CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview With Rhode Island Senator Jack Reed

Interview

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BLITZER: These are very, very difficult times.

Dana, thank you very much.

Joining us now, someone who worked very closely with Senator McCain, Senator Jack Reed. He's the ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee. Senator McCain is the chairman, as our viewers know.

And I want to get your thoughts, Senator Reed, on Senator McCain in just a couple moments.

But, first, let's begin with the breaking news, the important developments in the case of Michael Cohen. Do you believe the immunity deal granted to the Trump Organization chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, means that President Trump himself right now potentially is in serious legal jeopardy?

SEN. JACK REED (D), RHODE ISLAND: Well, I think this is indicative of the net widening in terms of personalities that are going to be caught up with them.

Based on what Mr. Cohen pled under oath to, the suggestion that the president was involved is quite clear. And this gentleman is the chief financial adviser and confidant to the president.

In fact, what I think the president should do, and should have done a long time ago, in order to try to resolve this, if he could, would be to release his taxes, because there's indications -- there always has been -- that something might be in this. He could put that to rest.

And also he should sit down with the special prosecutor, Mr. Mueller and answer those questions. If he has nothing to hide, if he can refute what Mr. Cohen suggested, what other people have suggested, he should do it immediately, and put this drama behind us, so that the American people and the American system can get on with our important work.

BLITZER: This is being carried out, Senator, by prosecutors with the Southern District of New York, the U.S. attorney's office, Southern District of New York.

But the Michael Cohen case was originally handed -- also by the Southern District of New York, it was referred to them by Robert Mueller, the special counsel here in Washington. Do you think this ultimately will tie back to the special counsel's Russia probe?

REED: It could. It depends where the evidence leads all of these investigators.

But I think it's significant to note that these are career federal prosecutors. These are not individuals that are directly related to the Mueller investigation. These are professionals. Their job is to uphold the Constitution, to ensure that the laws are enforced, to ensure that no individual is above the law.

And they're doing this job professionally, competently, and with great diligence, as indicated by their guilty plea obtained from Mr. Cohen.

BLITZER: The president said going after his business and personal finances would cross what he called a red line. Do you worry that this news could trigger an attempt by the president to fire the special counsel, Robert Mueller, even though this is coming from prosecutors in New York?

REED: The only line that should be relevant here is legal vs. illegal. And that is the province of professional prosecutors to make a determination, based on the facts and the evidence, not assumptions, facts and evidence, to look for those facts and evidence.

And, ultimately, the judgment will be rendered by individual Americans, as they did in Manafort trial. Those are 12 Americans who listened to evidence. Both sides had the opportunity to make the case, and they decided convincingly against Mr. Manafort in multiple counts.

So the issue is not red lines vs. the president's sensitivities. It's the law and following the law. And no one should be above the law.

BLITZER: The president is once again going after, very publicly, very brutally, the attorney general of the United States, Jeff Sessions.

Are you surprised at the same time that Republican senators, including Lindsey Graham, for example, who once said there would be -- quote -- "holy hell to pay" if the president got rid of the attorney general, that some of them at least now are open to the possibility of replacing immediately after the midterm elections in November?

[18:15:03] REED: Well, I think the attorney general has stood up and, as he should, indicated that he is going to ensure that the Justice Department is not run based on a political agenda, but it's run based upon the impartial enforcement of the laws of the United States.

That's a position every attorney general should have. I would hate to see his position jeopardized by standing up for the laws of the United States and the Constitution of the United States.

BLITZER: Let's turn to the very sad news that we're all getting today from the family of Senator John McCain. The family says he has decided to discontinue treatment for his very aggressive brain cancer.

You served alongside Senator McCain for many, many years on the Armed Services Committee. What has Senator McCain meant to you? What has he meant also to the U.S. Senate?

REED: He is a remarkable American hero. He will go down in history as one of the greatest senators because of his service in the Senate, because of his willingness to reach across the aisle, because of his courage to take tough decisions, because of his unwavering commitment to this country in many different ways, as a Navy pilot, with the courage to go through enemy aircraft and to be shot down.

I was with him in Hanoi in 2015. We were in the Hanoi Hilton. It was a moment to me that I will never forget, being in that place with that courageous hero.

And his whole life has been about service. He learned that from his father and his grandfather, both Navy admirals, but I think he also learned from the young men and women, the enlisted personnel, the petty officers who all were with him. He never forgot that what we did in the Senate, regardless of whether it was a military issue or anything else, ultimately, it was affecting or helping in some way these young men and women and other young men and women.

It was about America. He's a remarkable man. And this day we know was going to come, but it's a day that we reflect even more about how lucky we are to have him.

BLITZER: Well said, indeed, a truly great American, as we all know.

Senator Reed, thanks so much for joining us.

REED: Thanks, Wolf.

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