MSNBC "The Beat with Ari Melber" - Transcript: Interview with Peter Welch

Interview

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REP. PETER WELCH (D-VT): Thank you.

MELBER: What do you see as important to do now?

WELCH: Well, number one, it`s important for us to understand the extraordinary abuse of power, where the president used the Justice Department, his handpicked attorney general, to basically go after personal information on members of Congress, a separate and equal branch of government.

And he went after, obviously, Adam Schiff, with whom he has a political vendetta, but after staff members, and went after family members.

So, that is an awesome abuse of the prosecutorial power that our chief executive has. And it`s bracing, because it`s Trump doing it this time. If there`s not a pushback on this and a respect for the law and a limitation the power of the president to breach constitutional rights...

MELBER: What is that pushback?

WELCH: ... it could be Republicans next time.

The pushback, I think, is, number one, let us have the inspector general report. And that report should include, among other things, what did Barr do? He hired a number of, I won`t call them cronies -- they were -- they were cronies, really -- whose job it was, was essentially to be a cell within the Justice Department to do the bidding of President Trump`s political agenda.

And that included going after people that President Trump saw as adversaries.

MELBER: Yes.

WELCH: And that`s an -- that`s extraordinary. So that`s...

(CROSSTALK)

MELBER: Well, I`m going to press you, because when you say that should happen, the implication is you think that`s vital.

Merrick Garland is in charge. And he wasn`t doing that until, as I mentioned, he was sort of called out here in public by public disclosure. Do you think Merrick Garland is handling this sufficiently well? Or is he failing his first big test as attorney general?

WELCH: Let`s give him a little time. But he`s got the message.

I mean, I think you have got a situation here where the president, President Biden, wants to be looking forward. But we really can`t move on by ignoring what has been an extraordinary breach of constitutional rights by -- and an abuse of power by the president.

So Merrick Garland has now gotten the message. There`s going to be an I.G. Report. He`s going to be in charge of that. Let`s see how that comes out, because that will be a big test for him.

(CROSSTALK)

MELBER: Just to button that up, though, should he have waited for "The New York Times" and the public pressure, or should he have already been having this reviewed, as you say, in that process?

WELCH: Well, my preference would be that he would have been doing that review.

MELBER: Right.

WELCH: And, of course, he would have had the outcry that it was partisan.

The fact that this came out from "The Times" -- and God bless "The New York Times" for doing this -- puts a lot of pressure on all of us to answer these questions that the public really has a right to know about.

So let`s get the I.G. report. But let`s focus on what Barr did, including this hiring of people who were not qualified to do the job they did...

MELBER: Yes.

WELCH: ... but were very qualified when it came to taking the loyalty oath to President Trump.

MELBER: Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

MELBER: Yes. And, Congressman, I think your concern there about who he staffed up makes sense.

You mentioned the larger way he ran the place. Let`s look at Bill Barr in action.

WELCH: Right.

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