CNN "CNN Newsroom" Transcript: Russian Election Interference

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

COSTELLO: All right. So let's bring in House minority whip, Congressman Steny Hoyer.  Welcome, sir. 

REP. STENY HOYER (D), MINORITY WHIP: Hi. 

COSTELLO: Hi. Thanks for being here. So, Congressman, normally there is a process in Congress that's a routine matter, but a small group of Democrats plan to challenge the eligibility of some of Trump's electors. Do you support that effort? 

HOYER: Well, I think you're going to -- under the rules you have to have a senator and a House member. As I understand it, we don't have that existing. So yes, there would be some Democrats raising issues. I think there are some issues. Clearly the issue of the Russian involvement in the election raises substantial issues as to the credibility of the election.  Nobody is doubting that under the rules, Donald Trump has been elected president of the United States. But the issue of Russian involvement, which the CIA, the FBI, and the director of National Intelligence all agree occurred, that the Russians were involved in the election, and generally they agree that they were involved on the side of hurting Hillary Clinton. Now whether it was for helping Donald Trump remains to be seen.  But I think a number of Democrats will raise this issue, and that ought to be resolved to determine whether or not there was a legitimate information available to the American public and to the electors when they voted for Donald Trump for president. But -- 

COSTELLO: So -- but, Congressman, this effort is probably doomed to fail. And you heard what Kellyanne Conway says. This whole thing about Russia and the intelligence briefings are just an effort to delegitimize Trump's presidency. And isn't what's happening in the halls of Congress today -- 

HOYER: Carol, I heard -- Carol, I heard what Kellyanne said. I want everybody who is watching this show to juxtapose that Donald Trump had lost the election, that the allegation was that the Russians had participated in the election to hurt Donald Trump, that Donald Trump had received 2.8 million more votes than Hillary Clinton, but the electoral college elected Hillary Clinton. I want everybody to honestly think to themselves, what would Donald Trump's reaction have been? It would have been far surpassing in terms of alleging fixed elections, crookedness, bad procedure, Russian involvement.  The fact is the allegations raised by the intelligence agencies of the United States are very serious, need to be pursued. I think they will have no ultimate effect today. I agree with that. Donald Trump will be elected president-elect today by the electoral college. But we ought not to leave this matter untouched. It is a great threat to the American democracy, not just to Republicans, not just to Democrats. But if in fact the allegations are true, then it is a very, very serious issue that must be pursued as vigorously as possible, investigated to its final conclusion. 

COSTELLO: Congressman -- 

HOYER: Yes. 

COSTELLO: Congressman, do you believe that the Russian were in part responsible for Hillary Clinton's loss? 

HOYER: I don't think there's any doubt that if the Russians targeted the DNC, other people in the campaign for Hillary Clinton, and that in fact we find that Putin was involved and directed this and allowed this to happen, then I think yes, there is a serious question. 

And I think that the -- clearly that, and I agree that the Comey letter also had an impact, and that was not, I don't think, influenced by the Russians, I want to make that very clear. 

COSTELLO: So it wasn't because Hillary Clinton ran a bad campaign or didn't make very many visits to the places she needed to, to win the election, I.e. Michigan and Wisconsin. 

HOYER: Look, I think, if anybody had said the campaign that was run by Donald Trump would have been a good campaign, a winning campaign two years ago, any political consultant would have said, no, no, no, that will never work. In fact it did work. I think Hillary Clinton ran a good campaign. But there is no doubt that she was plagued by the political investigations that occurred in the House of Representatives regarding Benghazi and the -- and the e-mails. None of which resulted in any finding of wrongdoing. The FBI found no wrongdoing. 

And do I think that Hillary Clinton could have done things that she didn't do that may have had a more positive result? I think the answer to that is probably yes. But I think the answer to that in every campaign, in every campaign, particularly losing campaigns, is probably yes. When you win, your mistakes and foibles are forgotten. When you lose, every possible failure can be pointed to as the result. 

COSTELLO: So, Congressman, last question for you. Donald Trump is going to have these intelligence briefings today, Monday we're all going to be briefed on exactly what intelligence agencies found out about the Russian hacking. If Donald Trump doesn't accept what the intelligence services tell him, what do you think should happen? 

HOYER: I think the -- there's a real danger that is occurring where Donald Trump is either not getting briefings because he thinks they're irrelevant and he knows more than the intelligence agencies, or he has the intelligence agency briefings and denies their finding and rejects their finding and undermines the confidence that they have in themselves and undermines the confidence Americans have in our intelligence agencies. If that happens, that will be dangerous for our country. 

There will be a disconnect between the commander-in-chief and our intelligence agencies. That doesn't mean the intelligence agencies are always right. But to publicly ridicule them, to publicly undermine them, to publicly display a lack of confidence in our intelligence agencies is a very, very bad action of the president- elect, in my opinion. And it undermines our security. 

COSTELLO: We have to leave it there, Congressman Steny Hoyer, thank you so much for being with me this morning. 

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