CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Raja Krishamoorthi

Interview

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BLITZER: Phil Mattingly, thank you.

And joining us now Democratic Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois. He's a member of both the Oversight and Intelligence Committees.

Congressman, thank you for joining us. You just heard Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez say there is real progressive frustration inside your party with the Speaker, Nancy Pelosi's cautious approach on launching impeachment proceedings.

Are you frustrated?

REP. RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI (D), ILLINOIS: I think there is definitely frustration at the obstructionism with regard to our ability to conduct oversight of this administration.

However, you are starting to see progress on different committees, whether it is Oversight and Intelligence, where I sit, or on the Judiciary Committee, with regard to getting more documents, for instance counterintelligence documents which the Department of Justice is producing to the Intelligence Committee or witnesses coming forward who we didn't think were going to come forward, like Hope Hicks, or court cases being won on an expeditious basis.

And so I think that progress is happening; I'm kind of in the trenches, trying to deal with some of these investigations. We have to expose any and all wrongdoing at this point.

BLITZER: At least 63 House Democrats now say they are ready to open formal impeachment proceedings.

What is your message to Democrats who are frustrated with Nancy Pelosi's much more cautious approach on impeachment?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Well, I think that definitely, if you read the Mueller report, which I have, I think most people would agree, at least within my party and my caucus, that it was deeply disturbing conduct; indeed, impeachable.

But right now the evidence isn't there to sustain a conviction. And therefore I'm working as hard as I can on my committees to uncover as much evidence as possible to sway public opinion potentially on this issue.

So, for instance, one thing that we're pushing very hard on, which we don't believe that Bob Mueller actually examined, were the financial records that we're trying to get through the Intelligence Committee with regard to Deutsche Bank or on the Oversight Committee with regard to the Mazars accounting firm.

I think this is crucial for understanding why the president does what he does and why, for instance, the intelligence community doesn't want to share all the intelligence it has with regard to Russia or other issues with the president.

BLITZER: Let's move on, Congressman. As you know "The New York Times" is reporting that President Trump is being largely kept in the dark by his own administration about cyber weapons being developed for use against Russia's infrastructure as a warning to the Russians not to use their cyber warfare capabilities against America's power grid and America's infrastructure.

What national security concerns does this raise, the president not being fully informed about what is going on?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Well, I think the concerns are at least twofold.

One, maybe our intelligence community believes that the president is reckless with the information that is in his possession; for instance, you mentioned in the setup piece about the information, about the sensitive operation inside of Syria that was shared with the Russians. That might have been recklessly disclosed.

On the other hand, the more nefarious issue is whether he intentionally shares this information with our adversaries or tries to countermand directives that might be used to undermine them.

This is very serious and it is something that obviously we need to continue to explore. That is why I think, for instance, we have to get to the heart of these financial documents and follow the rubles.

What is going on with regard to why does he cozy up to some of our adversaries?

BLITZER: Should the U.S. be conducting these kinds of cyber attacks on Russia's infrastructure?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Well, I think General Nakasone of the Cyber Command has taken more of a forward-leaning posture with regard to Russian cyber activities vis-a-vis us and vice versa.

I think that generally we should be prepared to let the Russians know that any operation that they might conduct on our infrastructure or on our power grid would be met with a reaction that is proportionate.

And so I think it is probably appropriate that we take a forward- leaning posture here. But that being said, I think that General Nakasone and the Cyber Command has to also be cognizant that we don't want to initiate activities that could lead to something that goes out of control.

BLITZER: The House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said his threat to subpoena the FBI for materials related to a counterintelligence probe --

[17:15:00]

BLITZER: -- of the Trump campaign is yielding results. As you know Schiff told CBS News that the FBI has started to hand over more information to your committee in recent days.

Have you seen more cooperation now from the FBI as well?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Yes. We have. And this is something that I was referring to earlier. I think that some of the pressure that is being brought to bear on the DOJ and FBI with regard to these counterintelligence materials is actually coming from not only our side but also the Republican side, which is a good thing, and it is starting to yield cooperation.

You may already know this but Devin Nunes and Chairman Schiff together had subpoenaed or asked for these documents with regard to counterintelligence information and I think that this is starting to bear fruit.

BLITZER: Have you been briefed on what is going on with Iran right now, Congressman?

The Trump administration is directly blaming the Iranians for these attacks on these oil tankers in the Gulf.

KRISHNAMOORTHI: I can't comment on specific intelligence. But I would just cite what Chairman Schiff said the other day, which is that it appears that Iran is behind these attacks.

But I would just point out two things. One, we have to deal with the Iranian threat in a multilateral fashion. We should not do anything unilaterally.

And then secondly, we can't go to war over this. This is something that is -- something feared in Congress, quite frankly, that the Trump administration may be provoking a confrontation that might escalate into use of military force, which Congress is only allowed to authorize.

And any move to use the 2001 Authorization of the Use of the Military Force in this particular situation would be completely unacceptable.

BLITZER: Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, thank you so much for joining us.

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Thank you.

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