[Cuomo:] All right, let's get more now on the breaking news. But really this is more than that. This is something that we've almost never seen anything like this. Yes, you had all the politics surrounding the torture memo, and you'd have to go back to remember what that was where the CIA was on one side, the politicians on the other, but not like this. We have President Trump and a slice of his party throwing their own people at the Department of Justice under the bus, President Trump and the FBI director that he appointed as a cleansing agent, Christopher Wray. They are now in a showdown over the expected release of a Republican intelligence memo alleging FBI abuses of surveillance laws against the Trump campaign. Tonight the FBI is expressing, "grave concerns about making the memo public." Why? They say it is inaccurate because it doesn't have a complete basis, and they're worried about sources and methods. However, the White House Chief of Staff, John Kelly, says he predicts a quick release, adding, "The whole world will see it." What is this about? Is this going to be good for the democracy or just good for political expediency? Let's take on this question with somebody who has a very strong opinion and a voice in the matter. Republican Congressman Steve King, member of the House Judiciary Committee. Before we get after it, what's right is right. Thank God you are OK. You and the other Congress members who were on that train, horrible what happened to the driver of the truck. Horrible that any of it happened. But thank God you're all right. It's good to have you, Congressman.
[Rep. Steve King , Judiciary Committee:] Well, thank you, Chris, and I do want to say that there's a family that's saying good-bye to a loved one tonight and other families sitting around hospital beds, and that tragedy took place. If it was going to take place, the people that were on that train, I counted at least nine doctors that answered the call and two nurses that answered the call and a priest that gave last rites. The circumstances, if it was going to be a horrible tragedy, the American people would have been proud of how their members of Congress and that team launched into action and did the right thing. And so we all got together and did a ceremony and a prayer session tonight and prayed for the families. We're grateful that it wasn't worse than it was, and our prayers are with the families who are grieving tonight.
[Cuomo:] Well, look, it is good to hear that people stepped up, and it is horrible that they had to at all. And we'll keep track of what happened to the people on that truck, and we'll tell their story. Congressman, thank you for relaying that information.
[King:] Thank you.
[Cuomo:] All right, let's now get to the matter at hand. Make the case to me, Congressman. Why is releasing this memo the right thing to do when you have your own people, Republicans at the top of the FBI, Trump's choices at the DOJ, Rosenstein and Stephen Boyd, saying don't do this?
[King:] Well, I think in the first place, when the Department of Justice put out that message that said don't release the memo, I don't believe any of them had read the memo at that point. And I'm not sure anybody in DOJ has at this point, but I am of course we do know that Christopher Wray, the director of the FBI, went over to read the memo last Sunday. And the next action that seemed to take place at opening of business was that Andrew McCabe was then gone from employment as number two in the FBI. So that should tell us something. And
[Cuomo:] It could tell us nothing, Congressman, because the reporting is well, we'll talk about your ability to do oversight because when you guys are this divided and I read the transcript to that vote to release this that does not sound like a group of men and women who can work together, but we'll get to that. Christopher Wray, with McCabe, the reporting is that maybe something in his inspector general report triggered a concern that Wray had with McCabe. Maybe, maybe not. Nothing about this memo. Wray now had to step forward and put out a statement from the FBI saying, grave concerns. So what makes it worthwhile?
[King:] Well, I wish he was more specific about grave concerns.
[Cuomo:] What else do you need to hear?
[King:] But I don't believe we can point to an a potential IG report coming out and say that's the reason that Christopher Wray made the move to, I'll say, remove Andy McCabe. That had to be and I've read the memo, and I have that advantage, of course. But here's what the memo if the memo is incomplete according to the assertions of the DOJ, have they read it, haven't they? I don't know. But there's no such thing as a complete memo. You can always assert that about any memo. I believe it is solid. It's factual. But also, being objective, the information that is used to build the memo is not in the memo of course. And I have not had access to that, but I do know Devin Nunes, and I know a good number of the members, every member on the select committee on Intel. I trust them that they would not put their names on the line and have anything but the most solid information that is feeding the memo. And I read the memo carefully.
[Cuomo:] I got you.
[King:] I believe it is objective, but one more thing, Chris.
