MSNBC "All in with Chris Hayes" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Jimmy Gomez

Interview

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HAYES:  Joining me now Congressman Jimmy Gomez, Democrat from California.  He sits on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.  I want to read to you this headline from Elijah Cummings.  He says the White House hasn`t turned over a single piece of paper to my committee.  Is that true?
 
REP. JIMMY GOMEZ (D), CALIFORNIA:  Yes, no, Chris, that`s absolutely true.  They haven`t handed over one piece of paper from 12 different letters.  And you know what, I`ve actually sit on Ways and Means and Oversight.  I got to questions Steve Mnuchin and I got to question Wilbur Ross, and there`s one thing they have in common.  They`re not going to Congress to answer any questions.
 
Mnuchin even got mad.  He said, why are you trying to get me to answer 20 questions.  And it`s like that`s our job.  Our job is to answer questions to lead to the truth.  So the American people deserve that and that`s what we`re going to fight for.
 
HAYES:  Well, here`s the thing right?  There`s -- so there`s -- this navigating document production and discovery and solicitation of information by Congress of the White House is always a tricky process to navigate, right?
 
And when the shoes on the other foot, Darrell Issa asks for a bunch of stuff from the White House, the White House did produce some documents but not everything he wanted.  I guess the question is like, where does this -- where does this fall in the normal tension and back-and-forth between a Congress controlled by one party in a White House of the other?
 
GOMEZ:  Actually history shows that other White House`s and the other administrations have been a lot more forthcoming.  You know, George W Bush handed over 20,000 pages regarding the response to Katrina.  The Obama administration handed over documents regarding e-mails and regarding Benghazi.
 
So this administration is outside the norm.  They don`t want to answer any question.  They don`t want to be on the hook as a co-equal branch of government.  They just want to -- they hope that we`re going to go away and we`re not.
 
HAYES:  Is it you`re -- do you think -- do you take the President at his word when he said today he want the Mueller report to be made public and all of this sort of revolves around a question of transparency?  Like what are the facts in the world what is known to the public?  How do we reckon with whatever the facts are whether they are inculpatory or exculpatory for the president and his associates?  Do you take him at his word that he wants it to be made public or is that spin?
 
GOMEZ:  I don`t take him at his word at all.  I mean, remember, he was supposed to be under audit when it comes to his tax returns and that as soon as they were supposed to be done he was going to release them.  We`re still waiting for his tax returns so what makes people think that he`s actually being truthful when it comes to the report?  I don`t believe it.  I think that he`s going to delay that as well.
 
HAYES:  You know, William Barr, as you just heard from Julia Ainsley, who`s our -- one of our Justice Reporters, you know, the kind of regulation at issue here that creates the Special Counsel gives William Barr a lot of power over what happens.  It`s not absolute power.  Do you trust him with that power and do you -- do you foresee a kind of head-to-head confrontation like the one you`re currently having with the White House with Barr?
 
GOMEZ:  I think we`re going to have to push and request and make sure that he complies, that he would releases a full report and he releases the report that Mueller writes.  And we`re going to keep pushing.
 
You know what, they`re -- they know that they`re going to try to fight.  We know that they`re going to try to fight every step of the way when it comes to every single issue and that we could probably end up in the courts.  But you know what, if that`s the way they want to go, then that`s the direction we`re going to head in.
 
HAYES:  Final question and this piggyback itself over something I saw Adam Schiff say.  Do you trust this report and here`s why I asked which is to say, let`s say Mueller says look, all these things happen.  The president acted in all these ways, but fundamentally there was no actual explicit collusion or even goes further and says you know, the president we exonerate the president.  I don`t know if you can really do that.  But do you trust whatever the outcome of this thing is whatever it says?
 
GOMEZ:  I think we have to trust the report.  That means that we have to see the whole thing.  We have to be able to read it for ourselves.  They can redact it.  They can`t hold it back.  They can`t say OK, you guys get this piece but not this piece.
 
You know if they really want to show the American people that they`re being forthcoming and transparent, they need to see -- they need to release the full report.  At the same time, this is not the only issue.  Remember, the tax returns.  Did Trump cheat on his taxes?  Who is actually leveraging him?  Deutsche Bank, all that, we get a better understanding of his finances.  We get a better understanding of what motivates him and if he`s actually fighting for the American people or first somebody else.
 
So I think we`re not going to go away.  We`re not going to disappear.  You know, every single committee is going to fight to make sure that the American people hold this president accountable and we get to the truth.
 
HAYES:  All right, Congressman Jimmy Gomez, thank you for making some time tonight.
 
GOMEZ:  Thanks, Chris.

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