{"id":2861,"date":"2019-02-24T13:00:37","date_gmt":"2019-02-24T18:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/press.nbcnews.com\/?p=2861"},"modified":"2019-02-24T13:00:37","modified_gmt":"2019-02-24T18:00:37","slug":"mtp-exclusive-rep-jim-himes-possibility-of-collusion-has-twisted-our-politics-into-something-unrecognizable-for-the-last-two-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nbcuniversalnewsgroup.com\/nbcnews\/2019\/02\/24\/mtp-exclusive-rep-jim-himes-possibility-of-collusion-has-twisted-our-politics-into-something-unrecognizable-for-the-last-two-years\/","title":{"rendered":"MTP EXCLUSIVE \u2013 REP. JIM HIMES: POSSIBILITY OF COLLUSION \u201cHAS TWISTED OUR POLITICS INTO SOMETHING UNRECOGNIZABLE FOR THE LAST TWO YEARS\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

ALSO \u2013 EXCLUSIVE WITH FORMER DHS SECRETARY\nJEH JOHNSON ON BORDER SECURITY: \u201cI AM NOT IN FAVOR OF SEEING LESS FENCING,\u201d NOT\n\u201cAPPROPRIATE\u201d FOR PRESIDENT TO INVOKE A NATIONAL EMERGENCY <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

PLUS \u2013 EXCLUSIVE WITH FORMER ACTING SOLICITOR GENERAL NEAL KATYAL ON MUELLER PROBE: \u201cIF THIS IS A WITCH HUNT, MUELLER’S FOUND A COVEN\u201d <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

FEB. 24, 2019<\/strong> \u2013 Rep.<\/strong> Jim\nHimes (D-Conn.) <\/strong>said today on Meet the Press<\/em> that \u201cMichael Cohen is\ngoing to jail for lying to my committee\u201d and he plans to re-ask the\nquestions that \u201che felt he needed to lie to us about\u201d when he testifies before the\nHouse Intelligence Committee this week. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe’re going to want to get to the\ntruth, allow him to correct the record,\u201d Rep. Himes told moderator Chuck Todd during\nan exclusive joint interview alongside Governor Asa Hutchinson (R-Ark.). <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When asked if the House Intelligence Committee\ncan find bipartisan cooperation on issues surrounding the president, Rep.\nHimes said, \u201cWell, one obvious answer to that question is that the chairman is\nno longer Devin Nunes \u2026 Devin is part of that group, and it’s not a huge group\n— part of that group in the Congress that is really fully dedicated, facts be\ndamned, to defending this president.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rep. Himes also said that the Mueller\nprobe has become political. \u201cThe question of the Russian interference and the\npossibility of collusion by the president and his people has twisted our\npolitics into something unrecognizable for the last two years, including\nbehavior on the part of the president, attacking the FBI, attacking Bob\nMueller. You know, everything about this has become political. The way to end\nthat, of course, is for the truth to be out there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When asked if the RNC is rigging the\nrules to prevent a primary challenge against the president, Governor Hutchinsonsaid, \u201cThis is President Trump\u2019s RNC \u2026 He appoints the chairman. So\nobviously there is something that is pro the White House and the administration\n\u2026 With President Trump’s record, with what he’s accomplished, it’d be very\ndifficult for somebody to mount a successful challenge at this point.\u201d Watch the <\/strong>full\ninterview<\/a><\/strong>.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former Secretary of\nHomeland Security<\/strong> Jeh Johnson <\/strong>also joined the program for an exclusive interview and addressed the alleged domestic terror plot by a U.S. Coast Guard lieutenant.\nSecretary Johnson said, \u201cThere is a rise in the levels of extremist,\nviolent behavior, directed not just at people based on race, but I think what\u2019s\nnew is directed at people perceived to occupy a certain political ideology.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He continued, \u201cLeaders lead, and people\nreally do listen to their leaders. And the level of dialogue is deviating\ndownward, the civility of our dialogue is deviating downward, such that\nindividuals like this Coast Guard lieutenant feel emboldened and perhaps even\nentitled to take matters into his own hands and carry out acts of violence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s incumbent among all our leadership\nacross the spectrum to raise the levels of our civil discourse to discourage\nviolence,\u201d Secretary Johnson said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When asked about the ongoing debate over border security,\nSecretary Johnson said it was not \u201cappropriate\u201d for the president to invoke a national\nemergency to fund a border wall but that he is also \u201cnot in favor of seeing\nless fencing than there is now. I think that we need to continue our efforts at\nborder security, smart border security, smart investments in use of the\ntaxpayers\u2019 dollars in border security.\u201d Watch the <\/strong>full\ninterview<\/a><\/strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal<\/strong> and former Deputy Independent Counsel under Ken Starr Solomon Wisenberg <\/strong>also joined the program for an exclusive joint interview to break down what to expect from the coming Mueller report. \u201cIf this is a witch hunt Mueller’s found a coven at this point,\u201d said Katyal. \u201cWe’re starting to already see the outlines of a Mueller report that does look like he is alleging some sort of conspiracy,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When\nasked whether President Trump should be allowed to read the Mueller report,\nWisenberg said, \u201cIt\u2019s perfectly fine … I don’t see\nany problem with that. The\nproblem will be if the president orders [Attorney General William] Barr to do\nor not to do something about the report. That’s when you’ll have a problem, and\nI don’t think Barr will stand for that.\u201d Watch the full\ninterview<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Republican Strategist and Senior Partner at Squire Patton Boggs\nAl Cardenas<\/strong>, Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution and Director of\nDomestic Policy Studies at Stanford University Lanhee Chen<\/strong>, Distinguished\nSenior Fellow for Demos and Demos Action and NBC News Contributor Heather\nMcGhee<\/strong>, and NBC News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent and Anchor of MSNBC\u2019s Andrea\nMitchell Reports<\/em> Andrea Mitchell<\/strong> joined the broadcast\u2019s roundtable\nfor insight and analysis on the week in politics. Watch the <\/strong>full\npanel<\/a><\/strong>. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read\nthe full transcrip<\/a>t of Meet\nthe Press<\/em> this morning and follow the show on Twitter<\/a> and on Facebook<\/a> for\nthe latest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PLEASE CREDIT: NBC NEWS\u2019 MEET\nTHE PRESS WITH CHUCK TODD<\/em> <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n