MSNBC "The Rachel Maddow Show" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Amy Klobuchar

Interview

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MADDOW:  Tonight is a landmark moment.  I would still be fishing otherwise.  But we still have no idea as to what Robert Mueller has found. 
 
You heard the chairman of the Judiciary Committee there talking about the need to disclose this information and plans to get it.  We don`t know what Robert Mueller found out in this investigation and honestly, we don`t know how his investigation proceeded and whether it was impeded by any sort of pressure or interference by anyone at any time. 
 
Now, the fight to find out all of that stuff starts in earnest and this is truly uncharted territory.  We never had a special counsel reporting to Congress in the way that special -- reporting to the attorney general who`s then reporting to Congress in the way that has just started tonight with this report from Robert Mueller.  We don`t have president as a country to see how this is going to go and a long way toward the way this is going to be figured out is going to be based on the integrity of the leaders involved here, the public servants involved here, and on the clamor and pressure from the public that this stuff should become known. 
 
Joining us now is Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, she`s in the running to be the Democratic nominee for president of the United States.  Senator Klobuchar also serves on the Judiciary Committee. 
 
Senator, I know this is a very busy time for you.  Thank you for taking the break and getting the studio so you can be with us tonight.  Really appreciate it. 
 
SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE:  Well, thanks.  I want to know if you got a trout before you found out the report had come in? 
 
MADDOW:  No -- well, you know, I`ve learned two things in life.  Never ever ask a woman if she`s pregnant and never ever -- 
 
(LAUGHTER)
 
MADDOW:  Never ever ask a person who has just completed a day of fishing if they caught a fish. 
 
KLOBUCHAR:  OK.  Never again. 
 
(LAUGHTER)
 
KLOBUCHAR:  Anyway.  I`m glad you`re back. 
 
MADDOW:  In other words, the answer is no.  Thank you very much. 
 
But let me ask you. 
 
KLOBUCHAR:  You`re welcome. 
 
MADDOW:  Obviously, you got the same information that we got, but this letter tonight is directed to the chair and ranking member of a committee on which you serve.  Can you tell us what you are expecting to happen in term of next steps here? 
 
KLOBUCHAR:  This report must be released.  This isn`t just about politics.  It`s about our democracy, Rachel. 
 
And while he has offered to brief the leaders of the committee, I think even the leaders of the committees would tell you what the most important thing is that we get this report out there publicly.  Ninety percent of Americans say they want to see this report, 420 members of the House of Representatives voted to make it public. 
 
And when you look at those special counsel rules as you have pointed out, they say that it should be released if it`s in the public interest.  When you look at the scope of the investigation, which from the beginning was very specific, I mean, it said any links and/or coordination between Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump.  So that is a broad mission and to me, the public as we head into the 2020 elections, they have a right to know what`s public. 
 
So, briefings, fine.  I would prefer to have it after it`s public so we can ask follow-up questions.  Certainly, want to see the underlying data, and we must be able to see this report.  It`s not -- can`t just be behind closed door marked up thing that no one gets to see.  It`s got to be time for a full disclosure and not mincing words and not hiding pages. 
 
MADDOW:  If Attorney General William Barr decides that he doesn`t want to do that, if he decides in his judgment for whatever reason or however he reads the law, the regulations or whatever he thinks is relevant Justice Department precedent for some unprecedented thing like this, if he decides, no, I`m going to brief the principal conclusions which is who got indicted, and beyond that, I think none of this should be shared with Congress and you just have to trust us that`s this -- that this is fine, if he decides that people calling for it to be released doesn`t persuade him, are there any -- are there any levers of power that could be used here in order to pry this thing into the public if Barr doesn`t want it to be? 
 
KLOBUCHAR:  Sure and you`ve heard this from Speaker Pelosi.  You`ve heard it from Adam Schiff.  The House -- I don`t think you`re going to see it happening with the Republican-led Senate -- but the House has an ability to try to subpoena this information.  If he doesn`t release the underlying documents to try to get those documents with the argument that this was an invasion of our country`s democracy and then, of course, unrelated to this special counsel, you have ongoing prosecutions in the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, as well as the New York attorney general`s office. 
 
MADDOW:  Senator Klobuchar, I know you have been obviously still carrying out the duties of being a senator in Minnesota but also you`ve been out campaigning all around the country talking to voters.  I wonder if people are interested in the Mueller investigation, if people are -- have been anxious about the -- this impending report.  What you`re hearing from people as you`re campaigning in terms of how important this is -- Mueller`s findings but also the treatment of Mueller`s information going forward? 
 
KLOBUCHAR:  I don`t think I`ve been anywhere, whether it`s Chicago or California or Iowa, South Carolina, Georgia where people haven`t asked about this, especially in states where you`ve seen suppression of the vote or you`ve seen votes that haven`t been counted.  They see this as really part of our democracy that we need to know what happened here.  How else are we going to prepare ourselves? 
 
Now, I will say, you know, here in New Hampshire, today, Senators Shaheen and Hassan and Congressman Pappas, they led an effort to say -- and this is something you should follow up on -- the list of projects that could be affected by the president wanting to pay for his wall came out, and one of them was a shipyard in Portsmouth.  So, I`m going to be talking about that tomorrow when I`m in Rye. 
 
But you can just see that people are still focused on these bread and butter issues that affect their jobs and affect livelihood, but people can step back and say, none of this is going to work if we don`t have a working democracy.  And that is really why I think we keep getting asked about it and people are going to be just -- I cannot imagine what will happen if he doesn`t release this report and, of course, there is bad signs based on his19-page memo that he did before he had his hearing to the White House in which he showed this broad view of executive privilege. 
 
So, all of these things make me concerned.  I`m glad he released the letter today and we hope there is more to come because the American people have a right to know. 
 
MADDOW:  Senator Amy Klobuchar of the great state of Minnesota, 2020 Democratic presidential contender, member of the Judiciary Committee -- again, thanks for jumping off the trail and taking time to join us tonight, Senator.  It`s great to see you. 
 
KLOBUCHAR:  It`s great and I`m looking forward to hearing the next fish story. 
 
(LAUGHTER)
 
MADDOW:  Hopefully, it will have a happier ending.  All right.  Thank you, Senator. 
 
KLOBUCHAR:  Yes.
 
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