CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview With Texas Congressman Joaquin Castro

Interview

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BLITZER: All right. I want to show our viewers once again that overvote, thanks courtesy of Spectrum Bay News 9. They showed us how that overvote looks.

And we're going to watch that closely as this hand recount is about to begin. Ryan Nobles, once again, thank you very much.

We're going to have much more on the Florida recount. That's coming up.

But, right now, I want to turn back to the breaking news on the Russia investigation and the Trump team's assessment of Robert Mueller's questions for the president.

Joining us now, Congressman Joaquin Castro. He is a Democrat. He serves on the Intelligence and Foreign Affairs Committees.

Congressman, thank you so much for joining us.

As you know by now, the president's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani has told "The Washington Post" just a little while ago that some of Robert Mueller's questions create more legal issues for the president than others. Is that an acknowledgment that the president may be personally implicated in the Mueller investigation?

REP. JOAQUIN CASTRO (D), TEXAS: It certainly could be. It's hard to know that right now.

But I guess, to be honest, it's hard for me to understand that response by Rudy Giuliani, because, as far as I know, this is the first time that President Trump will be swearing answers to these questions. So it's not like -- so in other words, he should be able to just tell the truth and not worry about having contradicted himself under oath before.

So as long as he tells the truth, I don't see how there is a problem, and I don't see how any particular question is a trap. BLITZER: But in the interview that Giuliani gave "The Washington

Post," and I'm reading it right now, he says some of the questions were -- quote -- "possible traps and others we might consider as irrelevant."

Those are the words that Giuliani used.

CASTRO: Yes. I guess the special counsel gets to determine the relevancy of the questions. And, also, President Trump and his legal team may not fully understand why those questions are being asked, but I doubt they're being asked for a frivolous purpose. There is a reason behind that.

And, again, on the trap issue, as long as the president is willing to tell the truth, he shouldn't have any problem.

BLITZER: Do you think the process of preparing these answers in writing to Mueller's written questions led the president to unleash this furious attack on the entire Russia investigation this morning?

CASTRO: Yes, I think it's probably a combination of things.

I think it's probably the bad election results, and almost certainly it has to do with the fact that he is being made to sit down and give answers to these questions. But, remember, Wolf, this by itself is a kind of courtesy and an olive branch extended by the special counsel because he hasn't brought the president in, as they brought a lot of other witnesses in to give testimony on this stuff.

BLITZER: He also in this interview with The Daily Caller, he called the entire investigation, he said it was an illegal investigation, even though it's a Justice Department investigation. He says it was illegal.

Let's move on and get your thoughts on these text messages showing longtime Trump ally Roger Stone anticipating the WikiLeaks increase -- WikiLeaks release of hacked Democratic e-mails. Do you view those texts as evidence of collusion?

CASTRO: Well, what's interesting about Roger Stone, in his testimony, he basically lied to Congress. We asked him the question. Multiple people in the room asked him the question about whether he had advanced knowledge of these e-mail dumps that were coming.

And at one point he said no. And then I asked him later in the interview, and he said yes. He admitted that he did. So I think that's a pretty clear case of perjury on the part of Roger Stone. So I think that he's probably -- at some point, I would expect that he will face a perjury charge.

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BLITZER: In one of his tweets today, the president also claimed that Robert Mueller is -- quote -- "protecting Hillary Clinton."

The acting attorney general, Matt Whitaker, has previously argued that Clinton should be investigated. What concerns does that raise in your mind?

CASTRO: Well, over the last week, there has been great reporting that gives a lot of people deep concerns about Matthew Whitaker, his background, his career and his fitness to be serving as acting attorney general.

Number one, he should immediately recuse himself from overseeing the Mueller investigation. That's the first thing. But even the ability to serve for 210 days as acting attorney general, when he basically made statements that Jews and Muslims and other non-Christians were not fit to serve as judges in the United States of America, which was recently reported, that by itself should be disqualifying.

BLITZER: There is other news we're following right now. I want to pick your brain while I have you.

There is a new report in "The New York Times" and it reveals that Facebook saw evidence of Russian hacking in the presidential election as early as the spring of 2016, and the company continuously downplayed Russia's use of Facebook for its cyber-warfare campaign.

Is that something your committee, the House Intelligence Committee, would pursue when your party assumes control, the majority, after January 3?

CASTRO: That news was stunning and very troubling, and that will definitely be something that we're going to investigate further in the new term, in the new Congress.

BLITZER: I suspect there is going to be a lot you're going to be investigating once you're in the majority in the House of Representatives, specifically the Intelligence Committee.

Are you 100 percent, Congressman, behind Nancy Pelosi for speaker of the House, or would you potentially consider a challenger?

CASTRO: I'm supporting Nancy Pelosi. I said yesterday in a statement that she's tough. She's smart. She is best prepared to work at creating opportunity for all Americans, but also best prepared to hold the White House accountable.

And I believe that in the end that she will prevail and be speaker of the House in January.

BLITZER: We will know soon enough.

All right, Congressman Joaquin Castro of Texas, thank you very much.

CASTRO: Thank you.

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