CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview With Rhode Island Senator Jack Reed
Interview
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BLITZER: All right, Jim Acosta at the White House, thank you very much.
Joining us now, Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island. He is a Democrat, serves on both the Intelligence and Armed Services Committees.
Senator, thanks so much for joining us.
SEN. JACK REED (D), RHODE ISLAND: Thanks, Wolf.
BLITZER: Now, we don't know the name of the country. We don't know the name of the corporation. I assume we will know fairly soon.
But the fact that this company, this corporation, this unknown foreign country is going to these extraordinary lengths so they don't have to comply with a Mueller grand jury request, a subpoena for information, and that they're fighting this in rather mysterious ways, what does it say to you?
REED: Well, it suggests that they have something to hide. They're using every opportunity, appealing decisions and using all of their legal rights, which they're entitled to, but companies that have nothing to fear from disclosure don't go to these extremes.
BLITZER: What does it tell you about the Mueller investigation right now that they're going to this extreme to try to get this information, to get this company, this corporation to comply with this grand jury subpoena, and they're also dealing with all of these other issues, including what happened to Michael Flynn today?
REED: Well, Director Mueller is following the facts, and that's his job. He is an extraordinarily good prosecutor.
And when obvious or at least suspect violations of the law occur, he will pursue those. And he is pursuing this. He is at this point just trying to gather information from the company.
BLITZER: Because it looks to me like, this is a thing -- some people thought it was going to be over with by the end of the year, but it looks like it could stretch on.
REED: It keeps going and going, and I think that's because, when someone like Mr. Cohen, not directly with Director Mueller, but in the Southern District of New York, makes his plea, pleads guilty to crimes and suggests, indeed, that the president might be involved, that expands it.
When the owners of "The National Enquirer" seem to suggest too that they were involved, that expands it. So, this is an investigation where it has to be pursued until all of the -- all possible crimes are investigated.
BLITZER: The White House today, the press secretary, Sarah Sanders, said that Flynn's activities, the former national security adviser, what he said, the lies and all of that, had nothing to do with President Trump at all. What's your reaction to that?
REED: Well, he was the national security adviser when he made those misstatements about his contacts with the former Russian ambassador. In fact, as the president indicated previously on the -- he in fact did not candidly tell the truth to Vice President Pence.
So there was an involvement here. Whether it was in any way directed, inspired or encouraged by anyone else in the White House, that's still probably being determined or investigated by Mueller.
BLITZER: Your committee, the Intelligence Committee -- you're an ex officio member of the Intelligence Committee -- they released two stunning reports yesterday. We have gone through them. I'm sure you have gone through them, talking about Russian's penetration, involvement in the 2016 presidential election.
The president hasn't responded specifically to those two reports that the Intelligence Committee released, but this morning he did tweet this, and I will read part of the quote.
"Facebook, Twitter and Google are so biased toward the Dems, it is ridiculous."
Does that line up with what your committee found in these two reports?
REED: No, it does not.
[18:20:00]
It looks at Russian influence operations in the United States during the 2016 election, and found that there was a consistent pattern. They favored President Trump.
They would try to increase literally the turnout of Trump supporters and decrease the turnout of potential Clinton supporters. They did this very -- very sophisticated techniques, looking at the algorithms, how they could get them to work for the Russians.
And their consistent theme was to increase the president's vote and decrease Secretary Clinton's vote.
BLITZER: You know, it was another huge embarrassment to the president of the United States today when he was forced to shut down his charity, the Trump Foundation.
The New York attorney general writes this. She says: "Our petition detailed a shocking pattern of illegality involving the Trump Foundation, including unlawful coordination with the Trump presidential campaign, repeated and willful self-dealing, and much more."
This amounted to the Trump Foundation functioning as little more than a checkbook to serve Mr. Trump's business and political interests.
What is your reaction to that?
REED: First, it has been uncontradicted by the president or anyone else. Closing down the foundation suggests there's a lot of truth there, and it is a stunning attack really and rebuke of the president.
If he was using a charitable foundation for his self-interests, for his political interests, that is contrary to not only the law, but the spirit of what we'd like to think charitable foundations do. They help people. BLITZER: Yes, it reminds me when he was forced to shut down Trump University. That was an embarrassment as well -- now the Trump charity, the foundation, shut down.
Senator, thanks so much for joining us.
REED: Thanks, Wolf.
BLITZER: Jack Reed of Rhode Island.
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