[Cuomo:] Go ahead, Steve.
[King:] I do not believe that there's anything in there that jeopardizes our national security or sources or methods.
[Cuomo:] All right. Well, look, good because I would hope you wouldn't want to release it otherwise if you actually knew that. However, a few questions.
[King:] All right.
[Cuomo:] One, you haven't seen the fact basis for the conclusions. That has to give you some pause.
[King:] That's right.
[Cuomo:] You're reading conclusions. You don't know where they come from. You say you trust Devin Nunes. Member of Trump transition team Devin Nunes, running around at the White House getting intelligence, playing games, not telling the rest of the committee, getting investigated for ethics violations because of that, Devin Nunes. Devin Nunes didn't read the fact basis for the conclusions in his own memo either. Devin Nunes, who like you and everybody else who says this is the right move, hasn't seen the FISA application that you're criticizing. So where does your confidence come from?
[King:] How does he get the FISA application? I want the American people to see
[Cuomo:] But how do you judge it when you haven't seen it?
[King:] We are going to have to pull all of this out, and that's one of the things the memo does.
[Cuomo:] But you're already concluding it was wrong, Steve.
[King:] chase the rabbit trails down. I know what's wrong.
[Cuomo:] But how do you know it's wrong if you didn't see the application.
[King:] memo, Chris.
[Cuomo:] Please, go ahead.
[King:] Chris, the data will come out. The data will come out. I want it to come out. I want it all to come out. I don't know that we ever get to the bottom of this unless we do. And if we're going to have a Congress that does oversight, we can't accept the FBI or the DOJ or any other branch of government from closing the gate in front of us and saying, sorry, you can't look at this because it's classified. Then what I saw and what I believe happened could go on in perpetuity, and we become a banana republic. This is earth-shaking, and it does go deeper than Watergate and that memo
[Cuomo:] Deeper than Watergate? How is it deeper than Watergate?
[King:] Deeper than Watergate. How is it deeper? Because the FBI and the DOJ, by the information that I have observed and the testimony that I have I'm going to say the testimony that I have analyzed from listening to and questioning multiple members of the FBI and the DOJ, tells me that the FBI and DOJ have been weaponized. If they've been weaponized for political reasons much in the same way as the IRS, I believe it was weaponized for political reasons, America cannot tolerate that. And if it was used to influence an election and to undermine a transition and to undermine an inaugurated president, that should chill and shock you as well, Chris.
[Cuomo:] It could. The problem is that you're all in on that conclusion, but you don't know that it's true. You haven't even looked at the judicial proceeding that you're saying was dirty.
[King:] conclusion. I said if.
[Cuomo:] But you said that is what you read in the memo is more troubling than Watergate. That is conclusory.
[King:] Here's what it's not a conclusion. But I said what I read is more troubling, but we have to bring the evidence and prove it. I want evidence out front. I want it examined.
[Cuomo:] But why would you release these conclusions in this memo? Honestly, Congressman, we talk a lot about things.
[King:] If we do not
[Cuomo:] Yes.
[King:] If we do not, we're allowing the FBI, then, or the DOJ to decide they're going to police their own house. We can't let that happen.
[Cuomo:] Well, first of all
[King:] I think a lot of Jeff Sessions. I think he's a tremendous attorney general. But I'm worried about some other people in those ranks, and I think you'll see those names in a day or two.
[Cuomo:] Look, I get that. I get that you believe there are bad apples, but just listen to the totality of what you're saying. Of course there's oversight over the Department of Justice. That's how our democracy works. But, you know, fact, for the record, the inspector general that's doing their independent review of the practices during the campaign brought out the texts that Devin Nunes and the rest of you seized upon as if they were your discovery. And then the missing text that you all seized upon as if it was relevant was then cleared up within the FBI, and they found the text. So the secret society that you all seized upon that wound up becoming bogus
[King:] I didn't.
[Cuomo:] This is a pattern of jumping for a conclusion because it is a beautiful distraction from the investigation
[King:] Not so, Chris.
