MSNBC "The Rachel Maddow Show" - Transcript: Interview with Richard Blumenthal

Interview

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MADDOW: Over the weekend, Jeffrey Rosen, the last man to serve as attorney general under former President Trump, he testified on Saturday for about seven hours, before the judiciary committee in the Senate. He testified about President Trump`s attempts to pressure him and other top Justice Department officials into, basically, overturning the results of the 2020 election.

Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut was there for that close door testimony, on Saturday. He joins us, now.

Senator, it is great to have you here tonight. Thanks for making time.

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): Thank you, very much, Rachel. Welcome back.

MADDOW: Thank you.

How serious is the set of circumstances that`s being described to you, by people like Jeffrey Rosen and Richard Donoghue, in this recent testimony?

BLUMENTHAL: Well, Rachel, we`ve seen a lot over these last four and a half years of Donald Trump. And nothing, in my experience, was more serious than this attempt to overthrow a lawful election -- corrupting and weaponizing the Department of Justice, absolutely horrifying.

And the graphic, dramatic detail that Jeff Rosen described made it all the more real, to us. He conveyed what it was like to live through it, in real- time.

And anybody standing up to the president in the Oval Office, given the weight of that office and the importance of that historic moment, really, had a very important role in history. And I must say, the seriousness of it was conveyed very, very importantly during that interview.

MADDOW: Obviously, this is important for history. In terms of accountability, both, at the Justice Department and for potentially the former president -- I guess, there`s the question of what happens to this information? We expect that, presumably, your committee will release these transcripts. We expect, from Chairman Durbin that there may be some report, at some point.

But I was struck by the fact that, this weekend, after sitting through some of that testimony, you said that you see the prospect for criminal charges here. Does that mean you`re expecting your committee to make a criminal referral? Or that the -- the Justice Department might, itself, move ahead on these matters, already?

BLUMENTHAL: First, we have to go forward with our investigation. And, of course, Chairman Durbin will decide what witnesses ought to be pursued. As you`ve just said, B.J. Pak will testify on Wednesday. But there are a great-many others, who had positions of public trust. And Donald Trump`s pattern has been to use acolytes and sycophants in those positions of trust, whether in the White House or in the Congress, as well as in the Department of Justice where he enlisted Jeff Clark, an underling, with threats to replace Jeff Rosen.

I think, the facts, already, adduced in this investigation and reported publicly, as you`ve just done, warrant fair consideration for referral to the Department of Justice. I think that there are very important evidence that have to be considered by the Department of Justice in an investigation of criminal lawbreaking. But the important word -- you`ve just used it -- is accountability.

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If anybody engaged in lawbreaking, they need to be held accountable. We want to know what happened so it never happens, again. And that has to be our common purpose here. Find the facts. Follow them and the law, wherever they go, and get all the witnesses that will voluntarily testify to provide us their truth just as Jeff Rosen did very credibly.

MADDOW: Senator Blumenthal, just briefly so I understand, when you say that -- when you talk about the prospect of criminal behavior potential criminal referral, are you talking about the Justice Department officials who allegedly participated with the former president or are you talking about the former president?

BLUMENTHAL: I am talking about what we know right now which is at least one of the Department of Justice officials engaged in conduct that could be regarded as law breaking and certainly the pressure brought to bear on Department of Justice officials warrant consideration for possible prosecutions. But we need to know a lot more fact. What I`m saying is that the Department of Justice has to take a fair look at these facts and what they constitute in the way of law breaking.

MADDOW: Connecticut senator, member of the judiciary committee, Richard Blumenthal -- sir, kind of you to make time to be here tonight. Thank you so much.

BLUMENTHAL: Thank you.

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