CNN "State of the Union" - Transcript: Interview with Oklahoma Senator James Lankford

Interview

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TAPPER: Before we get to our first guest, I do want to note, we did ask the White House to provide us with a representative to join us this morning to discuss North Korea and more. The White House declined our invitation.

Joining us now from his home state of Oklahoma is Republican Senator James Lankford. He is a member of the Senate Intelligence and the Senate Homeland Security Committees.

Senator, first of all, I know that you're at an event right now honoring the survivors and the victims of the Oklahoma City bombing. Tell us briefly, if you would, just about that event.

SEN. JAMES LANKFORD (R), OKLAHOMA: Yes, April 19, 1995, we lost a 168

Americans here at the federal building bombing.

It was domestic violence and domestic terrorism that happened here. Every year since then, we have what we call the Memorial Marathon. It is what we call a Run to Remember.

This year, they're 25,000 runners all coming to remember what hatred and what violence, when that spills over, what that really does to lives and families. There are literally runners from all 50 states that are here, 13 countries.

So, it's a very significant event. We're right in the middle of it right now.

TAPPER: And our thoughts and our hugs are going out to the people of Oklahoma today.

Let's turn to the news, if we can, sir.

The White House says that the accusations brought forward by the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee against Rear Admiral Jackson, they're not true. Republican Senator Johnny Isakson, who chairs the committee, says he has no problem with how Senator Jon Tester, the Democrat that is on the committee, how he released this information. But the president is on the attack.

What do you make of this controversy?

LANKFORD: Yes, this is a back and forth.

Obviously, this is a part of the normal vetting process that the Senate does. The Senate takes every individual that has been nominated by the president, no matter who the president is, goes first through the committee process, makes the nomination decision that they choose to make on what they're going to do, what's called advice and consent from the Senate.

This particular nominee never made it through actually the committee itself. The committee did its work, and then never made a recommendation to the floor. So -- and, obviously, Dr. Jackson has now pulled his nomination entirely.

TAPPER: So, it doesn't sound like you have a problem with it either.

President Trump is now out there on the campaign trail suggesting that he has dirt on Jon Tester. You say Jon Tester was just doing the normal advise and consent role of the Senate, doing vetting of this nominee that the White House -- you didn't say this, but I will say it -- the White House apparently did not do.

[09:05:03]

Is it inappropriate for President Trump to say, "I have dirt on Senator Tester"?

LANKFORD: Yes, obviously, the president can choose to say what he chooses to say on it.

The pushing back and forth, this is part of the political world in D.C. But I would say, I'm not on the committee of jurisdiction there. Obviously, the committee does its initial work. Then it comes to the full Senate. So, I couldn't even tell you the rest of the details on this.

I can't tell you, he has served honorably for three different presidents. That does change the dynamic significantly, when you have got somebody that served in the White House for three different presidents of two different parties to then go through this process.

TAPPER: Another breaking story this weekend, Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Russian lawyer from that infamous Trump Tower meeting in June 2016, she told NBC News that she has closer ties to the Kremlin than originally disclosed.

She now calls herself a -- quote -- "informant" for the Russian government.

President Trump talked about this last night. Take a listen.

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TAPPER: It's an interesting theory.

But more to the point about the role of Natalia Veselnitskaya, you're on the Senate Intelligence Committee. What do you know about the role she plays with the Kremlin, if anything?

LANKFORD: Well, the role she plays with the Kremlin is, if you're an attorney at any point in Russia, and you're especially in Moscow and working with any individuals of the oligarchs, you are going to have some connection with government.

And they -- you may not know, as an American, what that is. It depends on the contracts, depends on the individuals that she had the opportunity to be able to work with. But there will be some sort of connection at someplace in that.

The interesting thing is to be able to actually see the meeting that she was a part of. We have done extensive investigation, walked through multiple interviews with everybody that was there to try to get the full information and the full details about that meeting, how it happened, what happened there, what happened afterwards.

