MSNBC "The Rachel Maddow Show" - Transcript: Russian Investigations

Interview

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MADDOW: We were told it would be over 500 pages. I personally expected small type. I expected my beleaguered little office printer to be getting quite a workout. I expected to give myself eyeball strain.
I did not expect this. "Page left intentionally blank." And there was a whole bunch of them, actually. Blank pages intentional and explicitly so.

I thank you truly from the bottom of my heart. This puppy, this long- awaited Justice Department inspector general report is 568 dense pages about the handling of the Clinton e-mail investigation during the 2016 presidential campaign. It is leavened by a few intentionally blank pages.

Bottom line, the I.G. says there was no political bias infecting the investigation itself. But the I.G. concludes the then FBI Director James Comey basically seriously screwed up when he made the public statements that he did about the Clinton investigation. The I.G. seriously implies that those were made basically in response to criticism of the FBI, public criticism of the FBI, for not being hard enough on Hillary Clinton.

Here to help us understand it is Congressman Adam Schiff, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee.

Congressman, thank you for joining us. Appreciate having you here tonight.

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA), RANKING MEMBER, HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: It`s great to be with you.

MADDOW: This is a remarkable window into the behavior of the FBI and the Justice Department. You heard what my bottom line takeaway is from this report. I`m curious as to what yours is.

SCHIFF: Well, it`s very much the same. I think there`s no question that Director Comey and the FBI were reacting to these constant Republican attacks, you`re being too easy on Hillary, you`re being too easy on Hillary.

And there was one other thing, of course, and that is that James Comey thought that Hillary Clinton was going to win. And I think that also informed his decision-making. But you`re right to point all this out because we`re at risk of making the same mistake again. As you have the Republicans once again beating up on the Department of Justice, you also have them demanding information in the name of transparency.

And one thing that the report really didn`t go into is that part of James Comey`s mistake, part of his maximalist transparency policy outweighs the department rules and regulations, was providing information to Congress, providing witness interviews, 302s to Congress, testifying about the details of a pending or closed case or a soon to be reopened case. All of that at the time he called transparency, and at the time I remember saying what you`re calling transparency will soon come to be known by another name, and that is mistake. But we are at risk of that mistake again.

MADDOW: In terms of the interactions between the Justice Department and Congress, this issue of transparency, handing stuff over about ongoing investigations, I have to ask you about a briefing that I believe you attended today from senior intelligence and law enforcement officials, briefing leadership in Congress including yourself as the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, about aspects of the Russia investigation.
This was a follow-up briefing to an earlier transmittal of information that Republicans had demanded. What can you tell us about that briefing today and whether you think it was proper?

SCHIFF: Well, this is the parallel that I was mentioning, Rachel, where in the Clinton e-mail investigation you had then again Republicans in Congress demanding information about the investigation so that they could make it public and they could continue to beat up the Justice Department and tear down Hillary Clinton.
Here you have Republicans on the intelligence committee, government reform committee and the judiciary committee, likewise demanding information from the FBI, the Department of Justice which they hope to use against the department, which they hope to use to support and defend the president, and which Rudy Giuliani has said he fully expects to get his hands on.

But that`s even more gross an abuse than perhaps we saw during the Clinton e-mail investigation and congressional behavior there. But all I can tell you in terms of the substance of our meeting today is that the conclusion we reached after the last briefing that the president`s claim of politically embedded spies was bogus remains bogus. There is still no evidence to support that.

MADDOW: Is there anything that`s being handed over in these briefings that is likely to give the president`s defense or people who are potential important witnesses in the case surrounding the president, an improper look at the ongoing investigation or what prosecutors are pursuing?

SCHIFF: Well, this is the kind of information, and I can`t go into any specifics, but it`s not the kind of information that is normally turned over to Congress during a pending investigation. And this is why it raises such alarm bells with me. What`s more certainly in our committee and I think with Mr. Gowdy in the Government Reform Committee, the whole purpose of seeking it is not to try to do oversight, it`s to try to help the president`s legal defense.

So, it comes out of an improper motive. But in terms of whether it will ultimately have that impact on the investigation, that depends on whether those that receive the information abuse it. I have to hope that they won`t, but the record of some of the people who are making the request is not very fortuitous in that regard.
MADDOW: Congressman Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, thank you very much for your time tonight, sir. It`s good to have you here.

SCHIFF: Thank you.

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