MSNBC "All in with Chris Hayes" - Transcript: "Trump weird comments."
Interview
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HAYES: Joining me now for more on the White House`s stonewalling tactics, one of the members of Congress investing the President, Democratic Congressman Mike Quigley of Illinois. He`s a member of the House Intelligence Committee. Let me start right there on that. Obviously, the president has released the call notes. Do you believe there`s an actual word-for-word transcript with more than what we`ve seen? And do you believe that Congress should have access to it?
REP. MIKE QUIGLEY (D-IL): I believe it exists. I don`t know for sure that it does. And obviously, Congress should have a right to that. But I don`t want to get too bogged down with people thinking if you don`t have all of the details, all of the evidence you can`t go forward. Because I think the president will continue to stonewall, continue the obstruction. I believe we have an extraordinary case to move forward with now. We`re not going to stop, we`re going to be diligent, but I don`t want the people to think that if we don`t get every last detail that we can`t move forward.
HAYES: So that was going to be my second question. Adam Schiff`s approach here as well as the other Oversight Committee chairs is essentially look, if they want on struck, they obstruct. Maybe we`ll bring an article impeachment on that, but we`re moving forward. And we have a sufficient evidence already entered into the record to drop articles of impeachment. Is that your view?
QUIGLEY: It is. And I think that the -- what we`re seeing is further deflection and distraction not just by the President but my House colleagues who are talking about process. They are attacking Adam Schiff and Nancy Pelosi on process. It`s extraordinary because if anything, the Intel committee under Adam Schiff has been extraordinary involved with the details following the letter of the law. The whistleblower according to the Trump-appointed Inspector General, the Trump-appointed head of the Intelligence Community did everything right, followed the letter of the law. The only entity that`s not is the White House and they`re the ones complaining about process. The crimes have been committed and they`re in public view.
HAYES: The President has been insulting and criticizing the whistleblower leveling all sorts of claims along with his allies. Are you worried about the whistleblower being protected through this process as the law requires?
QUIGLEY: My first concern is the safety of the whistleblower. The President using terms like treasonous and traitorous and you know what we do with traitors or what we used to do with them, you know, I believe he`s put this whistleblower at risk. That`s most important. Underneath that, but as important to a certain extent is the chilling effect it has on the whistleblower system as a whole. The Intelligence Community operates in secrecy. It has to, to keep us safe. But that only works in an open government. If a whistleblower system works and the oversight of Congress works, he is imperiled to all that. Two bad things can happen when there`s no whistleblowers, bad deeds gun go unknown and unpunished and leaks happen. And when leaks happen, that threatens our sources and our methods. It puts people at risk and it makes us less safe.
HAYES: When you talk about bad deeds going on and unflagged, I want to ask your response to a story that just published and you may not know a lot about it, but it was just published in Bloomberg. It reports that President Trump pressed then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to persuade the Justice Department to drop a criminal case that it had against an Iranian Turkish gold trader who happened to be a client of Rudy Giuliani. This is a very high-profile case. It was brought by the Southern District. Three sources saying the President told Rex Tillerson to lean on the Department of Justice who dropped this case of a guy who Rudy Giuliani was representing. Rudy Giuliani in that same article admitting he may have talked about this with the President. Do you worry there are other corrupt abuses of power similar to what has been laid bare in Ukraine that are there and have not been flagged or reported?
QUIGLEY: I think it`s obvious the President never commits a crime once. And when it comes to the Justice Department, he thinks he has complete control. The long term impacts by this President, and we just won`t know until it`s all over, may well be extraordinary damage to the independence and the integrity of the Justice Department. It is autocratic to think that the president can tell them who they can and they can`t prosecute. It is obvious he has said it publicly, openly, that he believes he has that power. And we see stories like this, they`re indicative of a president who thinks, again, he`s above the law.
HAYES: All right, Congressman Mike Quigley of Illinois, thank you.
QUIGLEY: Thank you.
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