MSNBC "The Beat with Ari Melber" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Jerry Nadler

Interview

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MELBER: I`m joined now by New York congressman Jerrold Nadler, a top  Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee.

This is not an oval office taping system. In that respect, this is not  Watergate. But what does it mean to see leaks of these tapes? And are  they have an interest to Congress?

REP. JERROLD NADLER (D-NY), RANKING MEMBER, JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Well,  they may be of interest of Congress. We will have to see.

You put this in the context of what`s going on now, the walls are closing  in on the President. The Mueller investigation has come up with 35  indictments, including very detailed indictments of how the Russians hacked  into our systems, how they interfered in our elections. The President  denies the obvious. The President sides with the Russians and their denial  against his own intelligence people. He refuses to protect our current  elections from an ongoing threat that all these intelligence people say is  an ongoing threat from the Russians.

And yet we see -- and orchestrates a campaign of slander by his people and  people in -- Republicans in Congress to discredit the special council and  the investigation so that people won`t believe the report whenever it comes  out. And yet the special counsel, who from whom we hear no leaks, we just  see the 35 indictments, the guilty pleas, as is proper, no leaks.

MELBER: Sure.

NADLER: It`s apparently developing a very, very solid case of criminal  conspiracy of various people in the Trump campaign, maybe including the  President with the Russians and subverting an American election and  subverting our laws. These tapes may be evidence of the President being  involved in a criminal conspiracy to hide evidence of campaign finance  violations, or of worse. I think they are flailing out in different  directions because they see the walls closing in. Now, will Congress be  interested in this? Quite possibly.

MELBER: Let me ask you this. If Michael Cohen ever did things that relate  to Bob Mueller`s core portfolio and mandate, collusion issues, do you think  this type of news makes it more or less likely from an investigator`s  perspective that he taped those conversations?

NADLER: Well, if one is taping conversations with your client, or whether  it`s proper to call them a client when Michael Cohen is really a fixer, not  a lawyer, but if you are taping conversations with him on one thing, I  don`t see why it`s probably not logical you taped him on a lot of other  things.

MELBER: Take a listen to Donny Deutsche who has spoken to Michael Cohen  and said something on MSNBC that matches what Reverend Al Sharpton who had  breakfast with Cohen this morning. As you can see Michael Cohen knows a  lot of people and he keeps telling everyone things that make it seem like  he is getting ready to cooperate.

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MELBER: Are we seeing a kind of a rollout that lands with him testifying  before Bob Mueller or before the SDNY, and if so, do you find a way to get  him in front of the Congress if demes retake the House in the midterms?

NADLER: I suspect we are seeing that unless we are seeing the final  begging for a pardon before the President with his testifying to Mueller in  the absence of that pardon. As to whether we ask for testimony, I think we  would wait until the criminal investigation is over. We wouldn`t want to - - well, I don`t know, we would be careful not to interfere with the ongoing  criminal investigation.

MELBER: You would hold your fire?

NADLER: I`m not sure that we would do it. We would either do it in such a  way as not to interfere, or if we couldn`t figure that out, we wouldn`t ask  for those tapes. But again, because this investigation is very important,  we have to find out who was involved in conspiracy with the Russians to  undermine our elections, which is the basic crime here. And again you just  saw the President siding with the Russians against our own intelligence  people, his own intelligence appointees in order to cover up a plot to  subvert our elections, and an ongoing plot.

So we can`t trust the President to safeguard the interests of the country,  the special prosecutor, and hopefully democratic Congress will have to do  it. Because certainly, the Republicans in Congress are aiding and abetting  in a cover-up, and maybe even aiding and abetting in an ongoing obstruction  of justice.

MELBER: Well, we heard some of the view from investigative reporters and  Jay Goldberg, the President`s former lawyer, before, and now we are hearing  from you as a Democrat in Congress.

I appreciate you coming on, Congressman Nadler.

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