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

Interview

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MATTHEWS:  That`s why we have RICO charges. 
 
Thank you so much, David Corn.  You know your stuff. 
 
U.S. Congressman Joaquin Castro is a Democrat from Texas, of course.  He`s a member of the House Intelligence Committee.
 
Congressman, you sat through this whole thing today, like we all have.  What`s going to happen now in Congress, especially on obstruction? 
 
REP. JOAQUIN CASTRO (D), TEXAS:  Well, a few things. 
 
First of all, we have got to get special counsel Bob Mueller in there to testify.  And I think a question that he will be asked, and I would expect that he would be asked, is, based upon your findings, if you were a member of Congress, would you move forward with impeachment proceedings? 
 
I think he should be able to answer that question for us.  It`s a question, obviously, that every member of Congress is going to have to answer for themselves, the Judiciary Committee first. 
 
But it`s also clear today that the special -- that -- I`m sorry -- that the attorney general, Barr, has been doing a real public relations campaign for the president for a few weeks now and really trying to soften the blow, so to speak. 
 
And now that we have got the final report, we know that it`s much worse than what the attorney general has been making it out to be.
 
MATTHEWS:  Certainly.  Well said.  Thank you.
 
Rick Gates, by the way, Congressman, told the special counsel that -- quote
* "By the late summer of 2016, the Trump campaign was planning a press strategy, a communications campaign, and messaging based on the possible release of Clinton e-mails, Clinton e-mails, by WikiLeaks."
 
On July 27 of 2016, five days after the initial e-mail dump, President Trump called on Russia to do more.  Let`s watch.
 
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
 
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES:  Russia, if you`re listening, I hope you`re able to find the 30,000 e-mails that are missing.
 
(END VIDEO CLIP)
 
MATTHEWS:  Well, according to the special counsel, Robert Mueller, the Russians heeded his called -- quote -- "Within approximately five hours" of Trump`s request there to the Russians, Russian intelligence officers targeted for the first time Clinton`s personal office.
 
Congressman, it seems to me -- I don`t know about the laws of conspiracy, but, to me, it looks like they`re playing ball with each other, Trump and the Russians, to get Hillary.
 
CASTRO:  Yes, I think that`s right, Chris. 
 
And I think this point can`t be overstated.  You have a presidential candidate running for president of the United States basically asking a foreign country to hack into an opponent`s e-mail server and find e-mails. 
 
And the bad thing for our democracy, for our country is that, if that is not punished or recognized as wrong, then whoever`s running in 2020 or 2024 can go out there and say, Iran or China or whoever, man, I wish you would really go find the e-mails that are on this person`s server.  Wouldn`t that be great?
 
And then they can come back and say, you know what, guys, I was just joking about that.  I didn`t really mean that.  And I guess that they`re -- they would be off the hook. 
 
Just because Donald Trump said something publicly, and later claimed it was a joke, should not let him off the hook for that.  And as the report makes clear, within five hours, five hours after he said that, for the first time, the Russians went after Hillary Clinton`s e-mails.
 
MATTHEWS:  You know what struck me, Congressman, is how smart the Russians are.  They know about the coal miners and their anger about basically the green revolution right now against coal.  They know all about that.
 
They know about anger in the black community about black lives, which certainly they do.  But they have a lot of these are legitimate grievances in our culture.  And they played on them.  It`s in the report.  It`s frightening. 
 
CASTRO:  Oh, it`s very sophisticated.
 
MATTHEWS:  And we don`t have anything.  We couldn`t do that in Russia.  They can do it here.  Yes. 
 
CASTRO:  Yes, it was very sophisticated. 
 
To give you an example, in Houston, Texas, they set up both a pro- Confederate rally at an anti-Confederate rally at street corners across the street from each other.  That`s how sophisticated they were in what they were doing.
 
MATTHEWS:  They`re working our nervous system, aren`t they?
 
Thank you, U.S. Congressman Joaquin Castro of Texas.  Thank you, sir. 
 
CASTRO:  Thank you. 

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