CNN "State of the Union" - Transcript: Interview with Adam Kinzinger

Interview

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BASH: Welcome back to STATE OF THE UNION.

The Justice Department is making headway in prosecuting some of the 600 people arrested after the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The so-called QAnon Shaman this week pleaded guilty to a felony charge for his role. In Congress, the committee investigating those attacks is also moving forward. The House January 6 committee is asking telecommunications companies to preserve the phone records of several House Republicans, including the minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, who responded to the news with a threat.

Joining me now is a member of the January 6 committee, Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger of Illinois.

Thank you so much for joining me this morning.

(CROSSTALK)

BASH: I want to start with that request from the committee you serve on.

The GOP leader, Kevin McCarthy, responded by saying that the telecommunications companies should not comply, and he warned that -- quote -- "A Republican majority will not forget."

Is he trying to obstruct your inquiry?

REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R-IL): I think -- look, obstruct, I don't know, but it's really bad politics, I think, to say the least.

Look, we -- as a committee, we have a right and we have the responsibility, and, frankly, we have the legal authority to go through the process of requesting these kinds of things. Right now, all we have said is, we want these records preserved.

[09:35:06]

There's a number of people. I won't go into the details of who all's on it. And then we will decide what we need to see and what's in the American people's interest.

And I think to turn around then and make ominous talk to these telecom companies that, when we take over, it's going to be different or we will have payback, that's just not, frankly, the Republican Party I remember and the Republican Party I ever joined.

BASH: But you said it's bad politics. Is it more than that? This is a congressional investigation.

KINZINGER: Yes, I mean, look, that's the -- that's the thing is, what is the intention there?

I think, yes, it's bad politics. Is it obstruction? I don't know what is considered obstruction of a congressional investigation, but I would certainly recommend he never go there again.

If you have a problem with what the committee's doing, there is a process for your lawyers and your people to push back against it. But it's not to go on TV and tell these companies that they're going to regret it.

That is a -- that, to me, is a pretty scary place to go in this world, if we start using our power as a way to get the outcome that we want.

BASH: House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Biggs is calling on McCarthy to boot you and your fellow Republican Liz Cheney from the House GOP Conference because you're participating in this January 6 committee.

What does that say about today's Republican Party?

KINZINGER: Well, I think that whatever they do is going to be what it says.

Now, I will tell you what it says for sure about the House Freedom Caucus, and I guess the 15 or 16 people that signed this letter. Some of those people that signed that letter are the ones out there talking about things like bloodshed, or supportive of that, or flirting around with white nationalism.

And so the question is, what is our party going to be? Are we going to be the party of opportunity and hope or the party of anger, division, and truth has no place in it?

And if Andy Biggs has his way, we will be the party where truth- tellers and people that want to stand up for the Constitution, like Liz Cheney and myself, get kicked out of the party because there's no room for truth.

So, I would encourage the rest of my colleagues in the Republican Party to not just passively resist that move, but to do it open and honestly, not because of me. I don't -- I don't -- I'm not worried about my future on that, but because the party desperately needs some people to stand up and tell the truth.

BASH: Congressman, do you think that voters should trust House Republican leaders with the majority in the next election?

KINZINGER: Yes, I mean, look, I'm a Republican. I would like to see actual Republican values in the majority.

All I can say right now is, my party has to embrace truth. We have to have a full reckoning of what happened on January 6, and we have to turn away from conspiracy. I think, if we're going to be in charge and pushing conspiracy and pushing division and pushing lies, then the Republican Party should not have the majority.

But if we're going to be the party that actually tells truth and fights for real conservative values, and doesn't masquerade conservatism as some anger future, then, certainly, we should have the majority.

But that's up to the party right now to determine. For me, I'm going to go out and tell the truth.

BASH: Let's turn to Afghanistan.

A senior State Department official tells CNN that the majority of Afghan Special Immigration Visa applicants were left behind when the U.S. pulled out.

