MSNBC "All in with Chris Hayes" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Adam Schiff

Interview

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HAYES:  Witch hunt.  You get all that?  He didn`t know what?  He didn`t know "in advanced the source or the content of stolen e-mails published by WikiLeaks."  That is one should note quite different from not knowing it was coming.  And those text provided by Stone to NBC News ostensibly to vindicate himself show that he knew it was coming.  "I think it`s on for tomorrow, Credico texted Stone on October 3rd, 2016.  Later that day, Credico texted Stone asking, why can`t you get Trump to come out and say that he would give Julian Assange asylum, according to text obtained by NBC News?
 
Mueller`s investigation is still firing on many fronts.  Today it was in court where prosecutors from the Special Counsel`s office said they were not ready to yet sentence Trump`s former Deputy Campaign Manager Rick Gates because he "continues to cooperate with respect to several ongoing investigations."  And this comes two days after Michael Cohen was in Washington to meet again with the Mueller team.  It comes just one day after Roger Stone associate Jerome Corsi who you heard him referred to there above, abruptly canceled an interview with NBC News.  Corsi`s lawyer stopping Corsi from going forward with the interview here at 30 Rock while at the same time fielding a call from the office of the Special Counsel.
 
Of course, there`s an open question in this moment about just how much latitude Robert Mueller has to operate and follow the truth where it leads since he is now reporting, let`s remember, to this man Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker who today received a ruling from the office of legal counsel inside the Justice Department saying his appointment is lawful and valid.  This despite the fact that the only time in American history that an attorney general was even remotely appointed in this way was back in 1866 and he held the position for six days.  But Whitaker is not out of the woods yet.
 
House Democrats are preparing to investigate Whitaker`s role on the advisory board of a company accused of scamming millions from its customers.  Congressman Adam Schiff of California Ranking Member of the House Intelligence Committee joins me now.  Schiff and his Democratic colleagues sent letters requesting information on Whitaker`s involvement with that company`s advisory board.  And let`s start there.  Congressman Schiff, what are you asking for, what are your concerns about Whitaker?
 
REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D), CALIFORNIA:  Well, our concerns are that at a time when he was a paid advisory board member, this company is alleged to have been engaged in criminal conduct.  We`re talking about the chief law enforcement officer of the country.  If he was aware of this criminal conduct or was implicated in any way, or failed to uphold his responsibility, that is something that we ought to know of the chief law enforcement officer of the country.  And certainly, it raises another recusal issue there`s no way that he can or should be involved any of the aspects of that case given that he was -- has such a close tie to those involved. 
 
HAYES:  Is it your understanding -- that`s been publicly reported -- but is it your understanding as well that the FBI has an open criminal investigation into the activities of that very company?
 
SCHIFF:  You know, I don`t know the answer to that.  That`s not information generally that they share with the Congress.
 
HAYES:  Let me ask you this.  Maryland has filed a motion basically asking a court to declare Rod Rosenstein the real attorney general basically saying Whitaker, his appointment is unconstitutional.  Do you agree with that argument or what remedies or courses of action do you want to see happen here?
 
SCHIFF:  I do agree with that lawsuit and I think that his appointment does violate not only Constitution but other statutes as well.  He is a principal officer.  He`s the top law enforcement officer in the country.  The fact that he is serving it for a temporary period doesn`t make him somehow inferior.  We look at both the letter of the Constitution which requires that position be Senate confirmed, but we also look at the functionality that is if you interpret it the way the Justice Department is, what does that say about the function of that office by somebody who`s an Acting Attorney General as compared to with someone who`s a permanent Attorney General.  And by that test, there`s no difference in the function.  He has no greater, no lesser responsibilities than if he would the permanent Attorney General, they`re identical so it makes no sense to treat them differently.
 
And finally, and I think this is very persuasive and was also pointed out by the Maryland Attorney General, and that is we have a succession statute specifically for the Department of Justice.  In other cases, with other agencies that have a succession statute, they specify when you can also use the Vacancy Reform Act.  This statute does not do that and the strong implication is when Congress passed this statute and said this is the succession, it meant what it said and when you have conflict between a specific statute and a more general one, it`s the specific statute that governs.
 
HAYES:  So there`s a situation right now, the special counsel`s office is doing its work.  It now reports up to as far as we know Mr. Whittaker, the Acting Attorney General.  There`s a question about what is happening in those interactions.  What can you and the Democratic Party do once you gain control the gavel to find out what`s happening and ensure that there`s no untoward interference? 
 
SCHIFF:  Well, the first thing we can do is bring Mr. Whitaker before the Congress and I think that`s exactly what`s going to happen and we could demand answers in terms of what actions he`s taking in the investigation, what communications he`s had with the president, whether he sought an ethics opinion, what that ethics opinion told him to do, whether he is violating the terms of the ethics opinion.
 
Now, I would fully expect under some of these questions the White House is likely to fight us.  But nonetheless we are going to persevere and the truth is going to come out.  There`s just no way to avoid exposure if Mr.
Whitaker does anything unethical.  And we ought to expect everyone in the Justice Department to abide by the highest ethical standards and that includes particularly the Attorney General.
 
HAYES:  There`s been some -- Benjamin Wittes wrote of piece to this extent the other day and I`ve seen other people make the case that essentially the Mueller investigation is far enough along that it will find what it will find that at this point there`s not that much and even a malevolent Acting Attorney General could do to stifle it.  Is that your view?
 
SCHIFF:  No, it is not my view at all.  That presupposes really all the work has been done in the investigation or farmed out to other people who can carry it on.  No, let`s remember that he can not only in this position interfere with what Bob Mueller is doing, he can interfere in what the Southern District of New York is doing.  And to the degree that Bob Mueller has more work to do, let`s say that the Mueller team has decided it needs to subpoena the President to force him to testify, that`s something that can be prevented and that may very well be the best evidence and interview with the President on the issue of obstruction of justice.
 
So there`s a great deal that he can do to harm the investigation.  We in Congress are going to do everything we can not only to protect the investigation but to assist where we can.  And you know, in light of what you were discussing earlier, one of the things that we ought to do immediately is provide the transcripts of these witness interviews to Bob Mueller because in light of the disclosures within the last 24 hours of these text messages that Mr. Stone apparently have provided to NBC News, both the existence of these text messages and their content arrays a very substantial question about Mr. Stones truthfulness under oath before our committee and that evidence should be provided to the special counsel.
 
HAYES:  I should note, in the other House of Congress, in the Senate today, Jeff Coons and -- Senator Coons and Senator Flake attempt to bring to the floor a protect Mueller bill that`s already been written and co-sponsored and they were objected to by speaker -- by Leader McConnell so that`s not going to happen.  We`ll see where it goes.  Congressman Adam Schiff, thank you very much.
 
SCHIFF:  Thank you.

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