CNN Newsroom: Interview with Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA)
Interview
"Well, it sounds like he has raised that issue, and I'm pleased that one of the prisoners of conscience that I adopted, as we all do, has been released when Bac Truyen has been released. But we provided President Biden with a long list of prisoners of conscience who we hope that he can get released.
The human rights record of the communists in Vietnam is terrible and getting worse. So we -- I'm pleased that he said he's raised these issues. Let's hope we get some progress on it.
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Well, obviously I didn't know about that until you did. But it shows that the district attorney was very careful in her decision making on who to prosecute. Obviously the grand jury felt that these two former senators and current senator had violated the law. And certainly Mr. Graham tried to assert that his activities were within his duties as a senator. That was rejected by the courts. He was not acting in the course of his duty as a senator.
That's why he didn't get the protection of the Speech and Debate Clause. So I just assume that it has to do with the weight of the evidence that was available to the district attorney. And I'm glad that she used the discretion that she did in deciding who to indict and who to leave behind.
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Well, it was the right decision, and I felt a sense of relief that finally he's been called to account. The committee had questions for him as well as Mr. Bannon. There are things that they knew about this.
I mean, certainly Mr. Navarro was very much up to his neck in the spinning of the lies about the election. And of course he and Mr. Bannon were working together. I'm sure you remember that Bannon, the day before January 6th, had this presentation that this is going to be very different than you think. You know, what connection did he have with the White House? Was it through Navarro? Was it through Meadows who also refused to talk to us?
There were things the committee could not get, although I think in the end we were able to present a clear picture of the conspiracy that the ex-president led to overturn the election.
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Well, I think they should. I mean, first, a committee has to be within their jurisdiction. And our committee was. And as a matter of fact, we were sued over that. It was litigated. And the courts decided that these subpoenas were pursuing things that were properly within the jurisdiction of the committee. At that point, there's really no excuse. This is not a suggestion. It's a requirement.
And Mr. Navarro could have come in if he felt that he was in criminal jeopardy. He could have pled the fifth, as others did. But he has been saying, no, he did nothing wrong. He went on various media tours talking about what he knew. But he just defied the subpoena. And you can't do that. And I think others that are thinking about that should think again because he will, I'm sure, spend some time in custody. And he should.
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Thank you.
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