CNN "State of the Union" - Transcript: Interview With Virginia Senator Mark Warner
Interview
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TAPPER: We are told that Ambassador Bolton was prepared to do the interview and we invite him to join us at any time.
I want to bring in now Democratic Senator Mark Warner of Virginia. He's the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee.
He joins us now live.
Senator, thanks so much.
I want to play for you what President Trump said this morning about those 12 Russian military --
SEN. MARK WARNER (D), VIRGINIA: Well, Jake -- Jake, first of all -- Jake, let's --
TAPPER: Yes. Go ahead.
WARNER: Well, Jake, let me just make clear, I'm not -- I'm not afraid to come on CNN.
So, even if the White House doesn't want to send someone, I'm happy to be on your show.
TAPPER: We appreciate it, sir.
I want to play for you what President Trump said this morning about those 12 Russian military officials who were indicted. Let's take a listen.
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TAPPER: Now, Senator Warner, obviously, the Russians are responsible for Russian actions.
But looking at the indictment and everything we know now about the Russian election interference, in retrospect, shouldn't President Obama and his administration have done much more?
WARNER: Jake, our committee will lay out what the Obama administration and the FBI should have done or shouldn't have done shortly. But the basic facts remain.
The reason why we have difficult relations with Russia is not because of the Mueller probe, but because Russia intervened in our elections. They hacked into the Democratic National Committee, hacked into Hillary Clinton's team.
They interfered in over 20 states' electoral systems. They used social media in ways that were unprecedented. This was a full-on assault on our democratic system. And, matter of fact, as the intelligence community assessment made and our committee reaffirmed, they did it with the intent of helping Trump and hurting Clinton.
That's the reason why we have difficult relations with Russia. And I'm stunned that this president will not call out Vladimir Putin or Russia's bad behavior.
TAPPER: Well, with all due respect, sir, you didn't answer my question, which is, President Obama did not do enough to stop this while it was going on in 2016.
I think that seems obvious to anybody reading the indictments or reading the newspaper for the last two years. Do you disagree?
WARNER: I think that the FBI could have done more.
As a matter of fact, when the October 7th letter came out where the Obama administration did point out the threat of Russian interference, strangely enough, it was the exact same day that both the Podesta e- mails were hacked and released, and it was the same day of the famous so-called Bush "Hollywood" tapes.
TAPPER: President Trump was asked this morning by CBS if he would consider pushing for the extradition of these 12 Russian military intelligence officials accused of hacking and interfering in the election. Take a listen to his response.
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TAPPER: So, he says he hadn't thought about requesting the extradition of these 12 officials.
What do you want President Trump to do when he meets with Vladimir Putin in the building behind me tomorrow?
WARNER: Listen, I don't think Putin will probably deliver those 12 Russian spies, but I sure as heck think the president of the United States ought to ask that these Russian spies are actually released to the American government for American legal process to continue.
They attacked our government. This is -- and, again, let's take the Mueller investigation in full, over 30 indictments, five guilty pleas. And we still have whole questions around obstruction of justice, and the various people who were part of the Trump campaign who are now cooperating with the government to see whether there was absolutely collusion. These are still questions that Mr. Mueller's investigation have to answer. And I just wish the one thing the president would stop doing was stop calling this a witch-hunt. This has been a very productive investigation that has put further proof to the facts around the Russian intervention in our elections.
TAPPER: But just to ask you, do you have any hesitation criticizing President Trump while he's overseas, given the old adage that politics should stop at the water's edge?
WARNER: Listen, I'm saying to Mr. Trump and to his White House, let's make sure that we put more people in that meeting with Vladimir Putin, a trained KGB agent.
We need to make sure that the Americans and, for that matter, the world gets the straight story of what happens in that meeting.
But let's also examine the fact this is a president throughout the last week who has basically treated our allies like adversaries in ways that were, I believe, totally inappropriate, and continues to treat our adversaries -- tries to act like they are -- like they are friends.
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I don't believe that is in the best interest of making America safer.
TAPPER: You raised president behavior -- President Trump's behavior at the NATO summit.
The NATO secretary-general has said that President Trump has had success in pushing U.S. allies to spend more on defense, which has long been a charge of U.S. presidents.
Take a listen to this exchange.
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TAPPER: That's the U.N. secretary general, Stoltenberg, crediting President Trump with getting U.S. allies to chip in more. Isn't it fair to say that his strategy here is working?
WARNER: Well, Jake, clearly, I think other NATO company -- countries should chip in more. That's been a goal of American through Democratic and Republican administrations for decades.
But, at the end of the day, we will see if that actually happens. This president has a tendency to make bold statements after meetings, and there may or may not be results afterwards.
Let's go back to the president's photo-op opportunity with Kim Jong- un. After that meeting, he said -- if I remember correctly, he tweeted that Americans can sleep soundly because North Korea is no longer a nuclear threat.
Well, we have clearly seen that that declaration was not true in terms of the follow-up meetings and in terms of our own intelligence assessments that North Korea has done virtually nothing to actually denuclearize.
So, the proof will be in the pudding. Let's see if these European countries actually step up and spend more. I would be very -- I would be pleasantly surprised if that proves to be the case.
TAPPER: All right, Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, thanks so much for your time, as always.
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