NBC "Meet the Press" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Mark Warner

Interview

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CHUCK TODD:

You got it. And joining me now is the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Senator Mark Warner of Virginia. Senator Warner, welcome back to Meet the Press.

MARK WARNER:

Good morning.

CHUCK TODD:

Obviously as a Virginia senator, the shutdown is first and foremost on your mind. I get it. It's part of the reason why we wanted you on this morning. But Mr. Giuliani seemed to make some news this morning that we had not heard before about the Trump Tower Moscow deal. He is now saying it was an active potential proposal, at least through October or November. Is that news to the Senate Intelligence Committee?

SEN. MARK WARNER:

That is news to me. And that is big news. Why, two years after the fact, are we just learning this fact now, when there's been this much inquiry? And I've got to tell you, Chuck, I would think most voters, Democrat, Republican, Independent, you name it, that knowing that the Republican nominee was actively trying to do business in Moscow, that the Republican nominee, at least at one point, had offered, if he built this building, Vladimir Putin, a three-penthouse apartment, and if those negotiations were ongoing while -- up 'til the election, I think that's a relevant fact for voters to know. And I think it's remarkable that we're two years after the fact and just discovering it today.

CHUCK TODD:

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What does this mean to you? He, throughout the campaign, said, "I had no deals with Russia. I have no business with Russia." I think reasonable people would disagree that, "I have no business with Russia," and an active potential deal does sound like you want business with Russia. So maybe he's going to parse the sentence here. What does that say to you about his -- what does that -- does that question your -- whether he should be in office?

SEN. MARK WARNER:

Well, it, it reinforces the fact that we have to finish our investigation, the Senate investigation, which is still the only bipartisan one left. We need to have Mueller finish. And what we've seen is, and I don't often feel bad for Rudy Giuliani, this morning, just seeing that interview, I almost feel bad for him. He keeps having to readjust his stories, as more facts come out. So we now know that Mr. Trump or his operation was still trying to do business with Moscow up until his election. We now know that his campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, gave confidential information to a Russian agent, and we don't know what that Russian agent did with that. We now know, as well, and one of the questions I still am trying to get answered, is that, frankly, embarrassing meeting between Trump and Putin, where on the world stage, the President of the United States kowtowed to the Russian president. I still don't know -- they don't have to tell me, but I still don't know whether anyone in the Trump administration, at the most-senior levels, ever got a readout. That raises a whole host of questions that the American public needs an answer to, and the Congress needs an answer to.

CHUCK TODD:

You said earlier this week that you expect to have Michael Cohen back in front of your committee in February, as well. We know about his public testimony that he's agreed to give, I think, to the House Oversight Committee, at this point. Have you gotten -- has he agreed to this yet?

SEN. MARK WARNER:

We're still in conversations. Chairman Burr and I have agreed, for some time, that we wanted to bring Cohen back. He also has agreed to testify, publically. I know the House Intel Committee is bringing him back, as well. And we particularly want him back, because it was his original lies to our committee that got him into trouble. Those lies were saying, "There was no activities on the Trump Tower after January of 2017."

CHUCK TODD:

Do you have evidence that, somehow, the president instructed Mr. Cohen to lie to Congress?

SEN. MARK WARNER:

Listen, we want to get Mr. Cohen to come before our committee and give testimony.

CHUCK TODD:

Do you know -- do you have any evidence?

SEN. MARK WARNER:

I'm not going to go in, I'm not going to go into any of the materials that we have. I do know that it is one of the reasons, though -- where, I think, part of this information may reside is within the Mueller investigation. Again, one of the critical reasons why we need assurances that that investigation will be able to be finished.

CHUCK TODD:

It sounds like -- can -- it sounds like a lot of Democrats think that you guys need to start pushing your investigation faster, because Mr. Mueller is taking too long. Where are you on that?

SEN. MARK WARNER:

I want to get this done as fast as we can. I have as much frustration as anyone. But we have to do it in a thorough way. And there are a number of the key individuals, who we've either not seen or need to come back. And we are in those conversations right now.

CHUCK TODD:

Was it news to you, when the New York Times reported that a counterintelligence investigation was opened on the president?

SEN. MARK WARNER:

I'm not going to comment on that story from the New York Times.

CHUCK TODD:

Is that something, though, that if one had been, had been opened, that it would be information that would be shared with a select group of people?

SEN. MARK WARNER:

I'm not going to comment on what goes on in the Intelligence Committee.

CHUCK TODD:

All right. Let me move to the shutdown. I know the Democrats have rejected the deal. I know Democrats are working on their own counter proposal here. What are we to take away? What's the public to take away from the fact the president went out and offered something. You may not like it, but he offered something. Democrats are going to offer a little something. It's not going to be anything for a barrier. Is that progress?

SEN. MARK WARNER:

Let me, first of all, step back and say, let's make sure we all know what's at stake here. We have 800,000 workers that are either working or furloughed, not getting paid. We have hundreds of thousands of contractors. We think about the Smithsonian here, all the folks who clean the toilets and serve the food aren't getting paid. We have businesses that support those all across America. Senator Murkowski, from Alaska, showed a brewery in Kodiak, Alaska, empty yesterday, because it was in a Coast Guard town. The starting point of this negotiation ought to be reopening the government. And if we're not, at least what we ought to be willing to do -- because you think people have hurt so far? Come this Thursday, there's going to be a second pay period without a check. And then there's the beginning of the month, with all the bills coming due. The fact that we're going to go back and pay our federal employees back pay, let's at least pay them on Thursday, so they don't have to go through more angst.

CHUCK TODD:

So you can keep the government shut down and give them pay? Can you do both?

SEN. MARK WARNER:

I would start with opening the government. That's my most important criteria.

CHUCK TODD:

But do you think you can get them paid, while you still have this fight?

SEN. MARK WARNER:

What I'm saying is we try to have some discussions. At least getting them paid would make some sense. Let me just also make clear that what the president proposed yesterday, increasing border security, looking at TPS, looking at, at the Dreamers, I'll use that as a starting point. But you've got to start by opening the government. What we cannot do, and I've actually had Republicans as well recognize this, is that we cannot reward the kind of behavior of hostage taking. Because if the president can arbitrarily shut down the government now, he will do it time and again.

CHUCK TODD:

You do know, though, that already, the hit to GDP is greater than the amount of money he's asked for. We've already had a $7 billion hit to our economy. He's asking for $5.7 billion. At what point is it not worth it?

SEN. MARK WARNER:

And that's why, and that's why -- listen, going into negotiations, I'm all for it. Increasing border security, I'm all for it.

CHUCK TODD:

Some fencing? You've voted for it before.

SEN. MARK WARNER:

Start, start, start with opening the government. And the one thing, I guess, I'd like to ask, Chuck, you and the folks here at the studio, you know, I don't think we give our federal employees enough benefit. Five weeks now without pay, they're still showing up to work. They're working overtime. How many of the folks in this studio would come to work this morning, if they'd gone five weeks without pay?

CHUCK TODD:

It's a very fair question. And I think you would have a very empty studio. Senator Mark Warner, Democrat from Virginia. Thanks for coming on and sharing your views.

SEN. MARK WARNER:

Thanks, Chuck.

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