MSNBC "The Rachel Maddow Show" - Transcript: Election Security

Interview

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MADDOW: All the research, all the data, all the analytics, all the  targeting, all the digital campaign, all the television campaign and we  provided all the data for all of it, all the things.

Britain`s Channel 4 releasing more undercover video today from its multiday  investigation into Cambridge Analytica. Footage today of CEO Alexander Nix  bragging about his firm`s work for the whole -- the Trump campaign, follows  that the footage they put out yesterday of the same CEO detailing fairly  sordid services that he said Cambridge Analytica could offer to help you  win your election, something involving Ukrainian girls being sent to your  home.

At the heart of this reporting is the allegation that Cambridge Analytica  built its whole operation on Facebook data, that it took without permission  from as many as 50 million unsuspecting Americans.

Well, today, Alexander Nix got suspended from his own company effective  immediately and indefinitely. This comes amid multiple new investigations  on at least two continents into the company`s practices.

With all that coming to a roiling boil, the Senate Intelligence Committee  investigating Russia`s attack on our election took a piece of their  investigation off the stove today, telling us -- calling it basically  cooked. Senate Intel put out their list today of security recommendations  for how America should shore up our elections against another attack that  is surely coming.

The chairman of that committee today saying, quote: With a great deal of  confidence, it`s clear the Russian government was looking at the  vulnerabilities in our election system.

So, the CEO of the Trump campaigns data firm is suspended. There are  investigations and all that stolen data that flooded our election. The  Senate closed up a big chunk of their Russia investigation today, saying it  is complete.

And just a few days ago, the deputy director of the FBI was fired. Andrew  McCabe saying he was fired by the administration to discredit him as a  witness in special counsel Robert Mueller`s probe, in an effort to shut the  whole thing down.

So that`s three really big things going on simultaneously right now. I  have questions about all of them for the top Democrat on the Senate  Intelligence Committee.

Joining us now is Senator Mark Warner who is the vice chair of the  Intelligence Committee. He joins us now live.

Senator, thank you so much for your time tonight. I know it`s an  incredibly busy time.

SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA), RANKING MEMBER, SENATE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE:  Thank you, Rachel.

MADDOW: Let me ask you first about Cambridge Analytica. Obviously, you  have a tech background yourself. You`ve taken a particularly acute  interest in the data side and the money side and the sort of not front page  side of how the Russian attack worked in our election.

How concerned are you about these recent journalistic revelations about  Cambridge Analytica? Are these things that are now being reported about  the firm and the way it operates news to you or some of the stuff that you have been able to figure out in the Intelligence Committee`s investigation?

WARNER: Well, Rachel, I had questions about Cambridge Analytica since the  beginning of this investigation. This is a pretty sketchy firm that not  only operated on behalf of Mr. Trump but operated in a series of countries.  They were known for their ability to disrupt an electoral process and it  potentially explains why in so many ways, the Trump campaign in effect  crept up on a lot of folks because their ability to use data, to use our  social media companies in ways prior to this last election. I don`t think  the United States government and frankly some of these companies were  prepared for.

But Cambridge Analytica, I think there`s a lot more stories to be told from  that firm.

MADDOW: When the firm does the sales pitch -- because of the undercover  investigation by British Channel 4, we`ve seen them marketing themselves  and bragging about their capabilities to an undercover reporter who they  thought was a potential client. When I look at that reporting and I see  the way Cambridge Analytica describes itself in public versus the way --  they described itself in private versus the way they played down their  influence in the Trump campaign in their public statements, part of me is  left wondering, you know, is this just typical political strategy? Is this  the way that all strategy firms work, that they talk a big game in private,  that they try to play down their effectiveness in public, they don`t  necessarily want to get blamed for anything dirty.

Is it clear to you that they were doing something substantially different  than other public political consulting firms do?

WARNER: Well, Cambridge Analytica in effect said they had a new formula, a  better ability to really drill down on millions of Americans in terms of  personal wants and needs, and I believe because some of this effort was  supplemented at least indirectly, we don`t know whether it was directly by  a number of fakes accounts that the Russians used social media on Facebook,  Twitter and other social media platforms and this brew -- their claims are  pretty outrageous but as had been mentioned by the former CEO or the CEO  was suspended, they were using other techniques with actually humans in  other countries.

MADDOW: Is it clear to you that there is any link at all between Cambridge  Analytica and the Russian attack on our election during 2016?

WARNER: I think that is a question that still needs to be explored. For a  long time, there were questions raised. How was the Trump campaign able to  so better target swing voters better than any other campaign?
Now, part of this, we found some of the answers of the last few days, they  used a so-called academic, a Russian British individual who solicited  individuals, 275,000 who agreed in effect to do a survey where they told  this individual about their likes and dislikes. Using that survey, they  were able -- this individual who had an affiliation with Cambridge  Analytica, was able to in effect penetrate not only those 275,000 who  signed up, but literally 50 million Americans` accounts on Facebook, and  they were able to in effect leverage that information in ways that we need  to get answers on that potentially affected the auction results because  clearly, Facebook knew this was happening before the 2016 election cycle. 

