MSNBC "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell" - Transcript: "Trump triggers confusion. "

Interview

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O`DONNELL: Today, Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, and House Oversight Committee announced his support of an impeachment inquiry against President Trump. This brings the total number of House Democrats supporting an impeachment inquiry to 133 out of the 235 Democratic majority in the House. And today, the House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed former White House aide Rod Porter to testify in its impeachment investigation about passages in the Mueller report that showed Donald Trump directing Rob Porter to help Donald Trump lie about his attempts to fire special counsel Robert Mueller. Porter spoke to McGahn. Porter told McGahn he had to write a letter to dispute that he was ever ordered to terminate the special counsel. McGahn shrugged off the request, explaining that the media reports were true. McGahn told Porter that the president had been insistent on firing the special counsel and that McGahn had planned to resign rather than carry out the order, although he had not personally told the president he had intended to quit. Porter told McGahn that the president suggested that McGahn would be fired if he did not write the letter. Joining our discussion now is Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois. He`s a member of the House Oversight and Intelligence Committees. Congressman, thank you very much for joining us tonight. I really appreciate it.

REP. RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI (D-IL): Thank you, Lawrence. Absolutely.

O`DONNELL: Tell us how you came to your position on impeachment.

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Well, I think last week, Chairman Nadler formally requested the other committees of jurisdiction in the wide-ranging investigations of President Trump to produce any information that would bear on an impeachment investigation, and so, I decided that I wanted to support this particular process. I`m urging our committees, both the Oversight and Intelligence Committees to cooperate. I suspect they will. And that was really what precipitated my decision.

O`DONNELL: And what`s been the reaction of your constituents?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: There`s been a lot of support. There are some people that have some concerns, but I think that overall, I think that a lot of people know that this is probably the right thing to do because, you know, quite frankly, although none of us, including myself, relish the thought of this impeachment investigation, it`s something that has to happen because we know, not just based on the Mueller report but based on my questioning witnesses as well as looking at classified and unclassified documents, that the president has engaged in seriously troubling, unethical and illegal behavior.

O`DONNELL: What is your understanding of Speaker Pelosi`s position on impeachment as of now?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: I think that her position is that she wants to allow members of the caucus, based on their conscience, to express themselves on whether they would support the process or not. And that includes supporting an impeachment investigation or inquiry. But I think that I don`t know, you know, what beyond that she would want to have happen. My own view is that we have to conduct the impeachment investigation and inquiry to be able to assemble the information necessary to make a decision on next steps. That`s very important right now.

O`DONNELL: Chairman Nadler of the Judiciary Committee who has jurisdiction over the impeachment process says that what he`s doing is an impeachment investigation. He`s essentially said that in court in pursuing these subpoenas.

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Yes.

O`DONNELL: So I`ve got to say at the outset of this discussion months ago, the coming out in favor of an impeachment inquiry was something I understood. I`m not sure I understand that anymore because Chairman Nadler has said, we`re already there. We`re in an impeachment inquiry.

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Right, because I think he believes he has the tools necessary to conduct that impeachment inquiry, or what he calls impeachment investigation, without formally, you know, beginning that process through a large House vote and so forth. And I think that`s important because, as you know, there`s been tremendous stonewalling by the Trump administration with regard to the production of documents or witnesses for any type of oversight, you know, let alone this impeachment investigation. So, with regard to calling it an impeachment investigation and conducting it in that manner, I think that will actually help to bring more urgency to the court`s kind of decision and evaluation of how to proceed on the various legal matters in trying to get documents and witnesses, you know, to Capitol Hill.

O`DONNELL: Is there any coordination among the Democrats about when members come out in favor of the impeachment process?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: No, no, no.

O`DONNELL: Because some days there`s three, some days there`s one. Go ahead.

KRISHNAMOORTHI: I really think it really is something that`s kind of based on people`s conscience. You know, I thought very long and hard about this. I`ve struggled with this decision. You know, I was raised to respect every President regardless of party as well as the electoral process. And I think that when you come to a decision like an impeachment investigation, that`s a big deal. And unfortunately, we are at that point because of all the reasons that we`ve talked about on this program before.

O`DONNELL: Number 133, Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi now in favor of the impeachment process.

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Thanks. Thanks, Lawrence.

O`DONNELL: Thank you very much for joining us, and I really appreciate it, Congressman.

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Thank you, sir.

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