Sen. Coons: "It's my Hope, it's my Expectation, that the White House will fully Cooperate with Special Counsel Robert Mueller"

Interview

U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, joined Wolf Blitzer yesterday to discuss President Trump's speech at the UN, North Korea, Iran, and the ongoing Russia investigation.

"I have been working across the aisle in a way that's designed to strengthen this process. Republican Senator Thom Tillis and I introduced a bill before we went out on recess in August that would make it more difficult for any president to fire a special counsel," said Senator Coons. "This is about strengthening the independence of the Department of Justice and the process. And it's my hope that we will see a strong bipartisan support for Special Counsel Mueller and for this investigation going forward. I think you'll see further hearings in the Judiciary Committee this month."

Full audio and video available here.

Excerpts from the interview:

Senator Coons on latest North Korean sanctions: It's the best hope that we have. Kim Jong-un and his father, who was previously the dictator of North Korea, have shown great resistance, resilience and willingness to continue to pursue a nuclear weapons program that could threaten the homeland even in the face of tough sanctions. President Trump has a tall order tomorrow at the United Nations. He needs to show that he can be a world leader and rise above name-calling on Twitter and blustering or threatening speeches and pull together the world community to confront the dangerous, reckless North Korea regime. One of the things he has going for him is the example of American leadership under the Obama administration in pulling together the world to impose tough sanctions on Iran, which ultimately brought them to the negotiating table. I think it would be a disastrous moment for the Trump administration to walk away from the Iran Agreement because of the consequences that would have for our allies' and potential partners' willingness to trust us that we would fully implement an anti-North Korea agreement.

Senator Coons on Haley's comment: Well, I do think Ambassador Haley has overall done a strong job at the United Nations. That casual comment is a reminder there are military options. They're not appealing, they're not positive, they would lead to huge loss of life mostly among South Koreans, but it is reminder the amount of time we have left for a diplomatic solution is running short. I do think this is a moment when the Trump administration and Ambassador Haley need to redouble their efforts. As I've said on this show before, I was deeply puzzled by the Trump administration's budget, which slashed our investment in diplomacy by a third. I'm puzzled by their choice to cut the number of folks we have representing us at the U.N. at exactly the moment when we need to strengthen our engagement and diplomacy around the world because the military options against North Korea are so unappealing.

Senator Coons on the Iran Deal: It's unclear what direction he's going. As a candidate, Donald Trump was repeatedly, forcefully, and vocally opposed to the Iran Deal saying it was a terrible deal. But as president, his Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has now certified, as you just said, that Iran is in compliance with the deal. The main criticism that President Trump has had of the deal is a legitimate one, which is that it didn't deal with Iran's human rights violations, its ballistic missile program, and support for terrorism in the region. I too had that criticism of the Iran Nuclear Deal, but it was intended to constrain Iran's efforts at getting a weapon. It didn't intend to address the other things. There were many who hoped that Iran would change its behavior. I think I was a farily clear-eyed critic of Iran's likely future behavior through the process. More importantly, we have too many crises on the world stage for us to throw over an Iran agreement that so far has worked to contain Iran's nuclear program.

More on Iran: No, I've never been comfortable with that. To be clear, Iran is one of the leading state sponsors of terrorism in the world. And they have not restrained in any way, in fact they have advanced their support for terrorist organizations in the region and arguably around the world. Their human rights record domestically remains dismal. Their support for organizations like Hezbollah remains appalling. And their ongoing ballistic missile development is alarming. None of those were goals of the Iran Nuclear Deal. It was hoped that they would restrain those, but they didn't. I never thought that they would. And to be clear, the access to money that they got was not U.S. money given to Iran. It was money that was Iranian and frozen in accounts around the world during the period when tough sanctions were imposed on them. Also, to be clear, I've joined many other senators, both Republican and Democrat in cosponsoring a bill that imposes tough new sanctions on Iran, recently signed into law by President Trump for exactly the reasons you raise, their support for terrorism, their ballistic missile program, their terrible human rights record. I think it's fully appropriate for us to continue to call them to account and to impose tougher sanctions on those non-nuclear areas of Iran misbehavior.

Senator Coons on the Cobb conversation: It's my hope, it's my expectation, that the White House will fully cooperate with Special Counsel Robert Mueller. I have no reason to believe that that's not the case. This was a titillating story, suggested that you have pretty senior attorneys making the mistake of chatting loudly on a sidewalk cafe and we'll see whether it amounts to anything. I have been working across the aisle in a way that's designed to strengthen this process. Republican Senator Thom Tillis and I introduced a bill before we went out on recess in August that would make it more difficult for any president to fire a special counsel. This is about strengthening the independence of the Department of Justice and process. And it's my hope that we will see a strong bipartisan support for Special Counsel Mueller and for this investigation going forward. I think you'll see further hearings in the Judiciary Committee this month.

More on the Russia investigation: Well, I don't speak for White House staff, but I would expect that knowing that there is an ongoing investigation by the Judiciary Committee into obstruction of justice, by the Intelligence Committee into the national security consequences of Russia's interference in our 2016 election, and with Special Counsel Robert Mueller, very respected Republican, law enforcement leader, that he's leading an investigation that is bearing down on members of the inner circle of the Trump campaign, that would make me exceptionally uncomfortable if I were on White House staff. So I would suspect this is a difficult time for that. That making sure that they are observing all the boundaries and processes that are required once you've got a federal investigation like this has got to be an added layer of stress for them.

More on the Cobb conversation: That would be a striking development if senior members of the White House team had begun to cooperate actively with Mueller's investigation by gathering further evidence in that way, yes, that would be quite striking.

More on the Cobb conversation: Well, it's certainly sloppy. It's not the best of legal practice. And I'm sure they are having difficult conversations with their client. But I can't speak to whether there would be disciplinary consequences from the D.C. bar or whatever bar they are admitted to. It certainly doesn't reflect the highest standards of representation, particularly in such a sensitive matter as this ongoing investigation.

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