Fox News "The Story" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Steve Cohen

Interview

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MACCALLUM: So, here to respond, Democratic Congressman Steve Cohen, also on the House Judiciary Committee. Congressman Cohen, thank you very much. Good to have you here tonight.

REP. STEVE COHEN, D-TENN., CHAIRMAN, HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: You're welcome. Peter Emerson vouched for you.

MACCALLUM: Pardon me?

COHEN: Peter Emerson vouched for you. He said you are fair in battle.

MACCALLUM: Oh, he's absolutely right, I am. So, let me ask you this, you just heard both sides of this equation and the investigations that Democrats are committed to continuing and what Republicans want to look into.

Are you interested in the origins of all of these, are you concerned about what happened in the highest levels of our intelligence agencies in pursuing an investigation against President Trump in the early stages, and not giving him a heads up, that they had real concerns that there might be somebody who was infiltrating their campaign?

COHEN: I'm interested in getting the full Mueller report out to the public, as the House voted without a dissenting vote last week. And as I think President Trump has said he wanted it too. The American public paid for that report and they ought to see the report and we need to see that our elections are fair, that they're open, and they're not interfered with Russians, as they were in 2016.

There's no question that the Russians were involved in our elections. They tried to influence the elections. They tried to do it for the benefit of the -- of the winner, of the Electoral College. And so, we need to make sure that our elections are --

MACCALLUM: Right. So, that was -- what my question was to you, in terms of that conclusion, which is clear, that the Russians did try to influence our elections, do you think that -- it would've been a wise idea to give the candidate a heads up about that, and does it make you curious about the origins of this investigation that he wasn't given one?

COHEN: You know, I don't know if they gave either of the candidates a heads up, and I'm not sure what they did. I know that Barack Obama asked Mitch McConnell to join him in doing an investigation earlier in the announcement and Mitch McConnell refused to do it, so the President trying to be, as he often was bipartisan, in terms of going out on national scene decided not to say anything.

MACCALLUM: President Trump had no idea that the intelligence agencies were watching his campaign, that they were having FISA warrants to listen to people on their private conversations. He had no idea about any of that.

COHEN: I didn't say he did. President Obama wanted Mitch McConnell to join with him and that the American public know that the Russians were involved in our elections. And when Mitch McConnell wouldn't do it, the President didn't go forward.

MACCALLUM: All right, so --

COHEN: President Obama as he should about thinking --

MACCALLUM: Understood. So, I would imagine that you want to know more about the origins of this investigation, what President Obama knew, what Loretta Lynch knew, what James Comey knew, what John Brennan knew about the Russians' involvement or attempt to be involved in this -- in this whole process. Would you like to see an investigation to that?

COHEN: We want to know what the Russians did and who they did it with. We want to know -- I think Papadopoulos was the beginning of it and that's how it started.

MACCALLUM: Well, now, it appears he never spoke to any Russians at all, so that's where -- that's where his situation is.

COHEN: Well, I don't know about that and I don't know if they informed either presidential candidates. Did they inform Hillary Clinton? I don't think they did.

MACCALLUM: Well, I mean, but it's clear that they -- they weren't doing what they were doing to President Trump's campaign to Hillary Clinton's campaign. That's the question.

COHEN: They didn't have any probable cause or any intelligence to make them think they should be looking at it.

MACCALLUM: All right. And the probable cause apparently came from a dossier in an article that was written on Yahoo! news. So, we continue.

COHEN: The dossier was started by a Republican opponent of President Trump, was it not? That originally engaged him?

MACCALLUM: Yes, but not the part of the dossier that is so crucial to the understanding of this. All of that was paid for by the DNC and Perkins Coie. So, I mean, that's been clear for some time. Congressman, thank you. I appreciate you being here.

COHEN: You're welcome, Martha.

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