CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview With Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi
Interview
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Joining us now, Democratic Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi. He is a member of both the Intelligence and Oversight committees.
Congressman, thanks so much for joining us.
REP. RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI (D-IL): Thank you.
BLITZER: So, what message do you believe the president is sending with these pardons and commutations?
KRISHNAMOORTHI: Well, I think that, in part, he's sending a message to folks like Michael Flynn and Roger Stone and others, which is that, if you stay on the team, you keep silent about any other information that you know with regard to the president, then you might be rewarded as well down the road.
BLITZER: The Republican congressmen from your home state of Illinois have signed onto a statement saying they're disappointed in the president's decision to commute the sentence of the former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.
Among other things, they say this: "As our state continues to grapple with political corruption, we shouldn't let those who breached the public trust off the hook."
Do you agree with them, Congressman?
KRISHNAMOORTHI: In general, I do.
I mean, unfortunately, our state has a history of corruption. And in this particular case, Rod Blagojevich actually shook down the head of a children's hospital for a campaign donation.
And I think that he hasn't shown any remorse or contrition for what he did. And on top of all of this, the process by which Rod Blagojevich's sentence was commuted seems very whimsical. It seems random. It's not based on facts or fairness.
And so I think all of that just leads one to believe that this -- this particular commutation is inappropriate.
BLITZER: Just last week, the attorney general, Bill Barr, warned the president not to get involved in these politically sensitive cases.
But, today, the president is saying that he's the chief law enforcement officer of the country. What does that tell you?
KRISHNAMOORTHI: I think that's a bad sign.
I think that one of the reasons why we call the attorney general the chief law enforcement officer of the country is that in this person is entrusted the responsibility to administer our laws fairly, even if the application of those laws involves the executive branch, and even the president.
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And so when the president basically decides to wear the mantle himself, obviously, people become very, very concerned about whether those laws are going to be applied evenly to the president and to his administration.
BLITZER: The attorney general, Bill Barr, is facing some serious calls for him to resign because of his involvement in the Stone and Flynn cases.
KRISHNAMOORTHI: Yes.
BLITZER: We certainly don't expect the attorney general to heed those calls.
So, what's next? What potentially could your committee, the Oversight Committee, do here to deal with this?
KRISHNAMOORTHI: I think there are two things that will probably happen in the House and in Congress.
One is, I mean, increasing efforts to surface information, bring sunshine onto, for instance, the Roger Stone sentencing issue, the issue of the second-guessing or the second line of prosecutors who are micromanaging the Michael Flynn prosecution, and even this inbox that's been created at the Department of Justice to receive Rudy Giuliani's information or dirt about the Bidens and Trump's rivals, sourced from the Ukraine.
The second issue or the second effort that's going to probably happen is that, within the Judiciary Committee and other committees, where the Department of Justice and other Cabinet agencies come forward for requests for more money or new programs, I think there's going to be a lot of conditioning of that support on better behavior at the DOJ.
And I think that they're probably going to have to expect that when they come to Capitol Hill going forward.
BLITZER: We will see what happens on that front.
Congressman Krishnamoorthi, as usual, thanks very much for joining us.
KRISHNAMOORTHI: Thanks, Wolf.
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