MSNBC "All in with Chris Hayes" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Ted Lieu

Interview

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HAYES: OK, so two days later, the Trump Tower meeting actually happened  and a year later, New York Times reported those Don Jr. e-mails which led  to days of misleading, false, constantly changing stories to the White  House about the nature of the meeting. Remember they first said, oh, it`s  just about adoption. And a Washington Post report that President Trump  dictated his son`s misleading statement about that meeting. It seems  somehow fitting this morning at Reagan National Airport in Washington that  Special Counsel Robert Mueller and Donald Trump Jr. were spotted waiting  for their flights at the same gate. For more on the explosive allegations  from Michael Cohen and what it means to the President, I`m joined by  Congressman Ted Lieu of California, Assistant Whip for the Democratic  Caucus and a Member of the House Judiciary Committee. Congressman, let me  start with you. Do you think Michael Cohen is credible?

REP. TED LIEU (D-CA), HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: I do. And if Michael  Cohen is telling the truth, it means there`s at least three felonies and  what he`s about to say. `First Donald Trump conspired with a foreign power  to influence the election, second Donald Trump went ahead and lied about  the meeting which could be potential obstruction of justice, and third  Trump Jr. lied to Congress when he said his father did not know about this  meeting. We`re way beyond not normalizing what shouldn`t be normalized.  These are potential criminal felonies that`s why the Robert Mueller  investigation needs to proceed without any more political interference.

HAYES: You know, there was always a striking thing that happened in -- on  the House side, on the House Intelligence Committee in its investigation  into these matters which it sort of said well, we wrapped up we found no  collusion which is that they never got their hands on the phone records,  they never subpoena the phone records of the phone call that Don Jr. places  to an unknown number amidst him confirming and setting up the whole  meeting. Is that something you`d like to see as a member of Congress?

LIEU: I`m a former prosecutor. If there was that allegation and I  intentionally did not subpoena those records, I would have been fired. And  so it was very clear that the House Republicans were not interested in  trying to find evidence of collusion. They were in fact trying to do a  whitewash of what actually happened and I think history would not judge  them kindly.

HAYES: There has been the reporting yesterday about Senator Claire  McCaskill being the target of essentially an identical attack to what  happened to John Podesta. A fake Web site set up phishing e-mail sent to  people in her orbit. We don`t know a lot more details about that but how  concerned are you about this election and how prepared is the government to  protect campaigns?

LIEU: I`m very concerned. House Democrats last week put up a bill to  provide election security funding. The Republicans rejected that and then  they adjourned and went out on recess so it`s clear that the House  Republicans have completely gone derelict and their duty to protect America  and hopefully the voters will change a makeup of Congress this November.  But in addition, we know that the President convened a hearing with his top  officials on election security. We`re also told that only lasted about 30  minutes so I`m very concerned about what`s going to happen.

HAYES: You started off this interview by nodding to possible crimes  committed if it is, in fact, true that the President knew about this  meeting that he gave the green light that he then lied about it afterwards,  that his son lied about it. There are people on the right and defenders of  President saying even if it`s true, even if the President knew about it  it`s fine. It`s fine to get derogatory information about your opponent  from a foreign government.

LIEU: I know it`s not. It`s a straight violation of the Campaign Finance  Laws. But in addition, Robert Mueller has indicted a large number of  Russian operatives that he knows he`s never going to ever be able to  prosecute because they`re in Russia. And why would he do that? My view is  he is doing that to tell the Americans a story that it is illegal to  influence American elections. And if an American whether it was Trump Jr.  or Donald Trump himself conspired with the Russians to do that they would  also be guilty of conspiracy to influence these elections. It`s absolutely  a crime.

HAYES: So you -- that`s interesting. As a prosecutor, you`re saying these  indictments, again, Russians particularly the GRU agents who of course are  never going to be rendered to the U.S. it`s unlikely, to say the least.  You`re saying that you view that as sort of setting the predicate for an  existing criminal conspiracy that might also involve others?

LIEU: That is correct. So conspiracy means that you didn`t necessarily  complete the act, you just help complete the act. And so if Donald Trump  or Trump Jr. help in any way with what the Russians are doing, they will be  guilty of conspiracy.

HAYES: All right, Congressman Ted Lieu, thank you for your time tonight.

LIEU: Thank you.

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