CNN "Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees" - Transcript: Interview with Adam Schiff

Interview

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COOPER (on camera): Joining us now California Democratic Congressman and House intelligence committee chairman, Adam Schiff, he's also a member of the select committee.

Thanks so much for being with us.

You said earlier you think that Congressmen Banks and Jordan were clearly selected just to be disruptive. Can you explain -- do you think what Speaker Pelosi did is correct?

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): Absolutely, it's correct. Look, Kevin McCarthy had two choices which he understood from the beginning. He could choose an independent commission which would be five Democrats and five Republicans, or he could offer a select committee in which he would have the right to nominate people but the speaker would have the ultimate decision.

He chose the latter and now he is unhappy with his choice because he wanted to put two deniers, two distractors on the select committee and the speaker wasn't willing to go there, so absolutely the right decision.

And look, I think for Kevin McCarthy, this is all about what does Donald Trump want. That's the first question he asked in the morning, that's the last question he asked at the end of the day, and Donald Trump doesn't want this to go forward. And so, Kevin McCarthy is doing everything he can to try to stop it, to try and distract from what we will find, but it won't work. We have a bipartisan quorum to go forward and we will move forward.

COOPER: Doesn't it, I mean, there -- we were just having a debate with our team here about whether this plays into speak -- Kevin McCarthy's hands in terms of this is exactly what he wanted and he's going to use this against anything that comes out of this commission?

SCHIFF: If this was what McCarthy wanted, McCarthy wouldn't put anybody forward to begin with. He doesn't want this to go forward, and I think what they will find if they continue to refuse to participate, is they will regret that they did because we will go forward.

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We won't have the distractions of Jim Jordan and Jim Banks on the select committee. We will go forward with sobriety, and we will find out exactly what lead to the events of the 6th, what took place on that date, why reinforcements were not called in. We will answer those questions, and I think they will rue this decision.

But again, for Kevin McCarthy, it's all about the politics all the time. There's not a policy bone in his body and this is his political calculus, but I think it's really damaging one for the country.

COOPER: Speaker Pelosi didn't take issue with Republican Congressman Troy Nehls, he was named to the committee even though he voted to overturn the election. Do you understand what criteria she was using?

SCHIFF: I do and she made it clear before she made her decision that whether someone voted to decertify the election wasn't going to be the sole criteria, wasn't going to be disqualifying fact. And in that regard, it really is extraordinary how much the speaker bent over backwards to try to accommodate Republicans.

When she agreed and Chairman Thompson agreed to an independent commission which not a single subpoena could go out without the, you know, approval of at least Republican, that was essentially delegating to the Republicans they have elected control, I think part of that investigation. But they still turned it down, and in terms of the select committee, we are going to go forward. We will get to the truth of January the 6th. We will do so now without distraction.

We still invite McCarthy to have a change of heart and put responsible people on, but if he won't, and it seems pretty clear he won't, that's not going to deter us from carrying out our constitutional duty.

COOPER: And you don't think there will be an asterisk by the findings of this commission?

SCHIFF: I think that, you know, regardless of what Republicans were placed on the select committee, they would be attacking it. The question is, would they be attacking it from outside or would they be attacking it from the inside. That's just a fact of life, because after all, you know, Kevin McCarthy and these other members that are in Donald Trump's sway, they don't want the full facts to come out.

So, they are going to attack it either way. But, you know, if we go forward without the distractions on the select committee, I think the work product will speak for itself and we'll ultimately be judged by how good that work product is, and that's what we have to strive for.

COOPER: Do you believe that there is a possibility that the former president would be called to appear?

SCHIFF: I think there is certainly that possibility, I think our chairman Bennie Thompson hasn't ruled that out. There is a lot we don't know about what was going on in the White House that day. In fact, what was going on in the White House in the days leading up to that rally and that attack and insurrection?

Were there warnings given to the president or others in the White House about the participation of these right-wing violent extremist groups? Did they have forewarning? And so, yes, there are a lot of unanswered questions. I think no one is off the table that has relevant information to share.

COOPER: Chairman Schiff, I appreciate your time. Thank. You

SCHIFF: Thanks, Anderson.

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