CNN "Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees" - Transcript: Interview with Congressman Adam Schiff of California

Interview

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COOPER: Jeff Zeleny, thanks very much.

Reaction now to the latest move by the White House, as well as the president's claim that Russia is now targeting Democrats -- working for Democrats. Joining us is Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff, ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee.

So, Congressman Schiff, I'm wondering what your reaction to this move by the White House to stop announcing calls with foreign leaders. To some people, it may not sound like a big deal. It certainly sounds like chipping away at transparency.

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA), RANKING MEMBER, INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: It certainly is chipping away at transparency and I think it's the cumulative impact of some of his conversations -- leaking in the past, leaking do not congratulate Putin, and then of course he goes and congratulates him.

[20:10:09] This is a president who doesn't trust his own staff, doesn't trust really anybody around him. This is why I think he wanted to go into that meeting with Putin without any witnesses.

And, you know, watching Mike Pompeo and Sarah Huckabee Sanders try to answer the question, what did the president commit to, or what did they even discuss, you know, it's not difficult to read between the lines, both of them saying basically we have no idea. We really have no idea what they talked about, except in the most general terms.

Well, I guarantee you the Russians have a very specific idea of what the president had to say. And they are framing that discussion now in the absence of any commentary by the United States. And this is the other problem, that is if they cease to do any readouts of phone conversations, we may not know they take place at all. And if they do take place and a foreign government decides to set the agenda of what was discussed, we won't have necessarily any push-back from the United States.

COOPER: It's -- I mean, it's also amazing that -- I mean, in any other time, you know, a one-on-one meeting with a foreign leader might not seem like such a dangerous thing for a president of the United States to do, but the idea that it's President Trump is the one who would be briefing the secretary of state, the secretary of defense, anybody at the White House about what was actually discussed when we know the president has in the past said things to Sarah Sanders or others that turned out not to be the case or he reversed it later after they went out publicly and said, well, this is what happened, and then the president undercuts them the very next day.

So, if he's the only narrator of events to the secretary of defense, the secretary of state, he's not necessarily the most reliable of narrators.

SCHIFF: Well, that's certainly the case, even when he says things publicly, he tries to reinvent them afterwards. Even when he said would, he now he she's meant wouldn't. Of course, there is nobody to correct the record on anything that was said privately with Vladimir Putin.

But this is -- this is just it. The president really doesn't want a witness. He's not willing to stand behind publicly what he is saying privately, and that ought to concern all of us, because we've already seen the damage that he did publicly.

But it's extraordinary. You know, even as a member of Congress, I know this is true for my colleagues, when we have important meetings, we want someone else there, in large part because if there is follow- up to be done, we don't want to rely solely on our own recollection. We also don't want to rely solely on our impression of what the other party said.

So, I always want staff present and to be able to say, OK, how do we operationalize this and what than, and what did you think of this comment? We're getting none of the benefit of that. The president is getting none of the benefit of that. And I think that is obviously to the detriment of our country.

COOPER: I'm wondering what you make of the president's invitation to Putin to come to the White House this fall.

Ambassador Nikki Haley very clearly today said that the U.S. doesn't trust Putin or Russia. I'm not sure she is speaking for the president there. She also said you can't get to the end of the other side if you don't have those conversations, meaning those kind of conversations with Russia's leader.

Is there a chance another meeting could be a good thing?

SCHIFF: Well, you know, if the Russians are hesitant at all a, it's because the Helsinki summit could not have gone better for them, and they may view this as an effort by the president to somehow redeem himself.

But in terms of Ambassador Nikki Haley's comments, she often strikes me as the ambassador to the United Nations from a country of her imagination, representing a president of her imagination who bears no resemblance to this president, because plainly, what she's articulating is not the view of this president. This president thinks Putin is a chum and admires his strength and talks about the strengths of his denials.

In the Trump world, if you deny something, it didn't happen. That's all that matters. People admit anything are just losers. But, of course, that's not how the real world works.

COOPER: And last, I just want to ask about the president's tweet today that Russia will be pushing, in his words, very hard for Democrats in the midterms because nobody has been tougher on Russia than President Trump.

Does that -- I mean, I don't know where that's coming from. It just seems in stark contrast to what Putin said last week and what Mr. Trump himself said last week, which is, you know, in the four hours since the summit began, you know, there's been essentially a reset on relations.

SCHIFF: Well, honestly, Anderson, where it comes from is the fifth grade. It's a version of I know you are but what am I.

For this president to claim nobody is tougher on Russia, this president who has denigrated NATO and sought to weaken Europe and who has praised Putin who has talked about inviting Russia back into the G8, who has basically diminished their invasion of their neighbor, he has a dream come true for the Russians.

[20:15:03] And the idea that oh, the Russians definitely don't want Mr. Difficult, Tough Trump is a complete fiction. And it would be laughable if it was coming from somebody other than the president of the United States.

COOPER: Well, I mean, Philip Bump from "The Washington Post" made the point today that this week could be kind of laying the groundwork for the president to blame Russia if the Democrats take the House or the Senate in November.

SCHIFF: Well, you know, that's always a possibility, that he is laying the mattress to blame the Russians for a loss in the midterms. But honestly, I think that may give him more credit than is due. I think this is just what the president does, which is whatever you level against me, I level back at you, but I do it doubly hard. That seems to be what's going on here.

COOPER: Yes. Congressman Schiff, I appreciate your time. Thank you.

SCHIFF: Thanks, Anderson.

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