CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview With Illinois Congressman Mike Quigley
Interview
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
ACOSTA: And it makes you wonder if the president will directly confront Vladimir Putin at this upcoming summit in Finland, armed with this Intelligence Committee report saying that the intelligence community had it dead on.
Evan Perez, thank you very much. We appreciate it.
Joining me now, Congressman Mike Quigley. He's a Democrat and a member of the House Intelligence Committee.
I guess, first of all, President Trump, as you know, Congressman Quigley, he has cast doubt time and again on Russia's cyber-attack on the 2016 election, their meddling in 2016. He's falsely claimed that Democrats made this up to explain for their election losses.
Does this report make it harder for him to make those types of arguments? And are you heartened to see this work come out of the Senate, because now the American people can see something coming from both Republicans and Democrats about what happened in 2016?
REP. MIKE QUIGLEY (D), ILLINOIS: Today is a good day, after a long stretch of bad days.
Let's remember this finding was over a year-and-a-half ago. And it was with high level of certainty that the united, unanimous intelligence community had this finding.
The fact that the House committee had the opposite finding and was talking about the fact that there was no collusion just coincides with the fact that the House side tanked the investigation. And they worked hand in glove with the White House to obstruct the investigation at absolutely every turn.
ACOSTA: And the Senate Intelligence Committee says it found additional evidence of Russian interference. That is a very interesting portion of this report. Can you tell us what they might have found?
QUIGLEY: Well, I think there's a lot they might have found just stemming from what we found on the House side.
Mr. Conaway from Texas promised that they would release the transcripts of our investigation. I take him up on his promise. He's a good man. I think the American public deserves to know what we have learned. And I think it would add to what the Senate bipartisan committee has found and they stated today.
ACOSTA: And the Senate Intelligence Committee vice chair, Mark Warner, he tweeted this, and it's a very worrying thing that he tweeted. "Russia will be back in 2018. We need to be ready."
He's obviously talking about the midterm elections coming up in just four months from now. Are you confident the November elections will be secure, Congressman?
QUIGLEY: Not at all.
Just in the last appropriations cycle, I was able to secure $380 million to repair our election infrastructure. That amount has been zeroed out for 2019, as the primaries come to their conclusions and we head for the general election.
[18:10:03]
The State Department was given money, appropriated money to fight Russian meddling. They admitted in front of the Senate committee that they have spent none of that money.
The fact that the president of the United States continues to call this a witch-hunt and a hoax gives no one in these other states that are not prepared any incentive to move forward.
We have 13 states that have no paper record in their election equipment. So we wouldn't even know. We couldn't even go back after the fact to find out what the Russians did.
(CROSSTALK)
ACOSTA: So this could happen again, Congressman? This could happen again?
QUIGLEY: Most of our election equipment is so old, anti-cyber- attacking software wouldn't even work on it. We need to change this. We need to be prepared.
ACOSTA: And President Trump has repeatedly expressed his anger, Congressman, that Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation.
You're probably hearing some of our new reporting from Kaitlan Collins about Scott Pruitt's request to replace Sessions. If the president were to do that, would that mean the end of the Russia investigation? You do get the sense from Scott Pruitt that he does like to ingratiate himself with the president.
QUIGLEY: Look, he's done exactly what the president has told him to do at the EPA. You imagine the scenario here.
He goes there with the singular notion of ending this investigation. To do that, I imagine that he would have to fire Mr. Rosenstein, who -- would bring in someone else who would fire Mueller. I can't see any other reason he would do this, come to the rescue of the president of the United States under attack.
When these Senate Republicans came out with this report today, that was a great first step. What they need to do now is to protect the Mueller investigation, because this is additional evidence of the White House plan to end it.
ACOSTA: And do you think anyone could get confirmed to replace Jeff Sessions? Because, obviously, if Jeff Sessions were to leave the scene, that would be a huge firestorm here in Washington.
I would imagine you would have some Republicans who would be balking at replacing Jeff Sessions, because they would essentially see an effort to undermine the Russia investigation. Could anyone get confirmed to replace the attorney general?
QUIGLEY: I imagine someone could get confirmed. I would also imagine that they would have to make a commitment to not disturb this investigation. I don't think that's what they have in mind.
So it's time for profiles in courage. It's time for other Republicans to step up. Let this investigation take its course.
ACOSTA: And let me ask you this.
Devin Nunes, the chairman of your committee, is still aiming to get documents and testimony on how the Justice Department handled the Clinton investigation and the Russia investigation. Do you think he is doing the president's bidding?
QUIGLEY: I think he's been doing the president's bidding since day one, when he went to the White House with his midnight excursion, when he went along with the White House gag order that witnesses don't have to answer questions, when he agreed not to subpoena key witnesses and documents, when he put together the Nunes memo, which basically put our national security at risk.
The intel community and the Justice Department was extremely concerned with the recklessness of the information that was in that report. So this is absolutely no surprise. It's a continuation of the chairman's effort to help the president politically and legally, and in no way help the American public find out exactly what the Russians did and how to prevent it in the future.
ACOSTA: And, as you have probably heard, Congressman, there are these very disturbing allegations about Congressman Jim Jordan, that when he was a wrestling coach at Ohio State University, that he turned a blind eye to sexual abuse by a doctor there.
Obviously, we have to underline, these are accusations, these are allegations, they haven't been proven. The congressman's office has put out a statement saying that he did not do that.
Do you think, though, he should resign in light of these accusations that have come out?
QUIGLEY: I have just heard about them. I believe this investigation should be allowed its full force to move forward. I don't know enough ain't, having just, just heard this. It's extraordinarily disturbing. We will let the investigation process take its course.
Mr. Jordan has to come to terms with this.
ACOSTA: OK, Congressman Mike Quigley, thank you for tackling a lot of news tonight with us. Thank you very much for joining us, and happy Fourth to you, sir.
QUIGLEY: Happy Fourth, and a safe Fourth to all.
ACOSTA: Absolutely.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source