MSNBC "Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell - Transcript Interview with Abigail Spanberger

Interview

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Joining our discussion now is

Representative Abigail Spanberger. She is a Democratic Congresswoman from

Virginia. She sits on the Foreign Affairs Committee. She is a Former CIA

Officer and was one of the law makers who attended Tuesday`s White House

meeting on this same issue. Congresswoman Spanberger, thank you very much

for joining us tonight. What is your - what can you tell us about this and

what is your assessment of the story as it stands tonight?

REP. ABIGAIL SPANBERGER (D-VA): Well, so my assessment of this story is

that we haven`t seen a full throated denunciation of the scheme to put

bounties on the heads of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. And, so, as more

details come out and as this situation is evolving, I am glad that there

was a briefing today with Congressional Leadership.

I`m glad and pleased that that briefing was actually conducted by

Intelligent Professionals and in particular the Director of CIA Director

Haspel, but we have to be talking about what comes next. And the White

House has yet to fully denounce this and what we don`t know is whether our

troops overseas are any saver today or than they were before and whether or

not they continue to face the threat of having bounties on their heads in

Afghanistan.

O`DONNELL: And the administration is trying to deny that there is any truth

to this, that there is any threat to American service members in this

situation. But did you hear anything from the administration about what

protections and what precautions they have taken on the possibility that it

is true?

SPANBERGER: I heard nothing from the administration about the precautions

that they are taking to keep our troops safe in Afghanistan, and I heard

nothing from the administration that even gets at the idea of if this is

true then we denounce it. If this is true, then it`s unacceptable and there

is no reason that the President can`t make a stern statement at this point

in time making clear to the Russians where he stands on this allegation.

And then he will take swift action to protect our service members abroad

and to retaliate against Russia for this type of aggression. And so we

haven`t seen that yet, and that is what I find to be so deeply concerning.

O`DONNELL: If you were in the White House or in the administration, what

level of proof would you need to urge the President to take action?

SPANBERGER: When it comes to forced protection and threats against our U.S.

service members, it is incredibly important that we take action to protect

them no matter how detailed or specific the threat may be. If there is a

threat out there, we should be doing everything possible to protect our

service members. Now, in the second piece, at what point do we take

retaliatory action? We have got the Taliban on television saying that in

fact it`s true. We`ve got multiple sources across news outlets giving very

detailed information, detailing a plot and a scheme.

There is no reason that we shouldn`t be preparing retaliatory steps and

actions to take to demonstrate to the Russians that the United States will

not stand for bounties to be put on the heads of our men and women in

uniform in Afghanistan. Unequivocally we can make that statement. And then

as we continue to get more information and as a Former Intelligence

Officer, I can tell you that`s the nature of intelligence. You never know

anything 100%. You build and layer upon layer information from various

sources to ensure a high degree of credibility. But when it comes to

protecting our U.S. service members abroad, we should be taking every

aggressive action possible to make sure that they are safe.

O`DONNELL: Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger, your CIA experience is

invaluable to us in covering this story. Thank you very much for joining us

tonight.

SPANBERGER: And thank you for your coverage as well. I appreciate it very

much. Please stay safe.

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