[Cuomo:] you don't like. And now, but listen to what you're saying to us. You're saying
[King:] There are dots that need to be connected along the way
[Cuomo:] I know. But you are saying
[King:] and history will look at this and say if we fail to connect the dots, we were naive and foolish. That's the other side of this coin. We've got an obligation to use our good judgment and common sense. There have been what is the numbers, seven different people that have been removed from the FBI and the DOJ. Seven of them over the last James Comey and on down the line.
[Cuomo:] Why would Christopher Wray
[King:] Andrew McCabe. He's probably not the last one for this week.
[Cuomo:] Why would Christopher Wray look, the fact that you get rid of people and chase them out of office is not necessarily a vote of confidence on any kind of justification.
[King:] But they left on their own or the decisions were made by their superiors.
[Cuomo:] Did they? How do we know how they left? Do you know why Andrew McCabe left?
[King:] I have a pretty good idea about most of every one of them yes.
[Cuomo:] You have an idea.
[King:] Yes. I don't think Andy McCabe woke up on Monday morning and said, hey, I think I'm going to take some advice from Chris Wray and leave my job.
[Cuomo:] I don't either. I don't either.
[King:] I think he was told you're gone
[Cuomo:] Right.
[King:] because of what was read in the memo
[Cuomo:] I don't think it was look, I know you read the memo, but here's the thing. You're going to release this memo. The Intelligence Community doesn't want to, and I got to tell you the justification for why that's OK coming from your side is is suspicious. And then you're saying, but I haven't seen the FISA application. I need to see the facts. Why wouldn't you do it the common sense way? I want to know what happened in the FISA application. You can find that out tomorrow. The DOJ guys said they will come to you
[King:] You think so?
[Cuomo:] They said they would come to you and explain how they did it and answer any questions that you have.
[King:] Then they have capitulated to duress, but that doesn't necessarily mean if they explain it to us it's going to be how it was. We've gone through this for a year or a year and a half trying to get information out of the FBI or the DOJ. And they have not been forthcoming. I do think Christopher Wray is an honorable individual, and I think he has got an opportunity to put the FBI back on the rail
[Cuomo:] And he says he has grave everyone cans and this is the wrong thing to do.
[King:] Judiciary Committee. And Rod Rosenstein
[Cuomo:] Yes.
[King:] was not forthcoming either. What I saw in his eyes when he was asked if the FBI paid for the dossier told me something entirely different than the answer that he gave under oath. But time will tell on that, Chris, on who's telling the truth on this and who survives.
[Cuomo:] You know,
[King:] But it took a long time to drill down through Watergate, and there's a lot to be drilled through here that's far more complex.
[Cuomo:] Watergate was a felony that you had an obvious cover-up and material movements by the president of the United States to stop the administration of justice and it resulted in his impeachment. If that scenario fits anything that's going on, it would be only a possible, possible, potential outcome of the Russia investigation, and it really seems like you guys are trying to mirror the stakes with your own. But we do have to wait for what comes out
[King:] Let me point out. Let me point out something.
[Cuomo:] But once you release this memo, you know the genie is out of the bottle. And even if it winds up being untrue, people will still believe it.
[King:] I've said goes deeper than Watergate, but the reason it isn't bigger right now is because it hasn't identified a president. But I remember President Obama saying in April of 2016, when he said in an interview with Chris Wallace that there is no corruption, there is no fraud, there is no political bias. He said, that's guaranteed full- stop, how many times do I have to say it? We should go back and look at those words. We'll see how they ring in the ears of President Obama, Hillary Clinton, and the activities within the FBI and the DOJ as we get to the truth. I want the American people to see it all.
[Cuomo:] Well, it should start with the facts and then go to the conclusions. But Congressman, you went out of your way to be here tonight. This is an important matter. You had a rough day. Thank God you're OK. And I appreciate you making the case to the American people.
[King:] Let's see how well my words stand up over time, Chris. Thank you. Appreciate talking with you.
[Cuomo:] We always do, and you will be invited back when we learn more.
[King:] I'll be willing to do that for sure. Thank you, Chris.
[Cuomo:] Thank you, Congressman. All right, more breaking news tonight in the Russia investigation, Maggie Haberman from "The New York Times", she's going to call in right now. She has a headline you need to hear, next.