Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees: Interview With Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-NY)

Interview

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They certainly should not win the day. This is the, I am Donald Trump defense, and therefore I am running for president, so I cannot be charged with a crime that every other American would be charged with, nor can I go to trial.

There is no question and there was no question all along that Donald Trump was going to run for president as part of his criminal defense strategy, and we see that played out in this letter, which is to say, I am running for president, therefore, I am so important that I'm above the law, and I can't be tried.

Of course, the objective is to get into 2025 when he hopes to be president and he can somehow make the case go away. So these arguments that you referenced at the top, Anderson should not be persuasive to any objective reasonable judge. The question here is whether Judge Cannon, a Trump-appointee who bent over backwards and went over the line in a lawless ruling related to the Mar-a-Lago search warrant whether or not she will placate Donald Trump and grant this request ...

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... or adjourning it indefinitely.

It's very hard to tell. I think she should not. I don't know what she will do. This is a request that in my 10 years as a federal prosecutor I never received, nor would any judge that I practiced in front of ever grant.

There are legitimate concerns with the classified documents case, because there are procedures that both parties need to go through to deal with the classified materials.

These materials, though that are relevant to this case are not so burdensome, as to require months and months of review, but it does take a little bit longer than most cases.

So if they were to make an argument that it should stretch into next year before the trial begins, that would be a much more colorable and reasonable argument. This is not a reasonable argument.

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Well, I think the question of whether it's good for the country as separate from whether or not this motion should be granted. The fact of the matter is, Donald Trump was under investigation long before he announced running for president.

So posit this, Anderson, let's say I'm under criminal investigation. I know it and here I am in Congress, I decide I'm going to declare my candidacy for president. Does that mean that I cannot be prosecuted because I've declared myself a candidate for president? No, of course not.

The DOJ regulations stipulate that a sitting president cannot be indicted because of a variety of reasons related to the importance of that job. A candidate for president does not have a job that is any more important than anyone else in America, and he is not above the law as a candidate, nor is any candidate for elected office, and he must sit trial as any other American citizen would. That is the rule of law in this country. No one is above the law, not even Donald Trump.

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Look, I think the Republicans have made this their general purpose in this Congress where they want to undermine the credibility of the FBI, because of its investigation into Donald Trump, and because perhaps of its investigation to other members of the House. That has been their approach this entire Congress. And I think they view this opportunity to continue to do that.

This is part of an authoritarian effort to undermine the democratic institutions that uphold accountability and our separation of powers in this country, and the Republican Congress has made it very clear that in order to do Donald Trump's bidding, they want to undermine the credibility of the FBI, and I expect them to go full bore to try to do that tomorrow.

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Thank you.

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