CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview With Hawaii Senator Mazie Hirono

Interview

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BLITZER: Yes, the Mueller team has said he gave substantial help. They used that word, which is a significant word in a situation like this.

Thanks very much, Shimon, for that report.

Let's talk a little bit about the breaking news from James Comey.

First, joining us right now, Senator Mazie Hirono. She's a Democrat, serves on both the Judiciary and Armed Services Committees.

Senator, thanks so much for joining us.

SEN. MAZIE HIRONO (D), HAWAII: Aloha. (CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Aloha right back at you. Thank you very much.

Let's get to what Comey is saying today. How effective is the former FBI director, his defense of the Justice Department in the face of these attacks from the president of the United States?

[18:15:10]

Senator, can you hear me?

HIRONO: Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you were going to play -- oh, well...

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Hold on a second. I will repeat the question.

(CROSSTALK)

HIRONO: I'm sorry.

BLITZER: How effective is Comey's defense of the Justice Department and the FBI in the face of these attacks from the president?

HIRONO: The president is always on the attack, especially when the walls are closing in.

And he said the FBI just broke into Cohen's office, and nothing like that happened. So that's -- the FBI director said that's not what happened. And one hopes that the truth will prevail. With the president, that's really of little concern to him, apparently.

BLITZER: Your colleagues on the Senate Intelligence Committee, they released two reports today that provide a clearer picture of the extent of Russia's attacks back during the 2016 presidential election, with new information on voter suppression and the ways the Russians interest with and manipulated Americans in real time.

What are your biggest concerns about these new revelations, these new findings?

HIRONO: Well, the fact that Russia is still interfering with our elections, and they can do it with relative impunity because they have a president who keeps saying this is all a witch-hunt, et cetera.

But the length and breadth and the reach of the Russia interference, as disclosed by the Senate Intelligence Committee's work, is really striking. It just goes to show that they have been at it a long time, and who benefited from this? It was the Trump campaign, and they had every intention of making sure that Trump would become the president.

And that's what the Mueller investigation is all about, too, not only the interference, but Trump's -- the Trump team's efforts to coordinate, collaborate, collude, conspire to get him elected. BLITZER: Yes, I have gone through these reports. One is 100 pages.

One is almost 50 pages. It is breathtaking how sophisticated the Russians are in totally understanding the American political process.

HIRONO: Yes.

BLITZER: Let me read a line to you from a January 2017 U.S. intelligence community report on Russia's cyber-warfare campaign.

It says -- and I'm quoting now -- "We did not make an assessment of the impact that Russian activities had on the outcome of the 2016 election. The U.S. intelligence community is charged with monitoring and assessing the intentions, capabilities and actions of foreign actors. It does not analyze U.S. political processes or U.S. public opinion."

But when you look at the details in these new reports, Senator, do you believe the Russians actually influenced the outcome of the 2016 election?

HIRONO: I don't think anybody can say that all of their extensive efforts did not have some kind of influence, because they were practicing tribal politics just the way Trump was.

So they were going after the blacks. They were going after minorities. They were doing all the kinds of divisive campaigning that Trump himself was doing. So I don't know how you can say that the Russian interference, which reached over 100 million Americans, had no impact.

BLITZER: And when it comes to the Russia investigation, the president's lawyer -- and you heard him -- Rudy Giuliani, he is defending the president, arguing that collusion is not a crime. What does that tell you?

HIRONO: That they're living in an alternative universe.

And at this point, it is hard to take Rudy Giuliani seriously as an attorney for Trump, because he contradicts Trump, he contradicts himself. He is all over the place.

BLITZER: Let me get to another sensitive issue while I have you, Senator.

We are waiting to see if a deal can be reached before Friday at midnight to avert a partial government shutdown over the president's requested funds for a new border wall to Mexico. You just visited the border.

Tell us, first of all, what you saw and whether you would be willing to compromise on a physical wall.

HIRONO: We already approved over $1.5 billion for border security, and we know that the Trump administration has not figured out how to spend all of that. So when you really sit down and think about 1,100 miles of a physical

barrier and a wall, of which of this 1,100 miles the United States government only controls a certain percentage of land, and the rest will have to be obtained through eminent domain, one wonders, how serious is this border wall?

So having visited the border and seeing children at Tornillo basically locked up, 2,700 of them, in a facility that was supposed to last for only 30 days, and here we are going on five months, there is no reason that these children should not be as quickly moved to be with their sponsors as possible.

[18:20:03]

And one of the things that the Trump administration has done in their efforts to stymie legal immigration, people coming to our country asking for asylum, which also is their right to do, is to create a process whereby these unaccompanied children are having to wait a much longer time to be united with their sponsors.

Why? Because they want to have fingerprint checks on not only the sponsors, but everybody in the sponsor's household or family, and this has a chilling effect, because a number of the sponsors are undocumented. And this information is shared with ICE, who then proceeds to deport these people.

So the Trump administration is doing everything they can to make it really hard for people to come across the border seeking asylum, which, under international and our own laws, is their right to do. And then, when they finally get here, we keep them separated from their sponsors for extended periods of time in a facility that's not licensed.

And then, as for the -- where the families are, again, there are alternatives to basically incarcerating families in these facilities.

BLITZER: Senator, thanks so much for joining us.

HIRONO: Thank you.

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