CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: U.S. Voting Machines

Interview

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Congressman, thanks very much for joining us.

REP. SEAN DUFFY (R), WISCONSIN: Hey. It's good to be back with you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Let's talk about some of these new polls that just came out

today showing Donald Trump losing his lead, get this, in states he had been doing very well in. In Georgia, for example, a traditionally red state, right now, he's only behind by one -- she's only behind by one point, 44 percent for Trump, 43 percent for Hillary Clinton.

Look at Iowa right now. In Iowa, he had been doing really well, 44 percent, 44 percent. A month ago, both of those states, Trump was up by seven points in both states. Why is he slipping?

DUFFY: Well, first off, I think Georgia is not going to be a problem for Donald Trump. That's a Republican state. As voters go to the polls, they will break Donald Trump's way. We will win Georgia.

But, obviously, some of the trouble that Donald Trump has had over the last month has caused him to slip not just in Iowa, but in all these states and the national polls across the country.

But what's interesting, Wolf, is he's actually come back in dramatic fashion. And you have been talking about this all day, but in Florida, North Carolina, in Iowa, Ohio, Nevada, and I will tell you, Wisconsin is doing incredibly well for Mr. Trump. So he has this inside track. He has to hit everything right. But if he does, he's within striking distance in these swing states, and he could pull this victory out.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: We checked, Congressman, in your home state of Wisconsin. The last poll that we have, a scientific poll, Hillary Clinton in Wisconsin was up by seven points in Wisconsin. So do you think he really has a chance of capturing Wisconsin?

DUFFY: I do.

So, in Wisconsin, this was the home of the Scott Walker recalls. The Republican Party in Wisconsin is the best Republican Party in the country. We are turning out almost as many door-knocks and phone calls as Florida and Ohio. And so our base is activated.

Now, we still have a little problem in Southeast Wisconsin with the Republicans. But as those Republicans come home, with all the work we have done across the state, this will be a nail-biter. And I think Wisconsin will go to Trump in the end.

BLITZER: Yes, but every poll we have seen, Hillary Clinton in your state of Wisconsin is up seven or eight points.

Is Trump, has he been there lately, is he planning on going in the final 12 days? Or has he basically written off Wisconsin?

DUFFY: I have seen internal polls as well. And we try to get the best and most accurate data possible so we can function with good data.

And I would say it's far closer than the recent poll that you cite. But so Mr. Trump was here, oh, a little over a week ago. I'm hopeful, and there's been rumblings that he might come back, whether it's this coming weekend or early next week. But he knows that outside of, again, Florida, North Carolina, Iowa, Ohio, Nevada, he needs another state.

And if it's not Pennsylvania, and I think Pennsylvania is getting really tough to grab for him, I think Wisconsin is the next best play. Again, a great ground game, an activated Republican base, and the internal polls that I have seen, it's much closer than the ones that you have cited.

BLITZER: How much of a problem in Wisconsin -- the speaker of the House, Paul Ryan is, of course, from Wisconsin. He's a friend of yours. He's doing nothing. He's not campaigning out there in Wisconsin or, for that matter, anyplace else for Donald Trump, is he?

DUFFY: Well, so, well, what he's done is, he's funded the whole Wisconsin GOP operation.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: But he's trying to get Republicans elected in Wisconsin, but I don't see him out there on the campaign trail with Donald Trump or even speaking about Donald Trump, for that matter.

DUFFY: We have to be frank.

We have far more House seats that are in play today than they were six weeks ago. So Mr. Ryan is out there talking about the Republican message, the Republican vision, and also raising money to make sure we can push back against an onslaught of Democrat cash that's just raining a bit of hellfire on us. They have way more money than we do.

And so Mr. Ryan is out there making sure we have the resources to fight back. And that's a full-time job. So, he's working on keeping the House. Donald Trump is working on winning the presidency. And those are two different jobs that take two different roles and two different missions.

BLITZER: But the point I'm trying to make, and you know this well, Paul Ryan in Wisconsin especially, he's very popular in your home state.

DUFFY: Yes.

BLITZER: If he were out there speaking publicly, not only trying to get Republicans elected in the House and the Senate, governor's races or whatever, but if he were out there really actively promoting Donald Trump, that could make a difference.

DUFFY: It could, but, Wolf, I don't want to speak for Paul. I haven't had this conversation with him, so I'm going to surmise here. I want to be clear on that.

But there's a lot of Republicans across the country, they might be down in their districts by -- or Mr. Trump might be down in their districts by maybe 15 points or 20 points. So, they have to outperform him by big numbers.

[18:15:07]

And so Paul is not just looking at Wisconsin, and how Wisconsin plays for Mr. Trump. He's looking at our national playing field and how he has to make sure that we come back and we're in the majority, we don't have Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

And so he doesn't wear just one hat. He wears multiple hats. And I will just tell you, Donald Trump is doing just fine here himself. And, listen, do I suspect that Mr. Ryan is going to vote for Donald Trump? I suspect so. And we will see.

