CNN "Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees" - Transcript: Interview with Senator Richard Blumenthal

Interview

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COOPER: Yes, just stunning.

Jim Acosta, appreciate it.

With me now is Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut and member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Senator Blumenthal, do you think that the senior administration who wrote this should come forward?

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D), CONNECTICUT: I think he should come forward or she, because there's an obligation to tell the American people even more about the reasons that this official has such deep- seated and frankly alarming views of the chaotic, out of control, potentially demagogic state of our presidency. It's an imperial presidency that seems to be off the rails and has all the more relevance in the midst of the confirmation hearing we're having on a nominee who seemingly would provide no check on this presidency and provides no assurance that he would maintain the independence of the judiciary.

COOPER: If this person does not come forward, is it possible that whatever their motive is, that it has the reverse impact, that essentially this confirms for President Trump, for some of his supporters, that there is something of a deep state, there are -- is this bureaucracy which is actively working to thwart some of his efforts?

BLUMENTHAL: There's no predicting what Donald Trump's base may think about this official who say there's a two-track presidency, but the simple fact of the matter is that we are in the midst of a profound constitutional crisis, with the president, and unindicted co- conspirator. Never before has the president been an unindicted co- conspirator under these circumstances, in fact nominating a justice to the Supreme Court, who may sit on his case, and give him a pass if he is an indicted co-conspirator or otherwise subject to judicial process like a subpoena to testify before the grand jury.

And so, whatever the effect on the base, it may simply further divide the country if this official fails to come forward and give more facts, not just the rhetoric, a lot of it that we see in this op-ed.

COOPER: Mark Meadows, Republican congressman, obviously a key ally of the president, told reporters are looking into whether this is something they could investigate. Should it be investigated with congressional resources?

BLUMENTHAL: There is a need for Congress to investigate much more aggressively so much of the law breaking and wrongdoing, the culture of corruption in this administration. The only way it's going to happen is for the Congress to change. That's going to be the game changer for this administration. Impose some democratic and constitutional discipline.

COOPER: Your colleague, Senator Elizabeth Warren, told CNN today that if senior administration officials think the president is not able to do his job, they should invoke the 25th Amendment. Obviously, it seems highly unlikely though. This op-ed did say that there were whispers about that early on.

Do you agree with Warren?

BLUMENTHAL: Invoking the 25th Amendment requires a high bar to be met, in terms of the facts. In effect, a president physically or mentally unable to do the job, and it has to be done by the vice president and a majority of the cabinet. And that's a decision that increasingly is on the minds of people not only in the administration but also many of us here in Congress. It would have to be initiated by the vice president or others in the administration.

COOPER: Cory Booker asked Judge Kavanaugh at the hearings you're a big part of if he would recuse himself from issues involving the president. Is that something you think he should actually do? I mean, my sense is you do think that and if you do, why should he? But this isn't every -- I mean, every judicial nominee is nominated by the president and they're not asked to recuse themselves from something about the person that nominated them.

BLUMENTHAL: I asked Brett Kavanaugh very directly yesterday afternoon whether he would recuse himself. I believe very strongly that he must do so. He must commit in this confirmation hearing that he would take himself out of any consideration of any issue involving the president's personal criminal or civil liability. Remember, that I and 199 of my colleagues in a lawsuit I've led have sued the president of the United States for his violation of the emoluments cause, the chief anti-corruption of the Constitution.

The case will reach the Supreme Court and the president is an unindicted co-conspirator. The likelihood is as we stand here now, that the president could well be an indicted co-conspirator.

[20:10:06] Not just an unindicted co-conspirator, or that he could be subpoenaed to testify and resist it or to testify in a criminal proceeding against one of his friends or cronies or officials in his government.

COOPER: So, you're saying Kavanaugh is too much under the president's thumb just because he was nominated by the president?

BLUMENTHAL: Not only because he was nominated by this president, who's an unindicted co-conspirator, but because he has utterly failed to give us any assurance he would defend the independence of the judiciary. He failed to defend Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg against attacks by this president when I asked him about them today. He failed even to go so far as Neil Gorsuch did in saying that the president's attacks on the judiciary are demoralizing and disheartening.

He failed to establish that judicial independence. He has the right rhetoric, would be defended in practice, in real terms with real backbone, and that is the reason -- or one of them that I am committed to vote against him.

COOPER: Senator Blumenthal, I appreciate your time. Thank you.

BLUMENTHAL: Thank you.

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