Interview with Rep. James Comer (R-KY)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Forty-two members questioning Michael Cohen. Congressman, thanks for joining us. What's the most important thing, the most startling revelation that you read in Michael Cohen's opening statement?</s>REP. JAMES COMER (R), KENTUCKY: Well, there are so many. I don't know where to begin. A couple of things already raised a cloud of suspicion for me. First of all, the fact that you all at CNN got a big part of his testimony before we did, the Republicans on the Oversight Committee. And, secondly, the fact that the Republicans weren't able to have a minority witness on the stand to testify as well. It's the first time in my entire two-year term -- two years in Congress that we've never been able to have our own witness there, too. But I look forward to the testimony today and we'll see how it goes.</s>BLITZER: It wasn't just us, by the way, at CNN. It was all -- all the major news organization got an advance copy of his opening statement. It's a significance statement and I want to ask you what you were planning on asking Michael Cohen.</s>COMER: Well, I want to talk about the bank fraud. I think that we have to first determine, is Michael Cohen a credible witness. And the fact that he's already once lied to Congress, that's a -- that's definitely a question mark there. But the fact that so many of the things that he's going to accuse President Trump of doing in his opening testimony, he himself had done in the private sector. And aside from the fact that he was President Trump's personal attorney. So, you know, I just think that the credibility of the witness today is certainly suspect, but hopefully we'll be able to find some truthful information out, if that's possible, coming from Michael Cohen.</s>BLITZER: The -- one of your Republican colleagues, Matt Gaetz of Florida, he's not a member of this committee, he tweeted this yesterday and it caused a lot, a lot of shock. Hey, Michael Cohen, do your wife and father-in-law know about your girlfriends? Maybe tonight would be a good time for that chat. I wonder if she'll remain faithful when you're in prison. She's about to learn a lot. Now, overnight, Gaetz has apologized. He's deleted the tweet. He got a lot of pushback, including from the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. What's your reaction to what he did?</s>COMER: Well, that's certainly not anything I would have done, but I'm glad that Representative Gaetz deleted the tweet. This is certainly a passionate, emotional time for people in both parties. You have so many Democrats that want to see the president fail and so many Republicans who want to see the president succeed. So I think emotions are running high on both sides. Hopefully we'll keep it in check during this committee hearing and hopefully we'll be able to find some element of the truth about Michael Cohen.</s>BLITZER: Did you see that tweet from Congressman Gaetz as a threat, witness intimidation, because, as you know, this is on the eve -- this was on the eve of his testimony as a critically important witness this morning before your committee.</s>COMER: I've seen tweets from members of both parties that would be suspicious in my mind as to why they would tweet something like that. Unfortunately, you know, things like that happen. But Congressman Gaetz is not going to be a part of the committee today. So I really don't think that it matter that much. I think, from this point on, you're going to see professionalism on the parts of the Republicans on the Oversight Committee. But we have some serious questions about Michael Cohen. You know, the fact that he's the soul witness and the fact that he's already lied once to Congress, he's a convicted felon who was just disbarred this week from the New York Bar. I mean the credibility factor with Michael Cohen is probably the lowest we've ever seen for a major witness in congressional testimony history.</s>BLITZER: So you're raising questions of your committee chairman, Elijah Cummings, today, that you feel he's not, what, doing a fair job in organizing this hearing today? Is that what you're saying?</s>COMER: Absolutely that's what I'm saying. You know, every hearing that I've ever been a part of, not just on the Oversight Committee but on the Agriculture Committee and on the Education Committee, the minority side has a witness that they can question as well. We were not given that opportunity. Many of us would like to have test -- subpoena Rod Rosenstein because that's where the source of this investigation started. And I think that, you know, if you're going to be fair and be fair and balanced, then you have to have a fair and balanced groups of people testifying. We have Michael Cohen, who obviously has a grudge. Michael Cohen, who is an admitted liar. She's a convicted felon. He's someone that, in my eyes, is a very selfish person. He's someone that was supposed to be representing Trump, but it appears to me, anyway, that he was representing himself. Now, I'm going to get to question Michael Cohen today. I'm going to sit there for probably four hours and listen to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle question Michael Cohen. And I'll be able to have a better opinion after the testimony today. But I can tell you right now, I think that the Democrats have a very flawed witness. This is obviously their first step in trying to set up a process to impeach the president. And I don't think that the American people are very supportive of a political theater in an attempt to impeach the president over a potential campaign finance violation.