Fox News "The Story" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Chuck Grassley

Interview

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MACCALLUM: So, Fox News has obtained an early look of Barr's written testimony for tomorrow in which he will state, quote, "I believe it is vitally important for the special counsel to be allowed to complete his investigation."

Senate Judiciary Committee member, Chuck Grassley, will be questioning Mr. Barr. He served as that committee's chairman during the Kavanaugh hearings and for many years.

Senator Grassley, it's great to see you this evening. Congratulations on your Senate pro tempore distinction which is what you will be, third in line for the president, right?

SEN. CHUCK GRASSLEY, R-IOWA: Thank you very much, I appreciate the compliment and I appreciate the honor and even the work that goes with it.

MACCALLUM: Well, senator, it's always a pleasure to have you here. Let me get your thoughts as we move forward to the Barr testimony tomorrow morning. And I want to play for you your colleague who's taken over the chairmanship, Senator Lindsey Graham, his comments on Fox News Sunday. watch this.

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SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM, R-S.C.: I'm going to ask him, do you see any reason to fire Mr. Mueller base on what you know now for a cause, do you trust Mr. Mueller to be fair to the president in the country? Will you make sure that he can finish his job if you get the report, will you be as transparent as possible? I've asking him those questions, and I'm very comfortable with his answers.

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MACCALLUM: Obviously that's going to be the central debate tomorrow, senator.

GRASSLEY: Well, that's absolutely right. And I think that I heard what the two or three Democrats you had on here before you got me on. And what they are demanding of Barr, I think he already should've satisfied them by the statements that he is going to make tomorrow and his opening statement already released that he said he is going to let it play out.

And what's more assurance can he give to Democrats if that's going to be the case? And if that's the big thing that's holding up their support of him, he ought to be able to get through the Senate like he did three other times in this earlier career to be attorney general and other positions within the H.W. Bush administration he was approved unanimously.

And that time he was praised by Leahy, and now in the United States Senate, and Biden who was in the Senate at that particular time. So, it seems to me like he ought to have smooth sailing considering what Democrats are demanding of him.

MACCALLUM: Well, we know smooth sailing isn't something that we see a lot in confirmation hearings these days. I want to play this from Alberto Gonzalez who served in the Bush administration as A.G., and get your reaction to this, sir. Let's play it.

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ALBERTO GONZALEZ, FORMER ATTORNEY GENERAL: Well, he obviously wrote this memo to the department questioning the authority of the special counsel to investigate the president with respect to obstruction. And so that creates possible -- an appearance of possible bias and prejudice. And so, if I am Bill Barr, I'm going to have a conversation with the career ethics officials at the Department of Justice and get their advice.

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MACCALLUM: I mean, this is the same kind of thing that we saw in one regard with the Kavanaugh hearing where somebody has stated opinions on previous things prior to the confirmation process, but that they comment and they will argue that they comment this new position with fresh eyes and a fresh frame of reference given what the job demands of them.

GRASSLEY: Well, I think, first of all, the concerns that are raised by this statement by Gonzalez and what he is presuming Democrats are going to bring up ought to be answered by the previous discussion that you and I had.

But you also got to remember that a lot of attorney general or past attorney generals are called upon for opinion. A lot of them don't wait until they are called upon, they give their opinion. He is giving it as a private citizen. He did not say in any way a president was immune from prosecution if he did something wrong.

It didn't seem to me like there was overprotection of the presidency, which Barr is famous for. He just kind of laid out his opinion. And what's wrong with making your opinion as a private citizen when you have taken an oath to uphold the Constitution?

MACCALLUM: Understood. Let me ask you one more quick question. With regards to the transparency issue, once Robert Mueller has this report it's going to be the Department of Justice that decides what will be released. What are your feelings on that given all of the history over the past few years, is it -- do you believe that the American people should see the report in its entirety?

GRASSLEY: Yes, absolutely, and I believe that Barr has indicated that to other senators and maybe even any statement that it ought to be. But I look at it from a fiscal standpoint. I think that we are spending $25 million to $35 million on this investigation. We ought to know what happened with what we get for that $25 million or $35 million.

MACCALLUM: Yes, that's a really good point. And I think Americans will judge based on that whether or not it was worth two years of investigation, that's an open question right now. And we will see and the country will judge that when it comes forth.

Senator Grassley, always good to see you, sir. Thank you very much. We'll be watching tomorrow.

GRASSLEY: Thank you very much too.

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