CNN "Erin Burnett Outfront" - Transcript: Interview with Democratic Congressman Ted Lieu of California
Interview
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BURNETT: All right. Evan Perez, thank you very much.
And I want to go now to Democratic Ted -- Democratic Congressman Ted Lieu, I'm sorry, who sits on the House Foreign Affairs and Judiciary Committees.
Congressman, good to have you with me tonight. Should Stone be allowed to defend himself in the court of public opinion, do you think?
REP. TED LIEU (D), CALIFORNIA: Thank you, Erin, for your question. I'm a former prosecutor and I have a different take on this. I actually would want Roger Stone going around talking about his indictment on as many TV shows as possible.
BURNETT: Why?
LIEU: Prosecutors like it when defendants keep on talking because Roger Stone doesn't know the evidence that special counsel Mueller has. Whatever he says now can and will be used against him in a trial. It gives more opportunities for roger stone to make a mistake and to say things that confirm or help the special counsel's prosecution. I don't know how hard Mueller is going to fight this.
BURNETT: Interesting. All right. Well, President Trump was asked about Roger Stone by "The New York Times" and the Stone indictment, as you're aware, says a senior campaign official was directed to contact Stone about WikiLeaks. We have been saying who is more senior than a senior campaign official, right?
All right. So, who directed that person to do that? Let me play you the exchange when the president was asked if it was him.
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BURNETT: Do you believe him, Congressman?
LIEU: I don't know. I can't tell in this case what the evidence is. I do know that Donald Trump has lied thousands of times, according to 'Washington Post" fact checker that tracks all his lies.
I also know if you look at the number of people that could have ordered a senior campaign official to take any action, it's not a lot. It certainly wasn't Melania. So, there's only a limited number of people left. We'll see what the evidence shows on whether it was Donald Trump or someone else in his family or potentially Jared Kushner.
BURNETT: Right, right, or his son-in-law.
All right. Congressman, you sent a letter to the White House Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and asked to revoke his security clearance. You did this after a NBC report that said he had been rejected for clearance by two White House security specialists after his FBI background check raised concerns, and they said don't do it. Their supervisor over ruled them.
President Trump was asked about this by "The New York Times". And let me play that exchange with Maggie Haberman.
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BURNETT: Do you believe him on that, that he would never get involved with Jared Kushner and security clearance?
LIEU: I do not. Congress Don Beyer and I have been working on this for a year when we first learned that Jared Kushner omitted material information about all his foreign contacts not once but twice on his security clearance forms. Kushner also has these deep financial ties and problems with issues like 666 Fifth Avenue. A property that's in debt.
And career specialists said he shouldn't get a top security clearance. He was then overruled by the White House. I think Donald Trump had something to do with it.
But the fact that these career specialists were overruled. There's no reason for that. Jared Kushner should not have a security clearance. It should be revoked. And I certainly hope our intelligence agencies are not giving him any top secret information to see.
BURNETT: Congressman, I also want to you about the Virginia governor, Democrat Ralph Northam. We saw the photo. He's respond and admitted it's not on his yearbook page. He's indeed one of the two people in this picture.
[19:35:00] One is wearing black face. The other is in a KKK robe and hat.
Should the governor of Virginia remain the governor of Virginia?
LIEU: No. Governor Northam should resign. There is no defense for that shockingly racist photograph.
I know that Republican Secretary of State Michael Ortel resigned recently for being in blackface. This is a picture of black face next to a KKK figure. That is far worse. Northam should no longer be in office.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Congressman. I appreciate your time.
LIEU: Thank you.
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