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KEILAR: Sure does. Jim Acosta at the White House, thank you.
Now, let's get some more on all of this with Democratic Congresswoman Jackie Speier of California. She is a member of the Intelligence and the Armed Services Committees.
Congresswoman, thank you so much for being with us in this evening.
This document -- I know you've had a chance to see this from the special counsel -- it lays out how Flynn lied repeatedly. He did this over and over, about his conversations with the Russians.
Why do you think that he would do that when he should have been aware, with his past experience, that the FBI likely had transcripts and he essentially said as much?
REP. JACKIE SPEIER (D), CALIFORNIA: You know, it really causes me to wonder how he ever got to be the Defense Intelligence Agency director. And then he was fired from that post under the Obama administration.
This is someone who had to know that we would be eavesdropping on foreign adversaries in the United States. And for him to be so naive is really quite stunning.
And I think that we shouldn't give him a pass at all. He was a highly-ranked general. He was the head of DIA. And he violated the foreign requirement to post and to register if you are doing any business with a foreign entity. He was in Russia, sat next to Vladimir Putin. He was working on behalf of Turkey and wrote an op-ed piece. This is someone who just decided that "I am bigger than any of this, and I can violate the law."
KEILAR: Do you think that he may have had additional contacts with Russia, with Russians, that he was trying to cover up?
SPEIER: Oh, I don't think there's any question that he was trying to cover up. That's why he lied. And if there are additional conversations he had, I'm sure that will come out.
I mean, remember, Jared Kushner and he were interested in getting a back channel to work with the Russians before the actual swearing in of the president.
KEILAR: Are you aware of specific ones with Flynn, or is that just your expectation?
SPEIER: That's just my expectation. It's not anything that I know of.
KEILAR: OK. And it does seem -- I mean, this is -- yes, you said he was fired during the Obama administration. But he was known as a very talented intel officer and as a poor manager, which is part of the reason that he was fired. But it is hard to believe that he wouldn't have known the process here, right? This wasn't an incompetence as an intel official.
The special counsel is coming down really hard on Flynn for misrepresenting that interview with the FBI. I know you want to see this -- this investigation take its course. What message do you hope that sends to Flynn, and also to other people who may be under investigation or even cooperating?
SPEIER: Well, I think the message that the special counsel is trying to convey is, you know, "Don't mess with us. We have the goods." And I think there was an effort by Michael Flynn to somehow rewrite history a little bit in the statement that he put out. And obviously, he has failed in making a convincing argument.
KEILAR: Yesterday President Trump told FOX News that Michael Flynn was scared into making up stories. You look at this document from the special counsel. Do you think this is a rebuke in some way of that?
SPEIER: Without a doubt. You know, the president has continued to weave these stories, one after the other, to try and exonerate himself. And I think this is yet another case.
[17:15:10] He does not tell the truth. And the American people have to finally recognize this. And if we need tapes, as we have relative to the Stormy Daniels, or now the testimony from David Pecker about Donald Trump being in the room when they were discussing how to pay off McDougal, I mean, he has been a central part of every one of these decisions.
KEILAR: And the president has called Cohen a liar. In this new interview, Michael Cohen on ABC says the special counsel has substantial evidence to back him up. He's saying that the special counsel is not taking his word. Have you seen any evidence to corroborate Cohen's claims?
SPEIER: Well, I have not. Because you must remember that the Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee prevented us from subpoenaing documents from Michael Cohen, Jared Kushner, Donald Trump Jr. And until we have those documents --
KEILAR: So will you -- will you subpoena those now? Is that your expectation?
SPEIER: Without a doubt. Without a doubt. I'm certain that we will.
KEILAR: And so what is your expectation that, when you can have those in your hands, what is your expectation about what those may show you? SPEIER: Well, I think the documentation is going to probably show us
that, in many cases, they weren't telling the truth. I mean, it's astonishing to me that you would take the oath and say that you're going to tell the truth and then sit down and proceed to lie to Congress. But that's what's been happening in a number of cases.
KEILAR: When Cohen is talking about the timing here of the payments to McDougal and to Stormy Daniels, he says the president basically feared. He said, if you think of the timing of this, this was after the "Access Hollywood" tape.
What is the implication to you of that timing that the president would have -- if Cohen is right and there is corroborating evidence -- that he was concerned about the outcome of the election?
SPEIER: I think he was concerned. I mean, you know, remember, all during that campaign, he talked about this rigged election. And the more we see, the more we now know that it was rigged, but it was rigged on behalf of Donald Trump.
After the "Access Hollywood" tape came out, literally, within hours, there was the dump of the Podesta e-mails by WikiLeaks. So then you had the additional payments to silence two of his former lovers, and it's very apparent what he was trying to do. He was trying to defraud the American people right before an election. That is a grievous, grievous crime.
KEILAR: The president implicated in those -- in the plea deal that Michael Cohen had, and we saw Senator Orrin Hatch basically saying he didn't care. He's now walked that back. What's your reaction to that?
SPEIER: Well, Orrin Hatch has said many things in the last few months that make us scratch our heads. I'm glad that he recanted that. I mean, you have a special counsel that is using the law to determine whether or not someone has violated the law. And you can't dismiss it out of hand as someone who has sworn under oath that they would uphold the Constitution.
KEILAR: All right. Congresswoman Jackie spears, thank you so much for joining us here in THE SITUATION ROOM.
SPEIER: Thank you, Brianna.
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