CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: Interview with Representative Chris Stewart
Interview
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
[10:30:00] REP. CHRIS STEWART (R), INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: Once again, directed by someone in the FBI, reach out to people you don't know, go talk to them, record and report back on what you've learned, continue to foster relationship with them. To most Americans that sounds like spying.
Now you can call it a confidential source, or you can call it a spy, once again I think the most important thing is what they did and why they did it and did they have reasons for doing that. That's what we're trying to find out. And that doesn't seem --
(CROSSTALK)
HARLOW: The reason that the FBI was doing this, which we know from our great justice team of reporters, is to find out what Russia was doing.
Let me get you to respond to this because as you probably read this morning, the "Washington Post" editorial board writes about Republicans, Republicans in Congress who it argues stand by while the president, quote, "shreds the reputation of the FBI for political gain." And it ends by saying, "Whom history will remember as moral weaklings in the face of a president who assaulted democratic institutions."
Do they have a point? Does it sit well in your stomach to see the president making unfounded claims --
STEWART: Look --
HARLOW: -- and ripping into our intelligence community over and over again?
STEWART: I would make two, maybe three points on this. Number one, as I have talked to dozens of FBI and DOJ officials who have thanked us for our work because they are embarrassed and ashamed by some of the actions of their leadership. We're not attacking the FBI. We're --
HARLOW: I'm talking about standing by --
(CROSSTALK)
HARLOW: Hold on. And I hear you. I'm talking about standing by while the president attacks the institutions.
STEWART: I think he's doing the same thing. I think he's clearly holding accountable some of the leadership. Look, would you want to live in a country --
HARLOW: He called them criminals.
STEWART: -- where you're saying to the FBI --
HARLOW: He called them criminals last week.
STEWART: Well, he's not calling every FBI agent a criminal. He's talking about specific --
HARLOW: Well, he's not making that clear in his tweets, Congressman.
STEWART: Well, look, once again, we can argue about semantics, but I think most people really understand he's talking about individuals. And I got to make this point because it's important and I think you bring it up.
We can't live in a government where we tell the Department of Justice and FBI go do whatever you want. You can spy on people, you can survey them, you can read their e-mails, you can listen to their phone calls, you can have secret meetings, and don't tell us about it. We're going to close our eyes, we're going to cover our ears, we don't want to know.
None of us want to live in a country like that. All Congress is trying to do is to find out what happened and to report to the American people.
HARLOW: And --
STEWART: That seems like a reasonable thing for us to do.
HARLOW: And as you know your committee --
STEWART: If some of these individuals --
HARLOW: But your committee wrapped up its investigation on this already. You say Congress is --
(CROSSTALK)
STEWART: Our committee --
HARLOW: The committee wrapped up its investigation on this.
STEWART: Two points on that. One, we called it an initial report because we said if there is new information, we would continue to pursue that. And that was on the Russian investigation or interference in the campaign. This is different than that. This isn't related to Russia's actions. These are Department of Justice and FBI officials' actions. And that's different. HARLOW: But -- fair point. Before you go, I do want to get you on
the breaking news that we've just learned moments ago from the president, tweeting that he has issued a full pardon of the conservative commentator and filmmaker Dinesh D'Souza. Of course who pleaded guilty to a felony charge in 2014 of campaign finance violations.
This is the fifth pardon from President Trump. According to our reporting, really came out of nowhere. Is this the president rewarding loyalty here as the ultimate prize? And is that OK?
STEWART: Yes. I don't think Dinesh had anything at all to do with the Trump campaign. This --
HARLOW: He was a huge -- he was a huge and vocal supporter of the president while he was running.
STEWART: But the legal proceedings have nothing at all to do with the Trump campaign. This happened years before President Trump even know. So I don't think President Trump is rewarding him --
HARLOW: So you're comfortable with it. You're comfortable with the pardon.
STEWART: Well, I don't know. I'm just responding -- I'm only responding to your question. You said was he rewarding Dinesh, and again, this had nothing at all to do with President Trump and him. This happened in the previous campaign, four years before, how could that possibly be rewarding him for something that happened --
(CROSSTALK)
HARLOW: It was a crime -- it was a crime in 2014 and then he was a very vocal supporter of the president and now he's pardoned. That's what I'm asking.
STEWART: Yes. Well, once again, your original question was, do I think he's rewarding. Clearly not. Have nothing to do with that. Do I think this is a good idea? I don't know. As we were talking when I first came on, this is the first I heard of it, I'd like to look into it.
HARLOW: I appreciate your time. Thank you, Congressman.
STEWART: Thank you. OK. Bye-bye.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source