CNN "Wolf" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Chris Coons

Interview

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BLITZER: Yes, clearly the president is obsessed with finding out who this individual who wrote that article in the New York Times is. Jeff, stand by.

Delaware Senator Chris Coons is joining us right now. He's a Democrat. He sits on the Senate Judiciary committee.

Senator, let me get your reaction first of all to what the president said, he wants the Attorney General Jeff Sessions to investigate, to find out who was responsible for that article. And remember last night the president suggested whoever did that may have engaged in treason. If you're convicted of treason, that potentially carries with a capital punishment, the death sentence.

SEN. CHRIS COONS (D), DELAWARE: Well, Wolf, I've just stepped out of day four of the Kavanaugh hearings here in the Senate and I just heard this. My initial reaction is that President Trump, given his recent history of tweeting about who he wants the Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the Department of Justice to investigate or prosecute or not based on his own political calculation -- I'll remind you, he was recently sharply criticizing the attorney general for the Department of Justice prosecuting two Republican incumbent Congressmen.

I think it would be wise of the president to stop acting in ways that suggest he thinks the Department of Justice is the in-house legal department of the Trump organization and recognize that they have an independent role here in protecting the country and upholding the constitution. The attorney general and the professionals at the Department of Justice swear allegiance to constitution not to a particular president. So if there are legitimate national security concerns here, I think the president would be well advised to hang back and -- rather than directing there be a prosecution or an investigation here, trust that they'll take it up in an appropriate way.

BLITZER: The president also is now saying that he doesn't want any interview he may grant to Robert Mueller, the special counsel, to become a setup for what he calls a perjury trial. It doesn't sound like he's ready to sit down with Mueller at all. Maybe -- according to Rudy Giuliani, his personal lawyer, they may be willing to answer some questions on the issue of collusion during the campaign, but he's not ready to talk at all about this whole issue of -- if there was any obstruction of justice after he became president.

COONS: Well, the best way to avoid being charged with perjury is to not lie. So frankly, it's striking to me if the president's team is coming to the conclusion that they just don't think they can have the president, despite his repeated public protestations that he is eager to testify, that he's eager to provide testimony to the special counsel. If they're coming to the conclusion that they just can't put the president on the witness stand in front of Special Counsel Mueller or even have him provide written testimony, that suggests something that reinforces some of the more disturbing allegations in the recently released --

[13:30:00]

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