MSNBC: Quigley: HPSCI Republicans Refused to Demand Answers from Key Witnesses
JACKSON: All of that comes as Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee are sharpening their focus on Capitol Hill, zeroing in on who they think might have lied to their committee about potential collusion with Russia, and who they want to bring back in. Multiple committee members say Roger Stone is a guy they want to see back in the witness chair. The top Democrat, Adam Schiff, suggesting that Stone was not entirely truthful last time around. Roger Stones denies that.
STONE: Just as in his previous claim, to have seen substantial evidence of Russian collusion and producing none, the congressman is completely full of Schiff.
JACKSON: Joining me now, Mike Quigley of Illinois, who, of course, sits on the House Intelligence Committee. Congressman Quigley, thank you for being with us.
QUIGLEY: Thank you.
JACKSON: And let me start there – you have suggested that multiple people in Trump world have lied or maybe have lied to your committee. So who lied and who do you want to bring back first?
QUIGLEY: First, let's acknowledge the obvious: Mr. Cohen has admitted in court that he lied. I believe he wants to come to terms with this. I think working with special counsel, it would be great if he could cooperate with us. There's more I believe we can learn from him about the Trump financial world's involvement with the Russians, and how it involves the possibility of collusion. So no animosity towards Mr. Cohen, would love to have him back. Mr. Stone is an interesting person, to say the least. He did testify before us, yet he had to amend his testimony three times, so obviously he had issues getting his story straight, but what we do know about Mr. Stone publicly is that he bragged about his relationship with Julian Assange and WikiLeaks, and he knew Mr. Modesto was next in the barrel with the Russian attacks on our Democratic process. Some of this is obvious. Those are folks I think that, working with the chairman-to-be, Adam Schiff, and the full committee will see where the gaps are in this investigation and move forward appropriately.
JACKSON: What about somebody like Erik Prince, congressman?
QUIGLEY: Erik Prince from Blackwater fame refused to answer certain questions for no particular reason. When I pressed the chairman of the committee at the time to ask Mr. Prince to answer question, he said, "He's not under subpoena, he doesn't have to answer those questions." A key fault of the investigation: when people are brought before Congress and my Republican colleagues refuse to subpoena them, they don't have to answer questions. I suspect that would be part of the strategy if you're going to bring someone before Congress. It's not that they're before the HPSCI committee or the Senate committee or anyone in particular – every member of that body ought to care that someone brought before them isn't required to answer questions. That can't happen if this is a government of oversight.
JACKSON: There's a piece of information that is sort of outstanding here related to a blocked phone number listed on some records for Donald Trump Jr. There's a lot that's been made of that, because there were questions about who that blocked number blocked to. Could it be for done Junior's dad? Adam Schiff has said that that is something you're keying in on big time. Do you think you will be able to find out who that blocked number belongs to and how far will you go to pursue that?
QUIGLEY: Look, it's certainly something that could be subpoenaed. I don't know exactly what it's going to detail, but it is an example of what happens when you're not allowed to subpoena documents pertinent to a case. That's just one example. Another problem is, if have all the information in front of you, it's exactly like a criminal case when you don't have discovery, a civil case when you haven't gone through all the pleadings. You don't even know which questions to ask. When I look back at Mr. Cohen's testimony, given everything we had learned since that date, I know there are other questions to ask. I guess the other parallel is it's like doing a massive puzzle with the pieces turned over and you don't have all the pieces.
JACKSON: Congressman Mike Quigley of Illinois. Congressman, thanks for coming in on this Friday. We appreciate it.