CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: Interview with Maxine Waters

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

REP. MAXINE WATERS (D-CA): We're trying and we've been working very hard at it for a long time. And we simply have not been able to get the support of the Republicans on something like background checks. But, yes, it must be dealt with and I would hope that after all this trying to get bipartisan support on gun control and other things, that we just move ahead. We just move ahead and take our majority and use it in order to get some things done that have been absolutely undermined, you know, by the Republican Party.

So we're working very hard, you're right. This gun violence must be stopped. It is just unconscionable that in this country we've not been able to control not only the bodily harm and murders that have been done, but all the crimes that has been committed by guns. We've got to get gun control.

[16:25:04]

ACOSTA: And I want to ask you about January 6th. I know we've talked about this before. But let's talk about it again because a new book reveals that the months and weeks leading up to the insurrection were much more concerning than any of us knew at the time.

According to one of the new books out there, the country's top generals were so worried then President Trump would attempt a coup if he lost the election that they were coming up with plans on how to stop him. And yet listen to what he said at CPAC earlier this month. I'm sure you saw this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT: I didn't become different. I got impeached twice. I didn't change. I became worse.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: I became worse.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Congresswoman Waters, Trump himself says he has become worse. What do you think should be done about his activity, what he was up to around January 6th when the -- when our nation's own generals, top generals, were concerned that he might try to pull off a coup to stay in power?

WATERS: Well, the first thing is, I hope that these revelations will wake up the American public and particularly those who follow him, and without question that the top general of this country who is in charge of the Joint Chiefs said that he was worried about the fact that he and his aides may attempt to pull off a coup and have the brown shirt in the streets the way they protected, you know -- oh, my goodness.

This is -- this is absolutely outrageous that the president can brag about it and talk about being worse than anybody ever thought. Well, I want you to know that our chief of staff -- Chief Milley basically believed that he would have to get control of the FBI and he would have to have control of the -- you know, all of the Defense Department in order to pull it off. And it seems as if he was going to be ready for him.

And he said in no uncertain terms that he was not going to let it happen. And he used some strong words to say that. But he believed that he had basically put into all of these positions his supporters and people that would stick with him. That's why he was worried about whether or not he had tried to organize this effort to control, you know, the defense and the FBI, the CIA and all of them.

ACOSTA: And I know yesterday you attended a memorial for former congressman John Lewis. It's been a year since his death. Where do you think the country is right now in terms of voting rights in this country? What would John Lewis think if he could look down and see what's happening today, especially with all of these laws that are being passed in these states across the country, you know, limiting voting for people of color and so on.

All of those -- all of those initiatives because of the big lie that we saw the former president advanced around the insurrection.

WATERS: Well, I want you to know that John Lewis gave his life to civil rights and this was a man who was beaten almost within an inch of his life on the Edmund Pettus Bridge defending the right to register to vote and voting rights. And to see what is happening now with all of these states coming up with suppression laws is something that I believe that he would have thought at one point that we had gotten past the attempts to keep blacks, in particular, from voting.

We've been through the poll tax days, counting the number of beans in a jar, and all of those things to keep us from being able to vote and here we have the Republicans leading in many of our states with their governors who are trying to take us back and trying to make sure that they put obstacles in the way of our voting. When you take a look at what's happening in Georgia, where they're talking about erasing 100,000 people from the rolls on the pretense, well, they didn't vote in the last election or so.

When you look at what they're doing to try to eliminate early voting days, when you're looking at what they're doing that makes the lines longer and then saying to us who would try to make people comfortable by giving them water in line that that somehow would be against the law.

This is a dangerous time for our democracy. This is a dangerous time because Trump, who served as the president of the United States for four years, has basically led this country to a point where he's got believers and supporters who thinks that he is the president and he should be the president. And somehow it's been stolen and it's got to be taken back.

[16:30:00]

So, January sixth may not be the only thing that they do when they invaded our capitol, when that insurrection took place. They may be organizing again.

As a matter of fact, on my way to the christening of the John Lewis Navy Ship, on that road leading into where the ships are being, you know, made, there were signs, big signs, on the street held by, you know, some of these men who support Trump. One sign said that Trump is the president. And is the president. And then, another sign touted the proud boys and saying that they were good people and that they had not done anything wrong.

And so, they are coming. They are not going to stop. And I know we're trying to get our commission together, that Nancy Pelosi has tried to organize when they would not support the commission that was offered to try and get to the bottom of the insurrection. I know that we're waiting on them to assign their people to it, to want to do right.

But in the final analysis, our attorneys generals, whether they're in New York or in Georgia, they've got to go after him about how he's cheated, you know, on his taxes. How his family has taken advantage of having a non-profit that they use like it was their own money. On and on and on.

One way or the other, we've got to stop Trump and his allies. It's more than undermining our democracy. They're dangerous and they're out to do harm.

And so, we're in a bad time in this country, trying to manage all of this. But we must manage it. We must protect our democracy.

ACOSTA: OK.

WATERS: We must not allow Trump to win.

ACOSTA: All right, Congresswoman, Maxine Waters, thanks as much as always. Appreciate your time. Hope to see you again soon. Thank you.

WATERS: Thank you very much.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source