MSNBC "All in with Chris Hayes" - Transcript: "Ukraine scandal involves multiple Trump Officials.."
Interview
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HAYES: Tomorrow morning, Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire who has been sort of caught in the middle of all this, he`s expected to appear in an open session in front of the House Intel Committee fresh on the heels of the new blockbuster story that he threatened to resign unless he was allowed to testify freely. He has denied it as is the White House. That`s where we are right now. Again, we don`t have the full picture. This is day two there`s still a lot to learn. Joining me now Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, a member of the Judiciary Committee in the Senate. Senator, first your reaction to what you read in the memo of that phone call between the President and President Zelensky.
SEN. MAZIE HIRONO (D-HI): You`ve laid it out really well, Chris. I don`t see how any reasonable person reading these and those could portray this as some sort of an innocent conversation. When you have the President of Ukraine saying to Trump I`m going to need to buy some missiles to defend ourselves, the president says I need to ask for some you know, some help here though. I need some help here though. You framed it better. You did it exactly. So yes, where did that though comes come from. And then I know that the President I mentioned his two legal henchman Attorney General Barr who`s supposed to be the attorney for the country but apparently he views himself as the attorney for the President, and his other legal henchman Rudy Giuliani at least three or four times in this relatively short conversation he`s having with the president of the Ukraine.
HAYES: You mentioned Attorney General William Barr. Barr`s office the Department of Justice put out a statement today saying in effect that Barr was not instructed to investigate Biden. He says, Kerri Kupec say -- the spokesperson says, Attorney General Bill Barr never spoke to Trump or Giuliani about having Ukraine investigate anything relating to former Vice President Biden or his son. First, do you believe that?
HIRONO: It`s a little hard to believe this because I know that when Attorney General Barr came before the Judiciary Committee back in May, and Kamala Harris asked him has the President or anybody from the administration asked you to investigate anyone, he didn`t answer and then he had the -- he said I`m having trouble with the word suggest because she said, did anyone suggest -- from the administrator suggest you investigate anybody. So I don`t know what word he`s using but he responds in that way and he never responded to the question. This is back in May. This conversation where the president is throwing around Barr`s name, as well as that of Giuliani, happens since July.
HAYES: I want to play something else the president said today which caught my ear. And we know that the relationships, the bilateral relationship with Ukraine was obviously not just run for the president. The Vice President was actually there recently and met with Zelensky. And the President referenced that today, the Vice President`s conversations with Zelensky. Take a listen to what he said.
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TRUMP: I think you should ask for V.P. Pence`s conversation because he had a couple of conversations also. I could save you a lot of time. They were all perfect. Nothing was mentioned of any import other than congratulations.
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HAYES: Do you think we should take up the President`s suggestion and see the memorandum memorializing the Vice President`s conversations?
HIRONO: I think that would be enlightening also.
HAYES: Do you --
HIRONO: Sorry.
HAYES: Do you expect -- you`re not -- you`re not part of the gang of eight and you`re not on an Intelligence Committee. Do you --
HIRONO: I used to be.
HAYES: Yes, I know you used to be. So I wanted to ask you like do you anticipate -- I`ve seen a bunch of people coming out having read it saying this is troubling, this is deeply troubling, this is really bad. Do you anticipate that whistleblower complaint will be made public at some point?
HIRONO: I would hope so because we`re talking about a president abusing his power and more. And I think the American public needs to know the extent to which this president has gone to use his power against a much weaker country, by the way, to get what he wants from the political side -- on the political side. And that is not a president who`s talking about national security issues or anything like that, he`s talking about protecting himself or as we say in Hawaii protecting his okole. That`s what the President is talking about right now, political information on his opponents.
HAYES: All right, Senator Mazie Hirono of the Senate Judiciary Committee, thank you so much for joining me.
HIRONO: Thank you.
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