CNN "Anderson Cooper 360" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Kathleen Rice

Interview

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COOPER: Ryan Nobles, appreciate it. Thanks. Joining us now Congresswoman Kathleen Rice, Democrat of New York, a

member of the House Homeland Security Committee.

Congresswoman Rice, thanks for being with us. What do you make of the level of support from your Republican colleagues on this vote? We're just going to show their names up on the screen, particularly in light of how the G.O.P. leadership tried to marshal opposition. Is 35 about what you expected?

REP. KATHLEEN RICE (D-NY): Yes, I was hoping that it was going to be more. You know, I've spoken to a lot of my colleagues who believe that we had to take this step to set up a commission and what I don't understand, Anderson is, Rodney Davis in the days immediately after January 6th, a Republican from Illinois, he put out a bill almost identical to the one that we voted on today that had 30 Republicans signing on to it.

So I don't know what happened between that time in late January, and now other than Kevin McCarthy, Mitch McConnell, other Republicans have heard from Donald Trump and they have decided that it's not worth their political career to be on the wrong side of Donald Trump. And that's why Kevin McCarthy after deputizing John Katko, who is the Ranking Member on Homeland Security to make this deal and get these things that we need in order to support this Commission.

He deputized Katko to do it and Katko delivered. They wanted equal number of Democrats and Republicans. That's what they got. They wanted subpoena power, equal subpoena power, and that's what they got.

I don't know why McCarthy pulled away the support, other than he is just, you know, a mealy-mouth -- a guy who is, you know, clearly more interested in measuring the draperies in the Speaker's Office and caring more about his own political future than protecting our democracy.

[20:10:20]

RICE: We were able to do this in a bipartisan way after the worst terrorist attack in this country's history after 9/11. Democrats and Republicans came together because they saw how important it was.

We could have done that in the immediate aftermath of January 6th, Anderson. I thought that that Republicans were going to once and for all throw Donald Trump into the trash heap of history and go take the Republican Party in a different direction, but they decided to go with Donald Trump.

COOPER: Yes, I mean, they are all in on the former President. What's so remarkable, too, is it is not just Kevin McCarthy, who, you know, is desperate to become, you know, a more powerful figure in Washington and stay in the good graces of the former President. It's a number -- it is all these Congress people, Republican Congress people who are rewriting the history of what occurred.

I mean, you know, claiming that these were just, you know, like, it was like peaceful tourists walking through taking pictures in Statuary Hall, the very people who were, you know, helping trying to barricade the doors that that they wouldn't be killed by rioters.

RICE: Yes, I mean, there are no words for Representative Clyde and the gaslighting that he was doing to the American people who watched this insurrection in real time, and all of us who lived through it in the Capitol.

I have never in my life did I believe that I would see a political party in this country, stand for absolutely nothing but one person, incredibly flawed human being, a man-child who has never learned how to lose, and they are carrying on and allowing him to continue his temper tantrum.

And so, you have a Republican Party, Anderson, that at this critical time when we're trying to come out from this pandemic and survive this insurrection, who literally stand for nothing but their own political futures. I never thought I would see the day -- never, but this is where we are.

COOPER: Well, it's also -- I mean, it's scary for anybody who cares about democracy in a functioning democracy, because we need two parties that are living in a fact-based world and have different ideas and can argue about stuff.

And, you know, it can be as tough as folks want it to be, but they have to, at least, you know, have a common sense of what is true and what is not true.

RICE: No, I mean, that doesn't exist right now. My hope is that it will sometime in the future, I think it's really important to focus.

Let's just talk about one -- you know, one of the people who voted no, again, let's go back to Kevin McCarthy. His father was in law enforcement. Just a week ago, Leader McCarthy was out there in his bike shorts on a bike backing the blue with a bunch of Capitol Police officers saying "We've got your back, we're going to ride our bikes to the Lincoln Memorial and protect our democracy. And thank you for saving our lives."

And then he has the audacity to go on the floor today and say to all of those men in blue, all of those Capitol Police officers, yes, not so much. I really don't have your back.

That's just disgusting. I mean, that was -- I don't know what how -- what kind of doublespeak, what kind of --

I don't even know what to call that other than just rank personal, you know, ambition. There's no other word for it. But I do hope, because there were 35 people who were brave enough to do the right thing for this country so we could have a commission, figure out what happened on January 6th so that we never find ourselves here again, just like we did in 9/11.

And guess what, we've never had a 9/11 style attack since that commission came out with their report. And it's sad to me that the majority of Republicans couldn't do it today, but I am choosing to celebrate the 35 Republicans who could. COOPER: Yes, Congresswoman Rice, I appreciate your time. Thank you.

RICE: Thank you.

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