CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview With Ohio Congressman Michael Turner

Interview

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BLITZER: Alex, thank you very much, Alex Marquardt reporting.

Joining us now, Republican Congressman Mike Turner. He's a key member of the House Intelligence Committee.

Congressman, thanks so much for joining us.

REP. MICHAEL TURNER (R), OHIO: Thank you for having me.

BLITZER: CBS News has released an excerpt of the interview Jeff Glor, their anchor, had with the president earlier in the day.

Let me play a little clip about what the president now says he said to Putin.

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BLITZER: You believe him?

TURNER: Well, I know that this is certainly what we would all hope

that the president would say.

The one thing we know is that we know he didn't say that in public. And that's really where the failure was, and the cleanup had to happen.

This is very serious. I mean, we're talking about meddling in our democracy, penetration of the election apparatus in the various states, meddling in the various campaigns. This is something that you would want your president to be very strong on.

And, clearly, the president in public was not. I would hope that he certainly would believe that and certainly would make that statement more strongly and directly.

BLITZER: Why couldn't he? Why couldn't he, the president, say, when he was standing next to Putin at that lengthy news conference, what he told Jeff Glor of CBS News today, that, yes, Putin is responsible, that Russia meddled in the U.S. election?

TURNER: I can't imagine.

And what's really important about him having stood next to Putin and to have said it would have been that the world would have heard it, because Putin got a pass. The world knows that Putin and Russia is meddling in other countries.

We need to have the American president stand strong, when we're asking our allies, presidents and leaders and prime ministers, to stand strong. And here we have the president in front of the world not having stood strong against Putin and against meddling in elections, and really their -- the aggressiveness that they're showing throughout the world.

BLITZER: So why not do it? Why do you think he didn't do it?

TURNER: I can't imagine why he did not.

I certainly know that I think that the president is hearing us and hearing all of us who are loudly saying that this is something we expect our president to say, that it defends our democracy, he needs to be doing so, and that we're all incredibly disappointed that he did not.

So I think that this beginning of a process where he's making these statements hopefully will change the tune of this administration and of this president.

BLITZER: But maybe late. They're celebrating in Moscow. If you look at Russia TV, they're drinking champagne right now. They think this wasn't just a good meeting. It wasn't just a great meeting. It was a super meeting. It was beyond super, they're saying.

TURNER: Well, it is a meeting and it certainly is a press conference. What has to happen now is to see, where does policy go? We still have

very strong sanctions against Russia. We still are arming the Ukrainians against Russian aggression. We still are continuing major support for our allies in NATO.

And that has not changed, regardless of the statements that were made in Helsinki. And that's what I think Congress and certainly this administration have to dedicate themselves to.

BLITZER: A lot of people are worried about whether or not the United States is safe right now from the future Russian meddling going into the midterm elections.

You're speaking out boldly. You're a Republican. But so many of your Republican colleagues, they seem to be on the side. They're afraid, for whatever reason, to speak up. Why do you think so?

TURNER: Well, I don't know that they were afraid.

I do think, though, that...

BLITZER: Well, why are they silent?

TURNER: Well, I can't explain their silence.

I can only tell you about why I believe it's important to have this dialogue. I mean, this certainly -- from serving on the Intelligence Committee and the Armed Services Committee, working with NATO, I can tell you that the importance of the president's role here goes directly to the heart of our national security and that of our allies.

And the president needs to stand strong. If Russia sees any weakness, they fill that vacuum, and you get instability and an impact lessening our national security.

BLITZER: You wrote a letter to Devin Nunes, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. You're a member of that committee.

You wrote a letter to Devin Nunes, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. You're a member of that committee. You wrote a letter to Nunes, saying, quote, "There is no dispute that Putin intended to harm our democracy and hurt Clinton's campaign."

[18:30:18] Why did you feel it was necessary to remind the chairman of that?

TURNER: Well, when the report came out from the Intelligence Committee, there were a number of people who made statements that were sort of contrary, actually, to the context of the text of the report.

The report itself did find that Russia meddled in our election, and it did find that Putin was doing so for the purposes of damaging Hillary Clinton's campaign and, of course, the end result being in helping Donald Trump's campaign. We wanted to make certain -- I wanted to make certain that was no question, in my opinion, that that was the case. And certainly, I think the president is backtracking himself, and hopefully he'll stay focused on that that happened, that occurred, and we need to make certain it doesn't happen again.

BLITZER: A quick question on Montenegro, and I know you've been there. You're a strong supporter of NATO. The president seemed to question America's commitment to NATO, specifically the latest member, the 29th member of NATO, Montenegro, in an interview with FOX News. Let me play this clip.

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BLITZER: You're the chairman of the U.S. delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. What's your reaction to what we just heard from the president?

TURNER: Well, first of all, it's demeaning of Montenegro. And certainly, Montenegro is not going to start World War III. Who would start World War III would be Vladimir Putin, who he stood next to and gave a pass on his meddling in U.S. elections and meddling in our allies and his aggressiveness in Europe.

The issue with Montenegro is, you know, Article V under NATO, where we have joint defense, has only been invoked once, and that was to defend the United States after 9/11 in Afghanistan.

Montenegro is in Afghanistan with soldiers on the ground, helping defend the United States. It is part of your mutual alliance. It enhances our national security, and it certainly enhances all of Europe. We're glad Montenegro is in NATO. And yes, they're defending us; we'll defend them.

BLITZER: But that's not what the president seems to say, even though Montenegro, as you well know, was admitted formally, officially, to NATO in June of last year when he was -- it was on his watch. He was president of the United States. If he didn't want Montenegro to be a member of NATO, he could have taken actions to stop.

TURNER: You know, one thing else that the president's missing in this is that getting nations to join NATO doesn't just take them out of neutrality. It also takes them out of the sphere of influence that could be Russia and Vladimir Putin.

Montenegro has an important coastline that, if we had a Russian base in the middle of Europe, we would be outraged. Montenegro being our ally, being in NATO helps Europe and our national security.

BLITZER: Congressman Turner, thanks so much for joining us.

TURNER: Thanks for having me.

BLITZER: I'm glad you came on the show and told us how you feel. Appreciate it very much.

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