CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview With Congressman Adam Smith

Interview

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BLITZER: All right, Brynn, thank you, Brynn Gingras reporting for us.

Joining us now, Congressman Adam Smith. He's the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee.

Congressman, thanks so much for joining us.

REP. ADAM SMITH (D), WASHINGTON: Thank you, Wolf. I appreciate the chance, as always.

BLITZER: I'm going to get your reaction to these late developments involving Michael Cohen.

But, first, President Trump tells Reuters he doesn't have to stay out of the Russia investigation. He said he could run the Mueller probe if he actually wanted to.

What's your reaction to these most recent words from the president?

SMITH: Well, I think it just further evidence that the president does not understand -- well, I think he understands what's going on here. He is trying to obfuscate the investigation. He is trying to stop it from going forward in any way that he can.

[18:10:00]

I mean, he has been saying from the very start that the investigation should never have happened and he wants to get rid of it. So, if he wants to run it, he wants to bury it. And that's the problem.

Russia interfered in our election. There is considerable evidence that people at the highest levels of the Trump campaign were working with those very same Russian operatives while they were interfering with this election. It needs to be investigated, we need to get to the bottom of it, and the president needs to stop trying to obstruct the investigation.

BLITZER: This comes as you know, Congressman, after the president called Robert Mueller and his team a disgrace and discredited.

Are you confident that the president will let Robert Mueller complete his investigation?

SMITH: Yes, we have been -- we have been sort of hanging on the edge of our seats on that one for a long, long time. I don't know that I'm confident.

I think if the president sees a threat, I think there's a distinct possibility that he might try to fire Mueller. And I think we need to keep the public pressure up on him to make sure that he doesn't.

I think comments like Senator Graham made -- I think it's a couple months back now -- basically saying to do that would be an impeachable offense, to let him know that obstructing with this investigation to that level would be met with bipartisan condemnation, it's crucially important to stop the president from ending the investigation.

BLITZER: How important is the testimony of the White House counsel, Don McGahn, to the Mueller investigation team? He spent 30 hours answering their questions.

SMITH: Well, obviously, we don't know, because we don't know what he said. And 30 hours is a long time, but we're not sure exactly what was said.

I think the Michael Cohen information, what Michael Cohen said to Robert Mueller is -- I think we have a little bit better idea what that might be, as we found out about these shell companies that Michael Cohen set up, that he was paying off various people, that he was clearly involved in things that were illegal and clearly connected with the president while he was doing it.

As for the White House counsel, we will have to see what comes out of Robert Mueller's report.

BLITZER: What do you make of the president's comparing the Russia investigation to McCarthyism?

SMITH: It's delusional to say that.

I mean, look, the president feels that he should never be questioned. And we have seen that over and over again. I guess the one that leaps to mind is when he said that it was, I believe, treasonous for us members of Congress not to stand up and applaud him when he was speaking.

And he expects not to be questioned. He expects to be worshipped. Well, that's not the system of government that we have here. It is a representative democracy. Everybody is supposed to be held accountable.

He doesn't want that, obviously. But that's not the way we do things here. And that's why it's particularly important on the question of him testifying. If you are subpoenaed by a court, by a legitimate investigation, nobody is above the law. The president should not be above the law. He should absolutely have to testify under oath.

BLITZER: But he could plead the Fifth, right?

SMITH: Oh, yes. that is his constitutional right.

And if he does that, he would be complying with the law. But right now, this whole discussion that Rudy Giuliani is having about, well, maybe the president doesn't have to, the president is not above the law. He should have to testify. Yes, the Fifth Amendment is his constitutional right, as it is everybody else's. If he wants to take that, he can.

He cannot, in my view, refuse a subpoena.

BLITZER: While the president is trying to undermine clearly the credibility of the Russia investigation, he has just told Reuters in this interview today that he would consider lifting sanctions on Russia if Moscow cooperates on Ukraine and Syria.

Your reaction?

SMITH: I don't trust the president when it comes to dealing with Russia. So, it's hard to take that at face value.

But, look, as a policy-maker, I mean, before Donald Trump got elected president and all this happened, getting to a place where we can get along better with Russia, I think, is crucially important.

One of the issues that I'm working on is to try to stop nuclear proliferation and reduce the odds of us stumbling -- stumbling into a nuclear war. Well, Russia and the U.S. are the two largest nuclear powers by a large margin.

Us being in a better place, dialoguing better, so that we can avoid that would be critical. In Afghanistan and Syria and a whole bunch of places, there are places where it would be a better world if we got along with Russia. But that's not what Vladimir Putin is doing.

And if the president basically sells us out to meet Putin's agenda, instead of coming to a more balanced accommodation that protects democracy, that protects Eastern Europe, that advances our interests, not just Russia's then that worries me.

But we should have dialogue and try to get to a better place with Russia.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: But tell us, Congressman, why you don't trust the president when it comes to Russia?

SMITH: Well, because of the Russian interference, because of the president's long ties to Russia and Putin, and also the fact that the president criticizes absolutely everybody, as near as I can tell.

[18:15:06]

The one person on the planet he cannot bring himself to criticize is Vladimir Putin. I mean, the performance in Helsinki was embarrassing to the United States of America.

No president has shown that level of weakness in my memory. Standing up against a dictator who is undermining the rule of law by undermining elections, by his invasion in the Ukraine to take back Crimea, issue after issue, and to simply stand there and not challenge Putin at all on any of this, to basically praise Putin, that type of weakness shows me that this president doesn't know how to deal with Russia.

BLITZER: But tell us very briefly, because we're out of time, why. Why do you think the president avoids saying anything negative about Putin?

SMITH: That would be speculation on my part.

All I know is that he does, and it has dire consequences for the national security interests of our country.

BLITZER: Congressman Adam Smith, thanks so much for joining us.

SMITH: Thank you.

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