CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Jose "Lou" Correa
Interview
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[18:12:20] CABRERA: President Trump today declaring that Special Counsel Robert Mueller should not testify. It was part of another set of tweets today complaining about the Mueller investigation. Here it is. "There was no crime, except on the other side and no obstruction. Bob Mueller should not testify. No redos for the Dems."
Of course the Mueller report did not find that there was no obstruction. That determination was made by Attorney General William Barr. In fact, Mueller wrote, they could not exonerate Trump on obstruction. House Judiciary Committee leaders are now trying to secure a time and date for Mueller to appear.
It also comes with less than 15 hours to go now until the new deadline put out by the committee for Barr to turn over the un-redacted Mueller report. California Congressman Lou Correa is joining us now. He is a Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee.
Congressman, good to have you with us. Earlier, David Cicilline, another Democrat on your committee hinted that Mueller's people agreed to May 15th for Mueller's testimony. Cicilline backed off of that. Sheila Jackson Lee, another Democrat on the committee says there is no agreement. Clear this up for us. Will Robert Mueller be showing up to testify before your committee on May 15th or any other day this month?
REP. LOU CORREA (D-CA): Well, Congress, our job is oversight. We want to get to the bottom. We want the truth. The American people need to know the truth that why we need the full Mueller report and we want Mr. Mueller to show up and tell us, "What is it exactly that you meant by your report?"
CABRERA: And it sounds like you don't know yet whether he is planning to come before you.
CORREA: We're hoping he does. We're hearing May the 15th. But as you know, the President one day tweets one thing, the President tweets another, but we, Congress, we need to do our job. We need the people of America to know the truth, and only Mr. Mueller can tell us what he meant, what is exactly is on that report. And of course, we need to see the full report.
It's my understanding that there are 14 other ongoing investigations and we also need to protect those investigations as well.
CABRERA: I don't want to spend too much time on this. But I just want to confirm, has Mueller's office told you or agreed for Mueller to come before your committee to testify, regardless of the date itself has been figured out?
CORREA: I'm not aware of a specific agreement. However, I am aware that those discussions are ongoing.
CABRERA: Okay. I want to get your response to the President's tweet today saying Bob Mueller should not testify. No redos for the Dems.
CORREA: Why is he afraid? Why is he afraid of the truth? Mr. Mueller wrote a 400-page report and everybody has a different spin on that report.
I want to hear from Mr. Mueller, "What did you mean? Is this a roadmap and where should we be going?" Mr. Mueller needs to tell the American people what's going on.
CABRERA: Not to mention the President himself has said that Mueller's report vindicates him.
CORREA: I don't think that's the case, Mr. Barr wrote a four-page report and Mr. Mueller said, "You're off. That's not the case."
[18:15:12] CABRERA: Chairman Jerry Nadler issued an ultimatum, 9:00 a.m. tomorrow for the un-redacted Mueller report, or else he'll pursue contempt of Congress charges. Do you support holding the Attorney General in contempt?
CORREA: I support the Attorney General following the law. Congress has the authority to compel him to show up. Congress has the authority to ask him to show us the full Mueller report. If not, we go to the courts.
I don't think he is going to be arrested. I don't think Mr. Barr is going to be put in jail. But we can go to the courts and say, "I want to see that full report and all the underlying evidence." We just want the truth.
CABRERA: But realistically, where does that lead you to hold him in contempt? He is the head of the Department of Justice, can he just brush it off?
CORREA: Well, of course, you can't go to the attorney -- the U.S. Attorney to ask them to arrest Mr. Barr, because the U.S. Attorney works for Mr. Barr. But I think our best avenue is go to the courts, civil process and ask that full Mueller report. We want to continue to investigate this matter.
I think the courts when they see that Congress is being reasonable, they'll agree with us and we will get that full report.
CABRERA: Some have been critical of Democrats like Steve Cohen, who brought a plastic chicken and a bucket of fried chicken into the hearing on Thursday, essentially calling Barr a chicken because he was a no-show. Do these stunts take away from the seriousness of the issue?
CORREA: There's a lot of Members of Congress that are very frustrated. We want to do our job. And I think Mr. Cohen was frustrated. I didn't bring in chicken. I didn't eat chicken. What I'm trying to do is get to the bottom of this.
The American people need to know the truth. The American people need to know how much did the Russians interfere in 2016? And more importantly, how do we stop the Russians from affecting our elections in 2020? That's what we need to find out.
CABRERA: President Trump has been very clear, his strategy is to stonewall all requests from refusing to turn over documents, to suing to stop banks from disclosing material and he is even refusing to allow former White House counsel Don McGahn to testify. How do you combat that brick wall?
CORREA: Well, this is going to be like pulling teeth. The President is going to fight us at every inch every way, every corner and we've got to keep doing our job with Congress. As Congress, we need to make sure we get the information that we've asked for. And that's when we turn to the courts, to please work with us to get to the bottom of the truth.
To get to the bottom, the American people need to know what happened in 2016 and Mr. Mueller, we need to hear from him because he is at the center of this stage. Mr. Mueller wrote that 400-page report and everybody is interpreting what he said. Let's hear from Mr. Mueller.
Why is the President so concerned about the truth? Let the American people show, let the American people see what exactly Mr. Mueller wrote and let's hear from Mr. Mueller what is it exactly, sir, that you meant with your report? Let's have transparency.
CABRERA: But Mr. Mueller does not work for the President. So does the President have any control over whether Mueller testifies?
CORREA: Well, we're going to find out, but as Congress, with our powers of oversight, we're going to use everything we have in our disposal, all of our tools, including the courts to make sure that Mr. Mueller shows up and testifies. We want to make sure that we also have this full report to look at.
We should not be limited in our job to do oversight. We should not be limited in our job to tell the American people what happened.
CABRERA: There's a new interview out this weekend in "The "New York Times" with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, she thinks that the party can only win at the ballot box. That impeachment would just be a protracted battle that would turn a lot of voters off. What do you think?
CORREA: I agree with Nancy. I think we have to do our job of oversight, research investigation, and let the facts speak for themselves. It's too early to talk about impeachment.
Right now, the time is to do a full investigation. We want to get the facts in front of Congress and then more importantly, we want to make sure that the American people find out and are aware of what happened in 2016, and more importantly, what can happen in 2020. I'm very concerned about additional Russian interference in American elections.
CABRERA: You are also a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, what do you think of the President's choice of Mark Morgan to be the new head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement or I.C.E.?
CORREA: Well, I'll tell you, I'm more concerned with the resignation of Secretary Nielsen. Before she resigned, she was trying to talk to the President about her concerns about Russian interference in 2020, and she was terminated.
To me that speaks volumes about what's going on at Homeland Security. We can't have a President firing people because he doesn't like what his staff is telling him. That is just unacceptable.
[18:20:14] CABRERA: No opinion on Mark Morgan?
CORREA: Not yet, ma'am. But my job is to continue to investigate, to continue to make sure that the American electoral system is secure and safe from Russian interference.
CABRERA: Got you. Congressman Lou Correa, thank you for being with us.
CORREA: Thank you.
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