MSNBC "All in with Chris Hayes" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Joaquin Castro

Interview

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VELSHI:  There was an intriguing line in the special counsel`s memo about Michael Cohen tonight, including, or among the information that prosecutors found helpful, along with his contact with Russians was his contact with the White House, and his contact with the Trump organization, quote, "Cohen described the circumstances of preparing and circulating his response to the congressional inquiries while continuing to accept responsibility for the false statements contained within it." 
 
Among the congressional bodies Michael Cohen testified before was the House Intelligence Committee, one of whose members, Democratic Congressman Joaquin Castro of Texas joins me now.
 
Congressman, good to see you.  Thank you for being with us.
 
REP. JOAQUIN CASTRO, (D) TEXAS:  Great to see you.
 
VELSHI:  There`s so much news and so much information tonight, it`s hard to separate -- it`s hard to figure out what the important threads are.  But one of the important threads that stood out to me is that in preparing for testimony to congress, to your committee, in which Michael Cohen lied, in which he perjured himself, in preparing for that he was talking to the White House.
 
CASTRO:  Yeah, that`s right.  And it`s remarkable, because throughout the investigatory process we got word back that different lawyers for different witnesses were communicating with the White House, and perhaps with each other.  So, it`s quite possible that if one or more of them lied to our committee if they -- in other words, if they all coordinated their stories, that they may -- basically may have told the same lie and may now be on the hook for those falsehoods.
 
And I also have to say, Ali, but it is remarkable to read that Cohen sentencing memo, and to realize essentially that the only thing keeping Donald Trump from being indicted and being charged with a crime beyond wealth and privilege, is that he occupies the office of the presidency and that he`s in the White House, and that if he didn`t it`s very likely that he would be in court right now as well.
 
VELSHI:  What`s the thing that stands out to you as a member of congress?  You know, Kim Wehle pointed out on page 23 of the Southern District of New York`s memo, that -- they speak specifically about the harm done to democracy, that congress has specifically worked to protect Americans from by rich people buying the silence of other people in the influence of an election.  There`s that.
 
There`s the fact that Michael Cohen says he was directed to pay this hush money by individual one, who we know to be Donald Trump.  There`s that.
 
But there`s so much more.  What stands out to you?  And what are you going to do about it?
 
CASTRO:  Well, the first thing -- I mean, you asked the question as a member of congress and as a member of the intelligence committee, the first thing that really stands out in reading these sentencing memos is how much further along the Mueller investigation is than anything that the Senate or the House has been able to do.  That`s the first big thing.
 
But also just the vast, basically collusion that went on to undermine our democracy.  In the Manafort sentencing memo, there`s further indication that there are even deeper ties between Trump`s former campaign manager, Manafort, and Russians, including somebody that`s believed to be a Russian spy, or possibly a Russian spy.
 
So, in each of the areas of collusion, possibly of money laundering, and certainly as we`ve seen before, obstruction of Justice, there continues to be more developments in each of those areas.  And it is incredibly remarkable to see how far we`ve gone from a president who said none of my people talked to Russia, I never talked to Russia, had no business in Russia, to where we are now.
 
VELSHI:  Your committee, the intel committee, because of the leadership of that committee that seemed to be somewhat compromised on the Republican side, didn`t get the job done that it was supposed to do, there were people left uninterviewed, there were things that were just not investigated.  Is that going to change in January when Democrats take control of that committee.
 
CASTRO:  Yeah, you`ll see a very different direction under Adam Schiff, I`m confident.  You`ll see a fair, but very thorough investigation.  And we`re not going to reinvent the wheel.  We`re not going to bring in every single witness again, but there are somewhere between a half dozen and 10 very important unanswered questions that we want to get information on. 
 
And it was surprising to me that throughout the last two years under Devin Nunes, the committee basically conducted a take them at their word investigation.  The witnesses would come in, they`d be asked some questions for a few hours, whatever they said.  It`s as if we accepted them at their word.  There wasn`t a single subpoena that was issued to go and verify anything that was told to us and that`s going to change in January.
 
VELSHI:  So Congressman Castro, let me ask you this, you`ve been in congress for awhile, but now you`ve got the majority and there are a lot of people who were elected on kitchen table issues -- on health care, on things like that.  At some point, because of all of this paperwork, and the fact that they are way further ahead than many people think and that there`s going to be more -- and Nick Ackerman, you may have heard him, sort of created a narrative around what`s going on. 
 
Are you in a position to consider discussing impeachment in congress?
 
CASTRO:  I think we have to be. 
 
You know, look, nobody runs for the House of Representatives or the U.S.
Senate because they want to go impeach a president.  And I think that people are sobered by that thought.  That is the most serious thing that you can undertake in American democracy. 
 
People go to congress, as you mentioned, to deal with issues of education, of health care, of economic prosperity, but when the evidence becomes so clear that you very likely have a criminal sitting in the Oval Office, what is the congress left to do at that point? 
 
We do have to wait for Bob Mueller`s report.  There`s got to  be a fair and thorough process here.  Also, the American people have to be convinced.  It`s important that they`re also convinced.  But I think that you`re seeing that more and more.
 
So, yes, you know, there`s no -- I know that -- I`m sure that many conservatives, many Republicans would say that we`ve got a partisan grudge, that we want to go after the president, that`s not the case at all.  Folks are very reluctant to go down this path and are sobered by it, but at the same time you can`t ignore the evidence.
 
VELSHI:  Congressman, good to see you tonight.  Thank you for joining us.  Congressman Joaquin Castro of Texas, thank you for being here.
 
CASTRO:  Thank you.

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