CNN Newsroom: Interview with Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA)

Interview

"When it comes to a shutdown, Jim, Democrats are working for working people. And in the Senate Republicans and Democrats came together to fund the government, take care of our troops, take care of our police, take care of our border agents, take care of the American people. The president stands ready to sign that legislation. House Democrats stand ready to pass it.

But we've seen complete failure by House Republicans. They've failed to govern. They've failed to fund, and by doing that they have failed to protect the American people.

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Yes. I can hear you.

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Jim, as I said, when it comes to the shutdown Democrats, we're working for working people, and we see the Republicans have failed the American people. They have failed to govern so they have failed to fund. And by failing to govern and fund they've failed to protect the American people. They are the failures.

And if we're talking about Kevin McCarthy's job, and if that's what Kevin McCarthy is worried about, then he's not worried about the millions of people who will be affected if the government shuts down. The federal workers who won't get paid. The FBI agents, the border agents, the troops who won't get paid. The air traffic controllers who won't get paid. We kind of need them to move Americans around so our economy can keep humming along.

And so this isn't about one person's job. And if Kevin McCarthy put the country ahead of his job, I promise you two things will happen. We'll fund the government. We'll have votes on the Democratic side to do it, and actually the clowns to his right, they don't have the votes to replace him. There's no alternative and they don't want an alternative. And so if he could just not be afraid of a shadow and not a spectator speaker the right result will come out.

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Well, the American people, you know, want the Department of Justice to work for them, and to hear Jim Jordan, you know, make these baseless attacks on Merrick Garland, I thought folks should know that Jordan has no credibility. And funny enough, as soon as I started speaking he starting running away as if I had like a congressional subpoena in my hand. But you have to discredit MAGA Republicans every time they try and land any of their points because these are pro- insurrectionists.

They rooted for the insurrection, they were part of inciting it, they acquitted it when we voted on impeachment, and they get comfort by going to visit the January 6th defendants. And so they don't have credibility. And then we have to pivot to, you know, debunking any of the false claims they put forward and also to let the American people know that if we were given the keys again to govern in Congress that we'll focus and deliver on what they want. So discredit, defend and deliver. You know, the three D's is I think the best way to deal with these guys.

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Well, it doesn't look good, Jim. And, you know, I'll say right now I'm waiting to see what my New Jersey colleagues do. You know, some in the delegation have spoken up. So, you know, this is their delegation in the other chamber. It doesn't look good. But what the American people should see from this is that the independent attorney general who was accused this week of favoring Democrats just indicted a Democratic chairman on the Foreign Relations Committee.

So that should put to bed any idea that Merrick Garland is doing anybody any favors. He's not showing, as you said, any favor nor any fear of being independent. And I hope that makes people feel better as look at, you know, how he's making decisions with the former president and how he's making decisions regarding the current president's son.

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Jim, they will find some crazy interpretation of this, you know, to further justify why they need to continue to impeach Joe Biden. And I just want your viewers to know that the impeachment of Joe Biden, and by the way, as we're hurdling towards a shutdown, next week these guys are holding their first hearing on impeachment. It's just a continuation of the insurrection.

They've never accepted Joe Biden as the legitimate president. They, you know, tried to insurrect their way back to the White House. That didn't work. They are now trying to impeach him. So this is just a continuation of their failed efforts to overthrow Joe Biden. It's not going to work. The American people are going to reject crazy and chaos. They want community and confidence.

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That's right. Thanks, Jim.

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