MSNBC "All In with Chris Hayes" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Mondaire Jones

Interview

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Congressman Mondaire Jones, Democrat of New York, one of the original co- sponsors of that bill, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, and he joins me now.

It`s good to have you, Congressman. The -- I think there`s a kind of key distinction. I don`t want to slice this tooth in, but worth talking about. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez uses planning I think in that tweet. Corey Bush`s resolution that you are part of as well says incite. To your mind, has that threshold already been cleared in terms of incitement by members of Congress?

REP. MONDAIRE JONES (D-NY): Well, Chris, it`s great to be on your show again. You know, there is a fine point and I think that that`s why it`s so important to conduct the investigation that Corey Bush and so many of -- other of my colleagues including myself called for early this year. I appreciate the reporting done by Rolling Stone.

Obviously, there needs to be further investigation. And of course, this was the entire point of the Select Committee which we had hoped would be done on a bipartisan basis earlier this year, but we couldn`t get enough support from our Republican colleagues in the United States Senate to do a simple bipartisan investigation of what happened on January 6.

And so, that`s why you`re seeing Democrats lead the way, issue subpoenas that are uncovering day by day the kind of information that we are seeing reported in Rolling Stone.

HAYES: What -- but expulsion from Congress, I mean, the 14th amendment allows for it because obviously they were dealing with the idea of essentially traitors, the country insurrectionists serving in Congress that`s contemplated and stipulated in the 14th amendment. You know, explosion from Congress is obviously an incredibly dramatic step. It`s been contested before the Supreme Court. Like, take me through your thinking about what that threshold should be. How seriously should we think about that as a remedy?

JONES: We should think about it very seriously. Let`s be clear. January 6 was an attempt to overthrow the federal government to stop the certification of that free and fair presidential election last November. And, of course, it was an event a violent insurrection that nearly took my life and the lives of so many of my colleagues and of course, staff persons at the Capitol including the Capitol Police. And so, we`ve got to make sure that we take this very seriously.

I realize that it`s been a few months since it happened, but it is no less serious today than it was on January 6 itself and what we are learning through this investigation by the select committee and increasingly through public reporting on that investigation is that the folks who tried to kill us on January 6 came dangerously close to doing so of course but also came dangerously close to overthrowing the federal government.

Expulsion has to be on the table. It is one of the most severe consequences, if not the most severe consequence that Congress can engage in. And it is I think appropriate in such an instance.

HAYES: What is the temperature of Capitol Hill right now on this question? I`ve been interviewing members of Congress and it was it was so raw after January 6th. There was -- there were the sort of fracas over the metal detectors on the floor. And there was, you know, these sort of incidents, these kind of world wrestling incidents by certain members of Republican caucus particularly confronting members. What are things like there now as this of course hangs over all your interactions?

JONES: The fact is, Chris, it`s been a tense environment for the duration of this year. Many of us as your earlier guests noted have been suspicious of our Republican colleagues who we know from their public statements and general behavior were at a minimum supportive of what happened on January 6. The question is, in what ways did they provide support? Did they indeed plan or help plan that violent insurrection?

And so, I think that`s why you`re seeing a lot of folks say we would not be surprised if this reporting by rolling stone turned out to be true. And it`s why the Select Committee has to continue to do its important work. We`ve got to get to the bottom of this to ensure that it never happens again.

If we don`t have a democracy moving forward, then we cease to be the United States of America that the world and that we know ourselves as.

[20:25:08]

HAYES: Congressman Mondaire Jones, newly elected and serving in New York, thank you very much.

JONES: Thank you.

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