MSNBC "All in with Chris Hayes" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Jamie Raskin
Interview
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HAYES: with me now, the right -- the Vice Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin of Maryland, also a Member of the Oversight Committee. Congressman, I understand Democrats who have just about to take the gavel in January and just won this big victory, you want to be very careful, don`t want to get out ahead of the facts, but your honor Judiciary Committee and there`s a story in the Wall Street Journal that suggests strongly there`s evidence the President helps give it a federal crime.
REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D), MARYLAND: That`s right. Well, just to underscore what you start off with, we want to get back to the business of the American people and we want to deal with all of the crises that are engulfing America now like the crisis of gun violence, the decay of our infrastructure, and so on and we`re putting that first. But having said that, obviously, we cannot ignore crimes that are taking place at the highest levels of government. Look, Chris, there`s only two parts of Federal Campaign Finance Law that are really left. One is a ban on direct corporate contributions to federal campaigns and the other is a limit of $2,700 for individual contributions.
These $130,000 payments, tens of thousands of dollars going to the President`s mistresses from either corporations or individuals completely violate the campaign finance laws and this reporting suggests that the President was directly involved. That is a federal crime. That`s a felony for the President to or for anybody to be involved in deliberately circumventing the Campaign Finance Laws and we have every indication that that`s what`s taking place.
I suppose the question of fact will be the President saying well, I was trying to protect my marriage if it ever got you know down to it versus I was trying to advance my campaign. And that`s a question of fact that a judge or a jury would have to determine but it is of relevance here that the President used to brag frequently of his affairs and you know, various romantic entanglements while he was married in the press so he didn`t make much of an effort to cover up those relationships until he was running for president and then it was right in the heat of the campaign that they directed those money they talked about the campaign when the hush payments were being made.
HAYES: Yes, weeks before the campaign and I think that`s part of the fact, the sort of the factual record that made it difficult for Michael Cohen to avoid a guilty plea on precisely this question. I mean, he has pleaded guilty and stipulated that this was an illegal campaign donation.
RASKIN: Right so you know, look in the compendium of Trump`s crimes, maybe this isn`t in the top five, but it`s probably in the top ten and it`s something that Americans have got to take very seriously --
HAYES: Well, just to be clear here, Congressman, you`re on the Judiciary Committee. Like we -- I know that you know, the President has done a lot of stuff and he`s done a lot of awful stuff and maybe done a lot of illegal stuff but this is -- there`s prima facie evidence here of the President`s involvement in committing a crime and you`re on the committee that starts impeachment proceedings which is the only legal recourse for the president being a criminal.
RASKIN: Well, that`s right. And look, for any other presidency this would clearly be the number one offense that we`d be dealing with. I mean, it`s an extraordinary crime when you think about it --
HAYES: Yes because it pertains materially to his victory in the election. It`s not just -- it doesn`t you know, it`s not just some random he did. He did it in the waning days of an election. He won by 77,038 votes across three states.
RASKIN: Right. And look, understand that what we have here is a concealment of campaign payments. It was an effect you know, an in-kind campaign contribution that went from this corporation to the mistresses in order to purchase their silence to basically cover up their stories and to nullify the political impact of them. And you know the prosecutions have been brought on the exact same theory before, it was brought against John Edwards in his campaign and this is the exact same thing, except I think there`s even a much more dramatic and vivid paper trail here of what actually took place.
HAYES: Right. Final question, it does -- if in fact, the President did this, let`s stipulate that he did, is it a high crime in misdemeanor in the context of the Constitution?
RASKIN: Well, again, I think you`ve got to look in the context of everything that was taking place in the campaign. But I would think that deliberate violations of Federal Campaign Finance Laws that have been in place for decades that were well understood could constitute a high crime in misdemeanor, an assault against the rule of law, and assault on democracy.
HAYES: All right, Congressman Jamie Raskin who`s on the House Judiciary Committee, thanks for being with me.
RASKIN: You bet.
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