NBC "Meet the Press" - Transcript: Interview with Jason Crow
Interview
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CHUCK TODD:
--officers. So joining me now is Democratic Congressman Jason Crow of Colorado. He's a former Army Ranger. He helped protect many of his fellow members of Congress on that frightful day on January 6th. He, of course, became an impeachment manager as well. Congressman Crow, welcome to Meet the Press. So I guess the question now is where do we go now? Where does this go next? And do -- would you like to see Speaker Pelosi, if this is now a House-driven investigation, essentially follow the parameters of the commission that they wanted to develop to try to give as much credibility as you can to this investigation?
REP. JASON CROW:
Well, good morning, Chuck. Thanks for having me on. I mean, the question, first, is one of timing, right? So if Mitch McConnell has said that we are going to take another vote on this, I think the question for Speaker Pelosi and Chuck Schumer is, you know, do we believe him that this will be a vote in good faith? You know, we had 54 votes on Friday. We think there were a couple more people that would have voted for it had they been present. So the question is, can we get those three or four additional votes, or are we just delaying the inevitable? And that is, are going to have to take up a select committee on the House side or some kind of House and Senate combined committee and do this ourselves? So I don't know. I can't read their minds at this point. But this has to get done. I am sick of playing the game of whack-a-mole with GOP members in the Congress. You know, every time we, you know, address one of their concerns, another one pops up. It's like playing whack-a-mole at Chuck E. Cheese growing up. We just can't continue to do that forever. We need to get answers. There's an urgency to this. Let's not forget that this is not a process in the integrity of history, although that is important. We have a growing violent extremism movement, movement in the United States. We have the spreading of the big lie that's being used to further voter suppression laws around the country, and a growing number of Republicans are actually starting to believe more and more the big lie and undermine the legitimacy of the Biden presidency. So this is a problem that is prescient, it's growing, and we have to address it with some timeliness.
CHUCK TODD:
Now you sound like somebody like me who's got a little bit of hope that maybe, hey, there's going to be one more vote for this commission, and maybe after they go home, maybe some, there's a couple more minds that will change. But let's assume that doesn't happen. Is there any other alternative, a presidential commission from Joe Biden, a joint task force of the FBI? Is there any other method you would, you would suggest before going the select committee in Congress?
REP. JASON CROW:
Well, I think what's really important is that we have some sort of bipartisan commission here. You know, we have to make sure we're doing this in a way that helps re-inspire trust and confidence of the American people in our institutions. And we have to have subpoena power, and we have to get the information that you can't get to, necessarily, with other investigations. I mean, there's a GAO investigation going on right now that I actually asked for as a member of the House.
CHUCK TODD:
Yeah.
REP. JASON CROW:
There are IG investigations that are going on right now. But what we really need to know is what was Donald Trump doing in the hours before the riot, during the riot? What was he talking to or telling his advisors? What happened with that discussion with Kevin McCarthy? Those are things that I think uniquely we can get through only through a bipartisan commission or a select committee with subpoena power that would be very, very hard for another government entity or agency to get to.
CHUCK TODD:
I'm sure you've had some constituents say this to you which is, if you can't have a bipartisan agreement on something like this that normally would be above politics, think 9/11, think the Iraq Study Group. We could go through many instances of traumatic events in this country where bipartisanship eventually was used to get to the bottom of things, if you can't do it for this, does this mean bipartisanship is really dead on any issue?
REP. JASON CROW:
Well, I share that question. I really do, Chuck. I mean, listen, I was there on January 6th. You know that. I made the call to my wife, I told her I loved her, I didn't know whether I would be able to make it out of that chamber like dozens of other members, like journalists, like police officers that were there. Over 140 were beaten. One was killed. One later took his life. It was a terrible, brutal, and violent day. And let's not forget, you know, the hours and the days after that attack, the way that my GOP colleagues were asked -- were, you know, they were -- way they were talking, the way they were acting. I remember actually very specifically, hours after we had retaken the Capitol and gone in and re-certified the election, Kevin McCarthy gets up on the House floor. And we were all sitting there on the House floor. There was still the smell of tear gas and broken glass all over. And he gave this speech about how people held the breach against the mob, and made sure that the House chamber hadn't been taken. He actually called me out by name, and several other members. And then you fast-forward a couple of months. And it really wasn't a big deal, it's all about politics. You know, I am an optimist by nature, I think just like you, Chuck. But that's being strained right now because, you know, the impact of fear, the fear of Donald Trump, and the impact of power, the desire for power, by certain elements in the GOP, is overriding, you know, that patriotism, that desire to do what's necessary for the good of the country. And it's, frankly, very depressing.
CHUCK TODD:
Jason Crow, an Army Ranger veteran himself on this Memorial Day weekend. Thanks for coming on and sharing your perspective with us, sir. I appreciate it.
REP. JASON CROW:
Thanks, Chuck.
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