Interview with Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY); Democrats on Ways & Means Committee Fight to Get Trump's Tax Returns; Trump Blasts Democrats as They Ramp Up Multiple Investigations
ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: A new fight to get President Trump's tax returns will start a short time from now on Capitol Hill. Democrats on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee holding a hearing on the important of presidents disclosing their tax returns. Democrats plan to call for future presidential and vice presidential candidates to release 10 years of tax returns as part of an ethics reform package known as H.R.-1. Joining me now, Democratic Congressman Tom Suozzi, of New York, who is a member of the Ways and Means Committee, also the Problem Solvers Caucus. Your committee, sir, is holding that hearing later this afternoon. There's a lot of interest in it, as we know, and also on the thinking behind this. This could turn into a lengthy legal fight. Do you believe you'll be successful?</s>REP. TOM SUOZZI, (D), NEW YORK: I think we'll have a hearing today. We'll go through the process. One thing our chairman pointed out is he wants to go through a process with everything we do, actually listening to the experts. We are looking at this prospectively, looking forward to the 2020 race that anybody that's running for president or vice president, on a future going basis, will have to disclose their individual taxes.</s>HILL: Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy called this political. How do you respond to that?</s>SUOZZI: Well, you know, we are trying to look out for best interest of the United States of America. Every single presidential candidate and every president since Richard Nixon disclosed their taxes. It was really an anomaly that this president decided not to disclose them. We need to look at this from a public-policy perspective on a forward- going basis whether it makes sense for presidential and vice presidential candidates to show what their entanglements are related to their business relationships that they have in their personal business dealings.</s>HILL: Your colleagues on the House Intelligence Committee, expanding their investigations. We heard a lot about it from Adam Schiff yesterday. You heard the response of the president calling this "presidential harassment." Do you agree with this broad expansion we are seeing in terms of investigations?</s>SUOZZI: There has to be a balance that we have to find in this process. We have a duty, as a separate branch of government, of oversight. That's our job. That's what the Constitution says we have to do. So we have to do our job to look at things where we think things are irregular and all of the different committees of jurisdiction. But it can't be only about investigations. We have to govern as well. So many other big issues going on in the country right now. We can't obfuscate the fact that we have a real duty to the American people of oversight, as every Congress has had throughout history.</s>HILL: Speaker Pelosi telling "Politico" in a recent interview that she is treading carefully anywhere the president is involved personally. Are you concern that, yes, there's importance of oversight, and that is what you are elected to do as part of your job, but is there a concern, though, about this very delicate line where things may come across as being purely politically motivated, as we saw the response from Kevin McCarthy?</s>SUOZZI: I think that's a great way to put it, a very delicate line. You're on a nice edge of balance. You can't go all the way over here and you ignore your responsibilities of oversight. And you can't go all the way over here that you become political and you're going after the president because he is from a different party. It's a balance. I believe the Republican Party, when in the majority, didn't do much investigating whatsoever. We had to find that right balance between what our obligation is constitutionally to do oversight of the president, of the executive branch of the United States of America while, at the same time, not letting it become something that's partisan. We hope our Republican colleagues will join us as other Democrats and Republicans throughout the history of this country have looked at things in a bipartisan fashion when it's for the good of the country.</s>HILL: Is there anything that would concern you and would be a step too far politically from your view?</s>SUOZZI: I think when people make a rush to judgment on things. And there's people out there saying, impeach the president today, investigate this right now. That's not responsible. One thing I'm very happy that the speaker is doing and the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee is doing and that other leaders of different committees in the House are saying, is we have to be very judicious, we have to go through the process, we have to follow the law, we have to follow the Constitution, and we have to follow our values, to make sure that everything we do is in the interest of the United States of America and the people we represent. Not in the interest of our party, not in the interest of some political agenda, but in the interest of the people of the country, the Constitution and our constitutional responsibilities.</s>HILL: Speaking of people you represent, you brought as your guest to the State of the Union, the president of the National Air Traffic Controllers' Association, who went 35 days working without a paycheck. The president didn't mention the 800,000 federal workers. What did you hear from him? What does he want you, meaning broader Democrats, to do to give in on and to agree to and to ensure there's not another shutdown?</s>SUOZZI: Kevin Manney (ph) is an air traffic controller that I brought. He's responsible for LaGuardia and JFK, some of the busiest air space anywhere in the United States of America. One of the things he said to me is, I have guys on my team that have peoples' lives in their hand. It is one of the most important jobs you could possibly imagine with incredible stress. I don't want them to worry about paying their bills. I don't want them to worry about if their car breaks down they're not going to have enough cash to pay for it. I don't want them to worry about anything else except for their jobs. And we can't forget, when this shutdown took place, 800,000 employees and their families were all effected in a negative way. There's a human story there. Every one of those 800,000 people is a story. Some people had the cash, they were fine, they could weather the storm. Other people were desperate. I heard about people selling their cars, trying to auction things off just to have enough cash to pay their rent or pay for medical bills. This is a human thing. In America, the strongest country in the world, we can't say, when Democrats disagree with Republicans, when the president disagrees with the Congress -- this has happened throughout our history -- we don't shut down the government. That's what banana republics do.</s>HILL: You have been pretty clear that you're OK with more money for a physical barrier as part of a comprehensive border security package. You've also said a number of times that people are really hung up on the world "wall" or the words "no wall." Are you confident that this bipartisan group is going to come to an agreement that the president will sign off on?</s>SUOZZI: We have been through these controversies in our history before. We end up working it out when they sit down and negotiation. People in my district are saying, why can't they sit down and work it out, this has been going on for years and years and years and they've ignored it so long, let's sit down and work it out once and for all. The happy news is the speaker said she will not interfere with the process. She will look at what the bipartisan committee does. We hope the president will say the same thing, don't interfere. Let these people that have been doing this for years and what they are talking about, that know the details, work together to find a comprehensive solution to this problem that gives us secure borders, robust border security, and protects some of the folks that have been here for decades playing by the rules, the DREAMers and TPS people, that we invited into this country, people looking to a path to citizenship, as well as other members of their family. Let's solve this problem once and for all working together for the good of the American people.</s>HILL: Congressman Tom Suozzi, appreciate your time. Thank you.</s>SUOZZI: Thank you. Thanks so much.</s>HILL: Coming up, crisis in the commonwealth. Three of Virginia's top lawmakers embroiled in controversy. Will they be forced to resign or will they fight to hold onto power?