You sent a letter to the secretary of defense and the defense secretary -- excuse me -- defense secretary and secretary of state demanding specifics on exactly who was evacuated and who wasn't. Have they responded?

KINZINGER: No, not yet.

And, you know, look, again, it was interesting, because, as this was going down, this evacuation, the administration would stand up and talk about all this great success. And, certainly, they evacuated a lot of people. I don't want to take that away from them.

But we were hearing very different things on the ground, getting -- we were getting really -- real big pushback, when they were, like, oh, no, it's going swimmingly, and we're saying, no, we're hearing nobody's getting through the gates. And I think what we're seeing now is, I think we evacuated something like 8, 800 of these Afghan SIVs, out of tens of thousands that wanted to go.

I -- this is a shameful moment in America. And, unfortunately, we're so tribal that people are just, like, either going to go out and defend the administration or attack the last administration, which I think, frankly, both have screwed up Afghanistan. And we just want accountability for that.

This is America's reputation. This is going to last for a long time. It's going to be a stain on our country. And, quite honestly right now, the last of the resistance front is fighting a Taliban onslaught. They had some victories yesterday.

But they are now facing American weapons operated by the Taliban. And, as far as I know, we're doing nothing but trying to cooperate with the Taliban. It's really a sad day. And I hope the president turns some of those decisions around.

[09:40:05]

BASH: You talked about some of those who came out.

There were a lot of people rescued and are now refugees. The Biden administration said the U.S. could ultimately welcome more than 50,000 Afghan refugees. Many of those have limited access, though, to financial support and face uncertain legal status.

I know this is a priority for you. Is the U.S. doing enough, the government?

KINZINGER: Well, the government, I think, always can do more to -- first off, the government's not, as far as I know, rescuing anybody anymore.

BASH: Right.

KINZINGER: Now, in terms of the resettlement, obviously, I will say, Department of State has done a good job in finding safe third countries to process these people and finding countries to place them.

But I think a lot of the relocation in the United States, there's probably more that can be done. But there's a lot of groups out there, Dana, like No One Left Behind. These are people that have been out there doing this from the very beginning when this program was started that can really help folks get resettled, Catholic Charities, Lutheran Charities.

So, there's a lot of good private sector groups. But, look, it's going to be a challenge for anybody that relocates to the United States, because they're coming here without really a network of people. But it's certainly going to be better than facing what we will call authoritarian justice by the Taliban and certain death.

BASH: I want to ask about the Supreme Court just allowing a Texas law to go into effect that prohibits abortions after just six weeks, including cases of rape and incest, and actively deputizes ordinary citizens to enforce it.

What do you think of that law?

KINZINGER: Well, there's a lot of question about what the Supreme Court thing meant.

So, look, for me I'm pro-life, but what I don't like to see is this idea of every citizen being able to tattle, sue an Uber driver, as you said, be deputized to enforce this abortion law to whatever they want.

I think, if you're going to do something on abortion, it's a debate that we should have that's open and not just opening people up to be sued for any bit part in that process.

I also think, look, I believe in the rape and incest, life of the mother and health of the mother exception to abortion...

BASH: Which is not in there.

KINZINGER: ... as every Republican president has.

That's correct. And so I think, like, any bill going forward should certainly take that into account and should certainly not be set up so that it's enforced by people using private right of action to sue somebody, vs. just actually having an open and honest law.

BASH: Real quick, if the Democrats and the majority in the House come up with legislation specifically to try to target the Texas law, would you support it?

KINZINGER: Well, I mean, I'd have to see what the details are.

There's -- obviously, abortion is a very deep, deep concern for everybody. It's very personal. So I think you would have to see what the nuances of what that law is before I could just -- or what that fix would be before I could just make a comment.

BASH: Understand.

Congressman, thank you so much for joining me this morning. I appreciate it.

KINZINGER: You bet.

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