CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) on Impeachment Trial
Interview
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SCIUTTO: We may be entering the final hours of a Senate trial of the president with no witnesses and a likely acquittal.
With me now is one of the senators sitting in judgment. Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut.
Thanks so much for taking the time this morning.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT): Thank you, Jim.
SCIUTTO: So let me ask you first. Is the mystery gone at this point? We're going to await to hear from Senator Lisa Murkowski. Let's say she votes yes on witnesses, that leaves us at 50-50. If you get there, do you expect the Chief Justice to decide either way or is this question done?
[09:15:00]
SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): The likelihood is slim that the Chief Justice would break a tie. Not unprecedented for a Chief Justice in an impeachment trial to break a tie. It happened in the --
SCIUTTO: Yes --
BLUMENTHAL: Andrew Johnson case with Chief Justice Chase. And I think there's a very powerful argument by the way as a former United States Supreme Court law clerk and a prosecutor. I think there's a real interest in justice here that could prompt this Chief Justice to say, I want a fair, full proceeding with witnesses and documents which he knows well is essential to a fair trial. But I think the likelihood is that he will let the tie vote stand, if there is one, and it will go against further proceedings.
SCIUTTO: You heard Senator Lamar Alexander, your Republican colleague last night make a really remarkable argument. He said in his words, I'm not paraphrasing here, that the Democrats proved their case, that the president applied this pressure on Ukraine for political favor, and that it's inappropriate, but not impeachable. What's your response to that argument?
BLUMENTHAL: You know, as a prosecutor and trial lawyer, I feel a little bit like it's jury nullification, where the jury concludes the crime was done, but it decides to in effect disregard the law. Lamar Alexander is saying that, the proper legal result in effect is a guilty verdict. But the election upcoming will potentially produce the same thing. It's for the American people to decide.
What most disappoints me is that, he's deciding against further evidence, more witnesses and documents. Firsthand direct knowledge, people who were in the room with the president of the United States like John Bolton and Mick Mulvaney. John Bolton said it was a drug deal. Mick Mulvaney said it was a quid pro quo --
SCIUTTO: Yes --
BLUMENTHAL: And the American people deserve to hear that kind of truth-telling. SCIUTTO: The day after Robert Mueller testified on the Hill, and gave
what the president and many Republicans viewed as sort of a free pass there or didn't have the impact as expected, the president had this phone call with Volodymyr Zelensky. The day after his likely acquittal in the Senate, do you -- are you concerned that the president would be emboldened to do this again, to seek, accept or even apply pressure for foreign help in the election?
BLUMENTHAL: I think that is a really key question, Jim. In my view is the danger going forward is that the guard rails will be removed. The president now feels in effect legally unleashed. He has said before, Article 2 gives him the "power to do anything I want", a quote, and now, he will in effect be, he thinks, vindicated. In fact, this trial is no vindication because it was really no trial. No witnesses. No documents. No real evidence, although the case is overwhelming that he corruptly abused his trust for his personal gain.
He may well feel vindicated, and he's already said he can obstruct justice, he can impound funds, disregard Congress, stonewall oversight and potentially even obstruct justice along with other disregard for the law. And America really is an ideal for other countries. I think that point has been made very vividly and powerfully in this trial --
SCIUTTO: OK --
BLUMENTHAL: And I fear very much that the president will see himself as a buddy of autocrats around the world, as one who can emulate --
SCIUTTO: Right --
BLUMENTHAL: That kind of --
SCIUTTO: That kind of --
BLUMENTHAL: Monarchial power.
SCIUTTO: OK, so off to Iowa. The first votes cast in the 2020 election, Americans have a choice, and for Democrats, it's a choice of who can challenge the president and beat the president. Who is that candidate in your view?
BLUMENTHAL: I think it could be any one of the candidates now in the race. I think any one of them potentially could beat Donald Trump.
SCIUTTO: Who is the strongest?
BLUMENTHAL: And we'll see beginning very shortly. I haven't endorsed any. Some are my colleagues. I think very highly of all my colleagues. And I think that the American people are going to react very badly to this result. The leader of the Senate, Mitch McConnell, has made a short-term political calculation. There will be a long-term cost, and I think it will be a political cost, but also sadly, and unfortunately, a cost to the legacies of the folks who deny the American people a full, fair proceeding here.
[09:20:00] SCIUTTO: We'll see a measure of that very soon. Senator Blumenthal, thanks so much for joining the program this morning.
BLUMENTHAL: Thank you.
SCIUTTO: Poppy, back to you.
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