CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Donald Beyer

Interview

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SCIUTTO: In criticizing the Russia investigation, President Trump has demanded now an investigation of the investigators. And now, Attorney General Bill Barr is answering that call, choosing U.S. Attorney John Durham to review whether intelligence collection involving the Trump campaign and Russia was, quote, lawful and appropriate.

In the past, Durham has been chosen by both republican and democratic administrations to investigate corruption and other issues. This will now be the third separate probe into the early days of the Russia investigation.

With me now to discuss this and other issues, Democratic Congressman Don Beyer of Virginia.

[10:20:02]

He serves on the House Ways and Means Committee. Congressman, thank you for taking the time this morning.

REP. DON BEYER (D-VA): Thank you, Jim, very much.

SCIUTTO: So, first, your reaction to the Attorney General of the United States appointing a U.S. attorney to lead what is now the third investigation of the origins of the Russia probe. Is that necessary?

BEYER: I don't think it's necessary, but I'm reluctant to resist it. You know, we don't want to be in the same, that's a witch hunt mode that the President is in. And I think one of the things, when you have good people, whether it's Robert Mueller or the guy appointed today, that are respected by both sides, that do deep investigations, all we really want is the truth, so if he comes out with more clear evidence one way or the other. I think if I were Barr and the President, I would be a little careful about doing much more research into that because it's generally not going to help them.

SCIUTTO: Let me ask you this, and I appreciate your fairness on this issue, but also to be fair, the Director of the FBI, Trump's appointee to replace, of course, James Comey, Christopher Wray, testified under oath on Capitol Hill last week he's aware of no evidence of illegal spying or surveillance in the beginning of this Russia probe. Are you concerned that Barr is politically motivated to do the President' bidding rather than arrive at the truth?

BEYER: Yes, I am very much concerned about that. And certainly, Barr's redacted short letter on the Mueller report and then his awful testimony before the Senate gave all of us the impression he is much more the President's attorney rather than the Attorney General for the people of the United States.

But again, Jim, with Comey, with McCabe, with Wray, a series of very honorable people leading the FBI, I'm not worried about what they're going to find.

SCIUTTO: You sit, of course, on the House Ways and Means Committee, a committee, which by law, has the right to request anyone's tax returns, including the President's, and the committee has now done so and the President, as he has done to many requests now, virtually, every request from this Congress, is saying no, is refusing. Deadline Friday. What does your committee do if and when, likely, that deadline passes without action?

BEYER: Well, Jim, the early debate was do we subpoena the return or do we go right to court? Our Chairman made, I think, the wise decision to subpoena it first. But if the subpoena is neglected and rejected, then I think going to court is the next step. And it will be interesting to see whether Trump actually disobeys an order from a U.S. federal court. I certainly hope that he will not.

SCIUTTO: How long does that court process take though, in your view? This is a president who is not uncomfortable going to court. He did it as a businessman. He's doing it as president. And it seems part of the strategy here is to stretch this out as close to or beyond 2020 as possible.

BEYER: I think we're all worried about Trump running out the clock, you know, making it so that ultimately this is an irrelevant conversation because you're in the middle of a presidential campaign. But, unfortunately, we don't control that. So we're going to follow the process thoughtfully and legally as we can and hope that the clock doesn't run out.

In a perfect world, the court would say this is really important. Let's think about it, read it and make our judgment right away. And then if it goes to another court, we'll deal with that.

SCIUTTO: You're aware that for voters, particularly as 2020 advances, they place investigations and including the possibility of impeaching the President well below other priorities. We'll put the polling up on the screen. But the issues that out-Trump it, climate change, Medicare for all, action on guns, free public college, when you speak to your constituents, do they say to you, listen, man, enough already. Focus on other stuff, protect my health insurance, for instance. What do you hear from your constituents and are you concerned the party is running away from its constituents on this?

BEYER: I'm not concerned about that at all, Jim. In fact, if you look at what we have accomplished in these first four and a half months on everything from last week, we passed legislation in the House on preserving the waiver for pre-existing conditions. We have a big hearing this week on climate change. We've done -- we're going to have a vote, I think, on Friday on the Equality Act, you know, banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity and lots of other really important things, like a huge infrastructure plan right now. In theory, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer worked a deal with Trump two weeks ago on a $2 trillion infrastructure plan.

But there's a balance that we're trying to go through. On the one hand, we really want to focus on things that change people's lives. On the other hand, we have a responsibility to pay attention to the constitution. And if this president can lie thousands of times and do all kinds of things that are probably real obstruction of justice, it would be irresponsible of us to not try to hold him responsible.

SCIUTTO: Final question here.

[10:25:00]

Today, the Highlands Ranch Community in Colorado, they're going to hold a celebration of life for Kendrick Castillo, you'll remember this young student who gave his life trying to stop a gunman in his school. It's a story that we speak about on this program far too often and I'm sure you hear about and see far too often. I know that democrats have made efforts for gun control measures including universal background checks, which have passed in the House but you know is going to die in the Senate. What is the democratic strategy for beyond symbolic votes, getting change done, getting republican support so these measures actually become a reality?

BEYER: Jim, I think as long as republicans are in charge of the Senate, the White House, it's very much a long-term strategy. We're moving in the right direction. I believe that the NRA seems to be crumbling under corruption charges for the first time in American -- at least recent American history. More people think negatively about the NRA than positively. Even our Universal Background Check Bill we passed in the House is supported by something like three quarters of NRA members.

So we're moving things in the right direction. My perfect world, of course, is that democrats take back the Senate in 2020 with a democratic president and then we can make some really big strides right away. In the meantime, we have to continue to point out we can respect the right of individuals to own weapons in this country, but we need to keep them out of the hands of the dangerously mentally ill and criminals. That's what our legislation does.

SCIUTTO: It seems like a simple rule. Congressman Don Beyer, thanks for joining the show this morning.

BEYER: Thank you, Jim, very much.

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