MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript

Interview

MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript

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SCHULTZ: Joining me now is Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff of California.

Mr. Schiff, great to have you on tonight.

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D), CALIFORNIA: Thank you.

SCHULTZ: What‘s your response to some of those sound cuts right there from the Cheney family, which seems to be on the offensive against what the facts are? What‘s your response?

SCHIFF: Well, just when you think the vice president can‘t surprise you anymore, he does again.

I fully expected that he would defend those who followed these really flawed legal opinions, but of course the vice president goes beyond that and says he doesn‘t care whether people even follow these flawed opinions. He fully supports people who went beyond it, maybe knowingly went beyond it, and engaged in multiple, multiple use of waterboarding. So, that is surprising. That is, I think, quite shocking.

What I found most interesting, though, Ed, is the way he conflates what the attorney general has decided with being this political decision by the president, because it‘s plain that under the Bush administration, the attorney general was basically, like, Alberto Gonzales, the president‘s lawyer. He was like the White House counsel. He did whatever the president wanted.

And now they have an attorney general who actually has independence from the White House and they don‘t know what to make of it. They can‘t imagine it could be anything but political, when, in fact, the attorney general I think is doing just what he should, looking at the facts objectively and deciding these merit further review and investigation.

SCHULTZ: Congressman, I want you to respond to this comment in the interview where Cheney talks about the interrogations and what they produced. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

R. CHENEY: Those interrogations were involved in the arrest of nearly all of the al Qaeda members that we were able to bring to justice. I think they were directly responsible for the fact that for eight years, we had no further mass casualty attacks against the United States. It was good policy, it was properly carried out. It worked very, very well.

CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS: So, even these cases where they went beyond the specific legal authorization, you‘re OK with it?

R. CHENEY: I am.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: He says it was properly carried out. What does that mean?

And do you believe it?

SCHIFF: Well, of course I don‘t believe it, because, in fact, when you look at the Office of the Inspector General report, it says they were not properly carried out. They didn‘t follow even these flawed legal directives.

What I think is so revealing about this...

SCHULTZ: So, what do you make of—Congressman, if they weren‘t probably carried out, then what do you make of Cheney rearing his ugly head time and time again? Any time this story comes up, he‘s right there.

What‘s he doing? What‘s his strategy, in your opinion?

SCHIFF: Well, I mean, he is clearly the defender in chief of the Bush administration. And what I think is so revealing about this is it puts in context all the statements that he made during the Bush president say, all the claims he made, because when you see the claims he‘s making now based on the report, which is now public, you see what the former vice president is saying is completely at odds with what the intelligence communities are telling him.

So, that tells us that, during the administration, he was doing exactly the same thing he‘s doing now, which is playing fast and loose with the intelligence he‘s being given. So, not surprising, quite appalling.

SCHULTZ: Congressman, good to have you on tonight. Thanks so much.

Appreciate your time.

SCHIFF: You bet.

SCHULTZ: Adam Schiff from California here on THE ED SHOW.

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