CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Ben Cline
Interview
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BLITZER: See what happens 10:00 am tomorrow morning. Jim Acosta at the White House, thanks very much.
Joining us now, Republican Congressman Ben Cline of Virginia. He's a member of the Judiciary Committee.
Congressman, thanks so much for joining us.
REP. BEN CLINE (R), VIRGINIA: Thanks.
BLITZER: You've been following the breaking news as we've been following the breaking news. Let me get your reaction to this decision by this federal judge, ordering the president's former accounting firm in New York to release all of this personal information about his business to the House Oversight Committee.
CLINE: I don't serve on House Oversight, I serve on House Judiciary but it is an interesting decision, I look forward to reading it and we'll see where it takes us.
BLITZER: We'll give you a copy. It's 41 pages. Your committee has done its own subpoena, the House Judiciary Committee. Don McGahn, the former White House counsel is supposed to show up at 10:00 am tomorrow morning.
What's going to happen?
CLINE: Well, I hope there's not just some political theater empty chair scenario. We have more important things to do.
I was elected to address the concerns of my constituents, the skyrocketing cost of health care, infrastructure in this country, maintaining the great economic success that we've got. I want to go to work on those things.
BLITZER: Wouldn't you like to hear from Don McGahn personally?
He did spend 30 hours giving information to the Mueller committee.
CLINE: That would be fine. If Mr. McGahn can work it out with the White House and the chairman of the Judiciary Committee to come in and testify, that would be fine with me. Same thing with Robert Mueller. It would be fine with me.
But we do have more important things. We have a crisis at the border that we need to address in the Judiciary Committee. So taking up valuable time to sit and look at an empty chair is just the height of --
BLITZER: But members of Congress can do more than one thing at a time. You guys can investigate, you can do oversight but you can also pass legislation on critically important issues. There's a lot going on.
Does this ruling by this federal judge and the federal district court here in Washington, does it potentially set an example for other judicial rulings down the road ?
Because there's a lot of these fights going on because of the White House stonewalling.
CLINE: No, what we have here is a case where, again, the different committees are going after the president and his records from years before he was ever even a candidate for office.
What we have in Judiciary is a situation where, as we saw from the acting -- or the assistant attorney general today, in his decision not to allow the testimony tomorrow, that this has happened more than a dozen times in the last 50 years, that you get this clash between the executive branch and the legislative branch over testimony.
BLITZER: But why do you think that the White House didn't have a problem with McGahn testifying before the Mueller investigators but they do have a problem with McGahn now testifying before the House Judiciary Committee?
CLINE: That's a good question for the White House. But I will say that I think that we can come to an agreement. And I think that there were negotiations between the Judiciary Committee and the White House about Mr. Mueller testifying and those broke down, about Mr. Barr testifying and those broke down.
So if those negotiations continue, we may eventually see that testimony.
BLITZER: The committee has also subpoenaed the full Mueller report, all 450 pages or so.
You would like to see the whole thing, right?
CLINE: I think that the portions unrelated to grand jury testimony, you can't release grand jury testimony without a judge's ruling; that would be in violation of federal law. So the rest of it that is redacted, yes, I would like to see that and I hope an agreement can be reached with the Justice Department to release the rest of Judiciary to go and see it.
BLITZER: So where is all of this heading?
CLINE: Well, I think that eventually -- well, I know where the American people, if you look at the polls, the American people are opposed to impeachment, by and large, and they want to move on to the issues that are important for the American people.
We have a crisis at the border. You hear about it every day. And we need legislation to secure our border and to reform our legal immigration process.
BLITZER: Let me get your reaction to your Republican colleague, Republican colleague, Justin Amash, who, as you know, over the weekend and today doubling down, basically says that he's read the full Mueller report. He believes the president committed impeachable offenses.
CLINE: Well, Justin Amash is a colleague, a friend and a very accomplished individual. And I agree with him on a lot of his policy positions. We're at different positions, we're at different places --
[17:25:00]
CLINE: -- in this process right now. He's not on the Judiciary Committee. I am on the Judiciary Committee. And I'm continuing to seek additional information, including the Mueller report minus the grand jury testimony, so that I can continue to monitor the situation.
BLITZER: He's a reliable conservative, member of the Freedom Caucus.
Are you a member of the Freedom Caucus?
CLINE: I am.
BLITZER: So you know him well. He's been active as a Tea Party leader and all of a sudden, he's come to the conclusion that the president of the United States committed impeachable offenses.
CLINE: Well, as I said, he has a different role to play as a member of, I believe he's on the Overnight Committee. I'm a member of the Judiciary Committee and I'm in a different position than he is on those issues.
BLITZER: Are you glad that he's, all of a sudden, because of these tweets over the weekend, he's now facing a Republican primary challenge?
CLINE: I hadn't heard that. I think that, as I said, he is a friend, he's just in a different place with different positions on this issue than I have.
BLITZER: He also said, Amash, in his tweets, in his lengthy statement that the attorney general, William Barr, "It is clear that Barr intended to mislead the public about Special Counsel Robert Mueller's analysis and findings."
That conclusion, he says, seems to be bolstered by the special counsel's own letter to Barr, in which he complained that Barr's initial summary, quote, "did not fully capture the context, nature and substance of his report."
Do you believe Mueller himself finally needs to come before Congress and testify?
CLINE: I think that the attorney general's letter was clear, summarizing the Mueller report. And I think that the Mueller report itself -- I've read both and I don't see inconsistencies. So I'm fine with --
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BLITZER: But Justin Amash says most of his Republican colleagues didn't bother to read the entire Mueller report.
Did you read the entire Mueller report?
CLINE: I did. And it is lengthy and, as Senator Romney indicated, it is a lengthy document. It took most of the weekend, back Easter weekend, I got to read it. So I have been through it. The Barr letter syncs up with it fine.
And if Mr. Mueller wants to add to that, he can work out with the White House and with the Judiciary Committee the details of how he would be questioned and when he would come in to testify.
BLITZER: It's nice to have you to come in, Congressman. Thanks so much for joining us and thanks for the patience with all the breaking news, as well.
CLINE: Absolutely.
BLITZER: Ben Cline of Virginia.
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