The following is a transcript of an interview with Maryland Democrat Rep. Jamie Raskin that aired on Sunday, April 3, 2022 on “Face the Nation.”
MARGARET BRENNAN: Last week, CBS News and The Washington Post revealed that January 6 internal White House telephone records showed a seven-hour breach in President Trump’s call logs during the violence at the Capitol that day. Maryland Democrat Jamie Raskin is on the House committee investigating the attack on the Capitol and is now joining us. Welcome.
REPRESENTATIVE JAMIE RASKIN: Thank you for counting on me.
MARGARET BRENNAN: The nation, this seven-hour gap, you quoted the president, the assistant to the former president, Molly Michael. I know you’ve been trying to figure out what happened to the staff. Do you have any ideas?
CZECH REP. RASKIN: Well, it’s very unusual for us to find that all of a sudden everything gets dark for a period of seven hours when it comes to tracking the president’s movements and conversations. And some things we’ve been able to gather from interviews and statements from other people we know took place during that time. We are aware of other phone calls that took place during this time that included the president. But we do not have an exhaustive and detailed picture of what happened during that period, and that obviously interests us a lot.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You still don’t have it after informing some of those in attendance, I mean, his office, the former president’s office was known to be neglected. He used cell phones. She did not, the personal assistant was not in the office that day. Is there any possibility here that this is just a kind of large-scale incompetence instead of conspiracy?
CZECH REP. RASKIN: Well, we’re considering that. The gaps seem to fit suspiciously into the heart of events. But we are checking it out. And, you know, our mandate under HR 503 is to have a complete picture of everything that happened on January 6, the causes that led to it, and then what we need to do as a country to strengthen the institutions and democratic processes against the future. insurrections and coups and attempts to destabilize and overthrow our elections.
MARGARET BRENNAN: I mean, it’s just an amazing phrase, “Possible future blows.”
CZECH REP. RASKIN: Well …
MARGARET BRENNAN: It’s awesome to hear that said.
CZECH REP. RASKIN: Congressman Mo Brooks said just a week or two ago that former President Trump is still trying to get him and other Republicans to cancel the election. That is, he continues to look for ways to override an election that he considers fraudulent. Last night, you know, I was at the Gridiron Club dinner and I saw the governor, the Republican governor of New Hampshire, Chris Sununu, who seemed like a big breath of fresh air. He said publicly that he broke with tradition, apparently at the Gridiron Club. He said Donald Trump is crazy and I didn’t say that. So I don’t want to make a story out of your program. But he also seemed to be announcing that he would run for president in 2024. Putting his glove essentially against the Trump-Putin axis within the Republican Party.
MARGARET BRENNAN: I’m sorry, your headset just came out.
CZECH REP. RASKIN: Although I didn’t say a word.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, you can hear me. I mean, you’re worried that at the end of this investigation you won’t find what you seem to be looking for, which is proof of a link between a pressure campaign to change election results and the events of January 6th itself. Are you sure that you will succeed and that you will be able to make a criminal referral to the Department of Justice?
CZECH REP. RASKIN: Well, no, I think you put your finger on it. I mean, we know there were two things and one was a violent uprising that included a mob riot that injured 150 of our officers with broken jaws and broken necks and vertebrae and so on. And then this was led by violent domestic extremist groups like The Proud Boys, who, you know, President Trump had told to back down and stand by the Oath Keepers, the three percent, people who have been accused of seditious conspiracy, which means conspiracy to overthrow the government. They closed the Electoral College vote count for the first time in U.S. history. It didn’t even happen when Lincoln took over the presidency in 1861. Okay. So there was a violent uprising, but then there was an attempted coup, what political scientists call an own goal, not a coup against a president, but a coup orchestrated by the president against the constitutional system. And what we are looking for are the connections between the internal political coup and the violent insurrection. And I’m sure we’ll be able to tell that story.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But telling this story is different in the political context of making a criminal recommendation or a legal proceeding in the Department of Justice. Are you sure this will happen?
CZECH REP. RASKIN: Well, we’ll present the evidence we see. Now understand, the role of the January 6 select committee is to deliver a report to the American people in Congress.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Exactly.
CZECH REP. RASKIN: So individual criminal responsibility is something that belongs to the Department of Justice.
MARGARET BRENNAN: That’s why I wanted to make it clear.
CZECH REP. RASKIN: Yes. And one of the traditions we want to reconstruct that was overthrown during the last administration was that of not having members of Congress and the president trying to dictate policy to the Department of Justice. And that’s what the last president did. And I’m glad this president isn’t doing it, and we don’t want to be a part of it.
MARGARET BRENNAN: How long is too long? Because we keep hearing that public hearings are being delayed. Is it May? Is it June? When you cut this …
CZECH REP. RASKIN: I …
MARGARET BRENNAN: Off?
CZECH REP. RASKIN: –You think we are- I think the hearings should be in early May. This is what I hope. Obviously, we now face many obstacles. This week–
MARGARET BRENNAN: Mm-Hmm.
CZECH REP. RASKIN: –We voted in favor of filing contempt citations–
MARGARET BRENNAN: That’s right.
CZECH REP. RASKIN: –Dan Scavino and Peter Navarro–
MARGARET BRENNAN: That’s right.
CZECH REP. RASKIN: –the social media man for him, and Peter Navarro was the – business advisor who for some reason got involved–
MARGARET BRENNAN: That’s right.
CZECH REP. RASKIN: –in insurrectionary conspiracy activities coup-
MARGARET BRENNAN: And that …
REP RASKIN: These guys are claiming executive privileges, which is absurd.
MARGARET BRENNAN: And this vote will take place this week?
REP RASKIN: We …
MARGARET BRENNAN: How do we know that …
CZECH REP. RASKIN: I hope so, yes.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We’ll be back with more Face the Nation in a moment.
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