CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: "Interview with Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi"

Interview

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KEILAR: Very, very much. All right Mark Mazzetti, thank you so much for that. Let's get more on all of this now with Democratic Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois. He's a member of the Intelligence Committee as well as the Oversight Committee.

Sir, first, could you react to this story about Australia that the president asked Australia to get involved in this investigation into the origins of the Russia probe. I mean, what is your expectation for what he was soliciting?

REP. RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI (D-IL): Well, first of all, this investigation seems misplaced at the start. But the fact that basically Bill Barr would somehow have the president be such an important part of this investigation which appears to be a self- serving one, and then calling a foreign leader to assist is very concerning.

I think that Bill Barr initially asked Mr. Durham, a U.S. attorney, to lead this investigation and now it appears that the president has commandeered it and he's calling on foreign leader to help and who knows what he's using as leverage in the process.

KEILAR: And, you know, recently I think we all watched as the president had a meeting with the Australian prime minister and --

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Right.

KEILAR: -- I mean, just to put into context, Australia is an important partner. Australia clearly for the U.S. Australia clearly wanted to stay on the right side of the U.S. KRISHNAMOOORTHI: Correct.

KEILAR: That was very clear from this meeting that we saw part of it on camera. So with that expectation, what kind of position do you worry that puts Australia in?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: It's not as bad as Ukraine, but it is on another vulnerable position. Obviously the Australians do reply on the U.S., you know, as part of our Five Eyes arrangement with them and others, to basically have a collective defense and share intelligence with each other.

But I just -- going back to what you talked about before with Bill Barr and President Trump, again, it's yet another example of the Justice Department basically losing all of its independence in this administration where basically Bill Barr, you know, looks to the president for, you know, basically leadership as to how the Justice Department should be doing its job.

KEILAR: We also just confirmed, CNN did, that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was on this phone call, July 25th between President Trump and the Ukrainian president.

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Right.

KEILAR: What do you think of that? What is your reaction?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Well, the fact that, you know, Mike Pompeo would be part of this call where essentially the president is asking a foreign leader to interfere in our 2020 elections and, you know, he doesn't say anything about it, he doesn't do anything about it, he doesn't interject himself or he doesn't bring it to anyone's attention in Congress is problematic.

I think that we'll have to ask him more questions. Apparently, one of his aides was also part of this call, Mr. Brechbuhl, according to the complaint. But one thing to point out, Brianna, in my questioning of acting DNI Maguire last week, he said that more than a dozen people were on the phone call. And so we're going to have to talk to them as well.

[17:15:07]

KEILAR: Your committees have just subpoenaed not Rudy Giuliani but documents from Rudy Giuliani. What happens if he doesn't comply with this?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Well, we're going to have to see what happens. I think probably we're going to have to hold him in contempt and look to remedies to compel production of these documents. But the reason why he's the object of the subpoena is that he's all over the transcript of the phone call on July 25th of this year as well as in the complaint.

The question is, you know, is he conducting our foreign policy, despite the fact that he's the president's personal attorney? Is he talking about withholding aid to the Ukraine that was promised to them and is he also actively seeking their interference in the 2020 election? All of these things are questions that we need answers to.

KEILAR: Your committees could subpoena actually him to come in and testify. Are you interested in that or are you worried that it would just turn into a circus, akin to what we saw with Corey Lewandowski?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Rudy Giuliani and a circus, I don't know what you're talking about, Brianna. But look, I think that first we got to get the documents. We have to examine the documents and probably talk to other people who are familiar with them. I suspect that Chairman Schiff would probably call him in at some point, but, you know, the chairman is going to have to make that decision and we'll be very supportive.

KEILAR: You expect you will call him in at some point?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: I suspect that he would be a witness at some point. I'm not sure whether it would be an open or a closed hearing. But I think that we would probably want to examine the documents and talk to other people before calling Giuliani in.

KEILAR: If you had him closed in a closed hearing you would run into criticism that you're not doing this in a transparent way. If you have him in an open hearing you run into the possibility that it does turn into a lot of drama. So, how do you weigh those things?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Right. I think all things being equal, I personally -- I'm just speaking for myself, I would like to have maximum transparency because there is so much public interest in what's going on now and I think that we want the American people to know exactly how the proceedings are being conducted and to hear from themselves -- hear for themselves from the witnesses.

KEILAR: All right, Congressman, thank you so much. Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi with us.

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Thank you. Thank you, Brianna.

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