CNN "The Lead with Jake Tapper" - Transcript: Interview with Seth Moulton

Interview

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REP. SETH MOULTON (D-MA): I'm confident that the president wants to get them out. But I won't be confident as a marine veteran until I see the operational plan. I want to see a detailed operational plan. I want there to be a clear person in charge of this effort responsible for making it happen. And I want the administration to reiterate its commitment to getting it done, to completing this mission no matter how long it takes.

TAPPER: As somebody who served in combat, can you explain to our viewers, the average person watching the show whether in America or anywhere around the world, why does this matter?

MOULTON: It matters for two reasons, Jake. First of all, because we have made a promise, a promise from troops, from marines, from soldiers on the ground, from the United States of America as a nation that we will have the backs of these Afghans who risked their lives not just for their country, but for ours. These are the guys who were side-by-side with us, as translators in important meetings, in firefights where our lives, their lives were on the line.

And we made a promise to them, you risk your life for us to do this mission, we'll make sure you get to safety.

As a chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said, we have a moral imperative to fulfill that promise.

But there's something else too. We have a moral imperative to fulfill this promise today because of future generations of American troops. Young Americans who in some future conflict will need partners and allies on the ground and they'll make that same promise. They'll say come work with us and we'll have your backs.

If they look back at Afghanistan and see we abandoned our allies, then that's going to impact our national security, our ability to find allies in the future for decades to come.

TAPPER: Well, they can look back at Vietnam in 1975 but I take your point.

MOULTON: But you know what? We got 130,000 refugees out of Vietnam.

TAPPER: Okay.

MOULTON: We probably should have gotten more. But we've done this in the past.

That's one of the reasons why we've laid out a clear plan to go to Guam to do this. We know how this works. We know we can do it.

You talked about numbers. We're probably talking about 70,000 if you include their family members. That's half of the refugees we brought out of South Vietnam.

TAPPER: You delivered a detailed plan to the White House outlining how you think it would be good to get these Afghan allies out. The plan stays, quote, the Department of Homeland Security has statutory authority to parole people into U.S. territory for significant public benefit which will allow applicants and their families to travel to and wait safely in Guam while they complete their special immigrant visa processing.

We understand that the leaders of Guam say they are willing to take these Afghan allies in. There is historical precedent for it. But as "The New York Times" reported, Afghan allies will be moved to developing countries while they wait instead during whatever plan were hearing about is being formed right now. Do we know where they will go or if they'll be safe?

MOULTON: We don't know. And I was on the phone with the White House as recently as this weekend. We still don't know the details of the plan. We need to hear these details.

We've laid out Guam. It's what we think as the best option. But, frankly, if the administration has a better option, that's good by us.

We did the groundwork to make sure Guam was onboard with this, which took some effort here in Congress. The delegate to Guam to the House of Representatives said that there was some resistance on the ground there, but he had a relative who served in Afghanistan and, sadly, was killed there.

He said this is what he would want, to take care of our allies. And so he agreed to change the mind of the people of Guam who were opposed to this and make it happen.

The bottom line is we need to evacuate these folks. We need to evacuate them today and that's another important thing for viewers to understand is that we can talk about the special immigrant visa program and how that processing would work.

[16:35:07]

But, look, a special immigrant visa right now takes on average 800 days to get processed, just one. We have 80 days, actually fewer than 80 days now to our withdrawal. So it's time for an evacuation.

TAPPER: Democratic Congressman Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, thank you. And as always, thank you for your service, sir.

MOULTON: Thanks, Jake.

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