CNN "CNN Newsroom" - TRANSCRIPT Pretty Atty. Finds Classified Docs At Former VP's Indiana Home; Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) Discusses About Classified Documents Found At Pence's Private Home; All 11 Victims In Dance Hall Massacre Identified; 66-Year-Old Man Accused of Gunning Down Seven In Half Moon Bay. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Interview

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GOLODRYGA: Congressman Ro Khanna is a Democrat from California and he serves as the Deputy Whip for the Progressive Caucus.

Congressman, thanks so much for joining us. I'm assuming that you heard the conversation leading up to this. So first, let me ask you your response to news that were classified materials found at the home of the former vice president. And in addition to that, what should be done to rectify what's clearly a broken system at this point?

REP. RO KHANNA (D-CA): Well, I think that's exactly right. We need to stop the partisan attacks on the President or Vice President Pence. If there is a system that is broken, then we need to figure out how do we fix it, how do we make sure that classified documents in the executive branch are viewed only in a certain location that they aren't commingled with other documents and that they aren't removed from the premises.

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I think that would be much more constructive than for the Republicans to try to score political points on the President.

GOLODRYGA: So whose purview does that fall under? Is it the DOJ, the DNI, Congress itself? KHANNA: Well, it's all three of them. I think the Department of Justice and the DNI can make recommendations to Congress and then Congress can pass a bill to make sure that this doesn't happen in the future.

GOLODRYGA: You call for a bipartisan look into how President Biden ended up with classified documents at his home saying earlier this week that no one can defend this. As you've heard from Manu, this Republican-led Congress now is already starting two investigations at least into how President Biden handled classified documents. Are you convinced? Do you trust your fellow Congressman on the other side of the aisle to open an equally fair investigation into how this happened with both Republicans and Democrats?

KHANNA: I think that should be the inquiry and I hope that's what they'll do. And what I said in full context with President Biden is no one is going to defend the classified information not being where it belongs. But what I also said is that President Biden has shown extraordinary character by cooperating right away, being fully forthcoming, opening his home to search and I think he's handled it as well as he can. And it looks like Vice President Pence from appearances as soon as he found that these documents is cooperating. That I think is what people need to realize in stark contrast to what President Trump did.

GOLODRYGA: So the American public has been about a year and a half now hearing the significance of these classified documents and the potential harm to National Security, they're lying around in an unsecured locations can bring. And as we just heard from Manu when he heard - spoke to both Republicans and Democrats, this is not a high priority, legislatively, at least for your colleagues. Why not? Because Americans have been told this should be.

Well, Americans are concerned but with due respect, well, this is a topic 24/7 on cable news. You know what I hear about when I go back to my district, the price of eggs, the layoffs happening with tech companies and how people are going to get jobs, the cost of going to college, the cost of medical debt.

And this president and our Congress is trying to focus on helping ordinary Americans and improve their lives. Does that mean that classified documents should be kept safe? Of course, that needs to be a priority and legislation. But it shouldn't be the only thing that the country is talking about when there are real problems that Americans are facing.

GOLODRYGA: Let's talk about some of the problems that your home state is facing. Really, this is a national tragedy, but the spate of shootings just the past few days have taken place in your home state of California. The shooting at Half Moon Bay is not far from the district you represent.

My question to you is given that you live in a state and represent constituents in a state with some of the toughest gun laws in the country, what can you tell them when all that they simply want is to go to work and not worry about being killed, go to a dance studio and not worry about being killed?

KHANNA: I'm heartbroken over the two tragedies. And as someone who represents an Asian-American majority district, this has really taken a toll in particular on the Asian American community. We need to tackle gun violence. Yes, California has strict gun laws and these weapons would be illegal to be bought in California. But we're the United States of America and people are purchasing them in other states and they're getting in to California. No one state can tackle this by themselves.

So I hope we finally tackle gun violence and then we need to look at the motives and why this person in Half Moon Bay who apparently has had a history of workplace violence, why that didn't raise red flags and make it hard for him to get a gun. All those questions need to be answered.

GOLODRYGA: The President is quickly calling for Congress to come back and ban assault weapons. You were pessimistic on this issue prior to these last few shootings, you remain pessimistic on it?

KHANNA: Well, we did it. We passed it in the House last Congress. I hope we'll vote on it again. But I need to see some Republicans willing to break with the party to say you can respect the Second Amendment in this country. You can respect the fact that most people who own guns are law abiding, but we don't need military-like weapons in the hands of civilians. And I just think that's common sense. I hope we'll see some religion on the other side.

GOLODRYGA: Congressman Ro Khanna, thank you for your time.

KHANNA: Thank you.

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