MSNBC "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell" - Transcript: "Mueller: report did not exonerate."

Interview

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O`DONNELL: Joining us now is Representative Joaquin Castro Democratic Congressman from Texas and a Member of the House Intelligence Committee. Congressman when your constituents ask you why you asked that question, what will you tell them?

REP. JOAQUIN CASTRO (D-TX): Because Americans need to know whether their President has been compromised. Whether the Russians have any kind of leverage over the President of the United States and whether that`s affecting his decision making as President of this country.

O`DONNELL: And in your experience on the Intelligence Committee, is that what you would expect given the evidence that you read in the Mueller report?

CASTRO: Yes, I think that it is very much an open question. Unfortunately we didn`t get a resolution to that today, but I think it`s something that Americans deserve to know.

O`DONNELL: Where do you hope the Intelligence Committee is able to go after this?

CASTRO: Well, I think there are still many issues on counter intelligence and figuring out exactly how deeply Russia had its hooks in our political system and in particular, people in politics. Also, we didn`t get to talk too much about how we prevent this in the future. What do we do about 2020? Right now, Mitch McConnell in the Senate is blocking any kind Election Security Act that would help prevent Russian interference or foreign interference in the election our 2020 and beyond so there are those things to consider and then of course for the Judiciary Committee the issue of impeachment.

O`DONNELL: There was a meeting of all House Democrats after both of the hearings, some members left that meeting saying it sounded to them as though Nancy Pelosi has moved closer toward the impeachment process?

CASTRO: Of course I let the speaker speak for herself, but I do think that you see a growing number of Democrats who are convinced that we should open an impeachment inquiry. It doesn`t mean that at the beginning you are going to determine - you`re going to say right away that the President should be impeached, but because the evidence, especially on obstruction of justice seems so compelling, more and more Democrats believe we should open the inquiry and I think ultimately the speaker will be there as well.

O`DONNELL: What can you tell us about what you hear from Democratic members of the House who do not want to go to an impeachment process?

CASTRO: It`s a mix of arguments and I think one of them is a political one. There is a political risk in having happened what happened to the Republicans in the mid-1990s when they tried to impeach President Clinton which essentially backfired on them. There is a great fear that in November of 2020 that there will be a misfire and that, Democrats will pay a price politically.

O`DONNELL: If you had more time with Robert Mueller today and he was willing to answer any question including the deliberation questions, what else might you have asked him?

CASTRO: There were so many questions I think that we wish that we could have gotten answers to. Sean Patrick Maloney`s question about why he didn`t subpoena the President, I wish that we could have followed-up on that. I have an issue with time being the main concern and if they knew that the President was going to stall forever, why didn`t they issue a subpoena after just two months for example that after he wouldn`t cooperate for just two months. Also on - I wish that he would answer my question on compromise or leverage that the President may be under. So there is just so many questions that are still left unanswered and there is still work for the Intelligence Committee to do and for the Judiciary Committee to do.

O`DONNELL: Congressman Joaquin Castro, thank you for joining us at the end of this important day. We really appreciate it.

CASTRO: Thank you.

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