MSNBC "The Beat with Ari Melber" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Ted Lieu

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

MELBER:  Stone being pretty clear there, he`ll never testify against Trump.  And today, Trump responds saying, "Nice to know that some people still have guts."  Now, legal authorities, including former Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal responding by saying, "That kind of phrase in this specific situation of this potential target could be criminal witness tampering."
 
Let`s get right to it.  Congressman Ted Lieu for the Judiciary Committee is here.  Good evening to you.  Is this, in your view, potential witness tampering?
 
REP. TED LIEU (D-CA), JUDICIARY AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEES:  Thank you, Ari.  Let me first say my prayers are with the family of President George H.W. Bush.  In regards to your question, I`m a former prosecutor.  I can tell you that witness tampering statute is very broad.  You can violate it merely by attempting to corruptly persuade another witness from attempting to testify.  It looks to me in this case that Donald Trump is attempting to persuade Roger Stone to keep him from testifying.  If I were Special Counsel Mueller, I would have exhibits that simply have Donald Trump`s tweets pasted on a page.
 
MELBER:  And we put that, as you put it broad statement on the screen, you think this does induce false testimony?
 
LIEU:  I think it`s an attempt to persuade Roger Stone to not testify.  That by itself would violate the witness tampering statute.  It could also violate a separate statute, which is obstruction of justice, which simply requires again Donald Trump to merely attempt to influence a federal investigation with corrupt intent.  A lot of this centers on the intent of Donald Trump.  I think it`s pretty clear what his intent is, it is to protect himself and his family and that is corrupt intent.
 
MELBER:  We played a little bit of Roger Stone.  I want to play some more for you because on the actual substance, we`re talking about the compliance with the investigation.  Now, the underlying substance, it`s an open question whether this guy was hyping and self-promoting and exaggerating what he had or whether he did have the goods.  Here is his defense this weekend.
 
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
 
STONE:  I had no contact with Assange.  Going back to the e-mail, I think those have been mischaracterized, saying that these dumps are coming, turns out to be completely incorrect.  They don`t come in early August as predicted by Mr. Corsi.
 
(END VIDEO CLIP)
 
MELBER:  Do you think that holds water?
 
LIEU:  Not at all, Ari.  If you look at the Russia investigation, Michael Flynn lied, Michael Cohen lied, Paul Manafort lied, Roger Stone`s story has been all over the place.  I don`t see why we need to agree with his version at this point in time.  I think he`s not telling the truth.
 
MELBER:  And what about the notion that other people may have matched Michael Cohen`s now admitted lies about Trump Tower and thus also lied to Congress, is there anyone else that you think has that situation or may have lied to the House or Senate?
 
LIEU:  We will know starting this January.  The Democrats in the House gets subpoena power.  We can actually conduct investigations that Republicans refused to conduct in the last two years and we can subpoena witnesses, subpoena documents, and we`re going to know if people lied to Congress.
 
MELBER:  But at this point, you don`t have the view yet of whether there is anyone in that group?
 
LIEU:  Not at this point.
 
MELBER:  Congressman Ted Lieu, appreciate you joining us very much tonight.
 
LIEU:  Thank you, Ari.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source