CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview With New York Congressman Jerrold Nadler

Interview

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BLITZER: All right, Evan, thank you very much. Evan Perez, thanks for that report.

I want to get much more on all of this.

We're going to have Democratic Congressman Jerry Nadler of New York -- he is a member of the Judiciary Committee -- joining us. He's got a lot of thoughts. And Jerry Nadler, if, in fact, the Democrats were to become the majority in the House of Representatives, he would become the chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

Congressman, thanks so much for joining us.

REP. JERROLD NADLER (D), NEW YORK: Thank you for having me. BLITZER: All right, I know you disagree with why the president

decided to fire James Comey.

But having now read this report, which I assume you accept, do you believe that Comey committed fireable offenses?

NADLER: He committed serious errors of judgment.

The report says they were not -- he was truthful at all times. They were not sins of lack of candor. But there were serious errors of judgment.

And all of those errors of judgment, all of the things he did that he shouldn't have done inured to Donald Trump's benefit and against Hillary Clinton.

BLITZER: But are they -- all of the bad things that he did -- and this report outlines many things. He shouldn't have gone public in July.

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BLITZER: He shouldn't have gone at the end of October. Those were inappropriate statements, and other things, including using his private Gmail account for FBI business, after investigating Hillary Clinton for using a private e-mail server.

Did all the stuff that he did wrong, were they fireable offenses?

NADLER: I don't know. I don't know that they're fireable offenses or not. I don't know what the standards are at the FBI.

But don't forget, he was not fired for that. He was fired, as the president told Lester Holt of NBC, because of the Russia investigation. He was fired because of the Russia investigation, as the president told the foreign minister of Russia in the Oval Office.

So it's a red herring as to whether he should have been fired for these other things. That's not why he was fired. I'm sure that -- I can't believe that Donald Trump would fire him for doing things that helped Trump in the election.

He was fired because Trump wanted to short-circuit the investigation of possible collusion between his campaign and the Russians.

BLITZER: So you have severe criticism of the way Comey operated during the presidential campaign.

NADLER: Absolutely. Absolutely.

BLITZER: Even though they concluded it was not political bias, he made blunder after blunder after blunder.

NADLER: He made blunder after blunder.

He made three major blunders, two of which are directly referenced. He should not, in July -- on July 5 of 2016, he should not have given his personal opinion as to the rightness or wrongness..

BLITZER: He should have let the deputy attorney general or the attorney general or the U.S. attorney -- the FBI investigates, but they leave it to the prosecutors to make those announcements.

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NADLER: Even beyond that, there's nothing wrong with announcing, whether he did it or the deputy A.G. did it, that you are not indicting someone who was publicly under investigation. That's only fair.

But to then give your private opinion of the conduct of someone who is not being charged is absolutely wrong. It's against the FBI policy. But it's absolutely wrong.

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BLITZER: And they condemn him for that in this report.

NADLER: And they condemn him for that in the report.

I condemned him during the summer of 2016 for that at a public hearing. He should not have announced publicly that they were reopening the investigation a week before the election.

BLITZER: And he did that a month after they reopened the investigation. It was kept secret throughout the whole month, basically, of September.

NADLER: Yes.

But the fact is, he announced it. He should not have announced that during the election. He gave reasons for that. But, as the report finds, his reasons should have yielded to the department's policy, which is that you don't do anything that will affect an election shortly before the election.

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BLITZER: But do you believe that showed on his part a pro-Trump or an anti-Hillary Clinton bias?

NADLER: No. No, I don't. I think it showed, frankly, an egotism and a desire to protect his own -- the -- his own reputation and the reputation of the FBI.

But it was an egregious error of judgment. That was not his decision to make. It went against the policy and guidelines of the Department of Justice.

The third error he made was that he was perfectly willing to talk about the investigation into Hillary Clinton's campaign while there was an investigation going on into Trump's campaign, and he wouldn't talk about it. He wouldn't confirm it.

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I asked him in a hearing in September, are you investigating the Trump campaign for the Russians, et cetera? And he wouldn't say yes or no.

BLITZER: Yes.

NADLER: So, he was willing to talk about one, but not about the other.

BLITZER: The fourth mistake he made, a fourth blunder, was using a Gmail, a personal Gmail account for FBI business after investigating Hillary Clinton on that.

NADLER: Yes. That, too. That, too.

BLITZER: Congressman Nadler, thanks so much for joining us.

NADLER: Thank you.

BLITZER: Appreciate it.

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