MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript

Interview

MSNBC "The Ed Show" Interview with House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD)

Interviewer: Ed Schultz

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MR. SCHULTZ: Joining me now is Majority Leader Steny Hoyer.

Steny, great to have you with us tonight, Congressman.

REP. HOYER: Ed, always good to be with you.

MR. SCHULTZ: Who's telling the truth? Are we going to get the truth out of this? What do you think?

REP. HOYER: You know, first of all, I agree with you, and I said this on the floor of the House today in response to a question by a Republican leader. I said, "Look, you're pounding on the table. The question is not who said, what said, this said. What is important is, what was done? Did we break the law? Did we have advice to break the law? Was torture employed, notwithstanding the fact that the president of the United States said we did not torture? Of course, that same president vetoed a bill supported by John McCain, who had been subject to torture in the Hanoi Hilton.

MR. SCHULTZ: Yeah.

REP. HOYER: He vetoed a bill. Unfortunately, we didn't override that veto because the Republicans in the House didn't support us. But the fact of the matter is, what we need to do is get to the bottom of did we break the law? Did we, in fact, torture, notwithstanding the president's assertion that we did not, and if we did, how we make sure that that doesn't happen again, because it undermines, not strengthens, our security if the United States of America doesn't live up to international law and to its own values.

MR. SCHULTZ: Steny, would you be in favor of what the speaker said today? You're the House majority leader. You can get your party on board with this. Do you agree with her that the CIA briefings, all the notes, should be released? Can you go along with that?

REP. HOYER: Yes, I can. And I've said that we ought to have the availability of whatever information is available. But again, Ed, that's important, but what is more important, in my opinion, to get at the bottom of what exactly was done, why it was done, and whether or not, in fact, we knowingly broke the law and broke international treaties.

MR. SCHULTZ: Okay. So the Republicans and the conservatives are trying to make the case that the speaker of the House knew everything that was going on and she didn't do anything to stop it.

REP. HOYER: A, I believe the speaker. She did not. In fact, the briefing in which it's alleged that the specifics were set forth, she wasn't in that briefing. But notwithstanding that, I believe the speaker's assertions when she says them.

But again, whether I believe them, you believe them, or what she asserts as to what she knew or when she knew it, that's a stalking horse. That's a distraction. We know things were done. We know that the law, we believe, certainly was broken, and we ought to find out whether the law was broken.

That's the key, because the United States of America is a nation of laws, and we ought to follow the law.

MR. SCHULTZ: Okay.

REP. HOYER: And we ought to find out whether we are doing so.

MR. SCHULTZ: You know what's interesting about this is that the GOP is asking us to believe that Nancy Pelosi supports torture, which I think is kind of far-fetched. (Laughs.)

REP. HOYER: Not only that, Ed. Let's assume, for the sake of argument -- and I reject the assertions about the speaker; I think she's accurate when she says what she says -- but let's say all 435 said, "That's okay." It would not make it okay. It would not justify the president of the United States or anybody under the commander in chief's control to break the law, either the domestic law or international treaties in which we've entered.

MR. SCHULTZ: Steny --

REP. HOYER: That's the issue.

MR. SCHULTZ: -- great to have you with us tonight, Congressman.

REP. HOYER: Good to be with you Ed. Okay.

MR. SCHULTZ: Thanks so much, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer with us here on "The Ed Show."

END.

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