BLITZER: Donald Trump tweeted this today, and I will put it up on the screen, Congressman. He tweeted this.

He said: "A lot of call-ins about vote-flipping at the voting booths in Texas. People are not happy. Big lines. What is going on?"

Election officials say that they have had some human error basically in some of the tablets. They have got electronic voting there. But they don't think it's a big problem. Is he raising this problem to suggest that the entire election system, as he keeps saying, is rigged?

DUFFY: Well, from my perspective, I have heard the same stories about the voting machines switching votes.

We know that dead people across America are still voting, miraculously. And we know that some people are voting twice. Now, do I think that's so widespread, Wolf, that it's going to take the election away from Hillary Clinton or from Donald Trump? I don't think that's the case.

But on these electronic voting machines, I don't like them. I think -- and this is what we do in my district here in Wisconsin. You fill out your paper ballot and then you put it through the electronic reader, but you can go back and look at the paper ballots, as opposed to just having everything electronic.

And if someone has messed with the programming, that can tweak the results of a race. And I don't have any evidence or information that there's any widespread problems across the country. But I do think it's incumbent upon us as Americans and as elected American officials that we try to get the best result possible, which is clear the dead folks out.

Make sure there's swift and significant penalties for those who violate the laws and vote more than once. And we make sure that if you are using an electronic voting system, that it is fully functioning and is going to accurately reflect the votes of the people who came and cast their ballot.

BLITZER: Yes. But in Texas, the authorities say the tablet, the electronic voting machine, it is working fine, but people are -- some people are making some mistakes, human error, they say. They're not necessarily following the instructions that they get.

But it's not big, they say. There's been a few problems like that. But they're not suggesting it's a big problem.

DUFFY: And one other point on that, and will just -- these articles that I have read, I haven't verified them.

But we heard the one of George Soros' companies has provided some of the machines for some of these states. And, obviously, Mr. Soros leans left. I haven't personally verified that yet.

But, again, I think we want to make sure that these voting machines and systems are free of politics and policy, because this great American system, this election, is based on the trust of the American people. And I don't think we want to undermine that trust in our electoral process.

BLITZER: We have to take a quick break.

But it's Republican officials in Texas who are saying this is not a big problem with these voting tablets, if you will. And that George Soros issue, that is an unconfirmed rumor certainly that has spread out there. But we have not been able to confirm that, by any means, that the machines maybe that his company is building are designed to help Hillary Clinton and not Donald Trump, for that matter.

That sounds conspiratorial.

DUFFY: I agree.

BLITZER: But let's take a quick break, Congressman. We will resume our coverage right after this.

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[18:22:58]

BLITZER: We're back with Republican Congressman and Donald Trump supporter Sean Duffy.

Congressman, I would like you to stand by for a moment.

We're getting some new information about Vladimir Putin latest response to claims that Russia is attempting to influence the U.S. presidential election.

Our chief national security correspondent, Jim Sciutto, is with us.

Jim, Putin says it's all a ploy?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: That's right.

And it's interesting, because we have heard Donald Trump occasionally praise the leadership style of Vladimir Putin. Today, we heard Vladimir Putin, to some degree, defending Donald Trump's campaigning style, even making some points, expressing some talking points seemingly stolen from the Donald Trump playbook. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Donald Trump behaves extravagantly. Of course, we see this. But I think there's a reason for this, because, in my opinion, he represents the interests of that part of society, and it is quite big in the United States, which is tired of the elite who have been in power for decades.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Tired of the elite in power for decades. You heard Donald Trump say that about Hillary Clinton in the last debate.

But on this issue who is behind these election hacks, of course Russia has denied that from the beginning. Vladimir Putin has denied that multiple times. But today he sort of jokingly dismissed the whole idea. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PUTIN (through translator): Does anyone seriously think that Russia can in some way influence the choice the American people? Is America some kind of a banana republic? America is a great country. Correct me if I'm wrong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: The could there went on to laugh at that a little bit there, this idea of America as a banana republic. But, again, the fact is, U.S. intelligence agencies, Department of Homeland Security took the rare step of naming and shaming Russia in public for these hacks, you will remember, Wolf, even saying it would have required the most senior levels of the Russian government, namely Vladimir Putin, to approve hacks like this.

BLITZER: Jim Sciutto, thanks very much for that report.

Let's get back to Congressman Sean Duffy.

Congressman, your colleague Mike McCaul, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee and an adviser, a national security adviser, to Donald Trump, he says he told Trump Russia was behind these election hacks. Trump didn't think that was enough proof.

[18:25:05]

But Trump is also questioning his Republican colleagues and the intelligence community, for that matter, when generals as far as this ongoing fight against ISIS.

When you hear all of this from Trump, how will he function if he's elected as president of the United States if he doesn't trust the intelligence community, for example?

DUFFY: Well, just to take a side note, it's Barack Obama who has been changing the intelligence that is coming out of the Middle East to make it rosier to fit a narrative...

