MSNBC Tucker - Transcript

MSNBC Tucker - Transcript

CARLSON: Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is not turning to impeach federal judge and seven-term Congressman Alcee Hastings of Florida to head the House Intelligence Committee. For almost two weeks, Pelosi pleaded with her fellow House members to ignore Hastings‘ checkered past of bribery allegations, but yesterday she surprised everyone with her decision to pass over Hastings, to which Hastings said, "I am obviously disappointed with this decision. I will be seeking better and bigger opportunities in a Democratic Congress. Sorry, haters, God is not finished with me yet."

Joining me now to interpret, Democratic Congressman from Maryland Al Wynn. Congressman Wynn, thanks for coming on.

REP. AL WYNN (D), MARYLAND: My pleasure. Good to be with you.

CARLSON: So Mr. Hastings is saying that Mrs. Pelosi is a hater?

WYNN: No, I think what he is saying is there may be some haters behind the scene who really pressured Ms. Pelosi on this issue, and I think he‘s basically saying hey, don‘t worry, I will be OK. There are other opportunities. I think he basically approached it in a pretty positive way, all things considered.

CARLSON: Yes, so there are a lot of haters in the Democratic caucus, Alcee Hastings is saying. Who are they, do you think?

WYNN: Well, there are haters in the sense, and that‘s a colloquialism, they are haters in the sense that that they opposed Alcee based on some things that happened a long time ago. They work behind the scenes, and he‘s basically saying, look fellows, I understand what you did, but we‘re going to move forward.

CARLSON: Buy some things that happened a long time ago, you mean the fact that he was impeached and removed from the federal bench by the Congress?

WYNN: Well that, but you have to keep in mine he was also acquitted in a court of law. So he‘s pointing that out that look, I was acquitted. There is a lot of evidence. He provided the evidence to members of Congress to show how he was acquitted and so I think he made a very strong case. I‘m a good friend of Alcee‘s. I‘m sorry that he didn‘t get the position, but we do have to move on.

CARLSON: What a disaster, though. I mean here Democrats have every reason to celebrate, totally legitimate, an electoral victory is the most legitimate kind of victory. And Democrats had a lot of them earlier this month. And then within about 24 hours Nancy Pelosi is in a fight with this person, that person, the Jack Murtha debacle, this. I mean, talk about bad management. Are you worried about her running the House?

WYNN: Not at all. I mean, I think we can‘t overreact to this situation. Whenever you‘re reorganizing, moving into the majority, there are going to be bruised feelings. There are going to be winners and losers. We understand that. I think we‘re mature enough to accept the fact that everyone can‘t be a winner, everyone won‘t be the committee chairman or the majority leader and we‘ll move forward.

We‘ll have some disagreements, we‘ll have some fights, we‘ll have some brawls. But our main focus is the agenda. We have 100 hours in which we are going to show the American people that there is a real difference and we‘re going to pass some important legislation, like increasing the minimum wage and addressing the 9/11 Commission recommendations. So we understand that these things will happen, but it‘s not a disaster, so to speak.

CARLSON: Well, it does—I mean, you‘re right, of course, it‘s not a disaster in any historic sense. A hundred years from now, all this will be forgotten, of course.

WYNN: A year from now all this will be forgotten.

CARLSON: You‘re absolutely right. It does give you, though, a window into Nancy Pelosi‘s management style. And it kind of makes you worry if you‘re a Democrat. I mean politics is about understanding what you can do and only shooting for the things that are possible. Here you have two examples where Mrs. Pelosi has put herself right out there and said I want this and then not gotten it, not had the caucus behind her. Does she know what she is doing? It doesn‘t sound like she does.

WYNN: I think she definitely knows what she is doing. She has made some tough calls. She has been very loyal to her friends. She has tried to accomplish some things. She hasn‘t necessarily won them all. But I think that without question she will win most of them. She is showing a seriousness of purpose, a discipline, a loyalty, and a toughness. That‘s the key thing.

Running in the majority or managing the majority is not easy. She is certainly up to the task. She has shown the correct temperament. It‘s not going to be always smooth sailing. There are going to be bumps along the way. But I think all of us are very confident in Nancy‘s management. She got us here, and I think we‘ll be very successful under her leadership.

CARLSON: You said that the focus of the new Democratic Congress will be on issues, on getting your ideas enacted into law. One of those issues, of course, was ethics reform, the idea that the Democrats were going to sweep out the corruption of the Republican Congress and bring about a new day.

Does it strike you as ironic then that Mrs. Pelosi wanted to put Alcee Hastings in such a sensitive position, a guy, you know, maybe he was innocent, maybe he not, but he was impeached and thrown out of his job. It doesn‘t imply a guy who did nothing wrong, does it?

WYNN: Well, the courts of law really determine that. The courts of law determine that he was innocent, they acquitted him. So that has to carry a great deal of weight. I‘m not sure that this really cast any light on the ethics issue that we‘re going to be debating in the future, which really focuses on the relationship between the lobbyist community and members of Congress, and that‘s where we want to devote our attention. This is pretty much a side bar. The real issue is we‘re going to clean up the Congress. We‘re going to show the American people the difference in Democratic ethics.

CARLSON: Boy, I mean, this does seem like the difference in Democratic ethics. I mean trying to put Alcee Hastings in that position. I mean, it‘s like, Al Capone was never convicted of organized crime either.

It doesn‘t mean he wasn‘t a gangster.

WYNN: Well, they got him for taxes. But the thing is, in fairness, Alcee was next in line. Jane Harman was subject to term limits. Alcee was next in line. So it wasn‘t as though Nancy said, look, I‘m going to twist everybody‘s arm for Alcee. She said look, Alcee Hastings was next in line. The Congressional Black Caucus is supporting him, other people are supporting him. He has an outstanding record, in terms of working on national security issues. He would be a fine chairman.

There was push back from other sectors, people in the media, other members of Congress. It didn‘t work out. She made the tough decision. I think we‘re prepared to move on. I think Alcee will continue on the committee. Alcee will also serve in international roles, as he has done before, and will be a major player in terms of national security. He just will not be chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.

CARLSON: All right, Al Wynn of Maryland. You know, you ought to be Speaker of the House. You‘re a lot smoother than Nancy Pelosi. That‘s true.

WYNN: I‘m not touching that.

CARLSON: Yes, well you should be. Al Wynn, thanks very much.

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