Attorney General William Barr's release of a summary of Robert Mueller's investigation Sunday is generating big headlines. But Congressman Stephen Lynch — among the members of Congress calling for the release of the entire report — tells Morning Edition Host Joe Mathieu that the House Oversight Committee will continue to investigate, and there is still a lot to learn. The transcript below has been edited for clarity.
Joe Mathieu: You're a member of the Oversight and Reform Committee — the check and balance on the executive branch. Will you continue your investigation now into President Trump?
Rep. Stephen Lynch: Of course. Joe, I think people need to remember that when we authorized Bob Mueller's investigation — when Rosenstein set that up — it was very narrowly constructed to look at the issue of Russian collusion and possibly obstruction of justice related to that investigation. So he was tightly constricted. Congress, on the other hand, you know, our committee especially, Oversight, is a committee of limitless jurisdiction. So we can seize upon the evidence and review it outside the context of the Russia investigation. And so, the issue of criminality and all of that, is far different than the narrow focus that that Bob Mueller was limited to.
Mathieu: The president says he is totally exonerated, it does not sound like you agree.
Lynch: No, I don't. He has a very strong habit of taking something very small and expanding it. And remember, the president said this was, you know, this was bogus, that Muller was conflicted and that, you know, he was Comey's pal, and he gave no credence to the integrity of Mueller or the investigation. But now that it's come out, at least initially, favorable to him, he's, you know, pounding away at how that previously skeptical review of the report is gone now, and that it's concrete, it's etched in stone that he's been exonerated. So that's just the president's rhetoric. We have to go beyond that.
Mathieu: Well, Congressman, we're talking on a morning in which the White House is now calling for the resignation of Adam Schiff, and apparently the president is calling for the investigators to be investigated. Would that include you, are you worried about retribution from the White House?
Lynch: Not really. I mean, you know, this is the president being the president. He has spent a long time attacking the institutions of democracy here. You know, he has gone after the FBI. He went after his own Attorney General Jeff Sessions. He's attacked Congress. You know, the intelligence agencies that we rely upon, he [threw] them under the bus in Helsinki. So this is more of the same for this president. This is how he operates.
Mathieu: One thing that is not getting a lot of talk is the fact that this report indicates repeated attempts by Russia to hack the election. Take Donald Trump out of the equation. What are we going to get to the bottom of this, Congressman?
Lynch: Unfortunately, that involves the president. It requires him to take that seriously, which he has not. Even after 14 of our intelligence agencies ruled with high confidence that the Russians had hacked the campaign. And he, in Helsinki, said, no, I believe in Putin. So, you know, the first step to recovery is to recognize and acknowledge the problem, right? And this president does not. And so the whole machinery of the executive branch is based on his belief that we have a problem, and that Russia is hacking our elections. So it's a real inhibition to active and robust prosecution against that effort, that we have a president who doesn't believe it's going on. So we'll do our best, our very best in Congress, and in oversight, and Adam Schiff and others, to push back on that. But it would really help if we had the president on our side.
Mathieu: Congressman Stephen Lynch It sounds like this has a ways to go. We love to stay in touch with you as your investigation proceeds.