They said it was inappropriate.

Now I believe the lawyers are now deciding and arguing about whether  Facebook had a legal obligation to notify these 50 million Americans that  their personal information may have been used on behalf of the Trump  campaign. The lawyers can argue about that, but I would hope a company  that relies on the basic trust of so many of us, that they would do the  right thing and notify those 50 million Americans that their personal  information may have been abused.

MADDOW: Senator Warner, I know you and Senator Burr made some important  announcements today about wrapping up, essentially coming to some  conclusions for part of the Senate investigation into the Russia attack.  If you don`t mind taking a quick break with us here for a second, I`d love  to talk to you about that when we come back.

WARNER: Sure.

MADDOW: All right. Senator Mark Warner will be back with us in just a  moment. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MADDOW: Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat in the Intelligence  Committee, is still with us tonight.
Senator, thank you again for being here.

Just as we were getting on the air tonight, "The Washington Post" broke the  news that the president ignored written directions to him today from his  national security aides when he called President Putin of Russia today.  His national security advisers reportedly told him in all capital letters,  do not congratulate Vladimir Putin. He congratulated Vladimir Putin on his  election this weekend. He also reportedly ignored their direct advice that  he should condemn Putin for the nerve agent attack in the U.K.

First of all, I just wanted to ask your reaction to that news, and your  reaction to the president`s congratulatory call to President Putin today.

WARNER: Well, Rachel, I think John McCain put out a statement today, and  his words were better than mine. He says the leader of the free world  doesn`t call up and congratulate a dictator over a sham election. And  clearly that`s what happened today.

And what is evident is that even Mr. Trump`s own advisers say it`s time now  to stand with our closest ally, the U.K. He chose not to raise that issue.

Obviously, this was an election in Russia where the candidates who had a  potential chance of better contesting Mr. Putin didn`t even get a chance to  win.

America has always been about free elections and spreading democracy around  the world. And here, we`re congratulating a leader who`s against the  principles that America stands for.

And unfortunately, Rachel, before you went to the break, you`re talking  what we did with our committee, one of the reasons we acted today with the  Illinois primary happening, with elections already happening this year is  we`ve had in the last three weeks, public testimony again from Trump  advisers who were the FBI director, the director of national intelligence,  the National Security Agency director, all saying that Russia was going to  continue to intervene. They did it at a very cheap price. They would  continue to do it. They`re intervening in other elections.

And they all said they had not received any directions from the White House  to make election security a top priority.

So, our committee came out bipartisan, virtually every member of the  committee showed up at the press conference today and said, hey, we need to  do some basic blocking and tackling. We need to make sure that election  security officials have appropriate clearances so they can be informed if  we see patterns of election interference. We need to make sure every  voting machine has an auditable paper trail. Even if they hack, there is a  paper trail that we can audit.

We need to make sure that we provide very information sharing so we are on  guard because these Russian tactics did not end in 2016, and they will  continue unless we`re better protected. That`s why I thought it was  important for us to act as a committee.

Again, I would point out in a bipartisan way on this topic of election  security.

MADDOW: And as you point out, it is very important that those are  bipartisan recommendations. There`s been so little that is bipartisan in  the public discussion about the attack in 2016 and the way to prepare for  it.

Moving ahead, is there a -- is there a vehicle, is there a legislative  vehicle, is there a funding vehicle for getting some of these  recommendations accomplished and quickly?

WARNER: Well, there is actually broadly based bipartisan legislation which  I agreed to co-sponsor today. Three Republicans, three Democrats. It`s  common sense. This shouldn`t require huge action.

This is -- you know, nothing is more basic than protecting the integrity of  our voting process. And we`ve got to have that paper trail. We`ve got to  have that information sharing. You know, there is protecting the actual  voting machines, protecting the voter files.

I also frankly think we need to put out some good cyber hygiene habits for  basic campaigns. Campaigns are the ultimate startups, and they oftentimes  may not have cyber high on their list. But we have to be protected because  what we`ve seen, and not only in terms of Russian intervention in our  elections, but Russia attempted interventions in the French elections,  observations they intervened in the Spanish Catalan elections. The British  have come and visited because they`ve seen intervention in terms of the  Brexit vote.
We in Western democracies have to be on our guard.

MADDOW: Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat, the vice-chairman of the  Intelligence Committee, thank you, sir. I really appreciate the time with  you tonight. Thanks.

WARNER: Thank you, Rachel.

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