CNN "Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview with Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley

Interview

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BLITZER: We will see what she does tomorrow.
Thanks very much, Jim Sciutto, with that report.
Let's get reaction right now.
Senator Jeff Merkley is joining us. He's a Democrat who serves on the Foreign Relations Committee.
Senator, thanks for joining us.

SEN. JEFF MERKLEY (D), OREGON: Well, you're welcome. Good to be with you.

BLITZER: So, looking at the number of redactions in this 10-page Democratic memo, could House Democrats actually have revealed sources and methods if their memo had been released unredacted?

[18:10:05]

MERKLEY: Well, not having been directly in the loop to review it, I can't say specifically, but it went through the appropriate process.

And it makes the points that need to be made, which it completely discredits the Republican effort to sabotage the FBI's work. It's very clear what a political hatchet job the Republicans were up to, and I'm glad we finally got the facts out there.

BLITZER: Do you have any concerns, Senator, about how the Clinton campaign's financing and the Democratic National Committee's financing of the so-called dossier was represented to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court?

MERKLEY: Well, my understanding is that the way it was presented, saying that, in fact, it was initially funded through a political organization, is the way that it's normally done.

And that is, that it's not appropriate to bias it by saying what specific organization. I will leave it to the experts, but the experts say that this was the appropriate, professional way to conduct themselves.

BLITZER: These memo feuds on the House side, I know you're in the Senate, but they're pretty intense. Do you think they're distracting from the overall effort to safeguard future elections here in the United States?

MERKLEY: Oh, absolutely. The whole assault on the integrity of the FBI and on the integrity of Mueller and the special investigation are all about derailing the effort to get to the facts, facts that are so important to understand how the Russians intervened, who was responsible, who, if anyone, collaborated.

And getting to the bottom of that is the foundation for having a watchdog in America that says to the Russians, this can never happen again, and knowing how to prevent it from happening again. My concern is, we don't have a watchdog in the Oval Office. We have a lapdog for Russia. And that's completely inappropriate.

BLITZER: Let's turn to the issue of gun control. Do you support the Cornyn background check bill that is currently on the table?

MERKLEY: So, I think improving the background checks is absolutely essential. It's also important to get the right information into the system.

Oregon, the citizens have voted by initiative, close the gun show loophole, and the legislature has made other moves to close the Craigslist loophole and to take on the issue of stalking and domestic violence.

I think those sorts of advances are appropriate to consider. There may be some amendments necessary to really get a strong background check bill, but that's an important piece of the puzzle.

BLITZER: The Democratic leader in the Senate, the minority leader,

Chuck Schumer, says this -- and I'm quoting him -- "If all Congress does in response to the Parkland shooting is to pass the Fix NICS bill" -- that's the Cornyn bill -- "it would be an abject failure and a dereliction of our duty."

Do you agree?

MERKLEY: Yes. Yes, I do.

I think it's important to look at the question of the age that the president has raised for acquiring weapons, whether in fact semiautomatic rifles should be sold in the United States, assault weapons should be sold.

We should certainly take a look at other provisions to try to ensure that we break this cycle of violence which gets worse and worse. We have had more than 30 multiple shootings occur just since January 1, mass shootings occur.

And so America is just on a track where you're not safe hardly anywhere, and it needs to change.

BLITZER: A political question, Senator.

Will an aggressive push by Democrats, your party, on gun control potentially hurt some vulnerable Senate Democrats in the November elections, especially in those red states?

MERKLEY: I think, on this issue, we just have to take it according to our personal beliefs about what needs to happen, and not all Democrats will agree. I don't think all Republicans will agree.

But, as I look across the country, I see folks saying, why can't we stop this? Why is it that we are having, as the students put it, these moments of silence, instead of moments of action? And that is a cry from the heart to say, come on, folks, let's do something about this. And I hope that that cry from the heart from the students is heard up here on Capitol Hill.

BLITZER: Let me read to you a tweet from the president over the past few days. This is a few days ago.

He said this: "I will be strongly pushing comprehensive background checks with an emphasis on mental health, raise age to 21 and end sale of bump stocks. Congress is in a mood to finally do something on this issue, I hope."

Are you with the president? Do you think that he can lead the Republicans into working out a significant compromise with the Democrats and pass new gun control legislation?

MERKLEY: Even as I listen to him and I listen to him say he can take the heat from the NRA, I'm reminded how just recently, on DACA, on the dreamers, he said he could take the heat from the Breitbart world.

And then he lasted only two days. So let's see.

I'm also concerned that he's going to take the NRA talking point, which is this is all about -- the way to improve this is arming teachers, which could make actually schools less safe, rather than more safe.

[18:15:07]

So, with some of those items, I'm with the president. But the president's leadership has not been shown to come forward and really drive productive deals so far.

BLITZER: What's wrong? The president talks about arming some highly qualified teachers to have concealed weapons in the classroom. Why do you think that is a bad idea?

MERKLEY: Well, let me give you some examples.

If you have those guns in the school, it's possible that they get into the hands of students and cause a problem. It's also the case that when one holds up a gun in that situation, they might well be the person shot at by the police, believing they are the one that is committing the atrocity.

So it's not a simple system. And I think that we're going to cause more harm than good with this strategy. And we need to do what Governor Inslee said today, and listen to our teachers.

BLITZER: Do you think anything significant is really going to change right now, despite the outcry that's out there led by these young high schoolers?

MERKLEY: I hope they keep up their cry. I know they're planning on coming here to Washington, D.C. Let's hope that they can really move the hearts of this country to say that this is important.

Back in my home state, guns are very important, and we have a strong tradition of weapons for collecting, for target shooting, for hunting. But all of that Second Amendment roles can be accommodated without having a situation where basically semiautomatic rifles are available in a fashion that enables one person with very large magazine capacity to mow down dozens of people.

BLITZER: The president says he will eliminate those bump stocks even if the House and Senate fails to do so. He will sign it away, he says.

Let's see what happens on all of these fronts.

Senator Merkley, thanks so much for joining us.

MERKLEY: You're very welcome. Good to be with you.

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