CNN "The Lead with Jake Tapper" - Transcript: Interview with Congressman Mike Quigley of Illinois

Interview

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TAPPER: Welcome back.

Sticking with the politics lead now, a former Trump campaign aide telling CNN that investigators for special counsel Mueller asked him about Hope Hicks' claims that there was zero contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives. Claims made just two days after the 2016 elections, claims that obviously were false.

Joining me now is Democratic Congressman Mike Quigley of Illinois. He serves on the House Intelligence Committee.

Congressman, thanks for joining us.

Your committee questioned Hope Hicks on Tuesday. Sources say during that meeting, during those questions, she admitted telling, quote, white lies on behalf of the president, refused to answer questions about her time inside the White House. I know you were there for about five hours of the nine-hour testimony.

Was she asked about that denial she made?

REP. MIKE QUIGLEY (D-IL), HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: That's right.

Oh, I think the nine hours she got asked about everything, including that. What's most disturbing is the fact that she wasn't able to answer because of the gag order, questions involving the most critical time in her involvement with the Trump associates.

TAPPER: Yesterday, she announced she's leaving the White House in the coming weeks. Did you have any inkling this was coming? Do you think it has something to do with the Russian investigation?

QUIGLEY: No inkling at all. I thought she was calm, composed, extraordinarily well-prepared. I heard rumblings that the president said something about, how could you be so stupid? I think she was anything but stupid. She was extraordinarily ready for that interview yesterday. And aside from the fact she couldn't talk about certain things and time frames because of the gag order, you know, I had a hard time believing that she wasn't forthcoming about the other periods.

TAPPER: In terms of the comments made about telling white lies on behalf of the president, there's, obviously, a big difference between telling somebody on the phone he's in a meeting, he can't talk to you, which is a white lie that I think nobody would really object to, and lying to the public, lying to a reporter about something of consequence.

Did she mean one or the other in particular?

QUIGLEY: You know, it's hard to tell. If we're not allowed to push a witness to answer questions about all time frames, it's extraordinarily difficult to know. You know, it's deep within her own mind what she really meant, how much she was willing to protect the president, and it's clear to me in watching witnesses, perhaps now over 60 and over a year's period, those close to the president were willing to do just about anything to defend him. So, I suppose if we're lucky, we'll get her back under subpoena under this time frame and we'll find out more.

But right now, we've been stalled and stymied on this investigation because my Republican friends are willing to let the White House install a gag order on our key witnesses.

TAPPER: Speaking of your Republican friends, take a listen to your colleague, Republican Congressman Tom Rooney who's also on the House Intelligence Committee also.

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TAPPER: How do you respond, sir?

QUIGLEY: Yes. I mean, putting aside yesterday's testimony, because in the grand scheme of things, it's not that critical, we have not even touched on money laundering, right? Deutsche Bank was fined $610 million for helping the Russians launder money, and who was the Trump financial world financing? Trump associates. It came from Deutsche Bank.

We haven't talked about Peter Smith. We've let people like Sessions, Trump Jr., Lewandowski, and Bannon not answer critical questions. So, sure, it's taken a year, a lot of that because we've wasted time on the memo, and we let the White House dictate how we're going to move forward on the investigation. If they are serious about this, let Mr. Nunes stand aside. I don't think this is on Mr. Rooney. I think it's on the speaker of

the House for letting them do this, he is complicit as anyone in stalling this investigation and, frankly, obstructing it.

TAPPER: The White House has not implemented the sanctions that Congress overwhelmingly passed against Russia for election interference. Do you think that that is relevant to the Russian investigation?

QUIGLEY: It's extraordinary that no one in the White House -- no one in the majority, in the House and Senate, hasn't spoken out about this. In any other law passed so overwhelmingly that the executive branch says we're not going to enforce this, it's just beyond comprehension. And the fact of the matter is, the White House has said, and the president has said there's nothing to this.

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