CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: House Republicans Rejecting Intelligence Community Conclusions

Interview

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Let's get some more on all of this. Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut is joining us. He's a member of the Judiciary Committee.

Senator, the House and Senate Russia investigations clearly haven't been on the same page for some time now, but how significant is it, in your opinion, that House Republicans are now rejecting the U.S. intelligence community's conclusion that the Russians were trying to help President Trump win the election?

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D), CONNECTICUT: This premature shutdown of the House Intelligence Committee investigation is deplorable. Even more so is the discrediting or attempted discrediting of the intelligence community.

And, clearly, there is profoundly powerful evidence that the Russians not only interfered and meddled in the elections, but did it to aid Donald Trump. That fact is denied by the House Intelligence Committee.

But one need only read the penetrating indictment of 13 Russian individuals and three entities provided by the special counsel to see that in fact they did it to communicate denigrating information about Clinton and support Trump.

Those words are almost exactly from the indictment. And that view of the intelligence community is confirmed by that indictment, but also by the information that's been provided to the Judiciary Committee and to the Senate Intelligence Committee. So it is a gift to Donald Trump. It's a gift to Vladimir Putin that, unfortunately, the House on purely partisan grounds has provided this gift to those two individuals.

BLITZER: Yes, that's the conclusion of the House Intelligence Committee's Republicans, not the Democrats.

Do you believe, Senator, that President Trump could use the House Republicans' report to fire the special counsel, Robert Mueller?

BLUMENTHAL: He would meet a firestorm of opposition. It would be a constitutional confrontation and conflagration if he fires the special counsel and uses the House Intelligence Committee politically motivated shutdown to do so.

And I think my Senate colleagues would move quickly to stop it. I certainly hope so. We have legislation that is made all the more necessary and important by this premature political shutdown of the House Intelligence Committee investigation. That legislation would protect the special counsel. It is bipartisan.

I hope the Judiciary Committee will move it forward.

BLITZER: There was another dramatic development today. The attorney general, Jeff Sessions, we're told, is now considering whether to fire the FBI deputy director, Andrew McCabe, only days before his retirement -- he's supposed to retire in a few days -- due to the results of an inspector general's report.

Would that be appropriate under FBI protocol rules to fire McCabe and as a result after 22 years of service in the FBI, he would lose his pension?

BLUMENTHAL: As a matter of fairness and probably also FBI protocol, his years of very dedicated work on behalf of our nation and the FBI merit his continuing to his retirement date.

And I hope that the attorney general will think twice about the reflection on the FBI and its professionals that would be the result of this politically motivated, again, partisan motivated action on his part.

BLITZER: What do you think, Senator, of President Trump's decision to nominate Mike Pompeo, the CIA director, to become the next secretary of state?

BLUMENTHAL: I want to hear from Mike Pompeo whether or not he will use and support diplomacy in an effective way, as opposed to military force. He has a record of supporting military tactics over diplomatic force.

[18:15:03]

The State Department has been hollowed out. Many of our key ambassadorships have not been filled. Its budget is in jeopardy. The State Department needs a forceful advocate of diplomacy.

And President Trump needs an advocate of diplomacy, as opposed to military force, in situations like Korea, where some of his advisers are advocating a preemptive strike that would be devastatingly costly to this nation, in the view of many of the Pentagon's top leaders.

So I think that Mike Pompeo has a lot of questions to answer before I, at least, would support him.

BLITZER: I want to get to another sensitive issue. You joined some student protesters today on the National Mall here in Washington in support of gun control. What's the message you heard from those students?

BLUMENTHAL: This day was profoundly moving, not only on the steps of the Capitol and around the country, where we're seeing students and young people making a movement, a social movement, much like the civil rights movement, the women's health care movement, the anti-war movement, beginning a groundswell of grassroots support for commonsense, sensible measures in favor of gun violence prevention.

And these young people clearly are walking out of school, but they're going to be walking into the ballot box and voting with their feet and with their hearts. And the signs that I have seen, like "Our blood, your hands," will tell a powerful story and send a message to the American people that it's time for change. Enough is enough.

And the time has come for effective, commonsense measures that will break the grip of the gun lobby and the NRA on Congress. Congress has been complicit. It must change.

BLITZER: Senator Blumenthal, thanks for joining us.

BLUMENTHAL: Thank you.

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