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Hold on a second.

Are you accusing the director of national intelligence, the CIA director, the NSA director, all 16, 17 intelligence agencies of being manipulated by the president of the United States for political reasons?

DUFFY: No, what I'm saying is, and these are well-vetted stories about insiders who have provided intelligence reports about what's happening in the Middle East in Iraq, with Syria, and with Afghanistan, of modifying the reports that have come out of their intelligence...

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Mike McCaul is a Republican. He's the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. He's from Texas. He's highly respected. Is he being manipulated as well?

DUFFY: No, I didn't say that he was.

I said that the mid-level folks that are writing reports on the ground reporting on our effectiveness in the Middle East on our policy against terror, those reports have been modified. And the people who have written reports have come forward and expressed that openly and publicly.

Now, Mike McCaul is a friend of mine. He's a straight-shooting guy, but I think he's heard the same story. I'm not saying that these reports are wrong that are coming out about Russia. All I'm saying is, your question went to the point of, can you be an effective president if you have bad intelligence?

Well, Mr. Obama, some would argue, has been an effective president, some would say he hasn't, but he also has had bad intelligence.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: No, no, I didn't say if he had intelligence. I said if he's not listening to the intelligence community and accepting their bottom-line assertions about what is going on, can you be an effective president if you don't pay attention to their conclusions?

DUFFY: So, let's go to the point.

I don't care if it's Russia, if it's the Tooth Fairy or the devil that provides this information. The bottom line is, we're seeing a pay- for-play scandal. You give money to the State Department or the Clinton Foundation, you get access to the Clinton State Department.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Hold on, Congressman. Do you care if Russia is trying to interfere by hacking various e-mail accounts, DNC, Democratic National Committee, or other e-mail accounts associated with Democrats, do you care if they're trying to influence the American election system so that Trump is elected?

DUFFY: What I would argue is, if -- do I care about that? Of course.

But then if we have this information through the intelligence services of the United States of America, let's put it out there. Let's show how Russia is actually doing this.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: But you know, Congressman, sometimes, the intelligence community -- hold on a second. They have to protect what they call sources and methods. They can't necessarily reveal that kind of information, because it undermines national security.

You're familiar with that.

DUFFY: Sure, but there's a lot of sources and a lot of information they can release without releasing all of it and jeopardizing the tools that they use to get that information.

But that aside, Wolf, I want to tell you that I don't think it helps Donald Trump at all to have any ties to Putin. If anyone thinks that Putin saying nice things about Donald Trump is helpful in this election, it's absolutely not. Mr. Putin is a thug. He's not a friend of ours.

And I think anyone that cozies up or says nice things about Mr. Putin, I fundamentally disagree with. And the Russians are smart. If they're trying to help Donald Trump, why would Mr. Putin say nice things about Mr. Trump? Because he knows that that just stirs up a lot of anger within the American voting base.

BLITZER: But what's intriguing to a lot of experts, and I'm sure it is to you, at least so far, all of the hacked e-mails, for example, have been damaging to the Democrats, not to the Republicans. So far, no Republican National Committee e-mails or Trump e-mails, for that matter, Trump campaign e-mails, have been hacked. Or at least they haven't been released.

And that's why people are pointing to the Russians, by and large, and they're saying it's designed to undermine Hillary Clinton and the Democrats and help Trump. That's the argument.

DUFFY: And I understand the argument, and I kind of look to what Marco Rubio said.

I don't know that any of us like when e-mails are hacked. They should be private. But I would also note, Wolf, that there's a lot of serious things that are happening within Clinton world that have come out that give people great cause about her ability to serve effectively as the next president of the United States of America.

We have issues of, again, corruption. The fact that she had this private server and didn't protect American top-secret information. The fact that she came to Congress and said she didn't have this secure information on her server, and then Mr. Comey came in and said no, actually, on that server, she did have top-secret information.

[18:30:27] All of this is relevant, and I think it's important -- and I told you this before -- I want to know as much information about Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. I want to know the good, the bad, and the ugly so I can make the best decision on November 8. And I think every American deserves that.

And as you've seen from these e-mails, I wish that Hillary Clinton would have done what her staffers advised her: say "I had a server." Apologize for it. Put out the paid speeches to Wall Street. And don't Bleach Bit 33,000 e-mails. Put them out there. Be transparent.

BLITZER: Congressman...

DUFFY: And Wolf, if she did that, this wouldn't even be a race, I don't think. She would be walking away with it, because she was honest and transparent, and she asked for forgiveness; and Americans give forgiveness when you ask for it.

BLITZER: Congressman, you make fair points on that issue, which is -- which is a fair issue for discussion, but it's a separate issue from whether or not Russia is deliberately releasing stolen or hacked e- mails in order to interfere in the American democratic election system. Those are two separate issues that we're discussing right now.

DUFFY: They are.

BLITZER: We'll continue these conversations down the road. Sean Duffy, the congressman from Wisconsin. Appreciate it very much.

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