NBC "Meet the Press" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Adam Schiff

Interview

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CHUCK TODD:Welcome back. This was a week in which we saw President Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort get sentenced to prison. Think about that for a moment. The man who made sure Donald Trump secured the nomination at the Republican convention was sentenced to 47 months in prison, with sentencing in another case coming this week. We also saw Mr. Trump and Michael Cohen each call the other a liar over whether Cohen sought a pardon from the president. There's a lot to chew on. We're going to turn to the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff, who joins me now from Los Angeles. And on spring-forward day, I'm very grateful for you getting up that extra hour early. Congressman Schiff, welcome back to Meet the Press, sir.

REP. ADAM SCHIFF:Thank you.

CHUCK TODD:Let me just start with a basic question here. Who's lying, the president or Michael Cohen, when it comes to whether Michael Cohen asked for a pardon? And more importantly, did Michael Cohen lie to Congress again?

REP. ADAM SCHIFF:Well, the central question of our investigation is: Why did Michael Cohen lie before our committee about Moscow Trump Tower? Why would this be in his interest? Was this something that he did alone? Or were there others involved in it? And there are reasons to believe that this was not a lone decision of Michael Cohen. What we are looking for is corroborative evidence. And the reason why this, this whole Moscow Trump Tower issue is so central to our investigation is that it explains or potentially explains the president's bizarre affinity for Vladimir Putin. And that is that he stood to make more money from this transaction than any deal in his life and sought the Kremlin's help to make it happen while concealing this from the public. That still may be an animating principle for the president. He may believe that when he leaves office --

CHUCK TODD:

Yeah.

REP. ADAM SCHIFF:

-- that he still wants to build this tower. And while that may not be criminal, it is nonetheless corrupt and distorts our policy. So, you know, that is certainly the central question for us. In terms of who's telling the truth between Michael Cohen and the president, we know that the president has made probably over a thousand false statements about the Russia issues. And here we're going to simply have to find what corroboration we can to find out where the truth lies.

CHUCK TODD:I was just going to say is it safe to say you can't take Michael Cohen at his word on anything?

REP. ADAM SCHIFF:I don't think in terms of making the case to the public, and here we're not making the case to a jury, about what took place that we can rely solely on the testimony of Michael Cohen. We're going to need corroboration. You know, to me in looking at what Michael Cohen said in the open hearing and then what his lawyers said afterwards, it was very much like what Donald Trump did when he said that he had no knowledge of these payments to Stormy Daniels and then Rudy Giuliani said, "Oh yes, he did." Well, where is the truth there? We asked Michael Cohen about this extensively. Those transcripts will be made public. The public can evaluate his credibility themselves.

CHUCK TODD:You know, it looks like, we don't know this for sure. But it looks like Robert Mueller's going to complete his investigation without subpoenaing the president before the grand jury or coming up with a way to have him interviewed before the grand jury. President Clinton went before Ken Starr's grand jury. In hind-- If indeed Mr. Mueller decides not to issue that subpoena or figure out how to get the president in front of that grand jury, is that going to have been a mistake considering we have so many questions about who -- whose testimony should you believe: Michael Cohen's or Donald Trump's?

REP. ADAM SCHIFF:Yes, I think it is a mistake. And I've said all along that I don't think Bob Mueller should rely on written answers. When you get written answers from a witness, it's really the lawyers' answers as much as the client's answer. And here you need to be able to ask follow-up questions in real time. But I think the constraint that Bob Mueller's operating under is he had an acting attorney general who was appointed because he would be hostile to a subpoena on the president. And now he has a permanent attorney general who was chosen for the same hostility to his investigation, who would likely oppose that step. I also think that the special counsel feels some time pressure to conclude his work. And knowing that the White House would drag out a fight over the subpoena, that may be an issue as well. But I do think ultimately it's a mistake because probably the best way to get the truth would be to put the president under oath. Because as he's made plain in the past, he feels it's perfectly fine to lie to the public. After all, he has said, "It's not like I'm talking before a magistrate." Well, maybe he should talk before a magistrate.

CHUCK TODD:I want to move to something that was a bit confusing. Erik Prince, who is the brother of the secretary of education but also has been sort of before your committee having to do with some odd meetings that he had set up in the Seychelles, he was on Al Jazeera and he was asked about some testimony to your committee and about whether he lied or not. Take a listen.

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CHUCK TODD:So this was about another meeting that Erik Prince had I believe with some other -- perhaps with some other representatives of some other countries in Trump Tower, the so-called second Trump Tower meeting of less significance. Not with Russians, with other foreign countries. Based on what you heard there, is Mr. Prince telling the truth? Is your transcript wrong?

REP. ADAM SCHIFF:Well, he's certainly not telling the truth in that interview. There's nothing wrong with our transcript. There was nothing wrong with the reporter who transcribed his testimony. He did not disclose that meeting to our committee. And in fact, as you can see from the published transcript of his interview, he was asked what kind of role he played, if any, in the campaign, and he said he had no role apart from on his own submitting written papers, hanging a yard sign, or making a contribution. And he was also asked about any substantive policy conversations that he might have had. So his, you know, interview certainly looks inconsistent with his testimony. Bob Mueller has that testimony already. And Bob Mueller will have to make the decision about whether that rises to a level of deliberate falsehood. But we had questions at the time of his testimony about his candor and his and his --

CHUCK TODD:What's your --

REP. ADAM SCHIFF:-- how forthcoming he was. And those questions have only been heightened now.

CHUCK TODD:What's your concern about what he was doing?

REP. ADAM SCHIFF:Well, the concern is that, you know, this is another concealed meeting. This is another discussion that took place in the context of the meeting that he had in the Seychelles. There have been persistent questions about whether the U.A.E. was playing a backchannel role to the Russians during the campaign. And those were a lot of the questions that we were asking him about. So clearly this meeting at Trump Tower with these players was of direct interest to our committee. So why conceal it? Why withhold that information if there was nothing improper, no improper purpose in it? There are a lot of deeply concerning and unanswered questions around Erik Prince and his involvement with the campaign.

CHUCK TODD:All right. Adam Schiff, I will leave it there. The Democratic lead on the House Intelligence Committee, the chairman. Thanks very much for coming on, getting up early, and sharing your views with us this morning.

REP. ADAM SCHIFF:Thank you

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