CNN "Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees" Transcript: FISA Memos

Interview

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COOPER: Congressman, can you just confirm that Hope Hicks is expected to appear before your committee reportedly as early as tomorrow?

REP. JIM HIMES (D-CT), HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: We do expect her to come before the committee tomorrow morning, yes.

COOPER: Do you expect her to invoke executive privilege in the same way that Steve Bannon did?

HIMES: Well, it's a little bit of a mystery, Anderson, because different people who have worked for the White House at different times have approached this differently. So, Steve Bannon obviously invoked executive privilege in an extraordinarily broad way, including going back to the transition. We had other people who worked in the White House before the committee who did not and who answered questions about their time in the White House.

So, again, we'll see what happens tomorrow morning.

COOPER: Hope Hicks has obviously been at the epicenter of a lot of the activity both in the transition, during the campaign, and also obviously the White House. Are there are particular areas of questioning that you hope to be able to ask her?

HIMES: Well, you know, those of us who have watched this White House for a long time know that she is one of the president's most close advisors, that she has been in most rooms when the president has made decisions. So, I think there's a lot that we want to talk to her about.

In particular, of course, is the question of the drafting of the statement that Don Jr., the president's son, gave, the initial statement, which turned out not to be true about the meeting in Trump Tower with the Russians when, you know, he was expecting to receive compromising information on Hillary (AUDIO GAP) about, you know, who was in on (AUDIO GAP) who knew what (AUDIO GAP) and I don't want to prejudice this, (AUDIO GAP) whether there was any attempt there to deceive the public about what -- about what that meeting was to have been about.

COOPER: I also want to ask you about the Democratic response memo which was obviously released over the weekend. The Republican Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes says it actually bolsters his argument, saying it shows Democrats, and I'm quoting, are advocating that it's OK for the FBI and department of Justice to use political dirt paid for by one campaign and use it against the other campaign. How do you respond to that?

HIMES: Well, the chairman is just wrong about that. You know, the premise of the Republican memo was that the Steele dossier was essential, that it was absolutely critical, that it was the basis not just of the FISA application made around Carter Page, but it was associated with the investigation. We now know that that is not true and we further know that the dossier which again, you know, he can call it (AUDIO GAP) doesn't mean that whatever is in that dossier is true or not true.

[20:25:09] It's interesting how (AUDIO GAP) keep using the word unverified. Unverified just means we don't know and the FBI, of course, would have made an effort to understand what was true and what was not true. But what we know today is that the idea that that dossier was critical to getting a warrant on Carter Page after, and remember, it was after he worked for the Trump campaign, Carter Page had left the campaign by the time of that warrant request, is just a you know an attempt to make what is not a partisan issue into a partisan issue.

COOPER: I also want to ask you about Jared Kushner. Do you believe he should have a security clearance even a temporary one? I mean, he's had one apparently this entire time. Do you believe President Trump when he says it's up to General Kelly to determine Kushner's clearance level?

HIMES: You know, it's really important at the White House and that all of us maintain very strict discipline around security clearances. And I don't know all the details and I'm not sure anybody outside of the White House knows all the details of why Jared Kushner security clearance is being held up. But if it's being held up for reasons that you know suggest that there might be some possibility of blackmail there, that there may (AUDIO GAP) there was, but if that's the reason why the security clearance is taking a long time, we need to remember that he has access to the most sensitive information of the United States government and the prudent thing would be to, you know, get the security clearance done and get him that access.

COOPER: Congressman Himes, thanks for your time.

HIMES: Thank you, Anderson.

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