'm not 100 percent sure about that. I need to find out today.

SCIUTTO: OK. Question, as you know, on the Senate side, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has asked the majority leader, Mitch McConnell, to call some of the witnesses that you yourself have said in a statement should testify, including Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, former National Security Adviser John Bolton, who had direct knowledge of these decisions and the president's involvement there.

Should McConnell accept Schumer's request for these witnesses to testify if they are, in your view, key to getting the facts here?

ROONEY: I definitely think he should. I think the difference with the Clinton impeachment was those witnesses that already testified on the House side of things, kind of like the Nixon one, and they aren't going to have to do that now, so they might as well get them over there.

SCIUTTO: As we're speaking, as the House is moving towards this impeachment vote, the president's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, has returned from the Ukraine. He's met with some individuals there, some of whom have questionable backgrounds and credibility, one of whom is a pro-Russian lawmaker who has studied with the KGB, gathering more information that he has said will be damaging to President Trump's political rivals here.

I wonder, as an American, as you watch this, are we seeing a sitting candidate now illicit foreign interference in an election once again?

ROONEY: Well, I think what was in the article about Giuliani today is extremely disturbing. And I think one of the -- and it argues again for slowing down, putting these guys under the threat of perjury under oath and testify and find out, what's all the things he was doing over there? Why was he so interested in getting Ambassador Yovanovitch anyway?

SCIUTTO: Yes. And you've seen him attacking Ambassador Yovanovitch. To your credit, you have defended the ambassador in your past public comments.

I wonder, as we look forward here, because you and many of your colleagues have talked about impeachment being such a solemn process. You know, sort of an emergency tool you use only in the most unique circumstances here. I just wonder, what do you think the lesson here for future Democratic or Republican presidents is in response to impeachment as -- as they -- they saw President Trump refuse to cooperate, refuse House subpoenas? Do you think that's a dangerous precedent going forward?

ROONEY: Well, I think both ways are a dangerous precedent. It's dangerous precedent to rush to impeachment without doing a full-blown Watergate process. It was a bad process when they did it with President Clinton. And the whole process seems to be becoming degraded, just like a lot of processes around here continue to become degraded.

Remember when Jim Schlesinger, or Arthur Schlesinger wrote the book "The Imperial Presidency" in 1973, what a quaint era that was compared to the limited authority of Congress right now.

SCIUTTO: You have been willing to raise questions, not just about the Democrats, but the Republicans' participation in this. I wonder, as you've been watching these proceedings, one thing that has struck me is, is how often falsehoods have been repeated. One, for instance, is that the Ukrainians did not know that the aid was delayed when, in fact, there was sworn testimony from DOD official Laura Cooper that she was getting questions about this back in July from Ukrainian contacts here.

What do you say to Republican colleagues who may have heard that very testimony, who seem to ignore it?

ROONEY: That's part of what I said to you and Poppy a while back that I wanted to wait and get all the facts. I was disturbed by kind of -- after the -- pre-factual judgment about a lot of this stuff. No intel people on our side of things have corroborated any Ukraine influence in the 2016 campaign.

SCIUTTO: Well, it's good to hear you make that declarative statement because that is a fact and it's one that often gets lost in the back and forth.

Congressman, we appreciate you taking the time this morning and taking the hard questions.

ROONEY: Thank you for having me on.

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