Former Republican Rep. Will Hurd shares his ideas for an ‘American Reboot’

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• Amna Nawaz:

  When Congressman Will Hurd announced in 2019 he would not seek reelection in his competitive border district, he was the House Republicans' only Black member and one of the few in his party to openly criticize then-President Donald Trump.

  Now the former congressman says it's time for a total overhaul of America's political system.

  Will Hurd sat down with Judy Woodruff recently to discuss his new book, "American Reboot: An Idealist's Guide to Getting Big Things Done."

• Judy Woodruff:

  Former Congressman Will Hurd, thank you very much for joining us. And congratulations on the book.

  There's so much to ask you about, but I do want to start with immigration. On Friday, the Biden administration announced that it's rescinding what's called Title 42. This was the edict that migrants could not apply for legal asylum. They're rolling that back.

  Was that the right move?

• Fmr. Rep. Will Hurd (R-TX):

  It wasn't.

  What's happening at the border right now is the worst — the border the worse it's ever been. And it truly is a crisis. And this is being fueled by a number of factors. But there's things that we can be doing. We also can't treat everybody as if they're an asylum seeker. Coming to the United States to seek asylum because you're looking for a better-paying job is not a reason to apply for asylum.

  And so the fact that this started in the last administration and continued under this administration, this is not a best practice.

• Judy Woodruff:

  I want to ask you about Ukraine. You're a former CIA officer. So much heartache right now and commentary about what the U.S. and other countries should be doing or not doing.

  At this point, under this administration, just this year, the United States has spent $14.5 billion to help the Ukrainians through security assistance, humanitarian assistance. What more should, could the U.S. and American citizens be doing?

• Fmr. Rep. Will Hurd:

  I think oftentimes, we look at top-line numbers, but we need to be looking at the things that we're actually giving.

  I have been connected with the national security community for over two decades. And one of the things I learned, whether it was my time in back alleys of dangerous places as an undercover officer in the CIA, or working in Congress on the Intelligence Committee, we should have a very simple policy: Your friends should love you, and your enemies should fear you.

  This is a principle I talk about in the book. When President Zelenskyy is saying, I need more help, my country needs more help, and here are some of the things you can do, I think we should listen to him. We should be giving them the kinds of tools that they need in order to bring a true end to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

  The longer this goes on, the bigger the impact is going to be on Eastern Europe.

• Judy Woodruff:

  Let's talk about your book. You want a complete reboot, as the title says, of America — the American political system.

  You talk about how what we have now is not healthy. You talk about a country in decline. In a nutshell — and there's a lot here for people to take a look at. But, in a nutshell, what is wrong with the system right now?

• Fmr. Rep. Will Hurd:

  I think, in a nutshell, what's wrong with the system is that we have elected officials that are appealing to the edges and the extreme edges of the party, not the middle.

  That's driven by how a districts are designed. And you have too many leaders on both sides of the political divide that are more interested in fearmongering than trying to inspire. I saw it when I was in Congress, when I was a Black Republican representing a 71 percent Latino district. Nobody thought I ever had a chance.

  When I won,everybody said there's no way this guy is getting reelected. And I continued to do it. Why? Because I showed up to places, and I realized eyes that way more unites us as a country than divides us. And when you focus on those things, you can actually get big things done.

• Judy Woodruff:

  You have plenty of criticism in the book of former President Trump.

  And you have said that you think his influence is waning in the Republican Party. And yet — and we know some of the candidates he's backing are not ahead in their races, but most of them are embracing some form of Trumpism.

  How do you work with that?

• Fmr. Rep. Will Hurd:

  Sure, but I can also give you a list of candidates that won despite not having Donald Trump's support.

  And you can look at — let's look at Alabama. Everybody thought Mo Brooks was going to be the candidate, and that was because of Donald Trump's support. So I'm not saying that he doesn't have support and there isn't a group, but that that influence is waning, what I would consider more the authoritarian wing of the Republican Party.

  But you have enough examples to say that this is not a lock and that this is the only way to win is by embracing that authoritarianism. Republicans are taking the House back in 2022. It's almost a fait accompli, likely to take back the Senate.

  And the way we do that really matters. And what I'm talking about is not just how you win elections, but it's also about how you should govern, because this pendulum that keeps swing back in every election cycle, that's not — that's not good and that's not healthy for the country.

• Judy Woodruff:

  Well, let me ask you that two issues that have been raised in campaigns, where Republicans are running, and running well.

  One of them is Critical Race Theory. Do you think that should be an issue in these congressional and Senate races?

• Fmr. Rep. Will Hurd:

  Look, it's simple. Slavery happened. It influenced the country, right? Jim Crow happened. It influenced the country. My dad's Black. My mom's white. They live in the house that they live in now because it was the only place that they were allowed to buy a home.

  That meant me, my brother, and my sister can only go into — go to certain schools. We should talk about our history, warts and all. But the way you talk about it matters.

• Judy Woodruff:

  And one other issue is, when Republican candidates are asked, did Joe Biden win the election, is he the legitimate president of the United States, many of them are ducking that. What should the answer be?

• Fmr. Rep. Will Hurd:

  The answer is, Joe Biden won the election, period, full stop, and it was lost by Donald Trump.

  It was lost by Donald Trump because he was incapable of growing the Republican Party to different groups.

• Judy Woodruff:

  Two other quick questions, Will Hurd.

  One is, for the first impeachment of former President Trump, you voted not to impeach him. You said the pressure that he was putting on the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to dig up dirt on Joe Biden and his son was not illegal, while you disagreed with it.

  Do you today regret that, given…

• Fmr. Rep. Will Hurd:

  No.

• Judy Woodruff:

  … the commentary about the apparent signal that that sent, that people like Fiona Hill, who worked in the Trump White House, said emboldened Vladimir Putin to go into Ukraine?

• Fmr. Rep. Will Hurd:

  Well, do I — would I have changed my decision? No.

• Judy Woodruff:

  Right.

• Fmr. Rep. Will Hurd:

  Because my standard for impeachment was very simple. And it was a violation of the law.

  And Adam Schiff was saying that this was extortion. And the preconditions for extortion didn't exist in that phone call. There's a whole host of reasons of why Vladimir Putin decided to go into Ukraine at the time that he went into Ukraine. And that phone call, that issue, I think, was not the biggest decision that Vladimir Putin used to go in.

• Judy Woodruff:

  Last thing.

  I know you say this is all about the issues and wanting to improve our political system. A number of your friends, though, say you are — have thought about, are thinking about running for president in 2024. Is that something that's in the cards?

• Fmr. Rep. Will Hurd:

  Look, it's great that you write a really good book and everybody thinks you're running for president.

  And the reality is, I have been lucky to serve my country in different ways, best career, being in the CIA, working on the most important issues. It was awesome representing people in Washington, D.C., when I was in Congress.

  If an opportunity comes from me to serve my country again, I will evaluate it when that time comes.

• Judy Woodruff:

  The door's open.

• Fmr. Rep. Will Hurd:

  Like I said, I will evaluate it when the opportunity potentially arises.

• Judy Woodruff:

  Former Congressman Will Hurd.

  The book is "American Reboot: An Idealist's Guide to Getting Big Things Done."

  Thank you very much.

• Fmr. Rep. Will Hurd:

  It's always a pleasure to be with you.