Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) and Rep. Dan Kildee (D-MI) are Interviewed About Impeaching Trump.
CAMEROTA: OK. The second round of Democratic debates begin tonight here in the Motor City, and the stakes could not be higher. So what message do people in Michigan want to hear from these Democratic candidates? Let's bring in two experts. We have two of the state's Democratic lawmakers, Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, and Congressman Dan Kildee, two proud Michiganders. Brought your own cheering section, I see.</s>REP. DAN KILDEE (D-MI): That's true.</s>CAMEROTA: Very -- my gosh. They were out early at 5 a.m.</s>REP. DEBBIE DINGELL (D-MI): Hey, we're an early town.</s>CAMEROTA: I can see that. Great to have you both here.</s>DINGELL: Thank you.</s>CAMEROTA: Congressman, what does Michigan want?</s>KILDEE: I think people want to hear very serious plans, you know. I come from Flint, and everybody knows the story of Flint, but a lot of communities in Michigan that feel like they've been left behind during this period of general economic growth want to hear specific plans about how we bring everybody along. And particularly my hometown, what we don't want to hear is sympathy, and what we don't want are candidates to come and use Flint as the backdrop for a photo op. We need to hear specific plans about how we take the country forward in a way that it brings everybody along. Those kinds of economic policies are what people are looking for.</s>CAMEROTA: Congresswoman, do you agree? What do you think Michigan voters want to hear most?</s>DINGELL: They want to hear us talk about issues that matter to working men and women. So they want to hear about how we're going to keep jobs here. They want to talk about how we're going to keep manufacturing here. They want to talk about health care, and how much their health care costs are going up and their prescription drug costs. They want to be able to educate their kids. They want to have a safe and secure retirement. They want their pensions to be safe. Table- top issues that we didn't do a good job of as Democrats talking about in the last election. And we've got to trade. It's a very big one. We've got to do a far better job of talking about this time.</s>CAMEROTA: I don't hear either of you mentioning what has consumed so much of the conversation over the past week, which is race. Does this matter tonight, to hear how the candidates feel about this?</s>DINGELL: You're in the city of Detroit. I'd put two buckets. This debate has got two buckets. One is the Midwest, the heartland of America, wants to know we've got candidates who care about us. But you're also in a city that is coming back. Race is a critical issue and this city, downtown is coming back, what are you doing in the neighborhood? How are we? It's a very important issue for tonight.</s>KILDEE: Certainly can't talk about what happened in my hometown without considering race, and when we hear the president or see the president tweet the way he does, his message about the people of Baltimore, when we hear Baltimore, we think Detroit. We think Flint, we think Youngstown, we think Saginaw, we think Gary, Indiana. The president, I think, is -- is bringing race to this conversation in a really destructive way, when what he ought to be thinking about is how he as president could deal with those constituencies of his. And when he talks about Elijah Cummings in his district, that is a district that is a part of the United States of America. The president has a responsibility to those people to do something to try to lift them out of their circumstances. There's a racial dynamic to this, and the president uses it in the most cynical and the most destructive way.</s>CAMEROTA: And so you think that Baltimore is a synonym for all of those places. I mean, you think that when he says that -- Baltimore, what he means are cities that are maybe majority black, and that are struggling with poverty issues?</s>KILDEE: The president knows what he's doing. He, I think, has made a calculation that the way he wins is to divide this country, and to try to whip up support around his base and to divide us on racial lines or on other lines of demography, and it's a very destructive thing. It's un-American.</s>CAMEROTA: It did work in 2016.</s>KILDEE: To an extent it did. And you know, I think one of the big differences, and Debbie, obviously, was out there sounding the alarm very early. One of the big differences between 2016 and 2020 is that we know the threat now. People understand what this presidency represents, whereas in 2016, I think part of the problem we had, certainly here in Michigan, is the assumption that, well, you know, he can't win. And so a lot of folks either didn't vote or voted for a third-party candidate or came to vote on election day and voted in every race except president. I don't think we're going to see that take place. But we have -- we have our work cut out for us. We can't take anything for granted.</s>CAMEROTA: What do you think has changed since 2016 here?</s>DINGELL: Well, for starters, I'm worried. I think 2018 was about health care and it was a different election. I'm out. I'm out every single weekend talking to people, and I can feel it. There are people -- I am very concerned like Dan about what the president is doing. You know, this week it was coming -- our colleague, Elijah Cummings, but last week it was Rashida Tlaib. I'm the one that actually has the largest population of Arab Americans and Muslims in this country. I don't think he realizes, or he probably does, because I think he knows what he's doing. But the community takes it so personally. I have children that are third-generation Americans that are scared somebody is going to rip them out of their homes and never be seen again. I mean, I don't -- the president's job -- I respect the office of president, but his job is to unite us as a country, not to destroy us, and what he is doing isn't just going after the people he thinks he's going after, he is destroying communities. And do you think that people hear that differently this time, or will in 2020, than they did in 2016?</s>DINGELL: I think this race could go either way. I think people are more engaged than I've heard it. I'm out and about. And you know, farmers' markets even in Ann Arbor, and give minutes, three different people say different things. And anything can happen between now and November. This state is at play. Everybody needs to know their vote matters, and we're going to have to -- I hope everybody votes, because if they do vote, they have a responsibility.</s>CAMEROTA: I don't hear either of you also mentioning impeachment, in terms of an issue top at mind for voters. But you, Congressman, do you think that it is time to begin an impeachment inquiry, along with 106 -- 6 or 7 of your fellow House Democrats? Do you still have that position?</s>KILDEE: I do.</s>CAMEROTA: And did the Mueller hearings change anything for you?</s>KILDEE: No, because I had already come to that conclusion before Mr. Mueller testified but I think, you know, obviously each member comes to their own conclusion on their own time line. And I think it's really important that we understand we have to be able to do more than one thing at a time. I don't think it's a choice between the question of exercising oversight and in my case, believing that that oversight extends to initiating an impeachment inquiry but really focusing on those issues that people actually talk about when they're sitting around their kitchen table. If we can't do both of those things at the same time, I think we're going to have a very difficult time.</s>CAMEROTA: Congresswoman, where are you on an impeachment inquiry?</s>DINGELL: Well, I voted no on -- not to table the green amendment -- or the green resolution, because I was so disgusted by what he was doing to the community that I live in. I do believe we've got to do -- we've got to follow the facts. Nobody's above the law. But we've got to stay focused on issues that matter to the people.</s>CAMEROTA: And does that mean it's time to start an impeachment inquiry?</s>DINGELL: I think the committees are doing their investigations. I think we have chairmen doing their job, and I think we have to do both, and I think we have to be very very careful. And I don't want to see us get President Trump reelected.</s>CAMEROTA: OK. Congressman Kildee, Congresswoman Dingell, thank you for rolling out the red carpet for us here in Michigan.</s>KILDEE: Welcome to Detroit.</s>DINGELL: We love having you here.</s>CAMEROTA: We're having a great time. Thanks so much for being here -- John.</s>BERMAN: It is great to be here in Michigan. Democratic candidates in this debate, will face off on the issues, they will have to deal with the issue of President Trump, and the things he has said over the last few days. There is new reporting from inside the White House that White House aides are not happy with his attacks on the city of Baltimore and African-American Congressman Elijah Cummings. The chair of the Republican National Committee gives us her take, next.