MSNBC "Hardball with Chris Matthews" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Mark Warner

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

MATTHEWS: Welcome back to HARDBALL.

That was President Trump, of course, today siding with Putin over his own  intelligence community on the topic of Russia interference in our 2016  election.

Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, a Republican, responded to the  press conference, saying -- quote -- "We have been clear in our assessments  of Russia meddling in the 2016 election and their ongoing pervasive efforts  to undermine our democracy, and we will continue to provide unvarnished and  objective intelligence in support of our national security."

Well, later this afternoon, President Trump tweeted: "As I said today and  many times before, I have great confidence in my intelligence people.  However, I also recognize that, in order to build a brighter future, we  cannot exclusively focus on the past. As the world`s two largest nuclear  powers, we must get along."
I`m joined now by Virginia Democratic Senator Mark Warner. He`s the vice  chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Senator Warner, thank you for coming on this big night.

SEN. MARK WARNER (D), VIRGINIA: Thanks, Chris.

MATTHEWS: Why would a president, in order to move on, if you will, accept  the lies of our enemy?

WARNER: Well, Chris, today my head, as was yours and probably most of  America and, for that matter, most of the world, was reeling.

We have seen this week where the president`s gone over, been disdainful to  our NATO allies, then has this one-on-one meeting, where, candidly, I  didn`t trust Mr. Trump to be alone with Mr. Putin. Mr. Putin, a KGB agent,  has been indicated come -- would come in much better prepared than Trump,  who I`m sure just winged it.

I would like to know what went on in that meeting. And then, in this press  conference afterwards, where he basically throws the whole American  intelligence community under the bus, and in this kind of weak kowtowing  position to Putin basically accepts Putin at his word.

Think about it. You made some historical references in the earlier  segment. If John Kennedy had accepted Khrushchev`s admonition that there  were no missiles in Cuba, the world might be very different. Or if Ronald  Reagan hadn`t continued to push Gorbachev on reforms and bringing down the  wall the, world might be very different.

Thank goodness we had stronger American presidents at that -- those moments  in time than we do today.

MATTHEWS: What do you think Putin was probing for when he had his two  hours with Trump all alone?

WARNER: You know, Chris, that is the $64 million question.

When we`d already seen Trump go into a meeting one-on-one with the North  Korean leader, and then come out and say, hey, everybody can rest easy,  North Korea is no longer a nuclear power, they`re going to agree to  denuclearize, and we have seen in the aftermath no progress, we have  clearly seen our intelligence community still say North Korea`s a threat.

Why was there such a necessity to have a one-on-one session, particularly  with a trained KGB agent, somebody in Vladimir Putin who has 18 years of  international experience and, as all the commentators have mentioned, is an expert at these kind of one-on-one encounters?

MATTHEWS: Do you think he was trying to probe on whether we would enforce  Article 5, that we would protect the Baltics if he made a grab for Latvia  or something or he wanted to enforce his control, his influence over  Ukraine?

Do you think he -- because he mentioned that in terms of economic  relations. Was he probing to see if we`d fight?

WARNER: Chris, I hope and pray not. But, again, we don`t know.

And one of the reasons why I think if -- if that American translator has  notes, I think, on a classified basis, the intelligence community ought to  take a look at it.

What was so remarkable for me today was, by happenstance, we had planned,  long had a meeting planned with the Atlantic Council, Senator Marco Rubio,  who was with me, where -- and Senator Amy Klobuchar, where we met with  parliamentarians from a number of those countries, Latvia, Estonia, from  Poland, from Ukraine, from Canada, all to talk about Russian intervention  in their elections.

So, this is not a pattern that Russia just took on with America. They have  taken on all of the West, because they realize, in the realm of cyber- incursions and misinformation and disinformation, it`s asymmetrical  warfare, and Russia`s pretty good at that.

So, there was a lot of evidence from our allies today and concerns that Mr.  Trump might be willing to weaken on his resolve. And…

(CROSSTALK)

MATTHEWS: Sure.

Well, how do you -- you`re the ranking Democrat on Intelligence, Senator.  You have got as much clout as any Democrat. It`s not as much as, say,  Richard Burr, your chairman, on Intelligence.

How would you and -- if you and Richard Burr got together on that  committee, could you insist on seeing those notes of the translator today  in that two-hour meeting? Can you get them?

WARNER: Chris, my hope is -- my hope is that we could get a look at the  notes in a classified setting.
My hope as well is that the Senate will act. The Senate did act before  Trump went off to these meetings in a 98-2 vote, reinforcing our commitment  to NATO.

Now, if the Senate or the Congress doesn`t act -- I`m glad to see my  Republican colleagues speak out. But if we don`t act in some formal way,  I`m afraid that America and, for that matter, the rest of the world is  going to believe that Trump`s position today, in terms of that weak  position to Vladimir Putin and accepting his lies, is in a sense now  American policy.

MATTHEWS: Well, let`s see what damage was done. I hope you can get those  notes.

Thank you so much, Senator Mark Warner of Virginia.

WARNER: Thank you, Chris.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source