CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: Current Situation in Ukraine

Interview

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Well, let's ask one of those members of Congress, Democrat Adam Schiff of California, a senior member of the House Intelligence Committee.

And Congressman, so great to see you. I think people -- look, everybody wants a vacation, but with so much going wrong and with so much possibility of things that have to get done, should somebody, like, in Congress or the president stay behind?

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D), CALIFORNIA: I agree with you, particularly when there are several domestic issues where Congress really could make a difference, like the crisis over the unaccompanied minors. We shouldn't recess while there is important work to be done. I think that's a big mistake. But the legislative leadership, the speaker has decided to send us into recess, though I have to say for most of us, it's not much of a vacation. It simply means we're working in our district, but your point is very well taken and I don't think we should be in recess.

MARQUEZ: Congressman, there is so much going on right now, in Ukraine, obviously, in the Middle East. Should the president be pushing harder and what is it like to be in Washington right now where most of America looks at it and nothing gets done? There's not even a conversation going on in Washington, when all these very important issues are pushing internationally?

SCHIFF: Well, certainly a great deal of frustration and anxiety about what's going on around the world. I mean, every day, there seems to be a new conflagration, most recently, with the tragic downing of that Malaysia plane, Ukraine. But we just had to evacuate our embassy in Libya and the mounting death toll in Gaza, but I think the administration has been very proactive in dealing with these crises.

Secretary Kerry has -- was early dispatched to try to work on this. We have been very engaged in the crisis in Ukraine, leading the way on sanctions. It's my hope, turning to that latter crisis that this terrible tragedy of the downing of the civilian plane and the fact that since then Putin has been upping the ante.

MARQUEZ: Yes.

SCHIFF: Shipping more heavy weapons across the border, firing from Russian soil into Ukraine, will prompt Europe to agree on tough sanctions.

MARQUEZ: As you're a member of the Intelligence Committee have -- there are reports out there that the information, the initial information out of those black boxes, indicates that it was hit by shrapnel. It is consistent with a missile strike. Have you seen any of that yourself? Have you heard from any of your colleagues overseas?

SCHIFF: Well, we have certainly gotten briefed on a lot of the intelligence that we have received from our agencies. I don't have any particular insight on the black boxes, but it wouldn't be surprising you if the black boxes are consistent with shrapnel hitting the plane. The footage we have already seen over the wreckage of the plane is consistent with that. And of course, our intelligence, our satellite imagery shows the detonation of a surface-to-air missile.

It shows the explosion in the sky very consistent with that SA system. So there's really no question, I think, about what took place and I think there's no question about Russian complicity. We may not know for some time or at all whether the Russians pushed the trigger themselves but we knew they supplied the equipment and they have been increasing the -- the agitation in Ukraine, they bear a heavy responsibility here. FEYERICK: The former CIA director and secretary of Defense, Robert

Gates, said that it appears that America is disengaging from world politics. Do you see it as such when you're walking around and meeting with these various leaders? Is there a sense that America is heavily involved or is there a sense that America is trying to pull back a little bit?

SCHIFF: There is certainly a sense I think that America's pulling back in terms of a strong presence of American troops in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. And frankly, the American people won't have it any other way after more than a decade of warfare but we're not pulling back at all in terms of our engagement and we can't. Unfortunately much as I think the American people would like and as a growing isolationist sentiment in the country, when you look around the world at the crises, whether Ukraine, Gaza, Libya, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, we have to remain engaged.

We still are, like it or not, the indispensable party here and I think given the activity you see, both the administration and the State Department, we are engaged. Doesn't mean, though, that we can always dictate the outcomes that we want and it certainly doesn't mean that we can dictate them overnight.

MARQUEZ: Benjamin Netanyahu now saying that the Israelis will go as far as necessary to rid Gaza of Hamas. We've seen the civilian casualties, it's extraordinarily difficult to take this much force into that small an area and not suffer civilian casualties. What is your sense? How far can they go and what is the end game here?

SCHIFF: Well, I think they are determined to go until they have severely mitigated the tunnel threat. I think that's paramount. I think they recognize they are not going to be able to stay until all the missiles are gone. Hamas just has too many missiles.

MARQUEZ: Even long-range missiles that can hit Tel Aviv or Ben Gurion.

SCHIFF: They're too easy to hide. They would really have to reoccupy Gaza, I think, to absolutely remove that threat. But they can remove the tunnel threat for a time. They can destroy the tunnels that are there now. But you're right. Gaza's a small concentrated space. Hamas makes the casualties worse by operating out of the U.N. facilities, digging tunnels under homes, really daring and begging the Israelis to come in because civilian casualties are part of Hamas agenda. It's part of how they manipulate world opinion.

MARQUEZ: Are you ready to ask Israel to cease for a while, to try to come to some sort of political resolution?

SCHIFF: I think what Secretary Kerry is doing is the right thing which is trying to find out what Israel needs in terms of its security. What is within the realm of doable to bring this violence to an end. At the end of the day, though, Israel is going to do what they needed to protect their people. We would do exactly the same thing.

MARQUEZ: Congressman Adam Schiff, thank you very, very much for being with us.

SCHIFF: You bet.

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