CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview With California Congressman Ted Lieu

Interview

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BLITZER: I agree, very significant development. Evan, Jim, thanks very much for your reporting.

Joining us now, Congressman Ted Lieu. He's a Democrat who serves on the Judiciary and Foreign Relations Committees.

Congressman, let me get your reaction. The White House says they have been advised that the president had the power to fire Robert Mueller directly. What's your reaction to that?

REP. TED LIEU (D), CALIFORNIA: Thank you, Wolf, for the question.

The president does not have the power to directly fire Robert Mueller. He would have to do what Richard Nixon did, and he would have to fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, then stick in someone else and get that person to fire Robert Mueller.

When Nixon tried it, it did not work out well for him. It will not work out well for Donald Trump.

BLITZER: Does the president have the authority to rewrite the code of criminal conduct involving a special counsel? Could he do that on his own?

Maybe that's part of the research the White House is coming up with to go ahead and say the president could fire him directly and not necessarily have to go through Rod Rosenstein?

LIEU: It's possible. But that would take time. And there's no reason to believe that people would actually consent to rewriting the code that way.

And keep in mind what we have here is lawlessness. We have the president who is trying to get people fired because they are standing up and enforcing the law. These search warrants on Michael Cohen, they were executed by the U.S. attorney's office for the Southern District of New York. It was done according to law.

There was nothing there that showed that anything was wrong. If the president were to get people fired, it's only because he doesn't like what's happening with the rule of law.

BLITZER: If the White House, Congressman, has sought advice on the president's authority to directly fire Robert Mueller, the special counsel, why are so many of your Republican colleagues convinced that the president will never let Mueller finish -- the president will let Mueller finish his investigation and won't be fired?

LIEU: I don't know the answer to that.

But I do agree with Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, who said if the president were to fire Mueller or get him fired, that would be political suicide.

And I think that's true. The American people understand that our country was built on the rule of law. And we really have a choice here. Do we want the rule of Trump or do we want the rule of law? I believe the American people would choose the rule of law.

I'm deeply disappointed that people like Speaker Ryan have remained so silent on this issue.

BLITZER: Let's say the president were to fire Robert Mueller, Rod Rosenstein, Jeff Sessions, the attorney general. What are the immediate actions that you think will need to be taken?

LIEU: All options would be on the table.

I also believe people would take to the streets. And you will see even larger marches and rallies than the Women's March and the Marsh For Our Lives. I think the American people understand what is at stake here.

This is a turning point for our democracy, for our country if the president would be completely lawless and fire Rosenstein or Sessions or get Mueller fired.

BLITZER: There's now, as you know, a second federal investigation under way. The Robert Mueller investigation, but now the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan has got a separate investigation under way.

Does the president make his problems go away if he interferes in the Mueller investigation, now that this second investigation is under way?

LIEU: No, he does not.

Last month, Congresswoman Kathleen Rice and I wrote a letter to the FBI asking them to investigate Michael Cohen, as well as "The National Enquirer," for making two payments to two women to silence negative stories they were going to say about the president, about their affairs.

Those are massive violations of campaign finance laws. That's what the U.S. attorney's office for the Southern District of New York is investigating. And that investigation is going to continue regardless of what happens to Mueller, Rosenstein or Sessions.

BLITZER: You heard Michael Cohen's reaction to CNN's Don Lemon, to the raid that went down yesterday. He says he's unhappy to have his residence raided, his office raided.

What do you make of that?

LIEU: Well, certainly, he would be unhappy and I think he acknowledges that he would have done things differently.

But for this to have happened, an independent federal judge had to look at the evidence and conclude there was probable cause that evidence of crimes would be found at Cohen's residence or office.

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So, that's pretty significant. They were looking at some pretty significant evidence of actual crimes that they thought Cohen had committed. If I were Michael Cohen, I would be very scared now.

BLITZER: You remember yesterday the president said that the FBI broke, they into his residence. They broke into his office to start taking documents.

Michael Cohen just told Don Lemon that the FBI agents were very polite. They worked through the process. You believe that Cohen is on the same page as the president?

LIEU: As often is the case, the president of the United States does not know what he's talking about.

Michael Cohen was there. He saw the professionalism and dedication of the FBI agents. I believe Michael Cohen when he said that the FBI agents were courteous and they did their jobs, as they're required to do.

BLITZER: Just how vulnerable is President Trump right now in this new investigation into Michael Cohen? LIEU: If the president or his campaign in any way coordinated with

Michael Cohen on the payment to Stormy Daniels or with "The National Enquirer" on the payment to silence Karen McDougal, then those would be campaign finance law violations that would be attributable to Donald Trump.

Any campaign violation over $25,000 constitutes a felony. So, the president is also at risk in that line of inquiry.

BLITZER: Congressman Ted Lieu, thanks so much for joining us.

LIEU: Thank you.

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