So, we will have that in our final report, because we have done a very extensive look-through of that meeting.

TAPPER: Was any so-called dirt on Hillary Clinton shared with the Trump campaign at that meeting, as far as you know?

LANKFORD: Well, that was the implication of the meeting itself, when they -- they said that they were bringing some things to that meeting.

Actually, the topic of that meeting was never about dirt from Hillary Clinton once the actual meeting actually occurred. And we have corroboration from multiple individuals that were actually there at the meeting and around it.

The big challenge there, though, is, obviously, she was trying to come to be able to institute something in this conversation about getting more Russians to have sanctions removed from them. There was none of that. And there was no agreement about that at all and no real conversation about that in that meeting.

Again, we will have the play-by-play and the walk-through of that meeting in our final report. We're very focused on releasing a bipartisan report with all the facts and information and findings about that.

TAPPER: Senator, let's turn to the other major news this week, the summit announced between North and South Korean leaders and -- and one that took place.

President Trump said last night that he will meet with Kim Jong-un the next three or four weeks. Just a few months ago, I think it's fair to say no one would have expected this, a promise to shut down their nuclear sites by next month, end the declared state of war.

You yourself were just in the DMZ, the demilitarized zone, between North and South Korea just a few months ago.

Do you give President Trump credit for this?

LANKFORD: Well, he's part of the journey. There's no question on that.

President Trump has put in a set of sanctions that has actually brought North Korea to the table on it. They have isolated diplomats around the world for North Korea. They have been kicked out of multiple countries where they have been for a very long time.

They've been very isolated in their shipping out. They've been very isolated in moving energy. They have -- we have had -- on board ships where they were actually in the ocean trying to transition to other ships their materials and supplies. They're shutting that down.

So, North Korea is more isolated than they have ever been with sanctions, with very aggressive sanctions. So, there's no reason for us to be able to doubt that President Trump and the leadership of the State Department has made a big effort for that.

Clearly, South Korea and Japan have also made a big effort on that. And China has also stepped in, in a very big way. So, this international effort is bringing North Korea actually to the table, where they should be.

TAPPER: President Trump called Kim Jong-un -- quote -- "very honorable" this week.

As I don't need to tell you, Kim Jong-un has committed horrific human rights violations against his own people. He's executed top aides, ordered the murder of members of his own family. An international judge who survived Auschwitz says North Korean prison camps could be even worse than those.

Would you ever use the word honorable to describe Kim Jong-un?

LANKFORD: I would never use the word honorable to describe Kim Jong- un.

I think he's better to be able to just call him Rocket Man and to be able to stick with that than honorable, just because he is a ruthless dictator that does public executions of anyone who disagrees.

The reason that everyone in North Korea agrees with him is because he kills anyone who disagrees with him. And he has literally starved his own people to be able to help the elites.

[09:10:00]

So, it's entirely appropriate that we try to resolve this, not just for North Korea, but for the people of North Korea that have to live under this kind of dictatorship.

To kind of break this open would be a very significant international event.

TAPPER: One final question, Senator.

President Trump has said he's running for reelection in 2020. He held a campaign rally in Michigan last night. Will you back his reelection bid?

LANKFORD: I would, actually.

As we walk through this process to see what's happening in the economy, the taxes and what's -- what's occurred with the tax reform is making an incredible difference. I am encouraging the president to get things resolved on trade. If we can get the trade issues, that will be a very significant issue for manufacturing and for agriculture.

It's been no secret I have disagreed with the president on some of his moral choices, some of the ways that he says things. I don't speak the way he speaks, and I don't encourage my children to speak the way that he speaks.

But we also have to get policy implemented that's going to help Americans and America to be able to move forward.

TAPPER: Senator Lankford, always a pleasure to have you on. Thank you so much.

Please tell everybody in Oklahoma we're thinking about them today.

LANKFORD: I will. Actually, it's a very significant day here for us.

TAPPER: Thank you so much, sir.

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