CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: Interview with Representative Mike Turner
Interview
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CABRERA: All right. Michael Zeldin, as always, thank you for your insight and expertise on this. I want to bring in Congressman Mike Turner now, a Republican of Ohio, he's a member of the Armed Services Committee and Select-Committee on Intelligence.
Congressman, good to see you. Does this new reporting on Rick Gates indicate to you --
REP. MIKE TURNER (R), OHIO: Good morning, Ana.
CABRERA: -- that Mueller is still focused on this question of collusion?
TURNER: Right. That is his mandate. And, you know, as the Intelligence Committee took a look at this, as you know, you know, we had Comey and Clapper and Brennan and everyone who had initiated the investigation coming forward and saying that they have no evidence of collusion or collaboration, but they have questions. And that certainly was the mandate that was given to the special counsel.
I don't think anyone should prejudge what's coming out of the special counsel one way or the other. I think we need to let the investigation go forward. I think, you know, throughout the investigation there will be steps in which we will look to, as you just did, your own legal analysis, to try to give us perspective. But I think it's premature for us to determine at all either way as to what the special counsel is finding or what they're undertaking other than understanding that is their mandate, including looking to Russia meddling in the election.
We need to stop that. We need to make certain that we find out exactly what occurred in the election and that we take actions to prevent that type of action in the future.
CABRERA: Do you have a problem with some of your Republican
colleagues going after Mueller and suggesting that he is out of the scope of his investigation, especially when you see evidence that he is getting right at the heart of his mission, looking into collusion and potential Russia election meddling involvement with members of the Trump campaign?
TURNER: I don't think anybody who is in a responsible position, and that being a position that's actually looked at the information and material undertaken, aspects and responsibilities of the election, review of what Russia meddling was and of the Trump campaign, has called for an end to the special counsel. In fact, I think it's quite the opposite. I think everybody understands that their function is different. The tools that they have available to them are different. And I think this is an important question overall for a country to get answered.
What was the activity that was undertaken by Russia? How do we stop it in the future? What actions were undertaken with both campaigns. And certainly I think it does bear scrutiny as to the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee funding opposition research that made its way into the FISA court as evidence against the Trump campaign. That's wrong. It shouldn't happen. I drafted a bill to prevent that in the future and it absolutely bears a special counsel review.
CABRERA: I do want to ask you about Sessions' appointment of this new federal prosecutor to look into some of the issues you just brought up. But real quickly, to kind of tie a bow on the Rick Gates reporting, were you aware of his contacts with this former Russian intelligence person, operative? And why didn't you call Rick Gates before the House Intelligence Committee in your investigation?
TURNER: Well, you know, I'm not going to comment on the information, on the classified materials that are -- at the Intelligence Committee that were reviewed. But I will tell you that the investigation the Intelligence Committee did was very thorough in the mandate that we had. And I think the special counsel's mandate is different and what he's undertaking. I think it's important. I think neither one of them should be viewed in -- as in conflict with the other. And so the special counsel should continue. And whatever we find as a result of their hard work, I think the American people will be glad to have the answers.
CABRERA: So are you saying the House Intelligence Committee simply didn't even look into the possibility of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia?
TURNER: No, I did not say that. And you know that not to be the case. In fact, what I said in the beginning of the interview is we had witness after witness that we questioned including Comey, Brennan, Clapper and all those who initiated the investigation and asked them specifically, do you have evidence of collusion or corroboration between the campaigns, and all of them answered in the negative.
[09:10:16] They said that there was sufficient information for questions for which the investigation was born. And even on your own news channel, those individuals have come forward and said there was at the time no evidence that they had of corroboration or, you know, that type of connection between the two campaigns. And that's the evidence that we found. We asked each one of these individuals this, and that --
CABRERA: OK.
TURNER: I think is the point at which our investigation stops and the investigation of special counsel begins.
CABRERA: And I know other members of the House Intelligence Committee, other Republicans have commented on the fact that they didn't actually call before the committee a lot of these members that we've now learned from the Trump campaign who are part of Robert Mueller's campaign like Papadopoulos, for example. Rick Gates is another example.
But let me pivot to other news out of the Department of Justice because I want to get your reaction to Attorney General Jeff Sessions' appointment of this U.S. attorney from Utah to investigate the potential FBI abuses of power and how the Clinton investigations were handled. I know you wanted to see a special counsel, didn't you?
TURNER: I certainly do. I think that the FBI and the Department of Justice do not have the ability to investigate themselves. That's the tool for a special counsel. That's why we look to appointing a special counsel, where we believe that there's a conflict in the ability to undertake an investigation and come to a conclusion.
In this instance, we have a serious disagreement as to processes at the Department of Justice and at the FBI. As you're aware, they used political opposition research, research that was funded by the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary campaign against an opposing presidential campaign. They did so rejecting that there was any conflict there in the materials that they had. They didn't use it to go find other evidence. They actually presented it to the court as evidence, even notifying the court that this was funded by the opposition campaign.
CABRERA: Right. I know that's what you weighed out in the memo --
TURNER: That's what --
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TURNER: The protections that we should have in FISA.
CABRERA: I apologize for stepping on top of you. I know there's this delay in our satellite transmission. But just to get back to again the fact that this person was appointed, I mean, he is going to look into what you have just discussed. Why can't he do as good of a job as a special counsel would? What's the problem that you have with this U.S. attorney?
TURNER: Well, as we were just saying, in this instance he's asking a person within the organization to investigate the organization. We want special counsel that's independent, that has full ability to pursue these issues to wherever they go. This is -- goes to the heart of our trust of the surveillance system that the FBI and the Department of Justice has.
Remember, this is where they undertook surveillance of an American citizen by using information that was funded by the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary campaign. That should never happen again. I mean, it certainly -- you know, if it should happen, then the Trump campaign in the future can do the same as they sit as an incumbent against their next opponent in 2020.
It's wrong. It's a corruption of the system. It takes us, you know, one step closer to being very concerned about democracy. And that bears a special counsel. When you have those types of elements, you know, surveillance of an American citizen, our constitutional rights, campaign money being used for dirt that's later presented as evidence, and the issue of our democratic system, those bear a special counsel.
CABRERA: All right. Congressman Mike Turner, I appreciate your time. Thank you for bringing your thoughts to us.
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