CNN "Erin Burnett Outfront" - Transcript: Interview with Congressman Jim Himes

Interview

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BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much.

I want to now go to Jim Himes. He's the Democratic congressman from Connecticut, who is on the House Intelligence Committee.

So, Congressman, let me talk about with drew's reporting about tomorrow. You are going to have these rallies, these protests, and all 50 states tomorrow. One in Washington, the president said he might even stop by, highly coordinated.

A lot of people attending them have no idea about that, right? But they are. They are victims of disinformation.

But this is going to be a lot of people, and a lot of protests. Do you have any concern?

REP. JIM HIMES (D-CT): Yeah. Not really, Erin. You know, what -- everything we've seen since the election has been, you know, almost, satirically underwhelming, right? I mean, from Rudy Giuliani's press conference outside of Four Seasons Total Landscaping, between the porn shop, and the crematorium, to now 14 cases in court that have been tossed out to the sort of pathetic quality of the president's behavior, it's -- I suspect, it's going to be much less than meets the eye.

What's very sad here, Erin, is that, look, this is being done really for one big reason. It's a huge grift, right? It's a huge grift.

Look at the president's fund-raising things, you know, the fundraising is about -- not anybody inside the White House believes he's got a chance to reverse the results of the election, it's about paying down campaign debt. And these people who show up at the rallies are going to be encouraged to sign up for this, and to donate to that, to buy this T-shirt, and to buy this thing. It's a big moneymaking grift.

And, you know, look, this is not new to our history. What's really sad about it is that it's -- it's not that is being stoked by Donald Trump, that's to be expected, that it's being reinforced by my colleagues. You know, when Kevin McCarthy, the House Republican leader, says publicly something he knows to not be true, that this election was stolen, boy, our democracies in a lot of trouble. That's what worries me more than a bunch of protests that may occur this weekend.

BURNETT: So, can I ask you why you think so many of your colleagues are staying silent? Like do they still think that the president can be useful to them? And why is it that people who, I'm sure, your friends with, you've had meaningful conversations with, there's people of great substance, are allowing someone to come out, and say these completely false things, and to encourage Americans to believe our democracy is broken, and that they lost an election that was stolen from them? Why are your colleagues doing that?

HIMES: You know, it's the same old story. It's the same story over four years. I mean, I know this because I've talked to Republicans. They know that this is one big silly carnival.

But, individually, they got no incentive to make that point. And the reason for that is that, look, you know, President Trump, though he got beaten very, very soundly in the election, he got 70 million-plus votes. He is still a very potent force.

And if one Republican member of Congress, or Republican senator stands up and says will we all know to be true, which is that Donald Trump lost this, that member, that senator, has political problems.

Now, in the old world, in the old world, where integrity, truth, and sort of commitment to American ideals mattered, my Republican friends would say, you know what, it is going to be hard for me when I say what is obvious, it is going to be hard for me when I stand up for one of the basic tentacles or basic cornerstones of our democracy, which is that we do peaceful transitions of power.

I -- in the old world, you know, some of my Republican colleagues would choose to take that risk. Now, they are members of a cult of personality.

BURNETT: I just find it bizarre that it's a profile in courage to acknowledge that some getting -- less electoral votes is a win. I think that's sort of where I'm dumbfounded. Whatever politics are, you got to accept facts.

I want to ask you one other thing, because of your obviously knowledge on intelligence. A senior administration official tells us that the CIA Director Gina Haspel today was iced out of an intelligence meeting. It was out of -- a meeting at the White House, President Trump was there, the National Intelligence Director John Ratcliffe was there, she was iced out.

And, obviously, this comes as you've seen -- you know, several members of the Defense Department fired, Defense Department chief fired, national security officials kicked out, Department of Homeland Security kicked out.

Do you really believe that he'll fire her?

HIMES: I don't know, I don't know. But I can tell you how serious this is. You know, when you go to war with a country, the thing you dream of doing is decapitating the national security leadership of that country. The president of the United States is decapitating the national security leadership of the United States.

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And our enemies, and our opponents abroad, are noticing.

BURNETT: All right. Congressman Himes, I appreciate your time, thank you.

HIMES: Thank you, Erin.

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