MSNBC "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell" - Transcript: "Mueller: the President could be charged."

Interview

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O`DONNELL: Leading off our discussion tonight is Democratic Congresswoman Val Demings of Florida. She`s a member of the House Judiciary Committee and the House Intelligence Committee. Thank you very much for joining us tonight, Congresswoman Demings. I really appreciate it. I know it`s been a busy week.

DEMINGS: It`s good to be with you, Lawrence. Thanks for having me.

O`DONNELL: I want to go to what we just saw you questioning Robert Mueller about and that is reminding us all that the president did submit to written questions and answering written questions but as you illuminated, he did to put it mildly a terrible job of answering the written questions.

DEMINGS: He did a terrible job and let`s start with Director Mueller not being able to comment on the president of the United States credibility. And then his answer regarding the written questions and we do know the president refused to do a sit-down interview, Director Mueller tried to get him to do that for a year, he refused but then obviously in his written answers, he was not always truthful as director Mueller indicated.

O`DONNELL: And the Mueller report does comment on the credibility of other witnesses, comments favorably on the credibility of witnesses where it finds them credible. And so, Robert Mueller could have if he found the president`s written answers credible said so.

DEMINGS: I think it`s reasonable to assume that if as you`ve just indicated, if the president thought or if director Mueller thought the president was credible, he certainly would have said that. He even commented about the credibility of Gates and Cohen, Michael Cohen saying after thorough vetting, he was able to find their testimony about WikiLeaks credible, but he wasn`t able to comment on the president`s credibility.

O`DONNELL: Bringing all of your years of law enforcement into what you heard yesterday, what is your assessment of the criminal liability of Donald Trump?

DEMINGS: You know, yesterday, Lawrence, was actually a very painful day. You know, what we -- what Director Mueller confirmed is that Russia interfered. The president didn`t seem to care much about that. Matter of fact, he loved it and welcomed it and that he engaged in multiple instances of obstruction of justice to impede the investigation into Russia interference. The section about Don McGahn where the president repeatedly asked him to get rid of the special counsel and then called in multiple times asking him like a mobster if it had been done. Yesterday was a painful day but it clearly indicates why director Mueller was unable to exonerate the president or find him innocent, basically, of any wrongdoing.

O`DONNELL: You brought up the point that with the written questions, they had follow-up questions after they had seen the answers, especially since the answers were incomplete. Some of them they just didn`t answer at all, and then the president didn`t answer any follow-up questions.

DEMINGS: According to Director Mueller, he was strong there and said, you know, to a direct question, did he answer any of your follow up questions, no. And if you read the president`s responses over 30 times, over 30 times the president said he did not recall or remember key instances or key conversations during the case. So the president I clearly understand after listening to director Mueller why he was unable to exonerate the president.

O`DONNELL: And in your career in law enforcement, you`ve seen cases that are slam dunks. You`ve seen cases that are close calls, not sure. Should we charge? Should we not charge? What do we have here? You`ve seen cases get dismissed in court. You`ve -- and not been surprised and then sometimes surprised because you understand the various weights that evidence can have. What`s your assessment of the case against the president that Robert Mueller assembled in this report?

DEMINGS: Lawrence, when the report first came out and I had an opportunity to read it, and remember, as a member of both committees I`ve had an opportunity to read the unredacted version, as well. But when I first read the redacted version, I was convinced then that the elements of multiple crimes was there and that we should have begun impeachment proceedings at that time. Certainly after reading the unredacted version and just
everything being topped off with Director Mueller confirming some very critical portions of the report, I have no doubt in my mind as a 27-year law enforcement officer, a police detective and police chief the president engaged in wrongdoing and were it not for the Department of Justice OLC opinion, he would have been indicted.

O`DONNELL: Is it only members of the Intelligence Committee who have been able to see the unredacted version?

DEMINGS: I can`t -- I`m not sure about that particular portion. I believe there are some limited members of the judiciary like the chairman but I know members of the Intelligence Committee have been able to review it.

O`DONNELL: Can you give us some sense of how much more people would understand if they were able to see the unredacted version?

DEMINGS: Well, the unredacted version really has more to do with identifying information and sometimes when you know who is involved, it really helps you to better be able to piece the pieces of the puzzle together.

O`DONNELL: Would you say the unredacted version would add to possible impeachment charges against the president?

DEMINGS: Remember, I`ve thought for a long time for four months now there was plenty evidence in the redacted version to begin impeachment proceedings but every bit of information, every bit of evidence certainly helps us get to the point where we need to be.

O`DONNELL: Congressman Val Demings, thank you very much for leading us off tonight. I really appreciate it.

DEMINGS: Thank you.

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