MSNBC "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Madeleine Dean

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O`DONNELL: Joining our discussion now is Congresswoman Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania. She is a member of the House Judiciary Committee and served as a house impeachment manager in the second impeachment of Donald Trump.

Thank you very much for joining us tonight. I want to begin with where we just ended, and that is the attorney general`s comment today. It`s difficult to imagine him saying anything else under these circumstances, and yet, there is more suspense tonight in Washington about what this attorney general will decide than there has been in a long time.

REP. MADELEINE DEAN (D-PA): And yet, Lawrence, thank you, number one, for having me tonight. It`s a pleasure to be with you.

I was in that hearing room today with Attorney General Merrick Garland, and if you flash back, sadly, to the last administration and how difficult it was to have then Attorney General Barr come before us, it was refreshing that we had Merrick Garland there and that he so thoughtfully said they will follow the evidence and the law and where it guides us. A very refreshing, it shouldn`t need to be refreshing but a very refreshing moment today. I was proud of that moment.

O`DONNELL: Is there any response from the justice department that you could accept that was something other than the prosecution of Steve Bannon?

DEAN: Oh, I`m -- number one, I`m so pleased with our committee and moving so swiftly, and making sure that we brought the vote to the floor of the House tonight and made sure that the referral was made to the department of justice.

So yes, we saw in the last administration -- under the last administration a dragging of feet, a Department of Justice that was wetted to the Trump administration in a very perverse way. We are still going to learn more about.

So today was a really good day, I have to tell you that, a strange intersection of literally Attorney General Merrick Garland speaking before the Judiciary Committee of which I am vice chair and a member and then literally going to the floor of the House to hold Bannon in contempt of Congress.

And I want to remind people that Mr. Bannon is a small player in this. He`s a big player in the corruption, but much more importantly will be that the facts come before the American people, come before Congress. We uphold our oversight responsibilities and let everybody know exactly what happened so that we never let it happen again.

This was an attack on our democracy, an attack incited by a failed former president, an attack of Americans by Americans. I know you know this, Lawrence, but an attack by Americans on Americans where there was destruction, there was violence. There was literally desecration, and there was ultimately death and an attack on our democracy.

We must never let it happen again, and we know we`re at threat that it could happen again.

O`DONNELL: Today`s vote on the House floor was about January 6th. I imagine that would have brought back some feelings about what it was like to be on that floor on January 6th when the people, Steve Bannon was clearing for were attacking that building and trying to get into that chamber.

DEAN: Strange you should say that. There was a very sweet moment tonight where the spouses of members of Congress had a chance to be together in a social way, and I was standing next to Dean Phillips.

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He`s my classmate, my friend and colleague, and he and I recalled being on in the gallery standing next to each other, as I call that shame, and he called out other things in terms of what was going on, on the floor of the House. You know what happened? Sadly, the Republican party knows no shame. And that`s what really worries me the most. This is a party that has become a cult. It`s a party that has lost its soul in its way. I really commend Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger. I hope they reclaim this party for themselves and for our country, we need a healthy two-party system. But I stood there with Dean Phillips tonight, recalled our moments up in the gallery, where we call that shame, and where he called out that it was just outrageous.

The false arguments that members - elected members of the Republican party were making, in terms of trying to defeat our election. Sadly, January 6th is not the end of what has happened. What we are at risk for now is a repeat of January 6th, and sadly, something much worse.

LAWRENCE O`DONNELL, MSNBC HOST: Congresswoman Madeleine Dean, thank you very much for joining us on this important night. We really appreciate.

DEAN: Thanks for having me.

O`DONNELL: Thank you. And coming up, the Trump cult is trying to turn fantasy into history. That`s next.

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