MSNBC "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Stacey Plaskett

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

WILLIAMS:  House Democrats want to talk to more of the President`s lawyers but so far they aren`t cooperating.  NBC News is reporting Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings wants to hear from two lawyers responsible for President Trump`s ethics and financial disclosures.  The attorneys are Sheri Dillon and Stefan Passantino.  They could be key into determining whether or not Trump committed crimes regarding hush money payments.
 
Our own Heidi Pryzybyla writes, "Neither has indicated a willingness to cooperate with Cummings` committee, having disregarded a March 6 deadline to agree to provide transcribed interviews to his committee later next week.  The White House has responded on behalf of Passantino and declined to make him available for an interview.
 
According to requests from the committee, the committee sent to each of the lawyers, as well as the White House, the two appeared to provide false information to federal officials about payments to Cohen to keep the alleged Trump affair from becoming public."
 
We should note, Passantino was a White House deputy counsel encharge of ethics policy and is now working for the Trump organization.  Dillon is a personal attorney for Trump.
 
For more, we are joined by Congresswoman Stacey Plaskett who was Congressional Delegate representing the U.S. Virgin Islands in our Congress.  She sits on the House Oversight Committee where viewers perhaps last saw her participating in the questioning of Michael Cohen.
 
And Congresswoman, just this "New York Times" story that came out a half hour before we came on the air, from just one paragraph in Michael Cohen`s testimony, you sat there and witnessed it.  You took part in the questioning.  How much more is there?  How much more was the committee tempted to go down tributaries of information that he opened up?
 
DEL. STACEY PLASKETT, (D) VIRGIN ISLANDS OVERSIGHT CMTE.:  Well, I think that we as committee members really agreed to a definitive line of questioning that was related to criminal activity of Mr. Cohen as well as others in that orbit. We were not trying to go into the Russia investigation or other places where other committee members were.  And I think you heard that in our testimony -- but now -- in our questioning.
 
But I think now what you are seeing with Elijah Cummings going and getting more information is the amount of corroborative evidence that we`re going to need based on the information that he gave us.
 
WILLIAMS:  And help us out especially those of us who couldn`t read between the lines necessarily in that reporting, what do you hope to learn from these two lawyers specifically?
 
PLASKETT:  Well, I think the -- what we`re trying to figure out is how much of the information that Mr. Cohen gave us was truthful and how much of it may in fact involve the President, White House officials, not just the Trump organization and not just the campaign.  Did this activity actually occur and continue once he took the oath of office and became President of the United States?
 
WILLIAMS:  Do you take the Speaker at face value?  Her quotes that are being widely circulated tonight on impeachment?  Or do you think something is at work here that might be a wider effort?
 
PLASKETT:  No, I think, I take what she is saying at face value.  It`s not something she has not been saying in closed doors and caucus meetings.  I think it is very prudent of us to let the investigation go where it will, present the evidence to the American people.
 
And I think greater than impeachment would be the American people sending a message to this President that we don`t want you as President anymore and voting him out in 2020.
 
WILLIAMS:  Are you worried that the White House is going to try to make it more difficult for committees like yours, Democratic majority not withstanding to do what you want to do and talk to the people you want to talk to?
 
PLASKETT:  Of course, we expect obstacles.  It`s my hope that they`ll be reasonable and understand that we are not going to back down.  I think particularly in the committee that I`m a member of Oversight.  We`re being very methodical.  We`re being very discrete.
 
We are not casting a completely wide net over everything that we can and that they`ll understand that this is going to happen whether it be voluntarily or by subpoena.  We don`t want to issue the subpoenas and let`s get the information and get it done.
 
WILLIAMS:  Stacey Plaskett, Democrat, representing the Virgin Islands, thank you so much for coming back on the broadcast.
 
PLASKETT:  Thank you.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source