CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Senator Tom Cotton on the Secret Service and Chaffetz

Interview

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BLITZER: Barbara Starr, thanks very much.

Let's get some more on all of this with Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas. He's a member of the Intelligence and Armed Services Committee. He's also a U.S. Army veteran.

You served in Iraq and Afghanistan, right?

SEN. TOM COTTON (R), ARKANSAS: Yes, I did, Wolf.

BLITZER: What's the latest information you're getting? How could this happen, this Doctors Without Borders hospital in effect blown up and all these people killed?

COTTON: Well, Wolf, I met earlier today with General John Campbell, what is back from Afghanistan, where he is commander.

He assured me that there are three separate investigations ongoing right now, to include an Army investigation. You have been in a war zone. You know that first reports from the front are often or even usually incorrect, as we heard in that report just before we started talking.

But I also know that our commanders on the ground are intent on getting to all the facts. And if there was any negligence or any kind of misconduct, they will hold those troops accountable and they will also potentially change procedures going forward to try to avoid this kind of terrible tragedy again.

BLITZER: Because this was in Kunduz, the first city, major city in Afghanistan taken by the Taliban since, what, 2001, when the U.S. troops went in. There was a fierce battle going on, Afghan troops leaving, Taliban taking over, Afghan asking for help. They gave the coordinates. The U.S. went in.

Would the U.S., an AC-130 gunship like this, would they simply rely on Afghan troops for this kind of information?

COTTON: Well, they might rely on them in part. But as the report said, there are vetting procedures any time Afghan troops are going to call in American air support.

That's why it's important that we wait and we get all the facts. But, Wolf, you're right, that this is the first city the Taliban has taken in almost 15 years and there's major fighting. There's always fog on the battlefield. And that's why ultimately responsibility lies with the Taliban and groups like the Taliban, just like Hezbollah in Lebanon or Hamas in Gaza, that use civilian areas to try to protect themselves from our forces.

BLITZER: But Doctors Without Borders say there were no Taliban in that hospital. And they say they specifically gave Afghan forces, U.S. forces, NATO forces in Afghanistan coordinates where this hospital is, don't go anywhere near there.

COTTON: And that all may be the case, Wolf.

Now, there could be some confusion in the moments leading up to this attack or during the attack itself, but that's why we have these investigations, to get to the facts.

[18:15:02]

BLITZER: Stand by, Senator.

We have much more to talk about and your call for a criminal investigation of the U.S. Secret Service because of what it did to one United States congressman.

Much more with Senator Cotton when we come back.

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[18:20:05]

BLITZER: We're back with Republican Senator Tom Cotton.

He's now calling for a criminal investigation into a U.S. Secret Service leak of information about Republican Congressman Jason Chaffetz, who is running to replace John Boehner as speaker of the House.

Cotton has placed a hold on three Obama administration nominees pending further investigation.

Stand by, Senator. We are going to have much more to talk about this.

But, first, our senior White House correspondent, Jim Acosta, has more on the controversy.

Jim, what is the latest?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, today, the White House threw its support behind Joe Clancy, saying it was proactive of the Secret Service director to go back and correct the record of when he learned officials in his agency were spreading rumors about Congressman Jason Chaffetz.

But that won't be enough for critics in Congress.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA (voice-over): Secret Service Director Joe Clancy, the man who planed to reform the agency, is now accused of being one of its problems by top Republicans.

COTTON: If it turns out that Director Clancy knowingly misled the inspector general, he should resign or be fired. He was hired to clean up wrongdoing at the Secret Service, not perpetrate it and cover it up.

ACOSTA: At issue is whether Clancy told the truth to investigators

with the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General's Office, who found that, last March, more than 40 Secret Service employees were inappropriately snooping around in the personal information of Republican Congressman Jason Chaffetz, the chairman of the committee that oversees the agency.

One e-mail that was revealed from Assistant Secret Service Director Ed Lowery said of Chaffetz, "Some information that he might find embarrassing needs to get out." That was just days before news reports that Chaffetz was once rejected for a job with the Secret Service.

