CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) Discusses Democratic Race And Elizabeth Warren & Her Grilling Of Fed Chair On Attending Lavish Bezos Party

Interview

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BALDWIN: With me now, California Congresswoman Katie Porter. She's endorsed Senator Elizabeth Warren for president. Congresswoman, thank you so much for being with me.

REP. KATIE PORTER (D-CA): Absolutely.

BALDWIN: So this was not the best showing for your candidate, for Senator Warren, especially considering she's from Massachusetts, New Hampshire is next door, what do you think happened?

PORTER: I'm really proud of the campaign that Elizabeth's built, and I've seen the enthusiasm on the ground. And while it's true that New Hampshire is her neighboring state, Iowa was a neighboring state for Senator Klobuchar where Senator Klobuchar came in a distant fifth.

So I think that we're seeing that people are making decisions based not just on geography but on a whole bunch of different factors. And I think Elizabeth picked up delegates in Iowa, a significant number of delegates in Iowa, and she's already moving on to other states.

This is a campaign that has folks on the ground already for months and month in over 30 states. She's made that long-term ground game. And to be clear, 98 percent of the delegates are up for grabs.

[14:45:02]

I'm very confident that Elizabeth's unifying message, talking about the importance of bringing the party together is one that, ultimately, is going to be really important as this field continues to narrow.

BALDWIN: Congresswoman Porter, as you look at the overall votes last night and you look at the more moderate candidates they had a nice chunk of the votes. Yes, granted they were divided among a few, but if one of the progressive candidates does get closer and closer to the nomination, do you see the Democratic Party establishment pushing back?

PORTER: I think what we should be focusing on as Democrats is on making sure that we're electing a leader who can bring the party together, who's willing to reach across the progressive side of the party, newly engaged people, people who got engaged for the first time because of 2018. And that's what I think Elizabeth has done by having folks like Ayanna Pressley and --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: But, Congresswoman -- forgive me, I just need to jump in. If it does end up being a progressive candidate, do you think the party base will push back on that?

PORTER: Elizabeth said very clear about standing up for the most core progressive values, standing up to corruption, standing up to big corporations, holding CEOs accountable. And that's really at the core of what this progressive movement is about.

At the same time, she's made clear that she's a capitalist. She believes in our capitalist economy but hold to account for treating people fairly. I think she does really bridge that divide between progressives and

moderates. I also see her really talking day in, day out, rally after rally, in living rooms and big events about winning up and down the ticket.

And that is something, as someone who's going to be on the ballot again here in 2020 and 2022, hopefully, I'm really concerned about what the plan the president has for making sure that we win at all levels of government.

And I think she's outshining the competition in that regard, and that's something that should really matter, particularly in these battleground states.

BALDWIN: OK. Let's shift gears and talk a little bit more about you, Congresswoman Porter, and this exchange you had yesterday with the Fed chair, Jerome Powell. Here was just a clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PORTER: Mr. Powell, I'm going to put off a picture up here so that the audience can see, but I'm also going to hold it up for you. Is this you, Mr. Powell?

JEROME POWELL, CHAIRMAN, FEDERAL RESERVE: It is.

PORTER: Where are you?

POWELL: That's a party after the Alfalfa dinner, an after party I went to.

PORTER: Where was that party held?

POWELL: It was at Jeff Bezos' home.

PORTER: At Jeff Bezos' home.

Can you imagine how attending a lavish party at Jeff Bezos's $23 million home along with Jared and Ivanka and the CEO of MorganChase, Jamie Dimon, might give off the sense to the public that you are not, in fact, immune from external pressures?

POWELL: I would certainly hope not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: OK. So I want to get to his response in just a second.

But first, Congresswoman Porter, tell the rest of us, you know, what were you trying to get at?

PORTER: So we all really need to be committed to the independence of the Federal Reserve, particularly at a time when we have the president drawing into question how much partisanship direction he's putting in at some of our agencies like the Department of Justice. It's incredibly important to our economic growth, which is something

that Republicans and Democrats should both be committed to, that we all understand that the Fed is an independent institution, and Mr. Powell himself has pushed back and made clear that he is going to remain independent even as President Trump has taken to Twitter to try to pressure him.

So I was disappointed when Mr. Powell went in the completely other direction and attended a lavish party where he knew that Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, Kellyanne Conway, he knew they were going to be at this party.

You heard him say in the testimony, well, it was just an after party for the Alfalfa Club. I don't know what most Americans think, but I had no idea what the Alfalfa Club was. It turns out to be an ultra- elite 200-person invitation event, where he was mixing and mingling with folks like the CEO of JPMorganChase, Jamie Dimon, somebody BHO absolutely has a tremendous interest in what happens with interest rates and the thinking of Mr. Powell.

So I wish he would put his actions more consistent with the words that he's said, which is that the fed must be independent from partisanship.

BALDWIN: Here is what -- I'm listening to every word -- this is what the other side would say. You know, is it fair to assume that there was some sort of nefarious activity at this fancy party just because he was the

PORTER: Look, part of what we're trying to do is give people confidence in government. It's why we as elected officials have to make disclosures of our finances. There's nothing we're doing wrong. But those disclosures give people comfort.

So his actions, no matter what he says, the fact that he's standing out in front of Jeff Bezos's $23 million mansion sends a message to people that he is spending his time with the rich and powerful, that he's spending time having cocktails with Jared and Ivanka Trump rather than maintaining the independence of the Fed.

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And so with public service comes a certain amount of public sacrifice. And that's what I expect of the chairman of the Federal Reserve.

BALDWIN: Congresswoman Katie Porter. Thank you very much.

PORTER: Thank you.

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