MSNBC "All In with Chris Hayes" - Transcript: "Trump on his racist attacks: "I have no strategy.""
Interview
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HAYES: So whether all the bullying get the president, well, the Federal Reserve widely expected announced a rate cut tomorrow even though as Trump will typically be the first to tell you the Stock Market is at record highs, unemployment is near record lows. It`s hard not to see some correlation when the president has repeatedly berated Fed Chair Jerome Powell`s decision making. Now, to be clear, Donald Trump has operated this way for 40 years, breaking the law, violating contracts, stiffing workers, steamrolling, berating and bullying anyone who challenges him. And by and large, he`s gotten away with it. I mean, he`s not the only person in the world that`s true of the headlines are filled with him every day. You may have heard about Trump`s old party pal Jeffrey Epstein seen here at Mar-a-Lago. That was Epstein`s M.O. as well. But the reason that Trump is mad at Congressman Cummings is because Cummings heads up the House Oversight Committee which is leading a slew of investigation into the president and his family. And Trump probably should be mad because those investigations are devastating. Just in the past week, Cummings subpoenaed Trump`s daughter and son-in-law, the corrupt legacy cases who have no business being in their positions. Cummings is also looking into the central con of the Trump campaign embodied by the America first phrase. The whole idea that Trump is putting America`s interests above all else when from day one it has been clear you`ve been pursuing foreign interests in his own bottom line. From the Moscow Tower deal that Trump lied about, that Michael Cohen lied about and for which Cohen is now serving prison time, to Trump`s National Security Adviser Michael Flynn publishing an op-ed on election day to advance the interests of his Turkish client. Now, the House Oversight Committee is found that Flynn and Trump`s inaugural committee chairman Tom Barrack was trying to get sensitive nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia against the concerns of people who fear it will be weaponized. And if you want the most excessively tried, almost overwritten example of the preposterous con, here it is. It is Trump`s America first speech they gave in 2016 on energy policy, a speech that thanks the report released by Congressman Cummings committee, we know Tom Barrack submitted to United Arab Emirates officials for review and added their suggestions. Joining me now, a member of the House Oversight Committee conducting these investigations Democratic Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois, also a member of the Intelligence Committee who questioned Robert Mueller last week. Congressman, first I guess, let`s -- do you think that the President is attacking Cummings specifically because of the chairs work on these investigations?
REP. RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI (D-IL): Oh absolutely. I think he`s attacking Chairman Cummings because he`s effective. I`ll just give you a couple of examples. You know, Chairman Cummings was the one who led the charge in removing the citizenship question from the census. He is the one who has been leading the charge for instance on these security clearance issues including you know, investigating why the heck Jared Kushner has access to top-secret clearance and then last among other things, he`s been leading the charge on the immigration issues on the border and the separation of children and families, and also holding people like Kevin McAleenan in the CBP accountable for the money that`s being sent down to help with the humanitarian crisis, a crisis that I`m actually going down tomorrow to the Mexican border to view on behalf of the Oversight Committee along with my colleagues.
HAYES: The subpoenas that have been issued for the President`s daughter and Jared Kushner her husband, the President`s son-in-law among a few others, what is the substance of those subpoenas?
KRISHNAMOORTHI: Gosh, you know, as you know, these folks are the subject of various investigations. Everything from security clearance issues to whether or not they are using their personal e-mails for official business which would be a violation of the Presidential Records Act. And so these are things that touch intimately obviously on the president`s family, but that`s obviously something that he has caused himself by appointing these people to such high positions.
HAYES: The Oversight Committee`s work, the report they just released is quite damning I think in many respects. It traces out the degree to which foreign influence through flow -- sort of flowed through the campaign, but am I correct that that deal is still being pursued and is a live issue?
KRISHNAMOORTHI: This particular deal, the issue with regard to the sensitive and nuclear technology?
HAYES: Yes.
KRISHNAMOORTHI: Yes, this is something that they`re actively pursuing. Tom Barrack, and IP3, and others. Apparently, in December 2017, Rick Perry actually gave preliminary approval on behalf of the Department of Energy for transferring this technology. Now there`s something called the Section 123 Act -- Section 123 of the Atomic Energy Act which requires congressional approval for such transfers namely to make sure that there are safeguards such that such technology cannot be used to make a nuclear weapon. This is called the "gold standard" which Tom Barrack and IP3 and other Trump associates want to water down or completely kill in order to basically make sure that the Saudis end up purchasing their technology.
HAYES: Do you -- the president -- one consistent -- the most consistent through-line in the president`s foreign policy which I think is even more consistent than his behavior towards the Saudis, I mean he broke with American tradition to go there as his first act. He has -- he has sort of lavished praise on the man who according to U.S. intelligence agencies sent his goon squad to murder and then hacked to death with a saw an American newspaper columnist. At every turn, he`s back Saudis, the war on Yemen, and their Iran policy. Are you confident he`s doing that because of his foreign policy judgment and not because of his bottom line?
KRISHNAMOORTHI: No, I`m not at all. I think he`s totally -- this is -- this is the same issue that we see with Vladimir Putin, OK. There`s something in the financial ties between the Trump family and the Saudis or Trump interests or people associated with Trump and the Saudis that motivates this very strange behavior. And in this particular case, we know that Tom Barrack is one of his largest donors. He`s the chairman of the president`s inaugural committee, and he`s a confidante and he is trying his darndest to try to skirt congressional approval and transfer this technology. But you know, I got to say, we can`t trust the Saudis with a bone saw you know, let alone a nuclear weapon. They should never get their hands on a nuclear weapon in this -- in a region that`s basically a tinderbox and I hope that we oppose this on a bipartisan basis in Congress.
HAYES: Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, thank you very much.
KRISHNAMOORTHI: Thank you.
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