CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview with Raja Krishnamoorthi

Interview

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BLITZER: Yes. May they rest in peace, and our deepest, deepest condolences to their families, all 13 of these service members who were killed in that attack. Barbara, stand by. We're going to get back to you. I know you're getting ready for the Pentagon briefing as well. We'll have live coverage of that coming up.

I want to bring in the Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi right now. He's a member of the House Intelligence Committee. Congressman, thank you so much for joining us. I know you are deeply moved, as all of us are, about the loss of these service members, these heroes, these U.S. military heroes. And I want to give you a chance to express your thoughts on this situation. Go ahead.

REP. RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI (D-IL): Our hearts go out to these families of these fallen soldiers. They're some of the finest people you'll ever meet, Wolf. You've met them. I've met them. And I also want to extend our incredible gratitude to the men and women who are currently serving, guarding the airport, as well as we're just thinking about the 15 wounded soldiers, and we want to pull for them. And I hope all of your audience is thinking about them, as well, right now.

BLITZER: We know some of those wounded U.S. service members have already been flown to the Ramstein U.S. military air base in Germany for treatment, and then, eventually, they'll come here to Washington for more treatment, several of them very seriously injured in that terrorist attack.

Have you been briefed, Congressman, you're a key member of the Intelligence Committee, on the U.S. military drone strike that has killed this ISIS-K planner?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Not on this one. We haven't received a classified briefing yet. But this is part of the over the horizon capability that the president was referring to the other day when we went in to Nangarhar province with this drone strike. We have to continue, Wolf. We have to punish and bring to account anybody who was associated with this attack, and we have to disrupt any future plots. ISIS-Khorasan is a common enemy of the Taliban, us, and other regional players, and so we expect their cooperation.

BLITZER: We heard President Biden say this about the terror attack at the airport. Congressman, listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: To those who carried out this attack, as well as anyone who wishes America harm, know this -- we will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: And yesterday, the White House press secretary went one step further and said the U.S. will remove these people from the face of the earth, in other words, kill them. Do you expect more air strikes along these lines? And do you want the U.S. military to go out there and kill these terrorist planners?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Yes, we need to neutralize them. They are clear and present threats to us and to our allies. They intend to do us more harm, and there are threats right now to our troops and our personnel, as well as American nationals and our allies who are coming to the airport as we speak. So, we have to do everything we can to neutralize them, eliminate them, and, of course, bring to account anybody who is associated with past or current plotting.

BLITZER: There was an alert sent out by the U.S. embassy in Afghanistan, what's left of the U.S. embassy. It has been moved over to the Kabul airport. We don't know what is going to happen after Tuesday to the so-called embassy right now. But they're telling all remaining Americans in Afghanistan to leave that Hamid Karzai airport gates immediately. Intelligence officials warning that another terror attack is very, very likely. How concerned are you, Congressman, about the security threats facing what's left of this evacuation?

[10:15:03]

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Extremely concerned. Basically, we know that ISIS- Khorasan wants to inflict maximum damage on U.S. troops and personnel and American nationals and allies before we leave. So, I think it's appropriate that we listen to the ground commanders as to what they believe needs to be done to keep our troops and our personnel safe, as well as any Americans or Afghan allies that we intend to evacuate.

Wolf, we've now evacuated more than 111,000 people in two weeks, which is a remarkable accomplishment for our brave troops and personnel on the ground. My office is trying to get another 200 people out as we speak, and I'm trying to get as much information to make sure they can safely get to the airport and get out, especially those 10 to 30 who have completed their applications, have been invited to come to the airport, and were turned away recently. We're hopeful the State Department can still get these people out ASAP.

BLITZER: It's not going to be easy. These people have now been told to stay away from the gates. It is simply too dangerous with the terror threat out there.

On Thursday, Congressman, you wrote in a tweet, and I saw that tweet, you wrote, "We should not leave Afghanistan until Americans and our allies are evacuated safely." But today you tweeted that "We need to evacuate our citizens and allies as quickly as possible." Has your position on this matter changed? Do you still believe President Biden should extend the deadline beyond Tuesday to evacuate American citizens, green card holders, Afghan allies, and other third-country people who are stuck in Afghanistan right now? KRISHNAMOORTHI: I think at this point the security situation has

deteriorated so rapidly, I'm going to follow the advice of the administration and our commanders on the ground as to getting our troops out, and personnel. That being said, we're going to have to receive cooperation from the Taliban as to anybody who is remaining past Tuesday. They have every interest to cooperate and make sure they get out. And we have to hold them to that.

BLITZER: Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, thank you so much for joining us. We'll obviously stay in close touch with you and appreciate it very much.

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Thank you, Wolf.

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