CNN "Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees" - Transcript: Interview with Senator Mark Warner of Virginia

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

COOPER: Yes. Neal Katyal, I appreciate it. Thank you very much.

Earlier, I spoke with Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, a member of the Intelligence Committee.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Senator, are there constitutional issues with the president appointing someone acting attorney general who has not gone through Senate confirmation? I mean, does the appointment violate the appointments clause of the Constitution?

SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA), INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: Well, I'm not a legal scholar, but it's clear that this president is trying to make sure the Mueller investigation doesn't get all its final product out. We've not seen the results of what Mr. Manafort or the president's lawyer, Michael Cohen, or the president's chief financial officer of his business, all folks who started working with the government starting in August, and the president could have avoided even any of these questions if he'd simply appointed the deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, to be in this temporary position.

Instead, he picked this individual, Mr. Whitaker who, the best asset I can see is, he's a big-time Trump loyalist. In my mind, I will weigh in on this, that I think he has a clear conflict of interest in terms of overseeing any part of the Mueller investigation.

COOPER: CNN is reporting that Whitaker has no intention of recusing himself and even the department of ethics office at the DOJ does recommend that Whitaker recuse himself, that's just a recommendation. There's no enforcement, no authority there.

WARNER: Well, I've been waiting to hear from the ethics office of the Department of Justice. If they've weighed in and told Whitaker to recuse himself, which is what I would expect, and he chooses not to, that raises more your first point of, why did Trump appoint him in the first place other than the fact that he's a loyalist?

So, I think our only recourse is to go forward with the bipartisan legislation that's already out there, that's been through the judiciary committee that would at least protect the special prosecutor. Every one of my Republican colleagues has said publicly and privately that they think firing Mueller would be a mistake. I think Lindsey Graham said Trump would commit political suicide. I hope they stick to their guns.

I'm reminded of the earlier comments, and my fear is that Whitaker and this current position might not fire Mueller, but could so impede in terms of cutting back funding, cutting back his ability to work with the FBI, or most particularly, cutting back the ability for Mueller to go ahead and issue further indictments.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: CNN is also been reporting that both Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi and the former governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, are being considered to replace Sessions as attorney general. Would you and your fellow Democrats be open to either of them?

WARNER: Listen, they both have interesting backgrounds, particularly the attorney general in Florida, who I've never met, has had a great deal of controversy about her. You know, my hope would be that the President could actually, if he wants to show any level of good faith, would try to appoint someone that is not so far out of the main stream, that he or she would have no chance of being approved going forward.

COOPER: But in truth, I mean, as long as the Republicans in the Senate are, you know, supportive of whoever the President picks, that pick would pass, no?

WARNER: Well, again, that goes -- I think technically, you're right. I think the question that I would ask my Republican colleagues would be to stick to their word, and I've been with a lot of them over the last year. I raised this issue as a constitutional red line a year ago about Mueller. They've all, on private and publicly reassured me that they think Mueller will be able to finish his job.

And my hope would be that those members would stick to what they've said in the past and say that they would not vote for any attorney general nominee of this president that wouldn't allow Mueller to finish his investigation. And my hope is that Mueller is getting relatively close to completion.

And boy, oh boy, there's a lot of information that I believe must be coming out of Mr. Manafort, the President's campaign manager, Michael Cohen, the President's lawyer, the CFO of the President -- of Trump enterprises, a number of others who've been working with the government for some time. You know, we in Congress need to see what Mueller discovered. And frankly, the public deserves to know, as well.

COOPER: Senator Warner, appreciate your time. Thank you.

WARNER: Thank you, Anderson.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source