DPCC Chair Cicilline: We Must Protect the Mueller Investigation
WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman David Cicilline, Chair of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee (DPCC), appeared on MSNBC with Hallie Jacksonto discuss the importance of protecting the Mueller investigation and ensuring the American people know the truth. Below are excerpts from the interview. Click here to watch the video
"I have many additional questions of Mr. McCabe based on recent reporting and the release of his book. I expect that the Judiciary Committee would invite Mr. McCabe back, but I don't know if the chairman has made that decision."
"I do believe he's credible. I've had the opportunity to see Andrew McCabe testify. I watched his interview. It was clear he is a career FBI official with a distinguished record at the FBI who was confronted with an extraordinary set of circumstances that resulted in him opening a counterintelligence investigation of the President of the United States, and I think he did that in a sober and serious way. And I think he shared that with the gang of eight. His reporting is that they acknowledged that nobody objected to it based on what the FBI learned. It was the appropriate action to take, and I think it just underscores the importance of protecting the Mueller investigation and ensuring that that process can be completed and that the American people actually see the report."
"Well, the Chairman of the Committee has already written to Mr. Whitaker requesting some clarification on some inconsistencies of his testimony. And in the letter, he acknowledged if he did not provide it, they intended to bring him back for a sworn deposition before the Committee. I think there's no question that Mr. Whitaker will be expected to answer the questions either in writing or in a deposition and come back before the Judiciary Committee to either clarify or correct the system he gave before the Committee."
"I don't think there's any question that that's a possibility. We should recall that if you start listing all the facts in the public domain, the Trump tower meeting, the contacts between the Trump campaign and Russians and lying about them, the President's unwillingness to say a negative thing about Russia, changing the platform at the Republican convention in favor of Russia, you know, the list goes on and on and on, and there was ample evidence just in the public domain to open the investigations."
"It's a curious one. It's unusual because he's never worked at the Department of Justice and will have responsibility for the day to day supervision of a Department that has over 100,000 employees. So I don't know enough about him but it's curious that you would pick someone to run and manage a Department who has never worked there, but I think we'll learn more about this in the coming days."