</s>BLITZER: Are you and your colleagues, your Republican colleagues on the committee, and there's a lot of them, you're going to have a chance to say whatever you want and question Michael Cohen with whatever you want as well. We're looking forward to this hearing. Congressman James Comer, thanks so much for joining us.</s>COMER: Thank you, Wolf.</s>JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Just an interesting note. The ones blocking Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein from testifying before Congress are -- it's interesting to blame them on the Democratic Chairman Elijah Cummings. It's actually the Republicans who run the Trump administration blocking Rod Rosenstein from testifying before Congress. But we'll leave that where it is. Let's discuss this all with Carl Bernstein, who's a CNN political analyst. And, of course, he's one of "The Washington Post" reporters who helped break the Watergate scandal. Carl, so good to see you, as always.</s>CARL BERNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good to be here.</s>TAPPER: I want to start with one of the things that I know you found most intriguing in the Michael Cohen prepared testimony, because it gets to the idea of whether or not there was a conspiracy with Russia to impact the election. Cohen will testify today, quote, questions have been raised about whether I know of direct evidence that Mr. Trump and his campaign colluded with Russia. I do not. I want to be clear. But, I have my suspicion. I recalled Don Junior leaning over to his father and speaking in a low voice, which I could clearly hear, and saying, the meeting is all set. I remember Mr. Trump saying, OK, good, let me know. What struck me, as I looked back and thought about that exchange between Don Junior and his father, was that Don Junior would never set up any meeting of any significance alone and certainly not without checking with his father. So I concluded that Don Junior was referring to that June 2016 Trump Tower meeting about dirt on Hillary. Now, that's not definitive evidence, but it's a suspicion.</s>BERNSTEIN: Yes, and it's very important because like the allegation about WikiLeaks, like the picture of the Trump Organization as basically a criminal organization, all of these questions go to the Mueller investigation. They're bricks in the Mueller investigation and bricks in the investigation by the Southern District of New York. And what we're looking for here, if indeed Cohen is telling the truth, is the mortar between those bricks, the context. We've got to be assuming that Mueller is going to tell a full story and now we're seeing what the foundation of that story is partly through this extraordinary witness.</s>TAPPER: Wolf.</s>BLITZER: You know, as you look back, a lot of people think -- and you'll remember this well because you covered it for "The Washington Post," this is a potential John Dean moment that we're about to see. When John Dean, who once was the president lawyer in the White House, went before Congress and testified against then President Richard Nixon. And we know what happened in the weeks and months that followed. Is this today potentially a John Dean's moment?</s>BERNSTEIN: The dynamic of it is potentially a John Dean moment, but there are big differences. One, Cohen was never in the White House with President Trump, whereas Dean served the president of the United States as his counsel in the White House. Also, this guy was a flunky. He was a runner. He was a fixer. Trump always held him in relative contempt. If you look at the history of the relationship between the two men, very different with John Dean, who was really a principle in a cover up. But what is similar is, both witnesses explained the White House cover up, the presidential cover-up, if indeed this testimony is credible. It goes to helping us understand why the president had been lying day in, day out, about all things Russia. It is very serious business for the American people, particularly to hear. It's also serious business to see what the Republicans are going to do because, as we just saw with Representative Comer, the instinct throughout these two years has been for Republicans to almost blindly support the president of the United States despite the fact, as "The Washington Post" has said, that there are 8,000 something lies. Using the word "lies" told by the president and the most important of which consistently deal with these matters that he's going to testify to today.</s>TAPPER: All right, Carl Bernstein, thank you so much for your expertise on this, as always. In just moment, President Trump's former attorney and fixer, Michael Cohen, will face off with the House Oversight Committee. His explosive testimony coming up. Stay with us.