CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) Is Interviewed About Impeachment

Interview

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Let's get some more on all the breaking news right now. Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island is joining us. He's a member of the Judiciary Committee.

Senator, thanks so much for joining us. And you -- as you fully appreciate, you just cast what will likely be two of the most significant votes of your Senate career. You voted to convict the President of the United States and remove him from office. What does the gravity of this moment, Senator, mean for you?

SEN. SHELDON WHITEHOUSE (D-RI): Well, I think that for me and I suspect for most of my colleagues, we're glad that this is over. It has been an unseemly ordeal. It has not been the Senate's finest hour. I think we fell down on our very basic responsibility of conducting a proper trial. And the result was preordained and I hope that we can put it behind us, because this was unfortunate moment in the Senate's history.

BLITZER: Your colleague Republican Senator Mitt Romney, he joined Democrats in voting to convict the President of the first article, abuse of power. When you address the Senate you said the impeachment in your words, ran into a partisan wall. I'd like to, you know, explain what you meant by that?

WHITEHOUSE: That on our side, there was never going to be votes for a proper trial, there was never going to be votes for witnesses, there was never going to be votes to bring forth the evidence waiting in boxes for us in Trump administration offices. They did not want the evidence, because they knew what it would say. The vote was preordain. Everything about this was about as unlike a real trial as you could want.

BLITZER: From the outset, it seemed highly unlikely and almost impossible given the political climate that 2/3 of the Senate, 67 senators would vote to remove the President from office. Do you still think with hindsight it is wise for the Democrats to pursue impeachment and if you do, why?

WHITEHOUSE: On facts like these, I think the House had no choice. The facts are essentially unrebutted and they reveal extraordinarily damaging and wrongful conduct by the President of the United States. The fact that there was going to be a partisan wall that this ran into ought not to discourage the House and the performance of its duty. We all have our separate duties, and I don't fault the House for going forward.

BLITZER: Were you in the Senate when Mitt Romney spoke, because as you heard, he got pretty emotional at one point talking about his religious, his faith and why he decided to do what he was doing?

WHITEHOUSE: No, I was following it in my office, and I have read his remarks, and they were well crafted and thoughtful and touching remarks. I think back to John McCain casting his legendary no vote, the thumbs down on the Obamacare vote.

And when he returned to his seat what you saw was Republican senators gathering around him. They had to hate the vote, but they gathered around the man, and I hope that my Republican colleagues, although they may hate Senator Romney's vote, will realize that this was a question of conscience for him, and gather around and support him as a man rather than feeding him alive to the banshees of the right wing on social media.

BLITZER: You heard him say he's -- he knows he's going to be attacked now for that vote against the President of the United States. And he says he's ready for it.

WHITEHOUSE: The far right can be extremely hostile and vindictive. And I'm afraid that Mitt Romney is going to be the target of a lot of abuse in the weeks ahead. I wish him well and I hope his colleagues can support him through the ordeal.

BLITZER: And he was -- he's clearly worried about family as well.

Do you worry, Senator, that the President's acquittal will embolden him as we head into the 2020 election?

WHITEHOUSE: I think that there is little doubt that it will. I'm more concerned about our body. Senator Murkowski said in her remarks that she hopes with this, we have hit bottom, and we'll begin to bounce back.

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The alternative is the analogy that Winston Churchill used about the stairway down to a dark gulf that goes down and the carpeting ends and soon the flagstones break beneath your feet. I don't know if we're going to rebound or if we are on a downward march led by Mitch McConnell into a very dark gulf for the Senate. I hope not. I hope Senator Murkowski is right.

BLITZER: Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, thanks so much for joining us on this important very historic day.

WHITEHOUSE: Thank you.

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