CNN "Anderson Cooper 360" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Richard Blumenthal

Interview

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COOPER: That's, of course, FBI Director Chris Wray.

That last bit was from today shortly before today's Senate intelligence committee landed. What is important is how much of the report is redacted. It means as dire as it appears, we still don't know the half of it. The president, on the other hand, does, but he so far isn't raising any new alarm.

Joining us now one of the senators co-sponsoring some of the blocked legislation, Connecticut Democrat, Richard Blumenthal.

Thanks so much for being here.

First of all, Mitch McConnell says this should be a bipartisan effort. I think everybody could probably agree with that. It shouldn't be something that's contentious.

Why did -- why did the Republicans vote against it?

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): That's a mystery, because it should be bipartisan. That Intelligence Committee report is bipartisan. What it shows is that the Russians began this misinformation and disinformation attack on our democracy as early as 2014, well before the 2016 election. They are continuing. They probed and scanned, they have activities ongoing in at least 21 states, and there's unanimity in the Intelligence Committee. So the lack of Republican involvement or not engagement here is really a disservice to our country.

COOPER: I mean, we heard one Republican, congressman yesterday during the Mueller hearings, basically even attack the idea that Russian troll farms have -- what's the proof they actually have any or influenced by the Russian government or controlled by the Russian government, which was kind of an extraordinary line of questioning because none of them seem particularly interested in the actual interference that did take place.

BLUMENTHAL: The Republicans yesterday really tried to turn that hearing into a kind of side show, but this attack on our democracy is really deadly serious. Robert Mueller is a modern-day Paul Revere. Now, the question is, will the nation listen?

COOPER: So, what more actually needs to be done? Because what the White House is saying is they didn't address whether or not the president has actually received full briefings on the upcoming election and possible interference, and there are certainly reports that, you know, Mick Mulvaney said don't brick this stuff up, don't talk about Russia with the president because it makes him angry.

BLUMENTHAL: The president refuses to hear about it because he regards it as an insult to his election.

COOPER: Right, questions the legitimacy of his election.

BLUMENTHAL: And it undermines his supposed majority. But the fact is the Russians are continuing to attack our democracy. Christopher Wray, the head of the national intelligence agencies all are unanimous that we need to harden our democracy by reinforcing our safeguards against hacking into our election machinery, and also what I have introduced, the measure that would require reporting the duty to report act, require Donald Trump, any member of his campaign, anybody in his family to report offers of assistance or soliciting of assistance.

It's illegal right now, but Donald Trump is saying there's no duty to report it. It would be unpatriotic. It would be immoral to fail to do so.

COOPER: It is kind of incredible when you think about it the president really has not made a primetime address, really a public address focused on what the Russians did and, you know, what interference there was and what he is doing in order to stop it from happening again. I mean, the White House says they have a whole government approach. General Hayden and others have said if the president himself is not using the bully pulpit, which he uses effectively for a number of things to push this, it's not -- it doesn't have teh same impact.

BLUMENTHAL: It lacks that impact that would alarm and outrage Americans. It ought to be the president at the forefront leading, not denying the overwhelming unanimous opinion of the intelligence community, his own intelligence community, our nation's intelligence community. Instead, he is crediting Vladimir Putin, and that is not only unpatriotic and immoral, it is potentially a decision to undermine our democracy.

COOPER: If you're an analyst, the CIA or intelligence agency and you plan to have this be your career, if what you're focused on is Russian interference and the president doesn't even want to receive briefings about it or doesn't want to hear it discussed, that doesn't send a great message to people that that's something in the lower levels of the intelligence agencies that they should actually focus on and commit themselves to.

BLUMENTHAL: It not only undermines their morale, but our attempt to recruit the best and the brightest to serve in our intelligence community. They risk their lives. They put their careers and their futures on the line every day, some of them in places of great danger, and for their advice to be disregarded about not only the Russians.

But yesterday, Robert Mueller warned about, quote, many other countries. And today "The Washington Post" is reporting a disinformation campaign by Iran.

COOPER: Yes.

BLUMENTHAL: That intelligence report from the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is bipartisan, warns about potentially other countries as well. So, we have the fight of our lives on our hands as a democracy. And whether the president likes it or not, he has to lead or get out of the way. And the same is true of Republicans. They have to be there in the trenches in this fight.

COOPER: Yes, going to talk to one of the reporters from "The Washington Post" about Iran's efforts.

Senator Blumenthal, thank you very much. Appreciate it.

BLUMENTHAL: Thank you.

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