CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Hakeem Jeffries

Interview

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BLITZER: Manu Raju up on Capitol Hill, thank you. We're joined by Democratic Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York. He's a member of the House Judiciary Committee. He's also the House Democratic Conference Chairman. Congressman, thanks so much for joining us. Let's get to the news of the day. And you just heard our reporters, instead of spending today questioning the Attorney General, your committee, the Judiciary Committee, held a hearing with an empty chair. You could have asked him pretty tough questions if you had gone along with that hearing. Was that a mistake?

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): It was not a mistake because the House is a separate and coequal branch of government. We don't work for Donald Trump. We work for the American people. We're not going to take orders and directives from either Donald Trump, the Trump administration, his minions or the so-called Attorney General.

We have a constitutional responsibility to serve as a check and balance on an out of control executive branch. We're not going to overreach, we're not going to over-politicized, we're not going to over investigate, but we are not going to run away from our constitutional responsibility to do meaningful oversight of the administration on behalf of the American people.

BLITZER: Do you think your committee could have done more to accommodate the concerns of the Attorney General?

JEFFRIES: No. There will be ongoing discussions and hopefully the Attorney General will see the light and he will agree to come forward and testify before the House Judiciary Committee based on the rules of engagement that we set forth on behalf of the American people. I think Jerry Nadler did the right thing.

BLITZER: Will the Judiciary Committee Chairman, Jerry Nadler, subpoena the Attorney General to appear and testify?

JEFFRIES: That's certainly a possibility. But the next step is to make sure that the Attorney General complies with the subpoena that he has already chosen not to follow, which is the one that called for the unredacted Mueller report that was due yesterday. They failed to provide that document. They failed to provide the underlying evidence that we also requested on behalf of the American people so we can understand the full story in advance of his testimony.

We're going to move on as well to make sure that we secure the testimony of Robert Mueller so he can tell his story to the American people. That is going to be highly relevant.

BLITZER: And I'll get to that in a moment. But what can your committee do if they refuse to comply with the subpoenas?

JEFFRIES: Well, one of the things that is being contemplated is holding the Attorney General in contempt of Congress. That will be a decision that will have to be made by the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee in consultation with the staff and, of course, with Speaker Pelosi and the leadership team. That is certainly one way to go.

We have to make sure that we do not allow this administration to move us away from our democrat republic and to speed towards a dictatorship because we have an individual sitting at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue who clearly has some authoritarian tendencies.

This is not a republican issue or democratic issue. It's an issue about whether we are going to continue to be a government of the people, by the people and for the people.

BLITZER: But if Nadler moves forward and your leadership moves forward with contempt, and they still refuse to comply, what do you do next? How do you get this thing moving? Do you post fines?

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Do you suggest maybe even, as some have said, jail time for the Attorney General of the United States?

JEFFRIES: Well, jail time is not something that I believe is being seriously contemplated. And, look, Wolf, we understand that we're going to have to continue to proceed along two tracks.

Just this week, even though we've had a disagreement with the administration about the failure of the Attorney General to testify, it was a high level conversation between the Speaker and Donald Trump to see if we can come together around a meaningful infrastructure plan to repair our crumbling bridges, roads tunnels, airports, mass transportation system and public housing development.

The very same House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday passed four bipartisan bills designed to address the anti-competitive practices of the pharmaceutical industry as part of the House Democratic effort to drive down the high cost of life saving prescription drugs.

So we're going to continue along the track of trying to find common ground on behalf of the issues that would improve the lives of everyday Americans while at the same time understanding that there is another lane which is going to require for Congress to hold the administration accountable when it steps over the line, and we are not going to shirk that responsibility either.

BLITZER: Well, let's hope you guys can work out some sort of bipartisan deal on infrastructure spending, as all of us know, as the country really needs that, really needs it badly. Representative Jeffries, thanks so much for joining us.

JEFFRIES: Thank you, Wolf.

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