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

Interview

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MELBER: Congressional Democrats flexing their new power tonight and  warning of a Saturday Night Massacre, making a bold and in your face move  to protect the Mueller probe and demanding an emergency hearing on  Sessions` replacement Matthew Whitaker.

Now, the incoming chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Congressman Jerry  Nadler joins me in a moment. What he`s been asking for is that Whitaker  should recuse, saying it`s "Wholly inappropriate for him to oversee Mueller  because he has this well-documented hostility putting the investigation at  grave risk." Two sources also close to Whitaker tell "The Washington  Post", "He has no intention of doing that."

Nadler and Democratic leaders sending another letter to officials demanding  they preserve the key documents that are relevant to Mueller in the firing  of Sessions and you can see there on your screen a lot of different  officials put on notice, they say, "We remind you, concealing, removing, or  destroying the documents itself could constitute a crime."

Congressman Nadler, thank you for joining me tonight. You`re in the middle  of it. You`re not waiting. Why did you come out swinging and put so many  officials on notice? And what happens if he does not recuse, Mr. Whitaker?

REP. JERROLD NADLER, (D-NY), RANKING MEMBER JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Well, we  came out right away because the president is creating a constitutional  crisis that`s a moment of peril for our country. His actions fit a clear  pattern of interference in attempting a sabotage of the special counsel`s  investigation. And we think it`s very important that the president be put  on notice that he is not above the law. And the American people will not  tolerate his trying to act like a tyrant in a manner, not like a president.

MELBER: This was what the president said about you and your colleagues`  investigations yesterday.

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MELBER: You view that as a threat to use the Senate to investigate you,  your team, your staff?

NADLER: That`s a threat to use the Senate to interfere with the operations  of the House. I mean they can investigate anything they want. They`re not  going to find anything. But the fact is that this is the president trying  to abuse his power to prevent not investigations but to prevent Congress  from doing its constitutional duty of being a check and a balance on the  administration and upholding the president and the administration  accountable. That is our constitutional duty.

The Republicans who are in charge of the House and the Senate have been  derelict, either silent or complicit in the face of administrative actions  to sabotage the special prosecutor. And they`ve been derelict by not doing  their duty. We are going to do our constitutional duty. If the president  thinks that`s intolerable, well the American people I think are going to  tell him that he is not above the law and that he can`t act that way.

MELBER: Congressman, as we`re speaking here, in your native New York as  you may have heard but it`s brand new, it`s 6:26 p.m. on East Coast, we`re  watching a fairly sizable procession of what are being called Protect  Mueller protests. They`ve been peaceful up to this point, working their  way down Times Square.
And I wonder what is your message to those protesters when people say  they`ll be ready to take to the streets when a red line is crossed? In  your view, how would we know when or if Mr. Whitaker crosses such a line?

NADLER: Well, Mr. Whitaker crosses the line the moment he accepts the job  and doesn`t recuse himself. And we know he`s not going to recuse himself  because the only reason he was appointed was to sabotage the investigation.  And we know that because the president`s only criticism which he expressed  for months of Attorney General Sessions was that he did recuse himself,  that he didn`t sabotage the investigation. He had no other criticisms of  him.

So the president obviously was not going to appoint someone who would  repeat Sessions` sin of not recusing himself. He put Whitaker there  because Whitaker has expressed extreme hostility to the investigation  because he has prejudged the issue and because he obviously is prepared to  do what the president wants which is to subvert the investigation. I will  tell you that if Mr. Whitaker does this and for that matter the president`s  attempts, these are all further evidence of a conspiracy to obstruct  justice.

MELBER: Strong words. I also want to ask you while I have you, given your  mandate with the Judiciary Committee and given another mass shooting today  in America, in your committee or with Speaker Pelosi if she becomes  Speaker, do you want to see gun control legislation as a Democratic  priority or is that not on the top of the to-do list?

NADLER: Well, I can only speak for myself at the moment but I think that`s  one of our priorities. And in fact, I`m sure it will be one of our  priorities. It won`t be the only priority but it will be a priority for  soon enough. It is -- we`re seeing these mass murders increasingly  frequently and only in the United States, only United States.
When you look at gun -- the number of victims of gun violence, in Great  Britain, in England, in Japan, it`s in the -- it`s under 100 or it`s 150.  Here, it`s 33,000. Our people are not 10,000 times as mentally ill as  people in Western Europe or in Japan and we must have reasonable  regulations. We don`t want to take people`s guns away but military-style  assault rifles are not to be in civilian hands. We ought to have proper  background checks. Those are very moderate steps and the House I`m sure  will take them.

MELBER: Congressman Jerry Nadler on a range of big issues tonight and  you`re busy with the committee and your work already underway, I appreciate  you making time for us on THE BEAT.

NADLER: Well, thank you.

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