CNN "Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Mike Quigley

Interview

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Congressman Quigley, I appreciate you being with us.

So, the announcement that Taylor will testify on the first day of public hearings, do Democrats consider him to be their most important witness at this point?

REP. MIKE QUIGLEY (D-IL): Well, put it this way: he is clear, credible, and compelling. I did criminal defense trials for about ten years. I'd go to trial with him any day of the week.

I think he's credible and very difficult to attack as you talked about previous, but I don't think it's beyond this White House to attempt to do that. And with the other bright people who have testified so far.

He is also the best single source for describing this scheme as you've started to talk about with his testimony to someone who hasn't paid attention yet. So, if you want an initial hit someone to describe exactly what took place, I don't know if anyone's better than Ambassador Taylor.

COOPER: So, it seems like now Republicans are focusing on two things to basically kind of not pay attention to any of this or say this all means nothing. They're seizing on the fact that Taylor, according to his own testimony, never spoke directly with either President Trump or Giuliani about the quid pro quo, and they're also focusing on Ambassador Volker, who, you know, though he said a lot of different things that could be interpreted a lot of different ways, the Republicans are saying he said there wasn't a quid pro quo even though all these others have.

QUIGLEY: Sure. I think the best way to counter that is to tell the American public, when you're watching this, let's begin with the Mulvaney admission just a couple weeks ago. Let's begin with the president's transcript of his call with the Ukrainian president and the whistle-blower complaints. What these witnesses do is reinforce that. They corroborate that.

You know, you don't leave your common sense at the door when you're at a trial. I also think it's important that at trials we don't ask people to read depositions, jurors. We look at these witnesses. And I think what they're going to see with these ambassadors and the bright people who have testified so far is the fact that they're very credible.

You believe them. So if it's just a question of reading transcripts and whether or not they feel like there's a gap in the testimony, I don't think the Republicans will get that far.

COOPER: The thing I don't understand about the argument of Republican defenders of the president on this, who say there was no quid pro quo, is how -- how do they believe this policy drive was initiated? It seems like what they are saying is there's no evidence it was the president, you know, cutting off the aid and orchestrating all of this. But if it wasn't the president, I mean, it's clear there was this effort, and it was quite a widespread, long-term effort. Giuliani was back in Ukraine in February.

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I don't understand if the Republicans -- if you believe their argument, it seems they'd be saying that the president -- you know, this cabal of Giuliani and Sondland and other Trump supporters initiated this campaign. The president had nothing to do with it. That's hard to believe.

QUIGLEY: Yes, again, we don't leave our common sense at the door. And the fact of the matter is that the defense has shifted depending on what's working. And so far, what eyewitnesses, a bunch of them running into the room and screaming at us, also nationally saying nothing bad happened here despite the fact they've done everything they can to cover it up and block the investigation.

I've also heard an anonymous source can't allow a prosecution, which is absolutely contrary to how a lot of criminal investigations begin. And it's also the backbone of the whistle-blower law. And that's what's most disturbing of all -- the fact that one of their attacks seems to be endangering the life of the very brave person, the whistle-blower.

All the whistle-blower did was pull the alarm. These folks, they're attitude seems to be if they were investigating an arson, they'd go after the person who pulled the fire alarm. It makes absolutely no sense. I think the American people will figure that out.

COOPER: And just finally, is there any chance Bolton will be subpoenaed to testify?

QUIGLEY: You know, I'd like to think he would want to. If he thought that Rudy Giuliani was a hand grenade, if he was repulsed by this, if he suddenly stopped this meeting, he's called it a drug deal, in the final analysis, the real challenge here and the real danger was we're changing longstanding U.S. policy, a policy he strongly agreed with. He ought to come forward. He ought to be willing to be at least as

brave as the people who have come so far and tell the American people what happened, why it matters, and why it should never, ever happen again.

COOPER: Congressman Quigley, I appreciate your time. Thank you.

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