CNN "Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees" - Transcript: Interview with Chris Murphy

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

COOPER: We learned today that a third police officer who answered the call on January 6 has died by suicide. Officer Gunther Hashida, who joined the D.C. Metro Police in 2003 was found in his apartment on Thursday, and we honor the work he and his fellow officers did when the country needed him most.

The same cannot be said for a Wisconsin senator and serial insurrection minimizer, Ron Johnson, who is at it again, this time according to a video obtained by "The Washington Post" is insinuating the F.B.I. knew more about the attack than we know, which is odd considering he is on record downplaying the attack itself.

His comments came after a local political event over the weekend. He says in part and I quote, "So you think the F.B.I. had fully infiltrated the militias in Michigan, but they don't know squat about what was happening on January 6th, or what was happening with these groups? I'd say there's way more to the story."

Just one of a number of things tonight to talk about with Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Murphy. Senator Murphy, thanks for being with us.

For a sitting U.S. Senator to suggest that about the F.B.I. and the insurrection. What is -- I mean, what is he doing? Is there a strategy here?

SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): I mean, listen, unfortunately, it is par for the course, Senator Johnson has been treading in these conspiracy theories for years now, and there are many who are unfortunately willing to follow him. There's a crowd inside the Republican Party that is dominant right now that believes might makes right, that if you are acting in service of the leader of your party, Donald Trump, then all the rules go out the window, anything that you do is justified including violence.

So, you're going to continue to see Republicans try to justify what happened on January 6. You're going to see them try to explain it away, because many of them have made the decision that they are willing to do everything and anything, including enable mob violence in order to try to maintain power. That's really dangerous for our democracy.

Right now, it is the minority of Americans that take that tact, but if more people follow the lead of my colleague and others, you know that that potentially spells doom for the American experiment.

COOPER: I mean, Senator Johnson was the Republican Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee. I mean, it's not as if he's like a crank who has just gotten to Congress. Do you think he believes these things? Is it just to appeal to some of his voters and stay in power?

MURPHY: So, I do think that many of my colleagues in the Senate, Republicans, not maybe the majority of the caucus, but a sizable group of Republicans in the Senate, believe in this anti-Donald Trump deep state. They do believe that there is some kind of cabal or conspiracy at work and was at work for four years to try to undermine Donald Trump's presidency and when they hear potential conspiracy theories about the complicity of law enforcement in January 6th, I guess, it sort of speaks to that narrative. That Deep State narrative is still very much alive amongst Republicans in Congress, unfortunately.

[20:25:14]

COOPER: I want to read something that you tweeted recently. You said, "So a few months ago, my workplace was ransacked by a violent mob that wanted to kill us. People died, the place was trashed. Now, a bunch of my co-workers are acting like it didn't happen, which is weird. It makes me wonder whether they might have been in on it. Am I paranoid?" End quote.

Do you think the majority of your Republican colleagues want a full and accurate accounting of what happened?

MURPHY: I think there are many Republicans who do not want to full and accurate accounting because they know, in the end, the story will come right back to them, that there is no way to tell the story of January 6 without holding accountable Republicans who created this impression that Congress could stop the election of Joe Biden.

All of those people came to that Capitol on that day because they were under the belief, led to that belief, not just by Donald Trump, but by many Republicans in the House and the Senate that they could stop the votes from being counted.

That wasn't true, but it almost came true. They were seconds away from grabbing the electoral ballot box in the United States Senate, which would have practically interrupted that count and they were there because Donald Trump asked them to be there. But they were also there, because Republicans in Congress asked them to be there, and I just don't think that a lot of those same Republicans want to be held accountable for that.

COOPER: I want to ask you about infrastructure and where things now stand?

MURPHY: Well, we're moving this $550 billion bill, the biggest bipartisan investment in infrastructure in the history of the country. It looks like we can get a vote later this week. We're going to process a bunch of amendments, many of which will be offered by Republicans to try to make the bill better or different.

And so, we're hopeful that by the end of this week, we will, you know, we will make good on the promise that Joe Biden made to the electorate that Republicans and Democrats can still come together to do big things.

Now, $500 billion won't be enough, and so, we will have to come right back and pass a second bill that will involve all sorts of investments in human infrastructure, tax cuts for poor people, folks in the middle class, increased help for childcare and home care. So, we're going to have to do two different bills to get the Biden

agenda to the finish line, but it is important, and it speaks to the strength of Joe Biden that the first bill is going to be sizable and it's going to likely happen this week with a lot of conservative Republicans supporting it.

COOPER: Senator Murphy, I appreciate it. Thank you.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source