MSNBC "All in with Chris Hayes" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Chris Murphy

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

HAYES:  Vice President making his best tough-guy face today as the Pentagon reportedly prepares for a possible military intervention in Venezuela following the failed coup attempt last week.  At the same time the Trump ministration is ramping up its efforts to out the Maduro regime in Venezuela.  It also appears to be doing everything it can to provoke or justify some kind of conflict with Iran.
 
One year since the President unilaterally pulled the U.S. out of the Iran nuclear deal, a deal team we`re not violating according to the U.S., the President is threatening some kind of military action sending B-52 bombers and an aircraft carrier to the region.
 
The reason, opaque intelligence reports about vague threats to U.S.
interests selectively leaked to the press.  If you like me, live through the Iraq war, that sounds unnervingly familiar especially with John Bolton who was there during the time running the show from the White House and no Senate-confirmed leader at the Pentagon.
 
As Senator Chris Murphy tweeted today, hey, everybody, we are war in three different countries Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria and inching towards conflict in two more, Venezuela and Iran, and we haven`t had a Secretary of Defense for five months, all caps. 
 
Democratic Senators Chris Murphy, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee joins me now.  Let`s start with Iran.  What is going on and do you understand what they`re doing?
 
SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D), CONNECTICUT:  Well, there`s rumors that Iran is going to restart its nuclear program and while there`s no way to rationalize that violation of international law, it was entirely predictable.  We signed an agreement with the Iranians in which they agreed to forsake any nuclear weapons program and we agreed to release sanctions.
 
We were the party that violated that agreement and so it stands to reason that they would back out as well.  We have also upped the ante by naming essentially the most significant units of the Iranian army as a terrorist organization, something that our military leaders have been begging the president not to do because they worry that that will result in attacks on our troops and it really doesn`t get us much, but gives Iran even more reason to back out of the nuclear agreement.
 
And so we seem to be engaged in a series of escalatory actions with no end game.  There is no realistic diplomatic process that is going to spring forth from this and there is no willingness in the United States or the United States Congress to support military action. And so it seems as if it`s an escalation without any plan for how it ends.
 
HAYES:  I mean, you said that there`s no appetite in the congress for -- you know, for authorizing it, but the question always is like will they even come to you?  This is Jim Rich, Senate Foreign Relations Chair, said the military intervention is always on the table, but he declined to say whether he would require his committee to approve of any  new conflict.  What do you think of that?
 
MURPHY:  Well, there`s absolutely no question that the president cannot engage in preemptive military action against Iran or any other country without coming to congress.  Our worry, though, is that there is a pretext that is created.  Maybe there is a firefight between Iranian-backed militias and
U.S. troops inside Iraq that becomes a pretext for a military confrontation that all of a sudden spills into
war.
 
And of course there are plenty of reports suggesting that John Bolton has been itching for this
war with Iran for a very, very long time.  And so it`s worrying to me that there are high level Republicans that seemed to suggest that you might not have to come to congress to get the authorization to enter into an engagement like that.
 
Republicans need right now to speak up and tell this administration that if they are contemplating any kind of military action, they cannot do that without a vote of congress.
 
HAYES:  I have you here and I want to ask you a few things -- there is a lot going on right now, as you know, United States Senator Chris Murphy, so just a few quick things.  One is that we`ve got this Trump`s taxes for 10 years in the New York Times just showing him losing a massive amount of money, which is sort of neither here nor there for him as the president of the United States, but I think I`m curious what you think about Treasury just saying to a fully lawful request from your colleagues in the House to turn over the tax return go climb a tree?
 
MURPHY:  I mean, they have no legal justification to refuse to present tax returns to the United States Congress.  The law is clear on this.  And ultimately I think the courts will force those records to be turned over.
 
And while I`m not sure that the American public, you know, really cares to get deep into the details of the president`s 1980 to 1990 tax returns, it does speak to the fact that he has been a fraud
for a very, very long time. 
 
And I frankly think from a political standpoint, Democrats would be well served to talk more about the fact that he is, has been, and he has been and always will be economic fraud.  That he cheats people regularly, that he lies about his wealth, and if we want to bring an economic argument to 2020 focusing on the fraudulent nature of his business, and the fact that he has lied about the nature of his
business for years, is not a bad way to go.
 
HAYES:  And finally, since I do have you here and this happened today, and I want to ask you about it, there was a school shooting today in Colorado, images that are just unbearable to watch.  These are young children I believe it was a middle school.  And there were eight students shot.  It appears no fatalities as of this moment.  We don`t have a lot of details, but what we do have are pictures, once again, of children and students in the United States of America evacuating on the streets because of gun violence.  What do you think and feel when you see those images?
 
MURPHY:  Yeah, I`ll send my first grader and fourth grader off to school tomorrow morning.  And once again this spring they will go through an active shooter drill and millions of parents all across the country no longer can hide from this epidemic because there is a trauma that exists in every school when kids fear for their safety regardless of whether they are shot or not.
 
And the reason, Chris, why the politics on this are changing, the reason why we beat 18 NRA A-rated members of congress in 2018 is because there is nowhere to hide from this epidemic.  And ultimately, the 90 percent of Americans that want political change to happen on the issue of guns will win out, and regrettably it is in part because these scenes that you are just playing are all too regularized all across the country today.
 
HAYES:  All right, final question for you.  Elizabeth Warren was my guest at the top of the program, your colleague in the United State Senate, got up on the floor of the senate today and said impeachment proceedings should begin.  Do you agree with her?
 
MURPHY:  I want to see the full Mueller report before I come to that conclusion.
 
HAYES:  Come on, you the most -- the lightly redacted version.
 
MURPHY:  No, listen, I haven`t seen big sections of that report yet, so I have not come out and called on the House to begin impeachment proceedings.  And I want to give the legal process and Judiciary Committee in the House a little bit more time to get me the full report.  So, I`m not there yet.  I admit that I am not.  I want a little bit more information.
 
HAYES:  Senator Chris Murphy, always a great person to talk to, even on an extremely crazy news day.  Thank you very much, Senator.
 
MURPHY:  Thanks, Chris.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source