CNN "The Lead With Jake Tapper" - Transcript: Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) is Interviewed About House Investigating Whether Trump Lied to Mueller

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Joining me now is Democratic Congressman Joaquin Castro of Texas. He's on the House Intelligence Committee, which is, of course, leading the impeachment investigation.

Congressman, thanks for joining us.

Have you seen any conclusive proof that President Trump lied to special counsel Robert Mueller about this? I mean, he said he didn't recall, which is kind of a lawyer trick for not answering a question.

REP. JOAQUIN CASTRO (D-TX): Yes. Well as you remember, Jake, the president refused to go in front of and give live testimony to special counsel Bob Mueller and instead submitted written answers to certain questions in the questions oftentimes he would say that he didn't recall. So, you know, of course, my mind has been wrapped up in this latest impeachment inquiry but I have to go back and check his responses to see whether he was truthful or not about that.

TAPPER: The White House has cited a Department of Justice policy that a sitting president cannot be indicted. So if Democrats conclude that President Trump did lie to Mueller, I guess that would be added to the impeachment inquiry, or the articles of impeachment but not necessarily any legal action would be taken. You wouldn't ask DOJ to intervene.

CASTRO: Yes, I mean, that's a great issue we'll have to take up and figure out whether, in fact, we believe the president did lie. And certainly, if he did, there should be consequences for that. And, you know, we'll have to consider it in the articles.

TAPPER: So you get to question all of the witnesses this week, eight of them in three days. Much of the focus, obviously on Ambassador Gordon Sondland who other witnesses say claimed to be taking direction from the president directly and that he told the Ukrainians directly, Sondland, to announce the Biden investigation if they wanted the aid to go through.

What are you planning to ask Sondland about this week?

CASTRO: Yes, that's right. And now, each of the witnesses, the ones that we've heard in the SCIF and then the ones that the American people have been able to hear from have a firmness idea that there was something wrong with the president asking for a political favor in trying to trade government resources for that favor.

But ambassador Sondland is a key witness. He had obviously direct contact with the president of the United States about this. And so, in terms of what we want to know, we want to know what orders President Trump gave him to ask for the investigation of the Bidens and why it looked like they were trading government resources for a political favor to take out a primary rival in the 2020 elections.

TAPPER: Are all eight witnesses, including Gordon Sondland, expected to show up and testify as opposed to blowing off the hearings or pleading the Fifth?

CASTRO: Yes. So far as I know, that's the case. We certainly hope that everybody will step forward and cooperate and, again, I think you see each is one piece of the puzzle here. The president has tried to block other people from testifying. People like John Bolton have refused to come forward. Rick Perry has refused to come forward, Mick Mulvaney.

But even with the evidence that we have, as you can see from the polling and the surveys, the American people are convinced that the president has done something wrong and the poll I saw today said that 51 percent of Americans believe that the president should not only be impeached but that he should be removed from office. And there is more evidence to come.

TAPPER: One of the witnesses set to testify this week is Jennifer Williams. She's a State Department employee and an aide and adviser to Vice President Mike Pence. President Trump tweeted, quote: Tell Jennifer Williams, whoever that is, to read both transcripts of the presidential calls and see the just released statement from Ukraine and then she should meet with the other Never-Trumpers who I don't know and mostly never even heard of and work out a better presidential attack, unquote.

Well, first of all, obviously, Jennifer Williams listened to the call. She doesn't need to read the transcript, but she listened to it directly. But she said she found it inappropriate. I guess that bigger picture, though, do you see that as witness intimidation?

CASTRO: Yes, absolutely. I mean, this is the president trying to bully people, trying to scare them. And he's got a huge megaphone as you know. And so, when he tweets something out, you're talking about tens of millions of people mostly supporters who follow him who then jump all over that person on social media.

[16:20:02]

Some people who make threats. So this could turn into a dangerous situation for a witness. So I absolutely believe that it's witness intimidation.

TAPPER: Is that a possible count of impeachment?

CASTRO: If it was up to me, it certainly would be.

TAPPER: All right. Democratic Congressman Joaquin Castro of Texas, thank you so much. Good to see you, sir.

CASTRO: Good to see you.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source