CNN "Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees" - Transcript: Interview with Senator Chris Van Hollen
Interview
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COOPER: Kaitlan Collins, appreciate it. As we mentioned, as we touched on at the top, the president did not
notify the four top Democrats in the so-called Gang of Eight before taking action. That would be the top Democrats on the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, House Speaker Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. About Senator Schumer, he retweeted this, suggesting that discussing the raid with Schumer would have been like tipping off the Iranians. In fact, notifying top lawmakers in both parties has been the rule, not the exception, until this administration, even for the most sensitive operations like the killing of Osama bin Laden.
As you might imagine, it's not sitting well with Democrats. Just before airtime, I spoke with Senator Chris Van Hollen, Democrat of Maryland.
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COOPER: Senator, I know a member of your staff was briefed today regarding the strike. I know there's no specifics about that that you can reveal. But did the briefing impact your view of the strike? Do you have the information you would like to have?
SEN. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D-MD): Well, Anderson, it's good to be with you. Yes, there was a briefing for staff members, and I had a representative there, and, no, nothing that came out of the briefing changed my view that this was an unnecessary escalation of the situation in Iraq and Iran.
While I can't tell you what was said, I can tell you, I have no additional information to support the administration's claim that this was an imminent attack on Americans, and obviously the issue of intelligence is important, especially given the fact that bad intelligence, false intelligence is what got us into the earlier war with Iraq.
COOPER: It is interesting because this -- President Trump has obviously been very critical of U.S. intelligence, the U.S. intelligence community and yet he is now basing this on what he says was intelligence about an attack being planned. Do you believe the administration?
VAN HOLLEN: Well, my view is you've got to be shown the evidence. There will be a briefing for senators on Monday. I hope the administration will come prepared to present the evidence about their claims at that time but I think the bigger question right now is how do we get to this spot?
And the reality is that for the last three years, this administration is engaged in a reckless maximum pressure campaign on the Iranians with no end game. I mean, we don't know what the administration's end game here and here we are today closer to war with Iran than we've ever been -- even though the president during the campaign said he wanted to keep us out of unnecessary wars in the Middle East.
COOPER: President Trump said today they took action last night to stop a war. We did not take action to start a war. He also added that the world is safer without Soleimani.
Do you believe it is safer now?
VAN HOLLEN: I think the world is more dangerous. It's certainly more dangerous place for Americans in the region today than it was yesterday, and if that was not the case, you would not have had the State Department issuing today a warning urging Americans to leave Iraq. They did that today.
Today, the administration announced we're sending 3,000 more troops to the region. So, clearly, the administration recognizes that this action has actually dramatically increased the risks in the Middle East, increased the risks of an attack from Iran and it should be no surprise to anybody who has followed these issues that Iran does mean what it says when it says this is essentially tantamount to an act of war.
COOPER: Do you have any concerns that impeachment or domestic politics may have factored into President Trump's decision?
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VAN HOLLEN: Well, we know from the tweets that have surfaced today from 2012 that this was an idea that President Trump had, he, of course, at the time ascribed these motives to President Obama. President Obama, of course, did not attack Iran. But it was president Trump who obviously had this idea back in 2012.
So, look, I think that we're in a very, very dangerous place. The president has taken us to this place without a strategy, without an end game. And it's going to be up to Congress on a bipartisan basis and I worry given the polarization in Congress today that you're going to have more of a Republican colleagues acting as rubber stamps for the administration.
But Congress really needs to stand up and make clear the president cannot take us to war in Iran without a congressional authorization.
COOPER: Senator Van Hollen, I appreciate your time, thank you.
VAN HOLLEN: Good to be with you.
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