CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Serial Bombing In Austin, TX
Interview
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But joining us right now is Republican Congressman Mike McCaul of Texas. He's the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. His district includes Austin, Texas. I want to get to what's happening in Austin. It's pretty frightening, as you well know.
REP. MIKE MCCAUL (R), TEXAS: Yes, I know.
BLITZER: In a moment. A couple of news questions. I want to get your thoughts on this Cambridge Analytica. This scandal that's going on right now. You've heard these executives claim --
MCCAUL: Right.
BLITZER: -- they were the ones responsible, because they had access to all these Facebook profiles, of getting Donald Trump elected president of the United States. There's questions of legality, and there's questions of even homeland security, as far as our elections are concerned. Your reaction?
MCCAUL: Well, I think there's a question of privacy. I think it impacted 50 million Facebook accounts. I think the app itself from Cambridge Analytica impacted about 275,000 users. So I think -- I know Senator Thune sent a letter to Facebook asking
about the privacy implications. I do see hearings on this issue to see what happened here, how were these --
BLITZER: You want to hold hearings?
MCCAUL: I think it will take the lead. They sent a letter to find out, is privacy violated in this case? So I'm not sure if the campaign knew that they were getting 50 million users. But, you know, that's something that will come out.
BLITZER: Yes. Because a lot of people want Mark Zuckerberg to come up to Capitol Hill, not just some executives or some lawyers, but to personally go up there and answer questions. Would you support that?
[06:20:10] MCCAUL: I would. And look, I got the briefing in October. Gang of Eight before the 2016 elections. It was clear to me Russia was meddling in the election. Been very consistent. We should call them out for what they're doing and there should be consequences. And those are the sanctions.
BLITZER: And today the leadership of the Senate Intelligence Committee said they're doing it now. They're getting ready for the midterm elections.
MCCAUL: And they are. They are.
BLITZER: Which raises the question. The president today, he congratulated Vladimir Putin on his election. Let me read to you what Senator John McCain said when he heard that.
"An American president does not lead the free world by congratulating dictators on winning sham elections. And by doing so with Vladimir Putin, President Trump insulted every Russian citizen who was denied the right to vote in a free and fair election to determine country's future including the countless Russian patriots who have risked so much to protest and resist Putin's regime."
Your reaction to that?
MCCAUL: Well, look, I think the president is trying to be diplomatic. Let's make no mistake: Putin is not our friend. He never has been. He's been very aggressive in Crimea, the Ukraine, the Baltic region. He wants to regain the glory of the old Soviet empire. He did meddle in our elections. He is actively, from my briefings, is trying to influence the 2018 elections.
So I think we need to stand up firm like we have with Kim Jong-un. Let's stand up firm to Putin in Russia, Xi in China and also, Iran. Those are the main foreign adversaries.
BLITZER: Because there's concern that they're also potentially going to hack the nation's power grid. The electrical, the water system, as well. You're the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee. Are they attempting to do that? MCCAUL: They already have. And the question is, do they have
fingerprints in our SCATA systems? Are they in our, you know, critical infrastructures, currently? We know that they have capability to shut things down. So does China with espionage, as well. China stole 20 million security clearances, including my own.
This is all going on in cyberspace, and that's something my committee has been very vocal about.
BLITZER: Here's the problem. Is the president personally -- I know some of his cabinet members are involved, but is the president personally speaking out enough about this? Doing enough about it? Because you rarely, if ever, hear him say a critical word about Putin.
MCCAUL: I think he finally has acknowledge that they meddled in our elections.
BLITZER: Barely.
MCCAUL: And I think, you know, when you look at it from his CIA director, maybe his State Department, the secretary, I think they've all come out. The NSC has also.
BLITZER: They have. But the president doesn't. The president never says anything, you know, that's even remotely critical of Putin.
MCCAUL: And I think he --
BLITZER: Today he congratulated him on his win.
MCCAUL: I think he would be well advised to condemn and criticize.
BLITZER: You would want him to speak out?
MCCAUL: I would.
BLITZER: Yes. Are you -- are you confident that our elections, our mid-term elections are going to be safe, secure, free and fair? The Russians won't be able to change votes, if you will?
MCCAUL: That's something that they can't -- in terms of the voting machines themselves that are unplugged from the Internet, what we are worried about is the campaign disinformation warfare that they -- we know they're trying to attack.
We're also worried about members of Congress being hacked into with these phishing e-mails. That, you know, I get probably ten of those a day. And I think they have begun a very active campaign to influence the 2018 elections.
BLITZER: Let's talk about what's going on in Texas right now, in your hometown of Austin. This looks like a serial bomber may be on the loose.
MCCAUL: It's frightening. And for me it's personal. I talk a lot about terror events across the world. This one is in my home town of Austin. There were four bombings. Last night, the fifth one, it looks like -- I talked to the head of the FBI down there and the ATF, and my police chief. It looks like they're all interrelated.
BLITZER: Is there one individual, you suspect, behind it, or are there multiple?
MCCAUL: We don't know at this point in time. We know the devices are very similar.
BLITZER: The one including the trip wire is similar to the other two?
MCCAUL: The trip wire and the one that went off at the FedEx. Now remember, that package was going from Austin -- went through Schertz. The sender was to Austin, Texas.
BLITZER: What does the sophistication of the bombs tell you?
MCCAUL: I think it is fairly sophisticated. The trim wire shows a high level of sophistication. I'm concerned about -- this is almost like the sniper incident you had on the East Coast. You don't know where and when the next sniper is going to hit.
And that's the anxiety in my home town right now. But I will tell you, we've deployed 500 agents down there: 400 FBI, 100 ATF. We have our Department of Public Safety, APD, and all the other police departments surveilling Austin. I think with the evidence we may get from this latest bomb, there was a package also found at the airport that we think may be linked to him as well. That can provide, because it didn't explode. That could provide information, because it didn't explode, it could provide information about fingerprints, DNA, that sort of thing.
Is this domestic terrorism?
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MCCAUL: Well, I defer to the FBI on that. If they open the case up as domestic terrorism, then that's their call.
I was the chief of counterterrorism and national security down in Austin, Texas, for many years in the U.S. attorney's office. So they open the case as domestic terrorism or international terrorism. We still haven't ruled out ISIS. Although I would say if it was ISIS, I think they would have claimed credit for it at this point in time.
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BLITZER: If ISIS were involved in the bombings?
MCCAUL: But we do know that ISIS does -- they do want to send bombs in packages. And that's what concerns me about this. That this looks more like an anarchist if you ask me.
BLITZER: Yes, well, let's hope for the best, and hope you find this guy, or these people who were involved in this. People are terrified right now. MCCAUL: You have to be really careful. A package on the front door
and you don't know what it is. Don't open it up.
BLITZER: Yes. Just call 911.
MCCAUL: I agree.
Not just in Austin but in that whole area, digging elsewhere, as well. Just be cautious.
Mike McCaul, thanks so much for joining us.
MCCAUL: Thanks, Wolf.
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