MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript
Interview
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REP. DENNIS KUCINICH, (D) OVERSIGHT CMTE.: Mr. Issa"s very serious. And I might point out he"s very competent. He"s someone who has a great skills at taking a set of facts and shaping them in a way that he would like to communicate them. Doesn"t necessarily have to be directly connected to the way things are.
But with Mr. Cummings, Mr. Issa will have met his match. Mr. Cummings is a former defense attorney, someone who also has a background as a bond counsel. So he"s familiar with Wall Street. He"s a person who has a great amount of skill. If you"ve ever watched him question a witness, you"ll know that he"s second to none. He"s very powerful. And I think that Mr. Cummings is going to lead a very strong Democratic response to any efforts to engage in innuendo or any taken approach that would be less than forthright.
SCHULTZ: Congressman Cummings on record saying that, we"ll go toe-to-toe on everything and hopefully I"ll be 10 steps ahead. But as a whole, is the Congress mentally prepared for what could be a long, drawn out process, played out probably by the conservative media, painting the Obama administration and the White House as a bunch of crooks? I mean there has to be some level of attack and return fire on this, don"t you think?
KUCINICH: The fact that the caucus saw fit to choose Elijah Cummings means that they wanted someone who is a battler, someone who is not going to sit down and see an abuse of the great power of the Oversight Committee. And so, yes, the Democratic caucus is well aware of the challenges that are faced here. And again, no one will underestimate Mr. Issa. No one will sell Mr. Issa short. Everyone understands that he"s very serious in his intention to attack the White House. And we know with the charges that he made already, which I saw on your show and I called him on it, it that caused me to be a candidate for a while. I understood how important it is to fight back and to answer and not to let any unsubstantiated allegation go without a challenge.
So I think Mr. Cummings is absolutely the person for this challenge. He is a very broad support across the Democratic caucus. And we"re organized. And we had a meeting today with individuals who are likely to be subcommittee chairs. And Mr. Cummings is not wasting anytime getting started.
SCHULTZ: Congressman Dennis Kucinich, good to have you with us tonight. I appreciate your time so much.
KUCINICH: And thank you, Ed. Thank you.
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