-How are you?
[ Cheers and applause ]
-I am well, I am well. I am well.
-Very happy that you found time in what I assume
is an incredibly busy schedule to be here with us.
-I'm glad to be with you. -It's a question I'm gonna
try to ask everyone who is here,
who is trying to do what you're doing.
A lot of Senators are running for president,
a lot of your colleagues, where you still work.
You have to go to work with them.
-Yes. -Is it awkward...
[ Laughter ] ...when you see each other?
-You know, no, it's actually -- I mean, so far so good.
-Uh-huh. -I think that all of us have
a lot of respect for each other,
and many of us have worked together,
certainly since I've been there the last two years.
And so, so far so good. -All right.
Well, I'm glad to hear that.
I hope it doesn't end in fisticuffs.
-Yeah, yeah. -You were a district attorney,
both in San Francisco and for the State of California,
so you have a prosecutorial background which, I think,
a lot of people have noticed in committee hearings.
You are very good at asking questions.
-Yeah. -Do you feel like
these questions, at this point, and the kind of questions
that the Trump administration is being asked now
are making the President nervous?
Or is this just how he is? [ Laughter ]
-I mean, here's the thing, Seth.
When I'm there asking those questions,
it is because I believe the American people want the truth.
And sometimes you have to extract the truth from people.
And so, you know, but we gotta go where we have to go
to get at what's going on, what has happened.
And that's how I think of my role in those hearings.
-I know you have to walk sort of a sensitive line here,
but you're on the Senate Intelligence Committee,
so you've seen things that maybe aren't public.
And we're in a situation now where we have a Mueller report
that's out but not public. -Right.
-We have a letter from Attorney General Barr.
Does it square, what the four-page letter
Barr put out with what you know?
-Well, put aside what I know.
I think what the American public knows
is that Bob Mueller was engaged with an incredible team
for two years in an investigation.
And the Attorney General
produced a four-page document in two days.
And so, I think everyone is smart enough to know
how could he possibly have summarized two years worth
of around-the-clock investigations
in two days into just four pages?
And for that reason, I think we all know
we need to have full transparency.
The American public deserves to see and know
what that investigation involves.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-I will say -- and this is a -- this is nonpartisan observation.
Nothing happens quickly in D.C.
The fact that it was two days later, he's like, "Good news.
We got your answer. It's nothing,"
was very surprising to me.
But I also want to ask, are you surprised, disappointed,
that Mueller did have these two years and it seems as though,
you know, some people have used the expression that he punted
on the decision whether or not
there was enough evidence for obstruction.
Do you feel as though an investigator
who had that much time and that much freedom
should have come to a more concrete answer
on that question? -Well, but we don't know
what Mueller said because we've not seen the report,
and that's part of the issue.
The American public and certainly
the United States Congress should have the ability
to judge for itself what the evidence was,
what was the underlying evidence that supported the report,
and there should be no hesitancy by this administration,
certainly this Attorney General, in giving it to us.
It is a matter of serious concern.
[ Applause ] And then we'll see.
You know, I think that there's every reason to believe,
based on his entire career, that Bob Mueller was thorough,
that he went where the evidence took him.
But we need to see it, because the other thing
I know as a prosecutor is that there is a difference between
knowing what happened and being able to prove what happened.
It doesn't mean there's no evidence,
but it probably means that there was not sufficient evidence
to maybe bring certain charges.
But let's not also forget, there have been 33 indictments.
-Yeah, yeah. -Let's not forget
that there is a whole lot
of evidence of crimes that have happened,
and people are taking a toothbrush
to the courtroom these days because of it.
-Are you shocked as a prosecutor how quickly it does seem like
you have to remind people how many people
who were close to or worked explicitly
for the Trump administration
are either in prison or have been arrested?
-I mean, I think that it is --
-If I had asked you this question four years ago
and said, "There will be somebody in office and they'll
have this many people connected to them in jail..."
-It is quite unbelievable. -Yeah. Right?
Okay, good. -You're right.
[ Laughter ] -Okay, good.
'Cause I thought I was crazy. -No, no.
And, actually, that's the thing is that we all have to remember
that we are not crazy. -Yeah.
-And that these are serious, serious matters.