CNN "Wolf" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Jack Reed

Interview

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BLITZER: And we know the National Rifle Association, the NRA, opposes raising the age limit to 21 from 18. That may have an impact, certainly, on the president.

All right, Jim Acosta at the White House. Thank you very much.

Joining us now is Senator Jack Reed. He's the - a Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, ex officio, as they say. He's also the ranking Democrat of the Armed Services Committee. Thanks so much for joining us, Senator.

REED: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: Pretty stunning revelation, once again, today from the nation's cyber chief, Admiral Mike Rogers, the head of the national security agency, that he has not received an order from the president of the United States to stop Russian cyber threats. What could explain that?

REED: Well, it's very difficult to explain. Admiral Rogers said very directly that we are currently being attacked by Russia-directed cyber forces.

Their intent is to disrupt the election. They're much more sophisticated than they were in 2016. They have learned a lot. And they're coming in. And it's going to get worse before the election.

And yet, he has not been asked to take action. He has the ability to disrupt these activities at the source. And also, we know that the White House is not going to invoke sanctions that Congress passed on a strong, bipartisan basis to help, we hope, stop the cyber probing.

So, the White House seems to be absolutely paralyzed in the face of ongoing Russian intrusion into our elections and to try to undercut our basic institutions.

BLITZER: Let me play a little more of your questioning of Admiral Rogers earlier in the day. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REED: Essentially, we had not taken on the Russians, yet. We're watching them intrude in our elections, spread misinformation, become more sophisticated to try to achieve chief objectives that you have recognized. And we're, essentially, just sitting back and waiting.

ROGERS: I don't know if I would characterize it as we're sitting back and waiting. But I will say it's probably - and, again, I apologize. I don't want to -

REED: Right.

ROGERS: -- get into classified here. It's probably fair to say that we have not opted to engage in some of the same behaviors that we are seeing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: So, Senator Admiral Rogers, is making it clear the U.S. has not made Russia pay a price for meddling in the U.S. Presidential election, getting ready to meddle, they say, the U.S. intelligence community, in the upcoming midterm elections in November and the 2020 presidential elections.

So, how do you explain that? Why not make them pay a price? What are you hearing?

REED: Well, I'm not hearing much, but it seems that the White House is just paralyzed. That they're not taking effective action.

And there's several different ways. One, you could invoke sanctions to make an economic cost to the Russians. Two, you could basically stop these attacks or make them more difficult.

And, as admiral rogers suggested, to the extent we just sit by and do nothing, they get more and more aggressive.

And this could be related to the, you know, fact that the president is so preoccupied with Trump trying to distance himself from the 2016 election and the fact the Intelligent Committee found about Russian involvement.

That he refuses to recognize the fact, as the other day, which is we are being not only probed, we are being attacked by Russian-directive cyber forces.

And we have to do something because it'll get worse before they get better. But this represents an aggregation of his responsibility to at least ask for recommendations from his entire cabinet and present a coordinated effort to deter, stop and defeat these intrusions.

[13:10:00] BLITZER: You know, the president's explanation has always been that this is just an excuse that the Democrats and Hillary Clinton have come up with to belittle his election and the fact that he was elected president of the United States.

And that's why he calls this overall investigation a witch hunt, as you know, a hoax.

When he -- when you hear that, what goes through your mind?

REED: It is a complete dismissal of facts and professional judgments

by people who are not political -- politicians. Admiral Rogers is a career naval officer. He's dedicated his whole life to this nation and the United States Navy.

He spoke honestly as a professional saying that we are being attacked by the Russians by cyber operations. This is the opinion of our intelligence community.

I had the same basic dialogue with the FBI director, with Dan Coats, DNI, with Mike Pompeo, CIA. They all basically will tell you we are under assault right now.

And the president dismisses it as some type of, you know, 2016 political dynamic. He is just consciously, deliberately ignoring the facts.

BLITZER: And you raise the point about the U.S. -- under U.S. law, the president signed it into law, could impose sanctions against Russia. But he's delaying. He's refusing to do so.

Last August, the Senate passed new sanctions against Russia because of election meddling. I think the vote was 98 to two.

And the House, I think, was 419 to three. He reluctantly signed it into law. But since then has done nothing. How do you explain that?

REED: Again, I think it's all caught up in this attempt to undercut allegations about the 2016 election.

I think he might be afraid that if he recognizes the fact and imposes punishment on Russia for the current activities, that will totally undercut his version of the 2016 events.

That, you know, there was no Russian involvement. He won the election simply based upon his policies and his promises and his programs. And the reality is different.

But the danger -- not only the danger, the reality, is that while nothing is done, the Russians become more aggressive, threatening our basic institutions.

Nothing's more basic than the free election in the United States or anyplace else. And they're doing it deliberately to undermine our -- the confidence of the American people in our elections, in our politic process.

And we have to take effective action. Whether it's sanctions. Whether it is disrupting their attack. That's an operational judgment. But we have to do something.

BLITZER: Senator Jack Reed, thanks for joining us.

REED: Thanks, Wolf.

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