CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview With Senator Richard Blumenthal

Interview

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BLITZER: Thanks very much for that, Evan Perez, reporting.

Joining us now, Senator Richard Blumenthal. He's a Democrat. He serves on the Judiciary and Armed Services Committees.

[18:10:07]

Senator, thanks so much for joining us.

And how significant is this development involving Julian Assange of WikiLeaks? Do you believe it's connected to the Mueller investigation?

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D), CONNECTICUT: It almost certainly is connected, Wolf, to the Mueller investigation.

The charges against Julian Assange are very much probably like the ones against the Russian intelligence operatives and others whom Robert Mueller and the special counsel's office has already charged, the Espionage Act, defrauding the government, a violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act,all connected to the hacking into the DNC files and other potential acts against the Democratic campaign, linked to possibly the Trump campaign.

So, they could be very important to the special counsel investigation of Trump collusion with the Russian interference in our election.

BLITZER: Had you heard anything specifically about Julian Assange facing criminal charges?

BLUMENTHAL: There were rumors and reports.

And, obviously, he faced criminal charges in connection with violations of the laws in Sweden relating to his sexual misconduct, but none of these specifics about the sealed indictment.

And your point and Evan Perez's point about our knowing just the very tip of the iceberg as to what the special counsel knows is very, very well taken and significant.

Robert Mueller is three or four steps ahead of any of us, whether it's the Assange indictment or the other potential charges that could be forthcoming. There are rumors and reports about those charges after this quiet period. And the questions themselves that have been put to president.

The president, quite rightly, feels that the walls are closing in because he asked to answer these questions with a precision and accuracy that don't apply if he's just making broad statements on the White House lawn or even in the press room.

BLITZER: The president says he personally wrote the answers to the written questions submitted by Robert Mueller and his team. And he said -- and I'm quoting the president now -- "They're not very difficult questions."

What does that tell you?

BLUMENTHAL: His calling the answers easy tells me that it's either a false bravado or self-delusion or simple deception.

And all of it is dangerous to the president's case, because he has to take these questions very seriously. And there are reports, very significantly, that there's a larger set of questions relating to the post-inaugural period, as you pointed out earlier in the show, which he has declined to answer so far.

That report is, for example, in today's "Washington Post" article on the answers. So there is a whole new area of questioning. I would be very surprised if Donald Trump did the answers to these questions. I would be very unsurprised if there are not more questions put to him that he so far has not yet answered.

BLITZER: Yes, the president and his lawyers apparently don't want to answer any questions, certainly not after the inauguration, but even during the transition, after he was elected.

Is the president, in your opinion, facing serious legal jeopardy right now?

BLUMENTHAL: He is facing very serious legal jeopardy. There is prima facie a plausible case of obstruction of justice against him. There are elements of evidence on each of the critical factors that have to be proved in court.

And one of those key factors, intent, is shown by his ongoing misconduct in, for example, his potentially involving himself in either the firing of the special counsel, if that's what Matt Whitaker does, his acting attorney general, or the strangling and stifling of that investigation, which is why we are taking action in Congress to forestall any action that would stop or stymie the special counsel investigation.

BLITZER: The president also said today that he's hearing that the Mueller investigation is wrapping up.

How concerned are you, Senator, that Matt Whitaker, the acting attorney general, will be the one deciding what to do with Mueller's final report?

BLUMENTHAL: I'm deeply concerned, Wolf, because Matt Whitaker has indicated a clear hostility to the special counsel investigation. In fact, he called it at one point a hoax, echoing the president himself.

He has provided a road map, in effect, to how the special counsel investigation can be dealt a death by 1,000 cuts, cuts in authority, cuts in funding, and a refusal to issue or approve indictments. And that kind of, in effect, slow-motion Saturday Night Massacre is a danger that I have raised.

[18:15:24]

And the legislation that I have talked about proposing would in fact require full disclosure and transparency of all the evidence, all of the findings, if there is any effort to stifle or stymie this investigation.

BLITZER: Senator Blumenthal, thanks so much for joining us.

BLUMENTHAL: Thank you.

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