Chairman Aguilar on ABC News Live

Joining us now from Capitol Hill is Democratic California Congressman Pete Aguular. Congressman, thanks so much for being here today. On the Senate floor today, we heard Senate uh Minority Leader Chuck Schumer say that his briefing with top administration officials last night, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, failed to answer key questions about Venezuela. We know that all lawmakers, sources tell us, will be briefed tomorrow, including you. What are your biggest unanswered questions at this point, Congressman? >> What's the strategy? uh what's the endgame? I think that uh all members of Congress want to know what the strategy that the administration has. Uh look, we we all understand that Nicholas Maduro was an illegitimate leader and a and a dictator. Um I don't lose any sleep about him not being in power, but what I do lose sleep over is the potential for young service members to be in harm's way. the fact that the president didn't rule out uh boots on the ground uh in in Venezuela. The fact that he continues to talk about this being about oil, not about narot trafficking. Uh these are all questions that the administration has to answer. Uh and they have to come to Congress and repres and understand that Congress is a co-equal branch of government here and uh they are uh dangerously close uh to this uh edge and uh they continue to go their own way which is just deeply problematic and I think the American people understand that. >> Steps can you are you prepared to take to get some of those answers from the administration? >> We'll see. Sometimes in these, you know, larger classified settings, um, it's difficult to to get them to answer questions. Uh, they do a very good job, as we've seen in prior classified sessions, of just filling up the time talking. Um, and, uh, as Marco Rubio did in prior classified sessions, um, when, uh, it has been, you know, reported that he, you know, said that occupation was not, um, what, uh, what the administration was seeking. I mean, those things are not, you know, helpful to to the relationship that we have uh with between the executive and and the congressional branch here. Um, but we're going to go and we want to hear what the administration has to say, hoping that they detail more concrete plans and a detailed strategy on what the path forward is. >> What do you think or hope is the plan forward? I'm sure a lot of your constituents asking you that question, wondering why did we do this? What what is the plan here in the next few days, weeks, months, years? >> I think what a lot of constituents are asking is, you know, why is the president talking about investing in oil infrastructure when we have in infrastructure here at home that needs help? Why are we going to send billions of dollars uh potentially to oil companies um you know, multi-trillion dollar uh entities uh when we have needs here at home? I think that's what the American public wants to know and that's what they're asking us as elected officials to to be mindful of. So I think those are some of the big, you know, variables or the the lack of the president ruling out boots on the ground and the resources that could be expended uh in this V Venezuelan mission. Um the president hasn't detailed any of that and as an appropriator, we're concerned about the resources that the DoD has already spent on these activities. We've been briefed uh in a classified session on those activities. We're going to have to continue to get briefed on on what those costs actually are. >> The president even suggesting that the US could reimburse those oil companies. Congressman, >> yeah, I mean, and that's that's that would take an act of Congress. Um and clearly uh that's not something that they're that they're interested in seeking. So, we don't know where this money would be coming from. This is again all part of uh the plan that the administration should have to come and and detail for people like Marco Rubio who have been you know here in Congress. You know as a senator he would not accept uh what uh what the administration is saying right now is an adequate answer. The fact that he's pedalling this now, these these theories now is just incredibly frustrating to a lot of us who respect the norms and and the rule of law and the uh and how things, you know, have been done in the past uh here in Congress. >> As you well know, there in Congress today marks 5 years since the January 6th attack on the capital. In a new website today, the White House is attempting to rewrite the history of what happened that day, putting the blame on Capitol police officers, blaming former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Uh you were there at the capital that day. Your reaction to this, Congressman? >> I was there that day. I served on the January 6th commission. Uh my my face is featured on that um you know, website that I thought was uh you know, a fake website, honestly, when I saw it the first time. Uh this is just another reason. And another example of Donald Trump trying to whitewash what actually happened. Uh we were there that day. We understand uh that you know uh the thousands of people who came uh to the capital grounds here, many of them wishing harm on members of Congress, Democrats and Republicans, who got in the way of Donald Trump and who weren't listening to him. Um we understand that the president sat for 3 hours in the White House while the attack on the capital was going on. Uh and those people came and some of them testified again here this morning uh to members of Congress uh that you know they came at the request of President Trump. They knew uh that he wanted them here. Um and as a result uh they received a pardon uh for that. So after years of prosecutorial work uh the those individuals the first act that the president did in you know when he assumed office last year was pardoning 1500 violent individuals uh many of them were serving sentences uh in federal prisons as a result of their actions. And now many of them have gone on to reaffend um carrying on uh a litany of charges from assaulting police officers uh to domestic abuse uh all around the country. Uh these individuals are spread across um you know virtually every state uh reaffending uh all because Donald Trump um you know asked them to come to the capital. They did what he asked them to do and he rewarded them. >> Congressman Pete Aguilar appreciate your time today. Thanks so much for joining us. >> Thanks Elizabeth.