MSNBC "The Beat with Ari Melber" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Mike Quigley
Interview
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MELBER: Right. And that somebody being Rudy. What I want to do Cathy and Dan is ask you to hang with us throughout the rest of the hour because we`re coming back to this story.
Right now, for the breaking story, I want to turn to an elected official Congressman Mike Quigley who is on the pivotal house intelligence committee. Sir, your reaction to this report which as I mentioned NBC News has not independently confirmed but "ABC News" reporting tonight that there is a plea deal now reached between Donald Trump`s former campaign chair Paul Manafort and Special Counsel Mueller, that it can be rolled out as early as tomorrow`s hearing. Your reaction?
REP. MIKE QUIGLEY, D-IL: My reaction is we have now heard the president call this a hoax and a witch hunt for the length of the investigation. Apparently, tomorrow another witch bites the dust. His chief campaign chairman, his personal attorney, and his foreign policy chief will have all pled guilty. Pretty serious stuff.
I guess my second reaction is I thought this morning when I read about the joint legal agreement between the Trump legal team and the Manafort legal team was Manafort was showing he was still loyal, sending a message to the Trump team, "I`m still with you. I didn`t do the Cohen thing of implicating the president. You know, I went to trial, I took one for the team." I think perhaps currying favor to try to get that pardon potentially.
This confuses that just a little bit because it`s hard to imagine an agreement that doesn`t involve some cooperation. And usually, cooperation is all or nothing at all.
MELBER: When you look at this and you look at some of the way people have handicapped it, I`m reading from some of the other sourcing here today in the coverage of the joint agreement, one prosecutor said, "There`s not much more Manafort can do to avoid a life sentence short of getting a pardon." Another attorney who represents a witness in this case telling "Politico," "Well, if Manafort takes the plea, he`s just adding to what for him and his aides is effectively a life sentence."
Do you see and does the intelligence committee care about whether this is just a matter of convenience for Mr. Manafort given the convictions he already has or whether there is something more that the special counsel is going to get out of him?
QUIGLEY: I would hope that the -- I would assume that Mr. Mueller has done such an amazing job that it all leads to finding out what took place. If you`re asking me what the priority is of the Democrats on the House Select Committee on Intelligence is to find out exactly what the Russians did, who worked with them, who conspired with them, and how to prevent it in the future.
I would like to think we learn a lot more. I would believe that the Manafort trial would have told the nation a lot more about how people like Mr. Manafort and others in the Trump financial world were laundering money. I think that is the great unknown, we barely scratched the surface on how money laundering took place and whether it was in cooperation with the Russians. There`s plenty of clues. Deutsche Bank was fined over $600 million for illegally laundering money with the Russians. They were the bank, the loan bank financing the Trump financial world for the last decade.
MELBER: Congressman, if the Democrats do retake the House, do you view any negotiations for pardons or potential pardons that are issued by this president pursuant to the Russia probe as something to investigate?
QUIGLEY: I think that pardons have to be taken by anybody, the American public in the intelligence community as an attempt to blunt a criminal investigation and also as an element of obstruction of justice. So, I think if the House flips and we take nothing for granted, what we should do is analyze the situation and see what still needs to be done. What hasn`t the Mueller team done? What isn`t part of their mission? What do we still need to find out and let`s get to the bottom of that?
MELBER: Congressman Mike Quigley on this breaking news, thank you for coming on THE BEAT. In 30 seconds, I will be back with Senator Richard Blumenthal live on Manafort and the other big story, Democrats saying they`re making progress on holding Brett Kavanaugh accountable. We`re back in 30.
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