CNN "Erin Burnett Outfront" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Ted Lieu (D), California

Interview

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BURNETT: OUTFRONT now, Democratic Congressman Ted Lieu who's on the Judiciary Committee, obviously front and center when it comes to Jeff Sessions and Rod Rosenstein.

Congressman, the president went on to call the FBI raid a disgraceful situation. He called it a witch-hunt. He said the group of people involved are the most biased group. He refused to rule out firing Bob Mueller.

Your reaction?

REP. TED LIEU (D), CALIFORNIA: Yes. Thank you, Erin, for your question.

The president's comments are un-American and disgraceful. Fundamental to American democracy is a rule of law and what the U.S. attorney's office for the southern district of New York did today was a vindication of the principle that no one is above the law, not the president, not his attorney, no one.

BURNETT: So, the big question tonight is of course what this raid was about. Here's what we know: about a dozen agents were involved, at least three locations were involved, a lot of documents were taken from bank documents to communications between Trump and Michael Cohen, and a lot of this related to Cohen's payment to Stormy Daniels.

So, the question I have for you, Congressman, is do you think Mueller's investigation has expanded too far, but this is proof that it expanded beyond its limits and that that's why this had to be referred to the southern district of New York and Mueller himself couldn't do it?

LIEU: This is a great example of Robert Mueller knowing his limits. He realized that whatever this is about Michael Cohen who was not within his jurisdiction, so he sent it to the U.S. attorney's office for the southern district in New York. It was their decision to request the search warrants and then an independent federal judge had authorized the search warrants.

And, by the way, last month, Congresswoman Kathleen Rice and I wrote a letter to the FBI asked them to investigate Michael Cohen because that $130,000 payment looked like a massive violation of campaign finance laws.

BURNETT: Is that what you think this is all about, campaign finance laws? That's going to be the extent of it?

LIEU: It's certainly possible. The public reporting shows there may have been bank fraud dating back several years.

[19:35:01] We don't know, but we do know that the judge thought that Michael Cohen either was not going to cooperate or would have destroyed evidence and authorizing these search warrants because one of the first requirements is that the U.S. attorney's office has to show they could have gotten this information another way.

BURNETT: Right and, of course, you know, the Cohen has said he's been cooperating there. Obviously, they felt they didn't have that that -- they didn't have a cooperation at all. You heard what the president said there, Congressman. The attorney general made a terrible mistake when he recused himself. We would have put a different attorney general in. He made a very terrible mistake for the country.

Trump obviously livid at his attorney general and talking about biased, witch-hunt, disgraced referring to Bob Mueller's team. Is Bob Mueller's job at risk right now or not?

LIEU: It's possible. I really don't understand why Donald Trump is acting the way he is, because Robert Mueller is the only person that can clear his name. And if Donald Trump, in fact, did nothing wrong. He would want the investigation to proceed forward and to conclude and then to see if his name gets cleared.

But the actions and statements by Donald Trump show evidence of guilt. It shows consciousness of guilt because an innocent person would not be acting the way our president is.

BURNETT: The president finally just last week broke his silence on the Stormy Daniels issue, which again I just want to point out we know was at the core of what was they were seeking today, among other things. But Stormy Daniels was at the core. And he was asked specifically, did he know about that payment?

Here's how he answered the question on Air Force One.

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BURNETT: Obviously said that to reporters he didn't say it under oath. Do you think he told the truth?

LIEU: "The Washington Post" has documented that Donald Trump has lied over two thousand times since he got inaugurated. So, I don't have any idea whether Donald Trump told the truth or not. But I do know that this Stormy Daniels $130,000 payment looked like a pretty clear violation of campaign finance laws, where the maximum contribution or payment would have been $5,400.

BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Congressman Lieu. I appreciate your time tonight.

LIEU: Thank you, Erin.

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