CNN "The Lead With Jake Tapper" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Mark Warner

Interview

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TAPPER: All right, Abby Phillip at the White House.

And joining me now, the author of that legislation, Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee. He just introduced this proposed law that would require candidates to report foreign contacts that were election-related in the future.

Senator, I want to ask -- your bill in a moment.

But, first, what's your reaction to the comments the president made in the Oval Office?

SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA): Well, Jake, I know a lot of us who follow this day in and day out get a little overwhelmed, but I think you said in the top of your report, this just feels different. And the excuse that, well, Trump is being Trump, sitting in the Oval

Office, the president of the United States basically inviting foreign powers to intervene in our elections? I am obviously not speechless, but I'm -- if I can be -- even be further shocked, outraged, it falls into those categories.

And I felt this was coming. I -- the one thing I would correct is, I introduced this legislation about three or four weeks ago, because it seemed to me, we're not doing enough to protect ourselves in 2020.

A lot of my Republican colleagues say, you know, let's not focus on 2016. Let's not go back and rehash the Mueller report.

And I have said, all right, in part of my activities, I'm going to focus entirely on 2020. How do we keep -- get ourselves, make sure we're safe? One ought to be bipartisan election security, so there's a paper trail. There ought to be some rules of the road for social media, so there's not the same manipulation.

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And if there's any ambiguity at all, and if there's foreign intervention, just tell the FBI. I mean, we have rules in our airports that say, if you see something, say something. Shouldn't we at least have that same kind of de minimis standard in terms of protecting the integrity of our democracy?

TAPPER: So, you introduced your legislation, and Republicans voted it down. What was the explanation?

WARNER: Well...

TAPPER: Why won't they vote for it or allow a vote on it?

WARNER: Listen, this was a -- I asked for unanimous consent.

They said it would be too burdensome on reporting. Listen, if there are ways to improve the legislation, I'm wide open. But when -- what we're talking about is not reporting casual conversations or things that go on in a diplomatic function.

It's about, if there's offers of prohibited items, the law is already clear in terms of what those prohibited items are. So, in the past, people ran for office with enough moral compass that they would, of course, do the right thing.

But we're now in this era -- and even if I tried to give Mr. Trump all the benefits of the doubt in 2016, when he then again publicly said, Russia, if you have got anything, bring it on.

TAPPER: Right.

WARNER: And literally that same day, Russia started releasing some of the hacked e-mails.

Even if we can say, well, then he was a naive business candidate then, he's two-and-a-half years on the world stage now as president of the United States. He must -- he -- I would have hoped he would have had enough of a moral compass to know that outside foreign intervention in our democracy goes at the heart of our democracy, in terms of its integrity.

TAPPER: Just a quick fact-check. I think what you're referring to is when the president said, Russia, if you're listening, and he asked for Hillary Clinton's e-mails, and that night, they started -- the Russians started attacking Hillary Clinton's...

WARNER: That was like July of 2016, yes.

TAPPER: Yes.

So, let me ask you a question, because Republicans keep bringing up Fusion GPS. That's the American opposition research firm that first Republican opponents of the president, then Hillary Clinton's campaign hired. They hired a former British spy. He solicited information from Russian officials.

Would your legislation affect that? And what do you make of Republicans saying that that is equal to the Russian government and the Russian military intelligence interfering in the election in 2016?

WARNER: First of all, the Steele report -- Steele actually turned the report over to the FBI in the summer of 2016. So this document was turned over.

But let's say, on a going-forward basis, if there was a former foreign agent that was hired, yes, that ought to be disclosed to the FBI. I'm open to, again, how do we make this work going forward? We have got to protect our democracy.

The one thing we know is that Russia -- one moment, Jake.

TAPPER: Yes.

WARNER: Russia and others will be back. Don't take my word for it. Take the director of the FBI, Trump's own hand-picked director of national intelligence, because what Russia did is effective and cheap.

And they will be back in 2020. And shame on all of us in elective office if we don't do more to protect the integrity of our democracy. And, frankly, shame on Donald trump for not recognizing that foreign intervention is wrong.

TAPPER: We have only heard from a handful of Republicans today. Are they saying anything to you privately?

WARNER: I think most of my colleagues are aghast.

And that's why I want to try to put this -- if there's ways that they can improve this legislation, I'm wide open to change. This is -- you know, we are in unchartered territory a little bit with this White House, but we ought to make -- there should be no ambiguity about the fact that if a foreign government tries to do an already illegal thing in terms of trying to intervene, there ought to be an obligation to report it to law enforcement.

That ought to be a fairly simple point of policy that we can all agree on. And I'm hoping that I can get enough of my colleagues to agree with that.

TAPPER: One would think it would be something we could all agree on.

Democrat Senator Mark Warner of the great Commonwealth of Virginia, thank you so much for your time, sir. Appreciate it.

WARNER: Thank you, Jake.

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