MSNBC "All in with Chris Hayes" - Transcript: Robert Mueller and Syria

Interview

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HAYES: Congressman Jerry Nadler, thanks for sticking with me. You are a crucial player in all this. What do you make of what`s happened?

REP. JERROLD NADLER (D), NEW YORK: Well, I think the President is desperate and flailing about. I think he is considering apparently firing Rosenstein in order to either fire Mueller or put the brakes on Mueller.
That would be an absolute act of obstruction of justice. And in fact, the President, if he did that, would have pre-convicted himself out of his own mouth by what he`s been saying and tweeting in the last few days as to his corrupt motive which is to stop a criminal investigation. That`s the definition of obstruction of justice. I hope we can prevent this. I know the New York Times story tonight that says he`s more -- the people around him are more afraid of what the Southern District in New York may find about Mr. Cohen and so forth than this.

And if they`re rational in the White House, that would argue don`t fire Comey and don`t fire Rosenstein and Mueller because you got -- that`s not the main threat. But I don`t know if they`re rational in the White House.
I would also say I agree with Senator Hirono about the Syrian strike and I would say that striking Syria at this point would be illegal without Congressional authorization because Congress has the war-declaring power and there`s no excuse. You cannot pretend that an attack on Syria has anything to do with the attack on the World Trade Center which is the only existing or on the people who perpetrated that which is the only existing authorization.

HAYES: You`re talking about the authorization to use military force which shortly after 9/11 which has been used to justify military activity as many as nine countries including the bombing in Syria.

NADLER: That there would be no shred of justification. You can`t connect that to Syria.

HAYES: Well, also, what do you make of the -- I mean, when you think about the President of the United States right now and the way he has acted today on Twitter, the pressure he`s under, the fact he apparently called Michael Cohen today in violation one would think of any sound legal counsel simultaneously making decisions about how to Marshall the forces of the most powerful military that has ever existed in human history.

NADLER: I think this is very, very dangerous. And I`m frankly very worried. I don`t trust the President`s judgment on military affairs now. He`s gotten rid of most of the people around him who might give sounder judgment. It`s frightening to think what stands between us and the new war in Syria is John Bolton.

HAYES: Well, it sounds like he is advocating for that very wide threat.

NADLER: Well, that`s the point. That`s the point. He`s not -- he`s the biggest war hawk. But coming back to the whole question of obstruction of justice, this country was attacked. We were attacked by the Russians who tried to subvert our election and our democratic system. Comey now reveals that when the President was apprised of this, his reaction was political.

His reaction was how does this affect me, how does this affect my legitimacy. It had nothing to do with how do we stop the Russians from attacking again and how do we protect the country? And he`s been behaving ever since then purely on a defensive personal level and as if he is above the law. And we must establish that no man is above the law.

HAYES: Three colleagues on your committee, Bob Goodlatte, Trey Gowdy and Devin Nunes, these are House GOP lawyers --

NADLER: Lawmakers --

HAYES: Lawmakers, Goodlatte of course, the Chair of your Committee.

They`re calling on Rosenstein to release the Comey memos that triggered the Special Counsel. Are they acting in good faith?

NADLER: I don`t think so. I think it`s the latest in a series of diversions.

HAYES: Was that news to you, by the way, they`re doing that?

NADLER: Yes, it was news to me. It`s the latest in a series of diversions that calls for information about the investigation of Hillary Clinton which is past tense and of interest to historians at this point but not really of current interest. No, they have been following a consistent strategy of diversion, of trying to discredit the Special Counsel and in advance and you know, like a game of Three-Card Monte, don`t watch what`s important.

Watch this.

HAYES: All right, Congressman Jerry Nadler, thank you for making some time on this Friday night.

NADLER: Thank you.

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