CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview With Sen. Chris Coons

Interview

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Joining us now, Senator Chris Coons, a Democrat. He serves on the Foreign Relations and Judiciary Committee.

Senator, thank you so much for joining us.

So, let's talk a little bit about all the news that's unfolding. Three House Republicans voted for this resolution to restrict the president's military response to Iran.

How many Republican votes do you think you will have in the Senate when similar legislation comes up?

SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): Well, Wolf, following yesterday's profoundly disappointing classified briefing of the entire Senate by the president senior national security team, two Republican senators came out and publicly said that they would support a similar war powers resolution.

That's Senators Paul and Lee. And I expect there are several others who will join them.

The core issue here, Wolf, is making sure that, before President Trump takes us into a war with Iran, that he recognizes he must come to Congress to get authorization.

That would give us an opportunity to slow down any rush to war and to demand a clear strategy on how we're going to deal with the costs and the consequences of such a conflict, something that we have not so far seen or heard from this administration.

BLITZER: All right, let's turn to the other breaking news we're following, the deadly plane crash in Iran.

U.S. officials believe Iran is responsible for the downing of that Ukrainian Boeing 737 passenger plane with 176 people on board.

If that's true, do you think they ought to -- that they thought, the Iranian military thought this was an American plane and then launched these surface-to-air missiles?

COONS: Well, that would be the most reasonable explanation, Wolf.

This is clearly a tragedy, where 176 civilians lost their lives. And I would call on the Iranians to open up this investigation and welcome in the FAA and the Canadians and other international resources that might help get to the bottom of this quickly.

I haven't been briefed on it in detail. What I know is what I have heard from press reports, but it certainly so far, Wolf, sounds as if this was a tragic accident, where the Iranian military mistook this civilian plane for a military target.

BLITZER: Do you think this is going to impact the current situation, which is clearly very tense already, in the aftermath on the strike against Soleimani?

COONS: I would hope that it would lead the Iranians to be more cautious and more careful.

I don't yet know and I'm not sure any of us have reached a clear conclusion in the Senate about whether the Iranian missile attack on an Iraqi base, where there were hundreds of Americans, as well as coalition forces, missed intentionally or by accident. Certainly, it was an aggressive act, an act that could easily have led

to dozens of casualties. And I am glad that, today, we are not waking up to a world where there were significant American casualties.

I think the killing of Qasem Soleimani rid the world of a terrible person who had cost the lives of hundreds of Americans and thousands of civilians over his very long service as the head of the Iranian Quds Force.

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But I also think we need to expect of the Trump administration that they will have a clear strategy and a plan for how to deal with the contingencies. Having escalated the conflict with Iran, we now have an opportunity, a breather.

And it is my expectation, my hope, at least, that, on a bipartisan basis in the Senate, we will be pushing for a diplomatic surge, for an attempt to resolve our longstanding challenges with Iran diplomatically, rather than by renewing conflict.

BLITZER: President Trump today expanded on his rationale for killing General Qasem Soleimani, suggesting that Soleimani was actually planning to blow up the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

Did the Trump administration provide you and your colleagues any hard evidence of that in your briefings?

COONS: No.

BLITZER: Well, what do you think?

COONS: Well, Wolf, it's striking that that additional specific detail is now being offered up by President Trump.

When 100 U.S. senators were gathered yesterday in a classified briefing and repeatedly demanding more specifics, more details, for that to be released today in a public setting, and not to have been shared with, at least in the setting that I was in yesterday for an hour-and-a-half, with virtually all of the Senate is pretty striking.

The larger point here, really, is that many of us in the Senate are asking on what basis the president would be proceeding to take any additional aggressive action towards Iran, and how we can make sure that there is a responsible strategy in place to deal with the predictable blowback.

I don't think we are done with Iran's response to the killing of General Soleimani. I expect that, after this initial missile attack on an Iraqi base where they were Americans, they will take other actions, either covert or overt, in the future.

And we need to be well-prepared.

BLITZER: And I'm sure that Iranian-backed Shiite militias in Iraq are not yet done either. Senator Chris Coons, thanks so much for joining us.

COONS: Thank you, Wolf.

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