CNN "Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Blumenthal

Interview

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COOPER: All right. Kaitlan Collins from the White House -- Kaitlan, thanks very much.

I want to get reaction now from the leading voice on the Senate Judiciary Committee -- Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut joins me.

Senator, I'm wondering what you make of this? I mean, if Chairman Nadler's account of this is correct, Whitaker did not, in fact, deny the president called him to discuss the Michael Cohen case, what does that say to you?

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT), JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: What it says to me is that the president was attempting to influence potentially that investigation in New York where he was an unindicted co-conspirator and, in fact, he was called individual number one but clearly he was that person in a possible campaign finance conspiracy involving Michael Cohen.

The only way to really reconcile these two accounts from Collins and Nadler is to take an earlier version from Republican counsel who said that Whitaker insisted he could not remember any conversation with the president. Perhaps Congressman Collins means by do not remember that in effect he denied those conversations. But Chairman Nadler has been very clear, he said there was a conversation as indicated by the fact that Whitaker did not deny it.

COOPER: So the -- is it clear to you, though, what exactly is being alleged -- OK, is Nadler saying he didn't deny there was a conversation, the idea that the president was talking about personnel issues in the Southern District of New York, which I assume -- the biggest personnel issue is the fact that the recusal by the person that he appointed to head the Southern District of New York related to the Cohen case, I guess, is there any way to find out what was said in that meeting? I mean, is it possible the transcript should be released or would be released?

BLUMENTHAL: The transcript should be released, just like I've insisted that the entire Mueller report should be released. And very possibly, Matt Whitaker should be brought back before the committee in public under oath.

Chairman Nadler is a very careful and meticulous attorney, and he uses words carefully. There is a lot of smoke here, which indicates fire. More questions than answers. And very likely there needs to be a release of this transcript, but also more testimony to establish exactly what Whitaker is saying, because he seemingly is playing both sides of this street in a very disingenuous way. COOPER: So even if the president did call Whitaker and talked about

the Cohen case, if no action was actually taken by Whitaker, is there any issue in terms of legality of it?

BLUMENTHAL: There is very definitely an issue. If the president called the acting attorney general of the United States about an ongoing investigation of him in the Southern District of New York, where he was named as a an unindicted co-conspirator, any conversation would be wildly improper. And evidence of potential obstruction of justice. Even if nothing came of it in terms of Whitaker acting.

Clearly, the president's intent in calling Whitaker was to influence the outcome. Clearly that kind of attempt, whether it produced action on Whitaker's part was improper, verging on outright obstruction of justice. So, this report is potentially explosive.

[20:10:02] Whitaker has denied very specifically in his opening statement in public that kind of conversation. But even some backtracking indicates that perhaps there was such a conversation and Whitaker should remember it.

COOPER: What is the law in between the president doing something as you say improper, and doing something illegal, attempting to obstruct justice? I mean, obviously, there is many things that may be improper and unseemly which are not actually illegal.

BLUMENTHAL: Key question, we need to know more facts. Before we reach a conclusion, we need to know what the president's actual words were and what his intent was, to be gleaned from those words. We need to know whether Whitaker took any action, how Whitaker interpreted it.

We're not likely to know those facts in the next 24 hours. The only way to really obtain them is to have Whitaker back and Chairman Nadler has been pursuing very assiduously and meticulously an investigation that has historic consequences. The president's potential conversations with Whitaker indicate that he's treating the Department of Justice like his own personal attorneys.

And the American public has a right to wonder why is Whitaker so vague and disingenuous if there is nothing to hide.

COOPER: Senator Blumenthal, I appreciate it. Thank you very much.

BLUMENTHAL: Thank you.

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