CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview With Rep. Adam Kinzinger

Interview

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We're joined now by Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger of Illinois. He's a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, also an Iraq War veteran.

Congressman, thanks so much for joining us.

REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R-IL): Yes, you bet, Wolf. Thanks.

BLITZER: So, as you know, the working theory right now is that Iran shot down the passenger plane with surface-to-air missiles, carrying 176 people, that it was done by accident.

What do you think happened?

KINZINGER: Yes, I mean, I think accident. It would be especially sick if it wasn't.

But, look, you probably had folks work on a surface-to-surface site, probably on heightened tensions, given the fact that they had just escalated against the United States' response to their repeated escalations, and either misidentified or did something.

So it's a real tragic thing. And it's interesting. If you look at Iran's response, everybody's breathless out here. They fired missiles, a quarter of which failed. They killed no Americans, thankfully.

And then they took down an airliner that had no Americans on it and mostly Iranian civilians. It was a completely failed response by Iran. They have gotten no P.R. victory from this, except, I guess, internally, and here on the floor of the House of Representatives today, because they passed a resolution basically condemning the president for killing Soleimani, in essence

BLITZER: Well, do you think it's possible that Iran thought this Ukrainian plane was actually a U.S. military aircraft, because it was taking place only, what, four or five hours after the Iranians launched those ballistic missile strikes against those facilities where a lot of Americans are based?

KINZINGER: Yes, it's certainly possible, if it -- if that's what it was. They thought it was a U.S. plane. Obviously, their air defense system is much worse than we thought, because it originated from Tehran.

It climbed in Tehranian -- Iranian airspace, and then ended up being shot down. Or it was an accidental firing. Anything, it's a terrible, tragic decision. It's a terrible, tragic thing to have happened.

And bottom line is, look, it's the Iranian regime that did this.

Representative Speier was on your show earlier, and she basically said this was a result of the president of the United States' escalatory actions.

BLITZER: All right, hold on for one moment, Congressman.

I'm going to play that clip, because you reacted angrily. You were clearly watching THE SITUATION ROOM, and you heard what Representative Jackie Speier, Democrat from California, a member of the Intelligence Committee, said.

I will play the clip, and then you will respond.

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REP. JACKIE SPEIER (D-CA): But if what is being projected is true, this is yet another example of collateral damage from the actions that have been taken in a provocative way by the president of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right, you responded on Twitter, saying: "This is sick. Once again, Iran is the victim."

But I want you to elaborate what you mean.

KINZINGER: So, I mean, what that is saying is, 176 people were killed as a result, is what she's saying, of President Trump.

Now, look at this. This is an Iranian shoot-down. It's not an American missile. To put this on the president, I have -- and you know because I have done it on your show, so check the tapes, everybody.

When President Obama did military action, I either opposed or supported him without regard for what political party he was, because I still believe that politics, at the end of the water's edge, should be about America first.

[18:25:07]

And I will tell you what. To see what has transpired on the floor of the House of Representatives, to see what's transpired with people who questioned whether the president has the authority, every legal scholar generally says, of course, he had the authority to go after them.

And then it transitions into a -- into a process argument. The only P.R. victory that the Iranians have gotten as a result of their response has been here on the floor of the House of Representatives, because they are playing it through the halls.

And they now think the president's going to be scared to death to respond.

The Iranian people, by the way, are not united behind the government. I'm hearing them say that we have united the Iranian people behind the government.

And all of this started because people in Iraq, people in Lebanon, people in Iran were standing up against that regime.

BLITZER: Your colleague Congressman Doug Collins said that Democrats, in his words, are in love with terrorists.

Listen to this.

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REP. DOUG COLLINS (R-GA): Nancy Pelosi does it again, and her Democrats fall right in line.

One, they're in love with terrorists. We see that. They mourn Soleimani more than they mourn our Gold Star families, who are the ones who suffered under Soleimani. That's a problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right, so tell us how you react to that point, because we keep hearing it from individuals, Republicans, some of your colleagues, that Democrats in Congress, what, love terrorists more than they love the United States.

KINZINGER: Yes.

Look, the rhetoric on all sides of this is too much. And that statement by Mr. Collins was wrong, and it should be retracted. And it was too much.

Democrats don't love terrorists. We have a strong disagreement out here. And I'm actually pretty fired up especially with how this has gone down, because my sense is, they -- before they even had the intel briefing, which I actually thought was really good -- somehow, they didn't -- they were already opposed to the president's action, before they even knew anything, one of the worst terrorists ever.

But I will not say that Democrats are in love with terrorists. And Democrats should stop calling us warmongers or people that are just committed to do anything that Trump wants. Let's have real debates. That's fine. People can all be about bringing the boys home and nonintervention. It's a legal, legitimate position, one I disagree with.

But this name-calling that has escalated, and blaming the president for the Iranian airliner shoot-down?

We are broken as a country if this is the level of our debate going forward. And we have to -- we have to move on from it and be adult again.

BLITZER: Just in fairness to Congresswoman Jackie Speier, she said it was collateral damage that was started by the president. As a result, the Iranians were clearly nervous and launched those surface-to-air missiles against that Ukrainian plane.

She used the phrase collateral damage. Does that mean anything to you?

KINZINGER: No.

I mean, collateral damage is the 176 dead people that Iran shot down that -- and, by the way, why was Iran's air defenses up? Because it had nothing to do with killing Soleimani. It was because they just struck Americans and an American base, and they were expecting a legitimate response from the U.S., which the president held back on.

He held back multiple times when a drone that cost over $200 million, the value of 10 F-16s was shot down, when Saudi oil fields were attacked, when tankers were seized in the Gulf, when American embassies were attacked.

The president did nothing. Their heightened was because they shot missiles at Americans, and intended to kill them, I believe.

BLITZER: Congressman Adam Kinzinger, thanks so much for joining us.

KINZINGER: You bet, Wolf. See you.

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