CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Angus King
Interview
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BLITZER: Kaitlan Collins at the White House, thank you.
Joining us now here in THE SITUATION ROOM, Senator Angus King. He's an independent who serves on both the Intelligence and Armed Services committees.
[18:10:04]
Senator, thanks so much for coming in.
SEN. ANGUS KING (I), MAINE: -ME): Sir.
BLITZER: I know there's restrictions on what you can say, what you can't say about Donald Trump Jr.'s testimony before your Intelligence Committee earlier today.
But are you satisfied with the testimony in general?
KING: Wolf, it's your job to ask that question and my job not to answer it.
I was there today, but I'm not going to comment on what went on in the meeting. Donald Trump Jr. decided to make those comments. But as a member of the committee, I'm not going to.
BLITZER: Well, are you restricted because it's classified information? Why aren't -- because eventually you're going to release the transcript, right?
KING: Eventually, but not now.
And our policy is, if it's committee-sensitive, we maintain that closed nature until it's appropriate to release the information.
BLITZER: Did you get -- and I know there are restrictions on what you can say, but did you get a clear answer on a specific question, whether Donald Trump Jr. told his father, Donald Trump, about that controversial Trump Tower meeting during the campaign?
KING: Wolf, you can keep asking, but I'm going to keep not answering. I'm not going to answer questions about what went on in that hearing.
BLITZER: All right, so let's move on.
(CROSSTALK)
KING: I would like to, as you know. I just can't.
BLITZER: I understand. I understand what you're saying. I know there are restrictions. And you're an honorable U.S. senator.
Some of your other colleagues maybe are answering some of those questions, but we will see how much detail is released. Are you going to be doing more of this? Your Republican chairman,
Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina, are you planning on trying to get more witnesses to come before the committee to elaborate on the Mueller report?
KING: Richard Burr has handled this, I think, very professionally from the very beginning.
And he said at the very beginning he was going to follow the evidence where it leads. That's what he's done. There are still loose ends that the committee is going to be following up. There's information that we need to develop in order to finalize our report.
The important distinction between us and the Mueller report is, Mr. Mueller is a prosecutor. He was looking for federal crimes that could be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. We're looking for the facts and what happened, and particularly how to prevent it from happening again.
So, we're not -- the word collusion has been thrown around. Mr. Mueller never used the word collusion in his report. He talked about criminal conspiracy. And he didn't find that. Whether there were contacts between the Russians and the Trump campaign is still something that we're working on. It's the last phase of our report.
And I believe Richard Burr is going to be true to his word. He's going to follow the evidence.
BLITZER: So, you have confidence in the chairman, the Republican chairman --
KING: I do.
BLITZER: -- who works apparently closely with the vice chairman, Mark Warner of Virginia.
KING: That's right.
And I have great respect for Richard Burr, because, I don't know this, but I suspect he's been under some pressure along the way of this process.
BLITZER: When you say that, elaborate on what you mean. Pressure from the White House?
KING: Well, I think just from generally the people that want this to be over with and wind it up and those who say the case is closed.
Richard Burr has stood up to that and is acting honorably, as he should.
BLITZER: You believe he has sufficiently explained what was controversial, his role in the Mueller report, when he mentioned telling the White House about sensitive information that he, as a so- called member of the Gang of Eight, had received?
KING: I think he was -- I have talked to him about that. And I think
he was communicating to the White House who the witnesses they wanted to call and what our committee was -- what witnesses we were after.
Incidentally, he may have mentioned that information. I don't think it was a serious breach on his part. And I have seen no evidence of his cooperating or, to use another word, colluding with the White House on this -- on this investigation.
BLITZER: The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Congressman Adam Schiff, he's threatening to subpoena now the FBI director, Christopher Wray, to get answers, specific answers, on whether the counterintelligence investigation that's going on by the House Intelligence Committee into President Trump is still active.
Do you know if it's still active in the Senate Intelligence Committee?
KING: Yes.
Our whole investigation is a counterintelligence investigation. It's still active. We're not finished. We have finished some portions, for example, the portion dealing with interference with state election systems, the section dealing with what the Obama administration did or didn't do.
So some of the sections are done, but we're still looking at the counterintelligence questions and the relationship between the Trump...
BLITZER: Is the FBI director cooperating with your counterintelligence investigation?
KING: We have not had any lack of cooperation thus far from the FBI. They have, in fact, been very cooperative, as have the other intelligence agencies.
BLITZER: On a different subject, let me get -- it's a sensitive issue, because I know you're involved in the tariffs that are being imposed on China.
What's your reaction to the latest statements from the president that these tariffs, which are very significant right now, could explode and affect exports from your home state of Maine, for example?
KING: Well, they already are.
When you impose tariffs on someone else, you have to expect they're going to retaliate. And China have retaliated almost immediately. And one of the first things they retaliated against was lobsters. And lobsters to China was our largest export growth market.
[18:15:01]
And it went from a very significant number to almost zero, well over $100 million of a year worth of lobsters. And what bothers me about this, Wolf, is that when I saw the press
conference with the president, remember when he had the guys behind him in the cowboy hats, and he was talking about giving $16 billion to the farmers of the Midwest? My reaction was, what about lobsters?
I mean, we have exactly the same kind of retaliatory tariffs against us by China. And so far anyway, the administration hasn't reached out and said, yes, we want to help you.
And, by the way, it's not just lobsters. It's products all over America that are being subject to this. Plus, we're paying the tariffs. The idea that China's paying the tariffs just isn't true. This is a tax on the American consumers.
The president may be right. He may win this gamble by this high- stakes shock and awe tariff campaign against China. But, if he doesn't, and if it persists, it's going to significantly affect our economy, and it's going to hit people in the wallet.
BLITZER: Senator King, thanks so much for coming in.
KING: Thank you, Wolf.
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