MSNBC "All In with Chris Hayes" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Zoe Lofgren

Interview

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Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren is a Democrat representing California`s 19th Congressional District. She sits on the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th attack. She also serves as impeachment manager in Donald Trump`s first impeachment and she joins me now.

[20:15:10]

Congresswoman, a lot of people are looking to your committee as this one institutional bulwark against all these. I mean, obviously, there`s the bulwark of winning elections but there`s an uphill battle in many respects there preserving the integrity finding accountability for January 6th. Where is the committee right now as that subpoena deadline passed and a lot of sort of hand-wringing and worry about whether this will mean a kind of open defiance that that steals the power from what you`re trying to do?

REP. ZOE LOFGREN (D-CA): Well, we`re very committed to getting all the evidence that we are seeking and that we need to paint the complete picture of what happened on the 6th and leading up to the 6th. We`ve had quite a few people come in voluntarily to the committee. We`ve received thousands and thousands of pages of documents. We are engaging with the lawyers of three of the four individuals who have been subpoenaed. I think the ones you`re referring to but other subpoenas are issuing.

So, it`s a mixed bag. We`re prepared to do everything to use every tool that we have to get compliance with these lawfully issued subpoenas. It`s really pretty terrible that someone would just decline like Mr. Bannon uh for no valid reason to just refuse to comply with these subpoenas. It`s outrageous.

HAYES: So, when you say three or four, the three that you`re talking to, Dan Scavino, Kash Patel, and Meadows, those are the three whose lawyers have engaged and Bannon is the one who`s not engaging at all?

LOFGREN: Correct. He sent a letter saying he does not intend to comply. So, there`s no reason for that. He -- you know, to the extent that there is executive privilege, it`s held by the current president, not a former president, and it`s about a close allies employees. Mr. Bannon wasn`t employee during the time in question. I don`t think he has any claim whatsoever for this.

HAYES: I want to play you something -- I mean, part of what makes this take on some added urgency, I think the project that you`re engaged in both in terms of enforcing the subpoenas but the deeper project is that, you know, it`s unfolding for our eyes. I want to show you what the -- what the ex- president Donald Trump said this weekend at a rally, right, that he wants to define the country`s current politics along an axis of the big lie. Take a listen.

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TRUMP: The single biggest issue, the issue that gets the most -- the most poll, the most respect, the biggest cheers is talking about the election fraud of 2020 presidential election. Nobody has ever seen anything like it.

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HAYES: I mean, I think that`s a lie. Actually, I think it`s a self-serving lie because people are actually enthused about other things. But it does present the problem that he intends to focus all the attention of the Republican Party on the big lie.

LOFGREN: Yes, pretty obviously that`s his point that somehow he was a victim. There`s no evidence for this. But when you have propaganda and lies, you don`t need evidence. You`re engaged in selling a lie and having people believe it. That`s what`s happened with many people and the former president. It`s very dangerous. If people don`t have any faith in the United States and our systems, it undercuts our democratic republic which i think may also be one of the former President`s goals.

HAYES: Congressman Zoe Lofgren who serves on that committee, thank you so much for your time.

LOFGREN: Thank you.

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