CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview With Oregon Senator Ron Wyden

Interview

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BLITZER: Fair point. Jim Acosta, thanks very much.

Let's turn now to Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon. He's a key member of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Senator, I want to get your reaction to the breaking news we had at the top of the hour, the homeland security secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, close to resigning after being berated, berated by the president in front of the entire Cabinet at a meeting yesterday. What's your reaction to that?

SEN. RON WYDEN (D), OREGON: I'm not surprised anymore, Wolf. I mean, we are seeing this happen with one high-ranking official after another.

Sometimes, I hear these reports and I just get the sense that maybe the president's barber is going to end up at a key post in our government.

BLITZER: Yes, it's pretty humiliating to be berated like that over border security in front of all the members of the Cabinet, as opposed, let's say, in a private one-on-one meeting.

But let's turn to the Russia probe.

WYDEN: You're being logical, Wolf. And that's exactly why this gives public service such a bad name.

And, by the way, you didn't see this in the Bush administration or the Obama administration.

BLITZER: Yes. Let's see if she stays on the job.

Let's go the Russia probe right now, Senator.

The vice president, Mike Pence, says that special counsel Robert Mueller needs to wrap up his investigation. Do you think Mueller is anywhere close to a conclusion?

WYDEN: My view is that this investigation -- and it's been what Bob Mueller's career has always been about -- is do it by the book.

Don't set arbitrary dates. Don't try to hot-wire the process. Don't try to intimidate people. Bob Mueller is a Republican. He's a decorated war hero. Throughout his career -- and, boy, I have disagreed with him plenty on policy issues -- he's behaved in an honorable way. Nobody is above the law. Let him do the job.

BLITZER: Robert Mueller also has known now -- we have confirmed -- for months about Michael Cohen's LLC called Essential Consultants, which is now at the center of a growing scandal around Cohen apparently trying to sell access to the president.

Does that suggest to you, Senator, that his investigation is much broader than previously known?

WYDEN: It certainly is, again, a new development and a troubling one. And what America has seen here raises the specter of corruption in the White House.

I have rarely seen something like this that really, in effect, sounds like our government for sale. It's a corporate shakedown. And, by the way, as the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, we have jurisdiction over the drug companies, and tomorrow we'll be asking some pretty pointed questions of Novartis.

BLITZER: So talk about that. Is there something Congress needs to do as far as you're concerned?

WYDEN: Well, I want to know what Novartis thought it was buying for the $1.2 million. This was a pretty crucial time. They were looking at getting a cancer drug approved. They were negotiating with Medicare on the issue of what taxpayers would pay for drugs. Cohen was getting paid more by the lobbyists. I want to know who approved the deal at Novartis. The deal stinks, and even the employees, many of them seem outraged.

BLITZER: So are you calling for a full-scale investigation right now?

WYDEN: Yes, yes. We are going to be initiating that on the Finance Committee. We have jurisdiction over drug companies. And this is a time when so many seniors and consumers are seeing their prices going through the stratosphere. And we have what looks like a corporate, you know, shakedown and the company paying out money to somebody like Michael Cohen when what they ought to be doing is focusing on lowering prices for seniors.

BLITZER: These companies say they were simply paying for insight into the new administration from Michael Cohen. That kind of consulting, as you well know, extremely common in Washington. Members of both parties do it. Do you have any evidence, though, that there was something more nefarious?

WYDEN: As I indicated, I have rarely seen something this gross. Something like this didn't happen in either the Bush or the Obama administrations. So those are the questions we're going to be posing to Novartis tomorrow. But make no mistake about it: we did not see this in the previous administrations, one Republican and one Democratic.

BLITZER: Senator Ron Wyden making some news here in THE SITUATION ROOM. Thanks for joining us.

WYDEN: Thanks for having me.

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