CNN "Erin Burnett Outfront" - Transcript: Interview with Rep, Ted Lieu

Interview

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OUTFRONT now, Democratic congressman from California, Ted Lieu, who's on that committee. Congressman, attorney general says forget about it, he'll take

questions from you, your colleagues, but he will not take them from your staff, from lawyers. And that if you insist on this, he will not show up. Chairman Nadler says there is no middle ground.

So, what are you going to do? Are you going to risk Barr not showing up?

REP. TED LIEU (D-CA): Thank you, Erin, for question. If Attorney General Barr doesn't show up this Thursday to Congress, then the American people should ask two questions. What is he afraid of and what is trying to hide?

Last term when Republicans controlled the committee, we had numerous members of the Department of Justice come in and get interviewed by staff counsel. If it was good enough for Republicans last term, then it's good enough for Democrats this term. And if he doesn't show up, then we're going to enforce a subpoena and we're going to hold in contempt.

BURNETT: OK. So, what does that mean? You're going to say you're going to enforce a subpoena and hold in contempt. What exactly does that mean? And obviously, Nadler saying, quote, we'll take whatever action we will have to take.

LIEU: Sure, happy to go through the process.

So, look, Bill Barr can be a partisan hack and a Trump stooge if he wants to, but he can't disregard the law. No one is above the law.

And under the way laws are written, if he fails to comply with the congressional subpoena, then the House Judiciary Committee will take a vote. We're going to hold him in contempt, we're going to send it to the House floor, the House floor votes him in contempt, and then we can litigate this.

We can also, without going to the courts, start imposing fines on Bill Barr. We have an inherent power to enforce subpoenas. We will do so.

BURNETT: So, what do you think is here, right? He says, I'm willing to talk to you guys. I'm willing to take questions from you, Congress, but not from lawyers. Why do you think that is? What is he drawing that line there?

LIEU: I had no idea because our request is not unreasonable. It's what the Judiciary Committee has done on a bipartisan basis in different administrations, including last year when numerous members of the Justice Department were interviewed by staff lawyers. There's nothing strange about this request.

And for Bill Barr to draw this line, it's really odd to me and it seems like he really has some information he wants to hide.

BURNETT: So, today, the Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein submitted his resignation letter, finally, at long last, right? We've been expecting this to happen for quite sometime. But now, Mueller is done, so he's leaving. May 11th is the effective date.

Congressman, back in January and you tweeted, I quote you: Thank you, Rod Rosenstein, for appointing Special Counsel Mueller, for protecting his independence and for holding onto your job until those who are not in the president's party gained control of congressional subpoena power. History will remember you well.

Now, on Friday, "The Washington Post" reported that in a bid to save his job, Rosenstein tried to assure Trump he was on his team, saying that the Mueller probe, quote, I can land the plane.

Do you still believe what you said?

LIEU: I do. I stand by my statement.

I believe Rod Rosenstein is a complicated man. I believe he did absolutely the right thing in appointing special counsel Mueller, in making sure that Special Counsel Mueller's investigation was as protected as much as it could by a president who's trying to disrupt it.

[19:45:06] At the same time, Rod Rosenstein is an administration that is suing to rip healthcare away from millions of Americans, that has ripped children away from their parents and he was part of the same effort with Bill Barr to mislead us on the Mueller report before any of us could even read it.

BURNETT: And, Congressman, a final question. We understand that Chairman Nadler is saying the unredacted Mueller report is going to be made available to Congress. Does that include grand jury testimony?

LIEU: It absolutely needs to. And there is precedent for this in Watergate. Leon Jaworski did a report that had grand jury information in it. The White House tried to suppress it, the same way Bill Barr is trying to suppress. It went up to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and they held for Congress that members can get the grand jury information.

BURNETT: Obviously, there were plenary impeachment proceedings as part of that. Would you be willing to go that far to formally start preliminary impeachment proceedings for this whole purpose of getting the full unredacted report?

LIEU: If that's the only way we can get it, then absolutely. And if Donald Trump wants to push us into impeachment proceedings, he's doing a good job of trying to push us to go there.

BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Congressman Lieu. I appreciate your time tonight.

LIEU: Thank you.

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