CNN "The Lead With Jake Tapper" - Transcript: Interview With Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy

Interview

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[16:30:01]

SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D), CONNECTICUT: His people told him that it was Russia. This is a settled fact.

The intel community, American law enforcement, all 100 United States senators all agree on a fact, that Russia and named individuals that just were indicted that work for the Russian government attempted and indeed succeeded in interfering in the U.S. election in 2016 to help Donald Trump.

And he was standing at that press conference next to Vladimir Putin when Putin told him that he actually did want Trump to win, thus the motivation, the reason for interfering in the election.

Listen, my mouth is still agape at what I saw today, in part because the bar was so low for this press conference. All Trump needed to was offer some mild pushback against the election interference, say something about the need for Russia to withdraw from Eastern Ukraine and Crimea.

He couldn't do any of that. And today the country is stunned and the world is stunned, and America is a whole lot weaker than we were going into today.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump says that he's doing this because he wants the United States and Russia to have a stronger relationship. Take a listen to him talking about why that's important.

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TAPPER: So, let me play devil's advocate here for a second, Senator.

He has a point, President Trump, in that there is consensus view that Russia is a geopolitical foe of the United States, and that there is a lot of good to be done, in his view, if Russia and the United States were to team up on some matters, even if that means rejecting that consensus view. How would you respond to that?

MURPHY: So, there are clearly places where the United States and Russia need to have a dialogue, but you have to enter into those discussions from a position of strength.

And what we saw today was complete capitulation. I don't know what his definition of a strong relationship is, but one version of it is in one which country is just a client of the other country.

And right now, it seems as if President Trump is willing to do and say whatever Vladimir Putin wants him to say. Whether it be doubting that the Russians interfered in our election or Trump's insistence over the weekend in helping to dismantle NATO and the E.U., which is, by the way, Putin's number one objective.

If you want to work with the Russians on counterterrorism or on the problems in the Middle East, they have to respect you. And right now, they don't respect us. Lavrov, the foreign minister, was cackling today in delight at how wonderful this press conference went for the Russians.

TAPPER: President Putin suggested today that Russia could help special counsel Robert Mueller in the investigation into the Russian election interference, inviting him to Moscow to potentially interview the 12 intelligence officers in the Russian military who were indicted on Friday.

Putin obviously said that this would come in exchange for Russians being able to interview people like Bill Browder and others, Bill Browder and others, who they find troublesome. What was your reaction to all of that?

MURPHY: Well, listen, this is all a game that Putin is playing. He's having a lot of fun, because he understands he's got a friend in Donald Trump and he understands that they are working together, frankly, to try to undermine this investigation.

And, remember, this isn't about what happened in 2016 alone. The Russians are right now, as we speak, attempting to interfere in the 2018 elections. And they're regularly using their army of bots, their army of Internet trolls to support Trump's agenda here in Congress.

Remember, Schumer shutdown was trending online about a year ago only because of Russian government bots. So this is a present and clear to the United States. It's not just about finding out what happened in 2016. It's about stopping it today.

And Trump basically invited, invited Putin to continue to interfere in U.S. elections and our political debate by refusing to side with everyone in the United States who knows what's going on.

TAPPER: So, Senator Murphy, I realize Democrats are in the minority, but there are Republicans who agree with what you're saying. What are you guys doing about this?

MURPHY: Yes, I think this is the $24,000 question and a really tough one, because Congress does not run foreign policy on a day-to-day basis.

Yes, there are some steps that we could take. We could levy another round of sanctions. We could make them mandatory, not permissive. We could take a look at some of the statutes undergirding NATO and take away from the president the power to try to weaken our commitment to NATO.

But, in the end, you know, Congress is kind of like the manager or the general manager of the team. President Trump is the one on the field every day executing foreign policy. We can't stop him from saying things to undermine the E.U. and NATO.

[16:35:03]

We can't stop him from giving the press conference that he gave today. He alone can make the decision to rectify this. I think there's limits to what Congress can do.

TAPPER: Is there anything Democrats can do? It seems like there's a lot of words coming from you, Senator Schumer and others. We have even heard people on your side of the aisle talk about President Trump being a Russian asset.

How do you convey to the American people that this is a serious issue and not just another partisan tug of war?

MURPHY: Well, listen, I do think, for Americans that are wondering whether or not the Mueller investigation is worthwhile, those that have been listening to some of the propaganda coming out of the White House, this is pretty clear evidence that we need to get to the truth.

There are a lot of Republicans scratching their heads as to why the president would do something like this. And then I think Democrats are going to have to spend some time with our allies.

I think we're going to have to spend some time traveling, talking to countries in the NATO, in the European Union hoping that they hold on to the alliance, just so that we can get through the next two-and-a- half years to make sure that the transatlantic alliance is still there when the Trump presidency is over.

TAPPER: Democratic Senator Chris Murphy from Connecticut, thanks so much for your time. We appreciate it.

MURPHY: Thanks, Jake.

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