CNN "State of the Union" - Transcript: Interview with Adam Schiff

Interview

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TAPPER: While many Republicans remain silent on President Trump's summit with Vladimir Putin, one of the most powerful statements came from a dying Senator John McCain who slammed President Trump's inability to stand up to Putin as a, quote, "tragic mistake."

Joining me now is the top Democrat on House Intelligence Committee, Congressman Adam Schiff of California.

And Congressman, I know you traveled a great deal with Senator McCain. I know you knew him. And also, at one point last year, you said that you were disappointed because you thought there would be more John McCains in Congress.

What did you mean by that? And did you ever discuss that with him?

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D), CALIFORNIA: Well, he was such a great example of strength and courage and dedication to our democracy, that I would have thought any number of House Republicans in particular would have followed his example. And I raised this with him once. We were appearing jointly on a panel. And before we went on, I remarked to him how much I admired him and how disappointed I was that there didn't seem to be a single Republican in the House who felt they had a constituency to be the John McCain of the House.

And he looked at me and he said, "Well, if there isn't, they will be calling you chairman." And it was a classic kind of blunt John McCain comment, and one of the reasons why I think he won over people on both sides of the aisle with his wit, with his candor, but also with his sense of humor. And I got to tell you, that was one thing I didn't really appreciate about Senator McCain until I traveled with him is just how funny he is.

He used to introduce me by saying, "This is Adam Schiff. He's a good guy who gets things right about zero percent of the time." Even Lindsey Graham, who he loved more than anyone in the Congress, he used to introduce by saying, "This is Lindsey Graham. Everyone knows Lindsey. Few people like him."

(LAUGHTER) SCHIFF: That was the kind of way John would introduce you. And we -- you know, it was just an honor to be in his presence and to watch the kind of respect world leaders had for him, to watch the way he struck up such an easy --

TAPPER: Yes,

SCHIFF: -- relationship demeanor with others. It was a treat to be around him.

TAPPER: I know that if he were here he would be telling me, don't only talk about me with Adam Schiff. A lot happened in the news this week and you need to talk about it. He believed intensely in the oversight responsibilities of the Congress when it came to the executive branch, even if many of his Republican colleagues have forgotten about that obligation.

So let me ask you, in that vein, the president's former personal lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, said this week under oath that President Trump, when he was a candidate, directed him to violate federal election laws.

What's your take on that?

SCHIFF: Well, this is pretty serious business. I mean, this is the first witness who, under oath, has basically said during a guilty plea that he was part of a criminal conspiracy with the president of the United States. And these were no inconsequential bookkeeping campaign finance errors. So it wasn't like they inadvertently made a contribution slightly in excess of the limit. This was a planned-out solicitation essentially, a corporate contribution or a payment well in excess, hundreds of thousands of dollars, of the limits, and in an area that could very well have been decisive in the election.

That is, to keep from the public information that -- allegations that the president had an affair with a porn star, for example, to keep that from the public weeks before the election. That could have been determinative in such a close race. So it's serious business. I think we're going to have to look at that evidence in its totality as we learn more and we get a report ultimately from Bob Mueller about what the consequences of all that are.

[10:20:05] TAPPER: So you -- you have argued in a "New York Times" opinion piece in May that impeachment of President Trump will be more difficult politically if it seems like Democrats were hoping to impeach President Trump all along. It seems pretty clear that a lot of Democrats believe that there are now grounds for impeachment based on this Michael Cohen plea agreement in which he admits to committing felonies, and two of them, he says he did in coordination with and at the direction of then candidate Trump.

But it also seems as though Democrats don't want to talk about impeachment because it might hurt your ability to win back the House in November.

SCHIFF: Well, it's not just, I think, that Democrats don't want to talk about impeachment. I think, as a matter of our constitutional responsibility, we have to look candidly at what is the evidence and what does that mean, and what does that say in terms of whether we have reached the point of high crimes and misdemeanors?

But I don't think we should be talking about it and embracing it before we have seen the full body of evidence. As a former prosecutor, I like to know all the facts before I make a judgment. And the reality is, impeachment is a political standard. Impeachment is, at any given time, what half of the House and two-thirds of the Senate say it is. And given the dearth of people in the GOP who are willing to say anything about this president's conduct, I think you're going to need a really powerful case to entertain that kind of a sanction.

Jake, I mean, look what happened after the president started attacking his own attorney general for not getting rid of Bob Mueller and persecuting his political rivals. You had two prominent GOP senators say, well, if he wants to get rid of the A.G., we'll help him get a new one, but let's wait until after the midterms. That is not something you would have ever heard John McCain say.

I was proud to see Ben Sasse take issue with that. That was very John McCain-like. We need people like John McCain now more than ever.

TAPPER: I want to ask you about your party when it comes to accusations of hacking.

Senator Bill Nelson, Democrat of Florida, has been under scrutiny for his claims Russians hacked the Florida electoral systems. There's no evidence of that that we have seen. The DNC this week said that it had been hacked, when it was really just a test by a state organization.

Are some Democrats being too careless and public about accusations of hacking sensitive national security matters?

SCHIFF: Well, look, I think that everyone is really on razor's edge right now, wondering, is the other shoe going to fall in terms of Russian intervention in the midterms? It is certainly our expectation, from the top intelligence officers of the country on down, that the Russians never stopped interfering, at least not on social media, that they certainly, according to Microsoft and Facebook, are at it once again.

So I think all of us are really on a hair's edge here. And we see all the steps the administration should be taking, but are not, and are trying to sound the alarm. But, yes, we have to be careful and make sure that we're very precise about what we say to the public. We want the public to have confidence, not only that the government's doing what it should -- and that's hard to have at the moment -- but that we aren't going to cry wolf, that we're going to be very specific when we see foreign intruders.

TAPPER: Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff of California, thank you so much for your time, sir. We appreciate it.

SCHIFF: Thanks, Jake.

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