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Quigley on MSNBC: Mr. Barr and Mr. Mueller have to appear before Congress

March 25, 2019
In the News

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MATTHEWS: Congressman Quigley, the report from Robert Mueller as quoted by Mr. Barr, the attorney general, said that the president was not exonerated from obstruction of justice. Then having quote the Mueller report, the attorney general said, "But I'm going to exonerate him." What do you make of that sequence of events. It's extraordinary.

QUIGLEY: Look, Mr. Barr did the job he was assigned to do. It was the singular purpose for him being exactly where he is. He argued against the theory of law that Mueller was theoretically using to deal with an obstruction case before he got there. He never should have been approved by the Senate. But here he is and now we have to face the consequences. And I think not just Mr. Barr but Mr. Mueller has to appear before Congress to get into the details, not just of the report, but of the underlying documentation they used to make their arguments.

MATTHEWS: Well, two weeks ago, gentlemen, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told The Washington Post these amazing words: "I am not for impeachments…Impeachment is so divisive to the country that unless there's something so compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan, I don't think we should go down that path because it divides the country. And he's just not worth it." In the wake of the special counsel investigation, a Democratic aide tells Politico, "You can hurt Trump more without impeaching him…If you're going to go after him, it has to be a kill shot. But otherwise, you can keep cutting him over and over again, and then beat him in 2020. What's your thinking about that, first with Congressman Jeffries. Do you think impeachment should still be on the table after this weekend?

JEFFRIES: Well, for most of us, impeachment was never on the table. And I think Nancy Pelosi, our Speaker, was making two important points. The first point is that we didn't run on impeachment. We didn't win on impeachment. We're not focused on impeachment. We're focused on executing our For The People agenda, lowering health care costs for everyday Americans, enacting a real infrastructure plan, and cleaning up corruption and the mess in Washington D.C., which we've begun to do with passage of H.R. 1. That was our first point. Our second point was that, if we were to even consider going down the impeachment road, the case must be compelling. The evidence must be overwhelming. And the public sentiment around impeachment must be bipartisan in nature. In the absence of any of those three elements, I completely and totally agree, and so do the overwhelming majority of House caucus members, that impeachment is not the route that we need to go.

MATTHEWS: Congressman Quigley, I wonder—listening to what Mr. Jeffries says, and I respect him, of course, and I respect you but—how come everybody that stops me in an airport or anywhere I walk. "Are we going to get rid of this guy?" So, somehow, the people got the idea that the Democrats were going to impeach Trump. Where'd they get that idea? The Democrats are the only ones that could impeach him. And everybody says, "When are we going to get rid of this guy?" That's their phrase. Where'd that come from?

QUIGLEY: Well, I think a couple of our colleagues filed articles of impeachment some time ago. The fact is, I would not rule out impeachment. I just think we shouldn't be focused on it. We let the Mueller investigation take its course. Let's find out what's in the Mueller investigation report and the underlying documentation. And remember there are 12 ongoing criminal investigations that are taking place. There's a lot more information out there including the House investigation still dealing with counterintelligence, which is one of the reasons that report and the documentation is so important. Was the president compromised? How does that look before the American public and, of course, the U.S. Senate.

MATTHEWS: Thank you. Gentlemen, so great to have you on tonight. Thank you for coming on this important night, Hakeem Jeffries of New York and Mike Quigley of Illinois.