MSNBC "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Debbie Dingell

Interview

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O`DONNELL: Earlier this week Congresswoman Debbie Dingell`s Michigan office was broken into and vandalized. The windows were smashed and items inside destroyed including memorabilia belonging to her late husband, John Dingell, the longest serving Congressman in U.S. history.

No one was in the office at the time. U.S. Capitol police and the Dearborn Police Department are investigating the incident.

Joining us now is Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Dingell of Michigan.

Congresswoman Dingell, first of all, I`m very sorry this has happened to your office. And have you been facing increasing threats? Is this something that you`ve felt could happen?

[22:49:52]

REP. DEBBIE DINGELL (D-MI): No. Quite frankly, it never occurred to me that something like this would happen. Look Lawrence, I`m worried about the level of anger, hate rhetoric that`s out there. I`ve certainly seen a very increased amount of it in the last couple of years and at times things that have happened that, you know, have scared me a little.

But this obviously unsettled me a little on Monday, given the Personal nature of it. No electronics were taken. But I`m worried about what`s happening in the country. I think we all need to take a collective deep breath.

While I was upset on Monday, what happened on Tuesday at Oxford High School upset me a lot more. I knew some of the kids that were there at the time.

When are we going to wake up? Are we not worried about what we`re seeing happening in our communities across the country? The House of Representatives is reflective of the communities in our country. Anger and hatred has taken over too many in our communities.

O`DONNELL: The situation in Oxford is such an enormous tragedy. How do you -- how do you deal with it in your capacity as an elected official when you know you can`t stand up and say to people, legislatively, here`s what we`re going to do because you know there`s no legislative route through the United States senate now to do anything about what`s happening in school shootings.

DINGELL: I react to it as a human being. I react to -- and by the way, I don`t know if people realize how many of our -- several school systems in just my district have sent out notes to parents tonight on getting them one-by-one about other anger, other threats that are happening.

We had multiple school systems that were closed today and more are closing tomorrow. I`m scared. I`m scared for our kids. I`m scared for our communities. And I want people to stop and think. You know, I`ve got to talk about it, but all of us do. Why are people so angry? Why is this happening? And maybe we`ve got to look at what the roots of it are even before we talk about why the kids have access to guns. Why do parents not lock them up?

But there`s something going on that`s attacking the fundamental roots of our democracy. And you know what? I have good friends -- I can`t tell you the number of Republicans that came over and hugged me, told me they were sorry about it.

I want all of us to take a collective deep breath because I care about this country. I care about what`s happening. I care about the anger, the hatred, the division.

O`DONNELL: Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, thank you very much for joining us tonight. I`m very sorry about what happened at your office and, of course, the tragedy in Michigan with the school shooting is just another unbearable tragedy that we must bear, as we continue to do nothing about it.

DINGELL: Thanks, Lawrence. Let`s all say we`ve got to work together to stop it, period. Thanks.

O`DONNELL: Thank you. Really appreciate it. Thank you.

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