CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview With Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal

Interview

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BLITZER: Good for you. All right, thanks very much. That's exactly what you're supposed to be doing in a country that appreciates a free press, Jim Acosta on the scene for us in Tampa.

Joining us, Senator Richard Blumenthal. He's a Democrat. He serves on both the Judiciary and Armed Services Committee.

Senator, thanks so much for joining us.

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D), CONNECTICUT: Thank you, Wolf. Great to be with you.

BLITZER: So Paul Manafort, the trial has now started.

The administration insists this has nothing to do it all with the 2016 Trump campaign, even though he served for a few months as the Trump campaign chairman. What's your response to that?

BLUMENTHAL: The judge has said that neither Russia nor President Trump are on trial. True.

But the stakes couldn't be higher for the president here and for the special prosecutor as well, because obviously this trial is a critical step, a milestone in the special prosecutor's pursuit of both possible conspiracy and collusion with the Russians by the Trump campaign, but also obstruction of justice by the president of the United States.

BLITZER: How important is Rick Gates' testimony? Rick Gates, he was Manafort's deputy for a long time. He stayed on working for the campaign even after Manafort left. He's pled guilty. He's cooperating. He will be supposedly one of the star witnesses.

BLUMENTHAL: He will be a star witness, and he has given both the Judiciary Committee and other committees in Congress critical information that indicates that he has very compelling evidence against Paul Manafort.

And the defense strategy is going to be to put him on trial, to try to make him the defendant. It's a classic strategy.

BLITZER: But does he have corroborating evidence to back him up?

BLUMENTHAL: And there are more than 400 documents that are going to corroborate his testimony.

And they can challenge him. They can put him on trial. But cross- examining a document is very difficult to do, particularly when it relates to financial crimes, tax fraud and money laundering and other kinds of fraud, where there is a huge amount of money. We're talking tens of millions of dollars.

BLITZER: The president is now echoing his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and saying collusion is not a crime. What does that say to you?

BLUMENTHAL: That says to me that they are once again playing semantics. They're trying to use word games.

Collusion, whether it's called that or any legal agreement, amounts to conspiracy when it involves an agreement to violate the law; 18 United States Code 371, if there is an illegal agreement, whether it is by the center or one of the spokes on the wheel, it's a classic jury instruction that no defendant has to know all the purposes of the conspiracy or all the actors in the conspiracy.

If the president was part of a conspiracy, he's violated the law.

BLITZER: Let's talk about Michael Cohen for a moment, the president's former fixer and a lawyer. He says Donald Trump Jr. actually told his father about that Trump Tower meeting in New York City with the Russians in advance.

But that's not what we hear what Donald Trump Jr. told your committee, the Judiciary Committee; is that right?

BLUMENTHAL: That is correct.

And there is mounting evidence that Donald Trump Jr. misled or even more likely perjured himself before our committee and possibly other committees, because he denied telling his father about that meeting before it happened.

Remember, this meeting was critical. It was the meeting in Trump Tower that was supposed to be the opportunity to get dirt on Hillary Clinton from Natalia Veselnitskaya and other Russian agents. And if he is correct, Michael Cohen, and Donald Trump, the father, knew about this meeting beforehand, it certainly is very compelling evidence.

BLITZER: Because if you lie before a congressional committee, even if it's behind closed doors, that's a crime.

BLUMENTHAL: It is a crime. And Donald Trump Jr. is in increasing jeopardy of being prosecutable for that kind of crime.

BLITZER: Because it's interesting you say that.

Yesterday, I interviewed Democratic Congressman Steve Cohen of Tennessee. He's a member of the House Judiciary Committee. And he predicted that Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, both of them will eventually be indicted by Manafort.

BLUMENTHAL: They have increasing exposure here. And the evidence is increasing, not only in the amount of evidence, but also the credibility, because, for Michael Cohen's contention that the president knew beforehand, there's other kinds of evidence as well to corroborate Michael Cohen, which further increases the jeopardy for Donald Trump Jr.

[18:15:11]

BLITZER: So you think Donald -- you agree with Congressman Cohen that both Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner potentially could be indicted?

BLUMENTHAL: They have serious exposure. And it could well happen.

BLITZER: Let's talk about Facebook for a moment. You heard today they have removed a bunch of pages because of allegations, suspicion that foreigners, Russians particularly, were involved in spreading disinformation to foment dissent here in the United States, to foment division in the United States similar to what Russia did during the 2016 presidential campaign.

How concerning is this to you right now?

BLUMENTHAL: It's deeply concerning, but unsurprising, Wolf, because the director of national intelligence told us a week or so ago that the warning lights are flashing red.

We know from the briefings we have received that the Russians have continued their attack on our democracy. It's not only in the social media. It's also in cyber. Today, I introduced two bills on a bipartisan basis with Senator Graham and Senator Whitehouse aimed at election integrity and also countering this cyber-attack, increasing the penalties for cyber-crime, enabling the Justice Department to stop botnet attacks.

And so we need an all-of-government response. What we're seeing from the administration is exactly the opposite. They are not yet even implementing all the sanctions that we passed almost unanimously in the Senate sometime ago. I am a co-sponsor of the DETER Act.

My colleague Chris Van Hollen of Maryland talked about it just a little while ago on your show, very important that we heighten sanctions. But also there are other measures that we can and should take.

BLITZER: On another really important issue, you heard testimony from representatives of the House -- of the administration's Homeland Security Department. They testified before the Homeland Security Committee up on Capitol Hill, and they gave various explanations why more than 700 children are still separated from their mothers and their fathers.

What was your takeaway from the hearing there?

BLUMENTHAL: I found that these explanations, the attempt to explain the continued separation of children absolutely outrageous and incredible.

The most moving and powerful part of that testimony today, in response to questions I asked, was one of the career officials told me and the committee that it was the result of a deliberative process that actually took account of the pain and trauma that would be inflicted on these children.

That career official, Jonathan White, testified that the highest levels knew about the concerns that he and other career officials raised about this policy. So the explanations have been totally unsatisfactory.

And from the day that I went to the border, which was now six weeks ago, there's been no plan, no system to reunite these children. It amounts to official kidnapping and child abuse.

BLITZER: And I should say these Homeland Security officials testified before you Judiciary Committee in the Senate today, and a lot of people emerge very, very disturbed by what they heard.

Senator Blumenthal, thanks so much for joining us.

BLUMENTHAL: Thank you.

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