CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: Interview with Senator Jeanne Shaheen

Interview

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HARLOW: That is Republican Senator Lindsey Graham making a lot of news just moments ago. Our Manu Raju asking him if he would be supportive of something that has been put forward by Democrats, which is subpoenaing the translator who was in that Putin-Trump meeting.

With me now is the senator who initially proposed that idea earlier this week, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire.

Thank you for being here.

SEN. JEANNE SHAHEEN (D), NEW HAMPSHIRE: Nice to be with you.

HARLOW: What's your response to Lindsey Graham? He says in no world, absolutely not would I be supportive of this subpoena.

SHAHEEN: Well, I understand that a number of my Republican colleagues don't like this idea. But the point is, the point that Senator Graham made, and that is we don't know what the president agreed to in this meeting. The information we're getting about what was said is coming out of the Russian government, the Ministry of Defense in Russia is where we've heard what they've agreed to.

It's incumbent on the administration to let the American people and Congress know what was agreed to. We have an oversight responsibility. And if they won't tell us, then we've got to figure out how to get that information some other way.

HARLOW: So I understand that, but the pushback is, and look, to be candid, Lindsey Graham wants answers on Russia. You heard how critical -- he just called the Trump administration naive on Russia.

SHAHEEN: Absolutely.

HARLOW: So -- you know, so he is no apologist for the Trump administration on this front. But his point, Senator, is that if you do that, you have a chilling effect, right? I mean that there has to be some privacy to these things, some ability for translators just to be translators. Listen to what Scott Jennings, who was a special assistant to President George W. Bush, said about this idea last night.

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HARLOW: Does he have a point?

SHAHEEN: Well, he is wrong and he is being ridiculous. But the point is, the one that Senator Graham and I and so many others are making, we are not being given any information about what was said, what the president might have agreed to at his meeting with Vladimir Putin. I had the opportunity to hear from some State Department officials after Helsinki. I asked them a question about Syria and what had the president agreed to with respect to Syria, and they didn't know the answer to that. So clearly he is not everyone talking to his own administration about what he agreed to.

We have a responsibility to the American people to have an oversight of foreign policy and this administration is keeping us from fulfilling our responsibility.

HARLOW: Your Democratic colleague in the House, Representative Eric Swalwell, just this morning apparently tried to subpoena -- we're just learning, tried to subpoena the translator and that was struck down by an 11-6 vote in the House Intel Committee killing that effort to do it.

[10:25:09] Republican Senator John Thune said this is Democrats trying to make the story alive, but he also makes an interesting point. And he says the translator is someone who is probably not versed in policy and is not going to be able to explain the nuances of what went on there. Does he have a point?

SHAHEEN: I don't need somebody to explain the nuances. I need somebody to tell me what was said, what was agreed to. We don't have that information from this president. All we have is what the Russian Ministry is putting out. And that is not good enough for the American people and it is certainly not good in enough for Congress.

HARLOW: Are you getting any indication privately from your Republican colleagues -- I know Corker said he's considering it, of course he chairs the committee. You sit on the Foreign Relations Committee. But he said I don't even know if it's appropriate. Are you getting any indication from your Republican colleagues that they feel differently than Lindsey Graham who says absolutely not, meaning could this happen?

SHAHEEN: Well, I appreciated that Senator Corker is willing to consider the idea and see what might make sense. What we need is a commitment from this administration to bring in the officials who can tell us what was said and what was agreed to at the meeting in Helsinki. So far all they have done is provided obstruction. So if we can't get this information from the president, from the administration, then we have to figure out how to get it.

HARLOW: But to be clear and just put a button on it before I move on, you don't -- I mean, you don't have Republican senators privately telling you now they're on board, right? SHAHEEN: No, I haven't. I haven't heard anybody.

HARLOW: OK.

SHAHEEN: All I've heard is people saying that -- as you said, Senator Corker said that he would consider it.

HARLOW: Yes. Consider it.

SHAHEEN: Some others have said they don't like the idea.

HARLOW: You traveled to the NATO summit as well, part of a bipartisan delegation. And we all know how that went before the president heading to Russia. This morning the White House says it's all good, things are fine. Let me read you part of the reporting our Elise Labott has from a senior White House official on this. Quote, "There isn't a lot of cleanup because there doesn't seem to be a lot of spillage. The feedback we're getting from the Europeans is that they're relieved. They were worried he," the president, "was going to give away the store and he didn't. So they aren't thrilled with the optics, but they're are fine."

Are they fine? Is that what you were told?

SHAHEEN: I was not told they were fine. There was a great deal of concern at the summit in Brussels about what the president's intentions are with respect to the Article 5 commitments and the NATO agreement about his suggestion that he might pull the United States out of NATO. He said that again in a recent interview when he was talking about whether we should support Montenegro or not.

I would remind him that we had over 1,000 people from other countries killed defending the United States in Afghanistan after we were attacked on 9/11. The only time the Article 5 has been invoked for NATO was in defense of the United States. So the problem is the NATO summit turned out OK. But it raised concerns among our allies about whether or not the United States is a reliable partner and the more that that happens, the more it undermines or credibility and our ability to work cooperatively as allies to defend America and the rest of the NATO countries.

HARLOW: Senator Jeanne Shaheen, an important morning to hear from you. Thank you for being here.

SHAHEEN: Nice to be with you.

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