Quigley on CNN: Barr misled the American public

SCIUTTO: This morning, signals of tension between the Attorney General Bill Barr and the special counsel's office. The New York Times reporting that some members of Mueller's team say their report was more damaging for the president than Barr indicated in his summary. Here to discuss, Democratic Congressman Mike Quigley of Illinois. He serves on the Intel, important committee in this investigation, and Appropriations Committee as well. Congressman, thank you for taking the time this morning.

QUIGLEY: Good morning.

SCIUTTO: So, first question here, are you concerned, based on the stories in the Post and The Times, that the attorney general whitewashed the special counsel's report with his summary?

QUIGLEY: I don't doubt at all that Mr. Barr did that. The fact of the matter is he was hired to do that. He applied for this job with a nineteen-page memo saying he disagreed with the theory of law about the obstruction in this case. So, I think he was put in place by the White House to do exactly what he did. It was to keep this report from getting to the American public and arguing against obstruction, despite a two-year investigation which said he couldn't be exonerated.

SCIUTTO: The line in the Washington Post was notable to me because this indicates, and I'll read it, it says some members of the office were particularly disappointed that Barr did not release summary information the special counsel team had prepared. It appears that the special counsel summarized their own evidence, scrubbing it because they've been around a while and know you can't put confidential information in there or grand jury information. Scrubbed it for public consumption, but the special counsel did not release that summary. He in effect summarized the summary. If Bill Barr did that, did he overstep his duties as attorney general.

QUIGLEY: Oh, absolutely. I believe what he did that was worse is he misled the American public. That's why this report need to get out in its complete form to Congress. There's a process in place to protect classified information. There's a process in place to deal with the grand jury information. We can do all that, and the American public can find out exactly what the Mueller report is telling us.

SCIUTTO: Let me ask you this because, as you know, the special counsel law is different from the independent counsel law that ruled during, for instance, the Clinton investigation. Ken Starr, etcetera. So, the special counsel is, by chain of command, under the attorney general to some degree here. Based on your understanding of the law and as Americans should understand the law, does Barr have more leeway to do this kind of thing under the special counsel law as it stands today?

QUIGLEY: It's conceivable that what you're saying is accurate. It doesn't get past the fact that both parties have agreed that the American public has a right to information when it's in the public interest. So, whether or not the law favors Barr in some aspects of what he's talking about versus the fact that the law and the Justice Department regulations all say if it's in the interest of the American public for this information to get out, it should. I think that's more important than any nuance he might be using.

SCIUTTO: Okay, other information that the American public might have the right to see. The president's taxes. One of your colleagues, of course, now demanding them as the law grants him the power to do as the Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. The president again falling back on, 'well, I'm under audit,' as an excuse. As you know, Michael Cohen testified on the Hill. He doesn't believe the president's under audit. In fact, the president just wants to avoid oversight of his taxes and avoid the possibility of having to pay tax penalties. Who do you believe? Do you believe the president's excuse for not releasing his taxes?

QUIGLEY: I think the president has used any excuse he can to be the head of the most opaque administration in our country's history. He is not revealing anything anytime soon, and he's never been held accountable for anything he's done in his life. The only way we're going to know how to move forward on any of these investigations or how to proceed as Chairman Neal is talking about with requiring that a president get audited is to see how these function and how they go forward. The fact is, what Mr. Neal is attempting to do has nothing to do with the Russia investigation, but it's indicative, it's evidence of, it's just a part of a pattern of behavior of opaqueness. And we talk about what's taking place at Mar-A-Lago. I introduced legislation to make those visitor logs available to the American public. Wherever the president is, if he's conducting official business, the American public has a right to know who's attempting to influence him. They have fought these efforts. President Obama made those records available.

SCIUTTO: Final question if I can because this just gets to the politics of this. As you know, some of the more recent polling has shown that Americans--I don't know if losing interest is the right term but there is less interest, at least, in investigating the president. Even some waning interest in the ongoing investigation. Even as all these important questions hang out there. And I just wonder, do you see less support among your constituents for making the next two years about investigating the president? Are your constituents running out of patience?

QUIGLEY: I think my constituents understand that we're capable of doing more than one thing at a time. Clearly, we won the House back on policy, on healthcare, and other issues like it, but it doesn't mean the American public doesn't need to know exactly what took place. We remember, four months before Richard Nixon resigned, the majority of Americans felt he shouldn't resign and they were getting tired of the Watergate investigation. These are long, complicated investigations, but the truth must come out.

SCIUTTO: Fair enough. Congressman Mike Quigley, thanks for joining us today.

QUIGLEY: Any time. Thank you.

HARLOW: Very clear where he stands.

SCIUTTO: Yeah, I mean, he said it right out that Bill Barr was hired to do this.

HARLOW: Yeah, that struck me at the beginning of the interview.