MSNBC "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell" - Transcript: Russian Investigations

Interview

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O`DONNELL: Joining us now is Congressman Jim Himes, Democrat from  Connecticut, and member of the House Intelligence Committee.

Congressman Himes, we have more reporting tonight from the "Wall Street  Journal" about that Erik Prince meeting, which he reported to you happened  by happenstance. But the recent reporting indicated it was very well  planned. And now, the new element of it is "The Wall Street Journal"  reporting that Mr. Mueller`s investigators have heard testimony from a  witness that the donor, Erik Prince, wasn`t introduced to the Russian by  intermediaries from the United Arab Emirates as he had told the House  panel, the people said.
So, it looks like he wasn`t -- the intermediaries had nothing to do with  it, according to the reporting we have most recently. And is that the area  you want to follow-up with, with Erik Prince?

REP. JIM HIMES (D-CT), HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: Well, yes, that`s  right. I mean, this new reporting, and there`s not communication between  the congressional investigations and Bob Mueller`s investigation. But this  new reporting and this new shadowy character, George Nader, who apparently  if reports are to be believed was at that meeting and there was some  allegation that perhaps that meeting was designed in advance -- partly  again, this is allegation -- to open a line of communications with the  Russians.
That is a story, if it is true, I`m reading the same press reports that you  are, if that is true, that is radically at odds with what Mr. Prince told  the committee, and I don`t feel badly saying that because, of course, that  transcript has been made public and the public can look at what he said.  He basically said, if I might summarize, that, yes, I was just wandering  around the lobby of the hotel, went and grabbed a beer very briefly with  the guy, we didn`t talk about anything important and I moved on.

So, obviously, we would like to know if, in fact, he was being honest with  the committee and if not, what that meeting, in fact, was all about.

O`DONNELL: And what do you have to do to get him back as a witness?

HIMES: Well, my suspicion would be -- if you read the transcript he wasn`t a particularly friendly witness. My suspicion is that we would have to 
subpoena him.

Now, this gets to the a larger issue about what is the Republican majority  in the House willing to do, not just Mr. Prince, are they willing to have a  subpoena because we have the possibility that he was not honest with the  United States Congress? But are they willing to push back on all the other  areas in which witnesses have basically thumbed their nose at the United  States Congress? We have this broad assertion of executive privilege, as  has been reported from Steve Bannon, from Hope Hicks, where they say we`re  not talking at all about our time in the White House or even during the  transition, a historically unprecedented assertion of executive privilege.

And remember, Lawrence, this is not just a -- you know, Trump -- anti- Trump, pro-Trump fight. This is a precedent for the United States  Congress. You know, there will come a time when the Republicans want to do  an investigation, we remember Benghazi, for example, when if anybody can  just walk in and say, hey, I`m not answering those questions because I  don`t feel like it, or because whatever, you have very badly damaged the ability of the Congress to do investigations.

O`DONNELL: And what -- this goes to the question of Lewandowski`s  testimony too. He refused to answer questions apparently today, and the  remedies for that, I guess, are the same issue of can you subpoena him?  Will the Republicans agree to subpoena him?

HIMES: Well, and again, you heard from Adam Schiff, so I don`t think I`m  speaking out of school when I say that, yes, Mr. Lewandowski and his  attorney basically decided they wouldn`t answer any questions that they did  not determine were relevant to our investigation. Now, they weren`t under  subpoena, so there`s a whole conversation what you`re required to do when  you appear voluntarily.

But again, there is no way that either Mr. Lewandowski or his attorney, who  are not privy to any of the operations or history or evidence that has been  presented to the Congress -- there`s no way they can make a judgment of  relevancy.

So, again, my Republican friends need to make a decision. I understand  that this whole investigation is steeped in bipartisan fervor. But they  really need to make a decision whether they want the Congress, you know,  some day they will want to work their magic on a Democratic president,  somebody, they will want to work their magic on one Hillary Clinton, do  they want Hillary Clinton to come to Congress and say, you know what, I`m  not answering your questions because I don`t deem them to be relevant to  your investigation?

O`DONNELL: Representative Jim Himes, thank you very much for joining us  tonight.

HIMES: Thank you, Lawrence.

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