CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Madeleine Dean

Interview

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BLITZER: Alex Marquardt, thanks very much.

Joining us now, Congresswoman Madeleine Dean, a Democrat. She serves on the House Judiciary Committee.

Congresswoman, thanks so much for joining us.

REP. MADELEINE DEAN (D-PA): Thank you for having me, Wolf.

BLITZER: Let me get your reaction first to the news that President Trump's former top lawyer, John Dowd, left this voice-mail with Michael Flynn's lawyer.

You have heard -- you have read the transcript. We don't have the audio, but we have all now read the full transcript just released today. Do you view that potentially as attempted obstruction?

DEAN: I hope you will forgive me, Wolf, that I want to say that as -- I want to get to that question.

But in the sandstorm of news that you are reporting, that you started the top of the hour with, yet again another shooting, I hope that this president and this administration and this Senate wants to do something to stop the inhumanity of the carnage in this country.

I think about it, and I think, we will learn who was the shooter and who are the victims, those who are dead and those who are wounded and those who are left traumatized.

But I think of John Donne's poem. Don't ask for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee. It tolls for us. It is time this president did something positive to stop gun violence in this country.

Forgive me that. I know your reporting will be complete. And I will go back to the transcript.

I did have a chance to...

BLITZER: Well, let me interrupt you for a moment, Congresswoman, because, if I have to interrupt you, we're going to go to Virginia Beach, Virginia.

DEAN: Yes.

BLITZER: There's going to be a live news conference with local law enforcement. They're going to explain what's going on. We understand multiple -- multiple injuries right now. But we're watching this very closely.

So, if I interrupt you, you will fully understand and you will stand by.

DEAN: I certainly will.

BLITZER: But let's get to the issue -- yes, let's get to the issue at hand.

What's your reaction to the release of this transcript from the president's former lawyer to the lawyer representing Michael Flynn?

DEAN: Well, those words and that transcription appears in the Mueller report, so it was familiar to me.

If you -- as you read it, you can see it's very halting. It is from Trump's attorney to Michael Flynn's attorney. It's worrying about the relationship, that the relationship has been cut off. Is there any implicating evidence against the president? He's hoping to learn something through the attorney. And, remember, tell Mr. Flynn, he still has good feelings for him.

It's a strange, halting, troubling communication between the president's lawyer. And it looks like interference. So it's not surprising. It's within the Mueller report. And we know that Michael Flynn appears in the Mueller report over and over for tremendous wrongdoing.

BLITZER: Yes, we learned for the first time today it was John Dowd who was making that phone call.

DEAN: That's true.

BLITZER: We -- in the Mueller report, we didn't know who it was. We assumed it was John Dowd. But we weren't sure.

DEAN: You're right.

BLITZER: The Justice Department, as you also heard, Congresswoman, hasn't handed over the transcripts of Michael Flynn's phone conversations with the then Russian ambassador to the United States or with other Russian officials, for that matter, even though this federal judge asked for those transcripts.

Is there a legal justification to refuse that request, that order from the federal judge?

DEAN: No, I don't believe so.

And if you read volume one, you will know why we in Congress want to know exactly what was said. So we should get those transcripts.

But take a look at this Department of Justice and who it is headed by. It's headed by Attorney General Barr. In the comments that you have just played, in the comments he has uttered since he first audition for the job and then took the job and then put out the absolute falsehood of a four-page memo summarizing the report, he's simply not an honest broker of information.

He is not reporting facts. He's not relying upon law. He is absolutely doing the bidding of a president. So his credibility is worn thin. I can't imagine why he would have done that to himself.

But I take no legal justification from the district -- the Department of Justice saying, yes, you can get this transcript and no, you can't get that one.

BLITZER: We will see what the federal judge, Sullivan, decides to do on that. As we said, he's a very tough judge.

The attorney general also says he didn't agree with a lot of Robert Mueller's legal analysis on the issue of obstruction of justice. Officials over the White House, they're clearly very enthusiastic about this Barr interview.

What does that tell you?

DEAN: What I saw was -- most striking to me was that Mueller spoke this week, the fact that he chose on his way out the door to say, America, please read this report.

That's literally what he was saying. It's grievous, what is in this report, between the interference by our foe, Russia, in the 2016 election, this campaign, the Trump campaign, welcoming it, wallowing in it, having more than 100 contacts with our foe, to his benefit, which he knew, and then the president trying to obstruct the investigation of his own behavior.

It's stunning what's in there. There are -- there's evidence, piles of evidence. And what Mueller said in his parting words were that, this report is my testimony. Please read this testimony. And America needs to pay close attention to the interference by Russia in our elections. [18:20:15]

I look forward to special counsel Mueller coming before our committee. And I don't care that he will not go beyond the bounds of that report, because America hasn't seen the bounds of that report.

It's clear this president has not read the report. Otherwise, he couldn't say the things that he says, although the truth sometimes escapes him.

BLITZER: Congresswoman Madeleine Dean, thank you so much for joining us.

DEAN: Thank you for having me.

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