CNN "Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees" - Transcript: Interview with Richard Blumenthal

Interview

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Joining us now, one of the impeachment jurors, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut. Senator Blumenthal, what does it say to you that it was President Trump's determination to continue pushing the big lie that the election was stolen as his impeachment defense, and that's reportedly why the entire legal team quit this weekend? I mean, that lie is exactly what led to him being impeached a second time.

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): Anderson, thanks for having me. What it says to me is that he is going down a path of falsehood, a big lie, which has been rejected by more than 60 court decisions. It's been refuted by many of his former allies, and it has been absolutely rejected by lawyers who were told to argue it in court because they would be violating their oath to the court, which is that they would tell the truth, not deliberately lie.

And it tells me also that this trial, he is seeking to turn into some kind of vindication of that big lie, which is ultimately doomed.

COOPER: You've said about impeachment. You've said trials have an enormous impact on public awareness. I wonder how concerned are you that if President Trump's defense is continuing to lie about the election, could that lead to more chaos or potentially even violence?

BLUMENTHAL: I think that the big lie, the falsehoods, the deliberate kinds of deception that he is trying to foist on the Senate and the country will be even more abhorrent as a result of this trial, because what will be shown is the graphic consequences of his inciting a mob to assault the Capitol, try to stop vote counting and even assassinate public officials.

These injuries, which included stabbings, trauma, concussions, spinal breaks, and of course, loss of an eye, in the case of one Capitol policeman, five deaths are the kind of really repugnant consequences of his action that I think will have an effect on the country.

And it's not just that they resulted from his inciting this assault, but they were the result of deliberate and intentional and purposeful action on his part, which I think will be the proof, most powerful in this trial.

It will be his own words. It will be a short trial. It will be an open and shut and pretty straightforward set of evidence consisting of what he said in his tweets before to invite and implore these people to come to the Capitol. What he said afterward, in fact, as he sat in the Oval Office,

clearly, that constitutional law argument is flat wrong. But I think it would be wiser for him to rely on it simply as a trial tactic than in fact go through these falsehoods rejected already by courts, and ultimately further discrediting him.

[20:10:29]

COOPER: Senator Blumenthal, appreciate your time. Thank you.

BLUMENTHAL: Thank you.

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