MSNBC "All in with Chris Hayes" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Richard Blumenthal

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

HAYES:  Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat from Connecticut joins me now.  He attended the Senate Judiciary Committee`s interview on Donald Trump Jr.
in September 2017.  Follow up on that last thing, if he -- if he won`t come, he should be put in jail.  What do you mean by that?
 
BLUMENTHAL:  Well, he ought to be treated the same as any other witness who refuses to obey a lawful court order.  But that is the last stage in a process that needs to begin right now.  Remember Chris, that this subpoena has to be enforced.  If he refuses to come before the Intelligence Committee, he would be held in contempt, and that contempt citation needs to be voted on not only by the committee but the full Senate.
 
And so my Republican colleagues are now going to be tested.  The Republican Chairman Richard Burr is doing his job because there`s no case closed on Russian attack on our democracy.  We need to know the facts.
 
HAYES:  Well, I`m going to make this argument that I want to hear your response, and the argument goes like this.  The Mueller report is out, redacted, but the -- but the bulk of it, and the findings and are in the first volume about collusion are what they are.  Why does it matter?  Why chase down Don Jr. for what he said to the committee when the facts are already established and out in the Mueller Report?
 
The facts, in fact, may not be fully established by the Mueller Report.  There are a lot of open questions that remain to be answered as Mark Warner just implied, and the Mueller report raises many of them.
 
In fact, we sent a letter members of the Judiciary Committee on the Democratic side to the powers that be asking for Mueller to appear because we have about 60 questions about not only obstruction but also Russian collusion.  And remember, the attack on our democracy continues and those facts need to be known.
 
HAYES:  I`m curious what you make of the internal caucus dynamics among your colleagues across the aisle.  Obviously, a lot of Republican senators are very mad at Richard Burr, lots of primary threats online and such.  This is from New York reporter Nick Fandos on what happened at the closed- door lunch today.
 
In the closed-door GOP lunch, Burr walked through the backstory of the subpoena for Don Junior, defended his investigations work for people directly familiar.  McConnell also spoke up offering his support for Mr.
burr and his handling of the committee.  What do you think`s happening here?
 
BLUMENTHAL:  The Intelligence Committee is doing its job.  The Trump Junior contacts with Konstantin Kilimnik or other Russian agents, the probation of polling data by Paul Manafort, the negotiations on Trump Tower Moscow, the meeting at Trump Tower in New York, his dealings with his father on the statement that obviously was misleading and deceptive and explaining that meeting.
 
There are a slew of questions that the intelligence committee has to be focusing on.  I`m not on the Intelligence Committee so I can`t speak for that committee or Richard Burr but he is doing his job.
 
HAYES:  One question.  He didn`t have contact with Konstantin Kilimnik as far as we know right, you were saying that about Paul Manafort.
 
BLUMENTHAL:  Paul Manafort had the contact, Donald Trump Jr. may have known about it.
 
HAYES:  I see.  Final question.  You did have him before your committee, Judiciary Committee.  And I think I`ve asked you this before, but given now that you`ve had time to look through the whole report, do you think he lied to you when you had him before your own committee?
 
BLUMENTHAL:  There are very, very serious question about his credibility and his factual accuracy which is why I have said from the outset that he should be called back before our committee to explain why he gave seemingly inaccurate and misleading answers.  On -- for example, whether he knew about those Trump Tower Moscow negotiations.  He said that he had only peripheral awareness.
 
Well, the Michael Cohen testimony indicates exactly the opposite.  He was in the thick of it.  And those kinds of potentially misleading and inaccurate statements, I`m not drawing conclusions about perjury, need to be explained.  He needs to go back before our committee.
 
HAYES:  What are the odds that Lindsey Graham calls Don Jr. back for the Judiciary Committee in the Senate?
 
BLUMENTHAL:  I think there will be growing pressure on the Judiciary Committee just as there has been on other members of the Senate because America is under attack and we`re talking about accountability to stop that attack.
 
HAYES:  All right, Senator Richard Blumenthal, thank you.
 
BLUMENTHAL:  Thank you.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source