MSNBC "Hardball" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Joaquin Castro

Interview

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MATTHEWS:  Congressman, if we had a Manchurian Candidate, someone who was a mole in our government at the highest level, the presidency, they would do things like, well, leave the troops out -- pull the troops out of Syria, because Russia doesn`t want them there. 
 
They would kill NATO, which has been a burr in the saddle of the Russians since Stalin`s day, because it`s kept Western Europe from them and eventually took part of Eastern Europe away from them, including the Baltic states, Poland and Hungary.  They hate NATO.  He`s talking about getting rid of it. 
 
It sounds like he matches up with someone working for the Russians. 
 
REP. JOAQUIN CASTRO (D), TEXAS:  Yes.
 
I mean, Vladimir Putin and the Russian government could not have asked for a friendlier American president, who has done the things that you mentioned, undermined our relationship with longstanding allies, entertained the idea of actually withdrawing from NATO, aligned himself with autocrats around the world, including Vladimir Putin, obviously pulled out of Syria in a haphazard way, leaving it to one of the countries there, Russia, to control. 
 
And so he`s done things that have substantially departed from the behavior of both Republican and Democratic presidents and undermined are standing in the world, to Russia`s benefit. 
 
It should also be noted, Chris, that Donald Trump started going to Moscow, to Russia, before the breakup of the Soviet Union.  And so, of course, we`re far from having a conclusion this or anything definitive. 
 
But you also got to admit that that`s exactly the kind of person that they would be targeting to make an asset of in the United States.  So we`re a long way from figuring this out, I think, but it speaks to the urgency of getting that interpreter, probably subpoenaing the interpreter and figuring out what was said in that meeting in Helsinki.
 
MATTHEWS:  What do you make of -- big picture, what do you make of his strange attraction to Moscow?  He wants to have a tower over there, a hotel.  He wants to -- he had the Miss Universe contest over there. 
 
He`s got 100 contacts during his campaign and early parts of administration with Russians.  He`s got people he`s hired like Manafort, and he hangs around people like Roger Stone, all engaging -- all of them with Russian -- Papadopoulos -- all of these people with Russian contacts. 
 
I said it last night.  Not to be lighthearted about it, I don`t know any Russians.
 
CASTRO:  Yes. 
 
MATTHEWS:  Why does he know so many Russians?  I don`t know how many you happen to know.
 
CASTRO:  Yes. 
 
MATTHEWS:  But it`s an odd -- I mean, a lot of us meet Mexicans.  We meet people from Canada.  We meet people from Europe, Western Europe.  We don`t meet a whole lot of Russians, and this guy seems to spend his life with them. 
 
He seems to have an affinity for the East.  Like, what is this about, this guy?  I don`t know.  I would love to know. 
 
CASTRO:  Yes, I wish I could give you a more definitive answer. 
 
One of the things that we tried to figure out in our investigation the Intelligence Committee is whether there was any money-laundering issues between the Trump Organization and Russian oligarchs, for example, who are pumping money into Trump`s -- President Trump`s businesses. 
 
But, as you know, Devin Nunes, who was chair of the committee, didn`t issue a single subpoena for bank records, travel records, phone records, anything that would allow us to get to the bottom of the question about the history between President Trump and Russia and the organization and Russia, and whether they have any leverage over Donald Trump.
 
MATTHEWS:  Yes. 
 
CASTRO:  That`s something that I hope that Bob Mueller has figured out.
 
But now that we have got a different control, Democrats are in control of this Intelligence Committee, we will go about trying to figure it out as well. 
 
MATTHEWS:  How much more are you worried about the dossier, including all its gory pieces, being true, given what happened in the newspapers this weekend, that the FBI began to think he was a mole?
 
And then you read the dossier.  Do you read it in a new light, a new credible light?
 
CASTRO:  Yes, I think that it -- the reporting tends to strengthen some of the claims that were made in the dossier, absolutely,
 
MATTHEWS:  Yes. 
 
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