CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: Interview with Pete Aguilar

Interview

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I'm joined now by Democratic Congressman Pete Aguilar. He's on the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th attack.

Congressman, we last spoke outside the West Wing of the White House. I want to ask you about that at the very end if we've got some time. But first I want to talk about your reaction to the notes that we saw from the Justice Department official. It's this weird moment where you read that, and you're not really surprised anymore, given everything we've seen over the course of the last several months. And then you think about what it actually says. What was kind of your read on it when you saw it?

REP. PETE AGUILAR (D-CA): Well, it didn't surprise me. Like you said, Phil, it's not surprising that he would want to cast doubt, the former president, want to cast doubt on an election that he lost by subverting democracy.

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I mean, that's exactly what he has done and what he planned to do. And clearly in December, he was having those conversations with that in mind.

MATTINGLY: Yes. Still, it seems like more comes out every single week. I want to turn to the Select Committee because I know one of things that you guys have been trying to figure out, I think you guys met yesterday, just members, you've been trying to kind of walk through how this is going to play out.

And I think one of the main elements is, how are the subpoenas going to work? It's very clear they're coming. And I know you guys are kind of strategizing how that's supposed to lay out. What kind of status and scope are you considering with those subpoenas?

AGUILAR: Well, the status and scope is laid out in the House resolution that we passed. And our task is simple, it's to get to the truth of what happened on January 6th, who funded it, who funded the insurrection, who helped to guide it, what happened leading up to January 6th in the days and minutes, leading up to the attack on democracy and the attack on our Capitol building. And so that will be our charge. That will be our mandate.

This is not bipartisan, although there are Democrats and Republicans, this is nonpartisan. And so we're going to get to the truth. We're going to follow the facts, then we will utilize subpoenas in order to compel individuals and organizations to provide us the documents that we need in order to seek the truth. MATTINGLY: The chairman of the Select Committee just told my

colleague, Jeff Zeleny, a little while ago that they were hoping -- he hopes subpoenas out by the end of August, nobody would be off limits.

Is that timeline seem plausible to you? I know he's the chairman so you have to say yes. But is that timeline seem plausible to you? And when he says nobody is off limits, what does that mean? Are we thinking President Trump? Are we thinking Republican colleagues? How does this all work?

AGUILAR: I'll let the chairman speak to the timing and the tactics, but yes, no one is off limits. Our mandate is to seek the truth, and so we're going to be guided by that. And there could be a series of steps involved. Individuals who we may want to talk to down the line may be a little different than the individuals who we want to seek to have conversations with on the front end.

But nobody is off limits. There will be a timeline, there will be a plan of action. And our sole focus, and that's why I appreciate everyone around that table, because our sole focus is all about protecting democracy and making sure that this doesn't happen again. And so the conversations are thoughtful, they're deliberate, but they're all guided by that single focus to chase the truth and find out what happened.

MATTINGLY: Now on the DOJ phone call I was talking about a short while ago, the former president described Congressman Jim Jordan as a, quote, "fighter." This week Jordan was pressed about these conversations with former president Trump the day of the Capitol attack when he was on Spectrum News. Take a listen.

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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Did you speak with President Trump on January 6th?

REP. JIM JORDAN (R-OH): Yes, I mean, I speak -- I spoke with the president last week. I speak with the president all the time. I spoke with him on January 6th. I mean, I talk with President Trump all the time. And that's -- that's -- I don't think that's unusual.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: On January 6th, did you speak with him before, during or after the Capitol was attacked?

JORDAN: I'd have to go -- I spoke with him that day after, I think after. I don't know if I spoke with him in the morning or not -- I just don't know. I'd have to go back -- I mean, I don't -- I don't know -- when those conversations happened, but what I know is I spoke with him all the time.

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MATTINGLY: Congressman, that was the second time in recent days that Jim Jordan has been, I'll gently say, a little shaky about his conversations with the former president on January 6th. What do you make of that when you see a response like that? AGUILAR: I mean, nothing surprises me when it comes to that

individual. It sounds like he's developing his story while he's on air, quite honestly. But he caught himself and said he'd have to -- you know, almost like he was going to say that he was going to check the records. Well, there's ways to do that, too.

And so -- but, you know, if there are individuals, as we have said, if there are individuals who have knowledge and information about what went on, on January 6th, what delayed the help and the support, and what motivated the individuals to come attack our democracy and attack the U.S. Capitol, we're going to seek those answers.

MATTINGLY: Congressman, my last question, I want to shift the focus for just one minute because you were meeting with President Biden in the Oval Office just a couple days ago. This is, you know, the legislative focus on the agenda that you're trying to move through Congress right now. The meeting was related to immigration and trying to ensure that immigration policy ends up in this kind of sweeping economic package that Democrats are going to try and move in the weeks and months ahead.

What's your sense right now? I know you feel confident that it will end up in the proposal, what's your sense right now that you could get it across the finish line?

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That a pathway to citizenship for millions will be included in what the president signs at some point related to this package?

AGUILAR: The strategy is simple. We're going to use every available tool. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus has been clear about that. Every available tool to help our communities. And whether that's standalone legislation, it doesn't seem like the votes are there, and the Republicans keep moving the goal posts in those discussions. So we're going to avail ourselves of the option to use reconciliation because the Republicans used immigration changes and reconciliation in 2005.

They opened the door to some of these changes and so we're going to try to have a path to citizenship for individuals who know of no other country but the United States as their home within this reconciliation package. So farm workers, individuals with DACA status, temporary protected status, and essential workers, who keep our economy moving, they deserve an opportunity to have a path to citizenship. And we're going to encourage the president and did encourage the president in the Roosevelt room to continue to be vocal and support that plan.

MATTINGLY: Yes. And the president made clear, he supports it. You guys are going to have to work with the Senate parliamentarian now, for sure, to go a little bit down the set of procedural rabbit hole.

Congressman Peter Aguilar, thank you as always for your time, sir. I really appreciate it.

AGUILAR: Thanks, Phil.

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