CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview With Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT)

Interview

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BLITZER: Yes. And we will obviously have a lot of coverage of that tomorrow.

Sara Murray, thanks very much.

Joining us now, a key member of the Senate Judiciary Committee's Russia investigation, Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal. He also serves on the Armed Services Committee.

Senator, thanks so much for coming in.

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D), CONNECTICUT: Thank you.

BLITZER: So what's your reaction to the news that CNN broke that Donald Trump Jr.'s mysterious phone calls before and after the Trump Tower meeting were not -- repeat -- not with his father?

BLUMENTHAL: It really deepens the mystery. Who was called?

But also it's hardly the only occasion that Donald Trump Jr. had to communicate the before-and-after facts to his father.

BLITZER: We're told, by the way, that those phone calls were to business associates, two business associates that Donald Trump Jr. had.

BLUMENTHAL: And the question is, whom did they tell possibly about the Trump Tower meeting that was going to occur or after it occurred? It was in Trump Tower. And Donald Trump, the father, was in Trump Tower on that very day, at that very time. So he may have been told about it some other way.

But here's the main point. The American public deserves the full story. And Robert Mueller will be developing that full story. The report that he is compiling should be made available to the American people. That's the reason that I have submitted legislation, along with a Republican colleague, Senator Grassley, to make fully public the report that special counsel Mueller is doing.

BLITZER: He testified, Donald Trump Jr., before your committee. I assume you were there.

BLUMENTHAL: I was in the room when Donald Trump Jr. appeared, and he could not recall whom he called. He denied that he had told his father about that meeting.

But then, subsequently, he and Donald Trump, the president, compiled a very deceptive false statement explaining the meeting as dealing only with Russian adoption.

[18:15:07]

So, the communication between father and son here has yet to be fully...

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Oh, so he never said these phone calls were with business associates; he simply said he couldn't remember who he called?

BLUMENTHAL: Exactly.

BLITZER: All right, let's move on to Roger Stone.

The special counsel now has a ton of new evidence that they have collected, cell phones, computers, e-mails, financial records. What does that tell you about where this investigation is heading?

BLUMENTHAL: What that report tells me is that Robert Mueller is nowhere near done.

This investigation has a ways to go before there is any conclusion, not to mention any report. Special counsel Mueller is uncovering a lot of evidence from Roger Stone. And there may be more, because that locale was only one of the places where Roger Stone may have evidence and that may have been recovered, not to mention others who may be indicted.

And I would predict, although I have no inside information, I should emphasize, that there will be other indictments, very significant ones.

BLITZER: Soon?

BLUMENTHAL: I would guess soon.

But, again, the only one who really knows, for better or worse, and probably for better, is Robert Mueller.

BLITZER: Who do you suspect might be indicted?

BLUMENTHAL: Well, I think speculation here is inappropriate, but perhaps members of the president's family, other members of his campaign team.

BLITZER: Do you know of others who may have lied to your committee?

BLUMENTHAL: I believe that there are serious questions about Donald Trump Jr.'s appearance before our committee.

I was in that room. I heard his responses to questions, not only on who was called in those blocked conversations, but also other questions about what his father knew, when he knew it, and similar questions about arranging the Trump Tower Jr. meeting, and remember also his conversations with WikiLeaks, the direct messages to WikiLeaks, in advance of the release of the stolen information by the Russians through WikiLeaks.

BLITZER: Are you suggesting the Donald Trump Jr., the president's son, lied to your committee under oath, which is obviously a crime, and potentially he could be charged?

BLUMENTHAL: I'm suggesting there are serious questions. He needs to come back before the committee. He ought to be subpoenaed to come back.

I have asked the chairman of the committee, Senator -- Senator Graham -- it was Senator Grassley -- to subpoena him if necessary. I think there is a serious possibility. He certainly faces exposure for some of the answers that he gave our committee.

BLITZER: But do you think Robert Mueller and his team are thinking, are considering indicting Donald Trump Jr.?

BLUMENTHAL: I would not be at all surprised if there is consideration.

He is a potential target. He may have lied before our committee. And a number of the other indictments, no secret, pertain to lying to Congress, whether it's Flynn or Cohen or now Roger Stone.

BLITZER: But Mueller would go to a whole different level, with all due respect to Manafort and Flynn and Michael Cohen and Roger Stone, all of them.

You start indicting the president's son and going after the Trump Organization and his family, that raises the stakes dramatically.

BLUMENTHAL: And that's why I'm not suggesting that he is on the verge or that he will in fact ever indict Donald Trump Jr. But those responses that he gave to our committee certainly raise

questions about his credibility. And, ultimately, Robert Mueller in his report to the American people -- and I want it to be made public -- will have the full story, or at least as close to a comprehensive story as we can have.

This latest report, while important, simply deepens the mystery.

BLITZER: Very significant statements you're making, indeed. And we're obviously going to follow up.

Let's get to the other major news we're following. All of a sudden today, the president says his top intelligence chiefs, in his words, were totally misquoted by the reporting that emerged when they testified before the Senate on global threats, worldwide threats facing the United States, and clearly differed with the president and some of the most sensitive issues out there.

The president now says they told him those reports were fake news, even though it's all on camera and it's all videotape.

BLUMENTHAL: It's all there in living color.

And many of those statements were made reading from a text that, as you well know, had been cleared at multiple levels within the intelligence community.

So these were carefully crafted statements made in real time by the very heads of our intelligence community as part of the annual worldwide threat assessment, a yearly assessment made about the threats to this nation.

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And they said ISIS is a continuing threat, the Russians are continuing to meddle, Iran is complying with the JCPOA. And the other kinds of statements made by the president are subject to serious question.

I don't know how they could have said they were misquoted.

BLITZER: Very quickly, I want your reaction.

The Senate today voted 68-23, 68-23, and the Republicans were voting in favor of this resolution to not withdraw U.S. troops from Syria and Afghanistan, a total rebuke of the president's position.

Your reaction to that, because this is pretty dramatic? Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, the majority leader, was leading this effort to go -- to go against the president's position.

BLUMENTHAL: A stunning rebuke and a bipartisan one, showing, I think, some cracks in the Republican armor that maybe the president is relying on, because what they are facing is a chaotic and confused non-policy from the president that changes from day to day, and a common apprehension that our alliances and our troops may be in danger from this claim that ISIS is completely defeated. What this resolution asks is very simply that there be a strategy and a plan. It's lacking now. And it puts our alliances and our allies in danger, particularly the Kurds. It undermines our fight against terrorism around the world.

And that's why it was bipartisan, and such an overwhelming and stunning rebuke.

BLITZER: Senator Blumenthal, thanks so much for coming in.

BLUMENTHAL: Thank you.

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