MSNBC "All in with Chris Hayes" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Ron Wyden

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

HAYES: Much more information has come to light since Senate Intelligence  Committee Chairman Richard Burr made those comments way back in September,  including the revelation that  Paul Manafort shared polling data with an associate linked to Russian  intelligence while Manafort was actively the chair of the Trump campaign.
But Burr echoed those comments again in an interview just last week,  telling CBS News if we  write a report based upon the fact that we have, we don`t have anything  that would suggest there was collusion by the Trump campaign and Russia, he  said.

Bipartisan sources gave a similar account to NBC News, claiming the  committee is close to wrapping up its investigation without finding direct  evidence of a conspiracy.

Now Burr`s vice chairman Mark Warner is pushing back, publicly breaking  with Burr for what maybe the first time in the two-year course of their  investigation. Warner telling CNN he disagrees about the evidence of  collusion and that the probe has yet to finish.

I`m now now by a member Senate Intelligence Committee, Democratic Senator  Ron Wyden of Oregon, and since you are a member on that committee, what do  make of all of of this?

SEN. RON WYDEN, (D) OREGON: Well, I disagree strongly with the chairman,  Chris.
And here is the bottom line, in my opinion, if it looks like collusion and  acts like collusion, and you have someone like Paul Manafort sharing  confidential political intelligence with the Russians, it`s collusion.

HAYES: Does that mean that you -- let me ask you this, is it your  understand of the progress of the committee`s report that essentially facts  as you are able to ascertain them, have more or less all been gathered and  now it`s just a matter of issuing some final report, coming to some final  judgments, and differing interpretations of what those facts mean?

WYDEN: No. In my opinion, there is still a lot of heavy lifting to do,  particularly as it relates to counterintelligence 101, which is following  the money. For example, this Moscow Tower issue. And what we know from  public sources -- I can`t get into confidential matters -- but what we know  from public sources is especially troubling.

Michael Cohen, he is the money man for the Trump administration, he has  already said that the  discussions went on much longer than was originally said. In effect you  had the president of the United States out talking to the American people  about how he was going to find a way to have a new relationship with Putin,  and yet from public sources we were hearing reports about the prospect that  he might make millions and millions of dollars on that Moscow Tower.

So in my own opinion there`s a lot of work to do.

HAYES: Does the chair, or do your Republican colleagues, consider  something like that as within the purview of what`s being investigated by  the committee?

WYDEN: I certainly do and the reason I do is that this has always been  about how the Russians might get leverage on Donald Trump.

We already know that Donald Trump, without saying very much, we saw that  bizarre press  conference, we`ve seen the change in sanctions policy, we know that without  a lot of explanation, he has made a real break with previous policies.

And so the whole point of the follow the money questions is to try to make  sure that at the end of our inquiry we know whose interests Donald Trump is advocating for, his  wallet or the American people.

HAYES: Another money flow that you have been focused on, and I wanted to  get an update on the progress about the ties between the NRA and the  Kremlin. There`s been all sorts of reporting that the ways in which Russia  and Russian leaders sort of cultivated the NRA as an ally. There`s some  questions about the source of NRA money that flowed into the campaign. You  wrote a letter to them.

What have you been able to learn? Is that part of the investigation as  well?

WYDEN: With respect to that area, I`m also the ranking Democrat on the  Senate Finance Committee. The Finance Committee staff is looking at it.  We`ll have more to stay before too long. But when the NRA said that that  trip to Moscow was not an official trip, I want your viewers to know I  don`t think that that is credible, and certainly when you`re talking,  again, about a tax exempt organization, we want to know who their loyalties  run to. Do they run to the American people  or to some foreign adversary?

HAYES: Final question. Is there an expectation on your part, or have  there -- you had discussions with Democratic colleagues on the Intelligence  Committee about a final report or some kind of minority report that might  be issued, similar to the minority report in the House last year?

WYDEN: We`re barred from getting into those kinds of discussions. But let  me tell you what I`m going to do, Chris, I will read any report, line by  line, and if I think there is anything resembling a cover up with respect  to import facts, I`ll blow the whistle. I`ll do it in a way that protects  classified sources. But I`m going to make sure the truth gets to the  American people.

HAYES: All right, Senator Ron Wyden on the Intelligence Committee. Thank  you very much, senator.

WYDEN: Thank you.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source