MSNBC "All in with Chris Hayes" - Transcript: "Trump struggles to defend himself."
Interview
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
HAYES: The options, what were the options? I`m sure House Democrats look forward to hearing more about the origin of that call with the impeachment inquiry now in full swing. Just today, in fact, the House Intelligence Oversight and Foreign Affairs Committee subpoenaed the Secretary of Defenseand the Office of Management and Budget Acting Director for documents and communications about the President`s decision to halt military aid to Ukraine. They now have until next Tuesday, October 15th, to turn over those documents. Joining me now, a member of two of those committees are investigating the President, Democratic Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois who sits on both the House Intelligence and Oversight Committees. We`ll start with what`s scheduled now with Gordon Sondland tomorrow, as well as, Marie Yovanovitch later in the week. Do you anticipate any problems or are you going to be able to speak to those people and get what you need from them?
REP. RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI (D-IL): Well, with the Trump administration, you never know until they actually show up. But as of now, it appears that these depositions should proceed and it`s going to be staffed led. So hopefully a very detailed questioning will come about.
HAYES: What do you say the people say look, what exactly more do we need to know here? I mean we have the call notes, we have Giuliani being very public saying I`m meddling an investigation, we now have texts from Volker and some on the people at the State Department. What more do you want to know, think we need to know in coming to some conclusion about what the facts indicate about the President`s possible commission of high crimes and misdemeanors?
KRISHNAMOORTHI: Sure. Well, I think that one of the basic allegations within the whistleblower complaint was that this was not just one call but it was an alleged scheme over many months. And so I think one of the central questions is you know, what`s the parameters of this scheme, who was involved, who was directing it, and what are the other pieces of evidence that could back up or support the allegations in the whistleblower complaint.
HAYES: There`s some question now -- I know that Rudy Giuliani, I believe, and some of his associates have been subpoenaed. I believe Giuliani has said that he just telling the Daily Beast, I think they`re totally illegitimate speaking about the oversight committees. I`m going to go in front of a committee with a chairman who`s a liar. I think it`s a reference to Chairman Adam Schiff. What do you think about this idea that Giuliani and others will simply balk at the requests and subpoenas being issued?
KRISHNAMOORTHI: Well, I think that was initially what was thought. The outcome would be when we first asked for the whistleblower complaint as well as the I.G. report and so forth, they ended up coughing it up in part because of incredible public pressure, and these whistleblowers who are coming forward to tell their side of the story. They`re to be commended for doing so but I think that creates a lot of pressure, Chris, on folks like Giuliani and others to basically rebut the presumption that something was very wrong in the way that they were talking to the Ukrainians, exerting a pressure campaign on them to basically meddle in our 2020 elections.
HAYES: Final question. Do you know who the second whistleblower is?
KRISHNAMOORTHI: I do not.
HAYES: Does your committee -- do any of the committees?
KRISHNAMOORTHI: To my knowledge, nobody knows except for potentially the Inspector General and of course the attorney for the whistleblower. One thing I just want to say, Chris, very briefly is that we are in an extremely unusual situation right now where the President is trying to actively identify the first whistleblower.
HAYES: Yes.
KRISHNAMOORTHI: And he`s trying to do so for one purpose which is to somehow potentially retaliate against him or discourage him or her from coming forward and telling their story. That`s why in part we`re doing everything in our power to prevent this whistleblower`s identity from being disclosed. And we also want to commend the whistleblower and invite others to come forward with evidence of wrongdoing if they`re watching right now.
HAYES: All right, Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, thank you very much.
KRISHNAMOORTHI: Thank you, Chris.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source