REP. JASON CHAFFETZ (R), UTAH: It's a little bit scary, Secret Service diving into my background as a sitting member of Congress. It's not about me, but it is about, what are they doing over there? These people are entrusted with guns by the president, for goodness' sakes.

ACOSTA: Clancy first told investigators he originally learned of the Jason Chaffetz rumor in early April, but last Friday he changed that to March 25.

JOSEPH CLANCY, DIRECTOR, SECRET SERVICE: And you have to consider I was interviewed four months after these events took place, and my memory was incorrect.

ACOSTA: Clancy blamed the discrepancy on his memory at a news conference with DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson, who is standing by the director.

JEH JOHNSON, U.S. SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: It takes time to turn a large ship in a different direction.

ACOSTA: Chaffetz told CNN both men have called to apologize.

CHAFFETZ: That was their second round of apologies, but that ain't going to cut it.

ACOSTA: Earlier this year, Clancy told CNN the Secret Service was on the mend, after a slew of embarrassing episodes for the agency, including the White House fence jumper.

CLANCY: We have learned from our mistakes.

ACOSTA: Just last week, the agency earned high marks from the president for its protection of Pope Francis.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They all deserve a huge round of applause for being such great hosts and keeping everybody safe.

ACOSTA: The White House is still praising Clancy, but cautions the president takes the Chaffetz case seriously.

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: This is sensitive information that we're talking about, and the thought that something like this would be politicized is wrong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: Now, Chaffetz stopped short of California for Clancy to resign, saying there should be a criminal investigation. The White House says that is up to the Justice Department, but, meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security's Inspector General's Office has reopened its investigation into the matter, citing Clancy's changing stories -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Jim Acosta at the White House, thanks very much.

Senator Cotton is still with us.

What do you want them to do with the director of the Secret Service?

COTTON: Well, I'm not going to prejudge the outcome here, but they need to take this with the gravity that it warrants. Armed agents of the executive violated the law to intimidate a congressman from doing his job.

If they will do that to the congressman who oversees them with his influence and his megaphone, what might they do to the little guy, the normal American?

So, first, Secretary Johnson needs to personally get involved and apply appropriate disciplinary action towards those 45 agents who unlawfully accessed Congressman Chaffetz's files and, second, the attorney general does need to begin a criminal investigation into privacy Act violations and potential false statements to the inspector general.

BLITZER: Jeh Johnson is the secretary of homeland security, which oversees the U.S. Secret Service.

What has happened as far as you know to those 40 or 45 Secret Service agents who knew about this and some of said, you know what, let's embarrass this U.S. congressman who chairs this committee which oversees the Secret Service? What, if anything, has been done?

COTTON: Well, it's unclear from the inspector general's report.

And that's really a decision for Secretary Johnson ultimately. He can then brief Congress on the disciplinary action he takes. But this report that we just saw in the lead-in, Wolf, talked about Secretary Clancy changing his story last week after the report was issue, which is bad.

But even if he had not misrepresented facts from the beginning, he learned the day after the hearing in front of Congressman Chaffetz about Congressman Chaffetz's application. And, apparently, he didn't ask anyone how they knew, what they learned, why they were telling him that. That's not the level of leadership that we should expect from the Secret Service.

BLITZER: When he was a much younger man, he applied for a job at the Secret Service, didn't get it. And then that's supposed to be, not classified, but confidential. You're not supposed to release it.

[18:25:08]

But why have you decided to hold up three nominees right now, put a hold on these nominees as a result of what? What is that going to change?

COTTON: Wolf, this is not just about a specific instance of misconduct, specific instance of government abuse or waste of taxpayer dollars.

This is a constitutional clash between the executive and the legislature. Executive agents tried to intimidate a congressman from doing his job. I would feel the exact same way if this was Representative Elijah Cummings. Congressman Chaffetz -- who is a Democrat.

This is about ensuring that the people's elected representatives in Congress can do our job to conduct proper oversight over the executive branch.

BLITZER: It is pretty outrageous, when you think about it, trying to embarrass a United States congressman like this.

All right, thanks very much, Senator, for coming in.

COTTON: Thank you, Wolf.

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