CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Richard Durbin

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

BLITZER: Phil Mattingly up on Capitol Hill, thanks for that.

Joining us now, the number two Democrat in the U.S. Senate, the Minority Whip, Dick Durbin. He's also a top member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Senator, thanks so much for joining us. We have got a lot to get through.

But, first, is it appropriate, from your perspective, for the White House to assert immunity over Hope Hicks' testimony tomorrow before the House Judiciary Committee?

SEN. RICHARD DURBIN (D), ILLINOIS: I don't think so.

And if you look at their pattern, they're denying documents and witnesses every time they're asked. They're coming up with excuses for it. Ultimately, this president is trying to conceal an awful lot about his past.

BLITZER: The other major news we're following is this decision by Patrick Shanahan to withdraw from the defense secretary nomination.

Now, what does this say to you about the Trump administration?

DURBIN: Well, first, let me say, I have worked with Mr. Shanahan and found him to be a professional and a good person to work with.

Second, let me tell you, as I read some of the details, it's a heartbreaking family tragedy that occurred many years ago, but is significant in scope.

And, third, obvious question, this just came out? What kind of investigation, what kind of background investigation took place for this man to be deputy secretary of defense?

If you look at the acting commissioners and acting secretaries and acting deputies, on and on and on, you see people who have not been carefully vetted. That raises questions about whether or not there are other situations with a background that's going to cause some embarrassment.

BLITZER: You voted to confirm Shanahan as deputy defense secretary back in 2017. And the vote was -- and I'm checking -- 92-7, overwhelmingly in favor of confirmation.

Do you and other Senate Democrats bear some of that responsibility as far as thoroughly vetting him?

DURBIN: Well, I will accept responsibility, though I'm not on the committee that directly recommends to the Senate. I did vote for him.

I can understand how the FBI investigation did not include this episode. It was clearly worthy of note and should have been part of the process. [18:10:03]

BLITZER: The senator -- Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, who is a member of the Judiciary Committee, he says Shanahan may have lied to the Senate during his confirmation process.

Blumenthal is also a member of the Armed Services Committee. And Blumenthal is now calling for a full-scale investigation. Do you agree?

DURBIN: Well, I can tell you, not serving on the Armed Services Committee, I don't know what his testimony was.

It does raise questions about all the other acting secretaries and those who've not gone through thorough vetting and thorough investigation, and an obvious question as to whether the FBI did its job.

BLITZER: It's been nearly six months since the country had a confirmed secretary of defense.

But we're also seeing the administration deploy more troops to the Middle East, as tensions clearly escalating right now with Iran. So what concerns does that raise?

DURBIN: John Bolton and Secretary Pompeo are itching for a war with Iran, pure and simple. And they have been for a long time.

This idea of walking away from the agreement, the treaty we had with Iran to stop their development nuclear weapons, was the first step. And now they are trying to find provocations by the day.

Make no mistake, the Iranians are not good actors. They're bad actors in many respects. But if they think -- if the administration thinks the American people are looking for a third war in the Middle East, I think they're wrong.

BLITZER: Well, what do you agree with Pompeo, with Bolton, with the president that Iran was responsible for hitting those oil tankers in the Gulf?

DURBIN: I don't know one way or the other, but I wouldn't put it past them.

BLITZER: You wouldn't put it past what, Iran?

DURBIN: Iran.

BLITZER: And should the U.S. respond to something like that?

DURBIN: Well, I'm sure we are responding in some respect. We're sending troops and carrier groups and the like.

But this notion that this is a provocation, like a Gulf of Tonkin, that should lead to some sort of military action directly against Iran, I might remind the president the Constitution said the American people make the decision about war through their elected members of Congress.

BLITZER: The president is about to officially launch his reelection campaign in the next few hours. But, at the same, he's threatening to deport millions, he says, millions of undocumented immigrants starting next week.

A Department of -- a DHS official, I should say, says CNN -- tells CNN that this operation is still in the planning phase. But the president says it's about to begin.

How seriously do you take this threat?

DURBIN: I take this very seriously.

When the president puts out a tweet that suggests mass deportations and mass arrests, I take it very seriously. And we know that there's been shakeups in this Department of Homeland Security.

Incidentally, Wolf, two-and-a-half years into his administration, we have had four different people leading the Department of Homeland Security. And within that agency, this critical agency when it comes to border security, it's a revolving door at the highest levels.

One of the reasons that several left, I'm told, several weeks ago was over this very proposal of mass arrests and mass deportations. I just don't follow this White House. They tell us night and day the big problem is a humanitarian crisis at the border. And the president is tweeting out a new initiative that has nothing to do with the border.

He's going to go after people who have no criminal records and deport them? For goodness' sakes, let's put our money where our priorities should be. Let's solve this humanitarian crisis and stop the overwhelming numbers of people who are coming at our border.

BLITZER: In the aftermath of the president's comments that he would accept information from a foreign agent, including from Russia or China, Senate Democrats are now pushing for specific legislation.

But Republicans, including Senator Lisa Murkowski, they say there's no need for this kind of legislation. Senator Mitt Romney says the bill introduced by Senator Mark Warner is too broad.

Do you see any room to work with your Republican colleagues on this extremely important and very sensitive issue?

DURBIN: I would like to appeal to my Republican colleagues. If the shoe were on the other foot, if a Democratic president was entertaining information from a foreign power in the course of a campaign, they'd be screaming bloody murder about it. And they should.

The fact the matter is, if we want to maintain the integrity of our election process, we cannot follow the course that the president suggested in his interview with ABC. We have got to say that that kind of information would be rejected, and the very suggestion of it should be presented to law enforcement authorities. BLITZER: Senator Dick Durbin, thanks so much for joining us.

DURBIN: Thanks, Wolf.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source