CNN "The Lead with Jake Tapper" - Transcript: Interview With Sen. Jim Risch

Interview

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Joining me now to discuss all of this is Senator James Risch of Idaho, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Senator, thank you for joining us, Mr. Chairman.

Secretary Pompeo says that the attack that killed General Soleimani was in response to an imminent attack. What can you tell us about the intelligence? And do you think it is important that the public get a chance to see as much as possible of this intelligence?

SEN. JAMES RISCH (R-ID): I do. But as with these -- as always happens, it is going to be slower in coming. The intelligence won't be released immediately.

I can tell you that I'm the number two person on the Intelligence Committee as well as being number one on Foreign Relations. This information that we had was rock solid. It was good intelligence.

Our intelligence communities do a good job. There are 17 of them. They keep us safe at home. They keep our troops safe in the field.

This man was involved in actually participating in the orchestration of attacks against Americans. He had been actively engaged in the American that was killed in the most recent days and the Americans whose -- the four Americans who were injured. He's done awful things over the years, not the least of which was running the IED program that killed and maimed so many of our young men and women who are in service there.

This guy was on the battlefield. He was a general. And he was taken out by military action, absolutely lawful.

I'm embarrassed for Chris Murphy when he said this was an assassination. This was not an assassination. This was an act of military conduct fully justified and that's what happened.

TAPPER: Well, you heard Senator Murphy just now. Former Vice President Biden said that President Trump has, quote, just tossed a stick of dynamite into a tinder box, unquote. What's your response in general to the criticism you're hearing?

RISCH: Well, look, this isn't surprising. The Democrats criticize this president for everything he does.

Jake, can you imagine if we were having this interview and indeed Soleimani had been able to conduct the operations that he was involved in and Americans would have been killed, many Americans perhaps, and then the word came out that the intelligence community had warned the president that this was going to happen.

[16:20:02]

Can you imagine what these Democrats would be saying? It would be stunning.

And, look, it is very hypocritical for them to be talking like this. They weren't talking like this when Barack Obama took out Osama bin Laden. This is a very, very similar type of an operation, where the head of a terrorist organization, which this man was, not only a general but operating in the field. He was also the head of the Quds Force which is a terrorist organization.

The president ought to be commended for this, not be chided as the Democrats are doing. It's -- it's disappointing to say the least.

TAPPER: The U.S. embassy in Baghdad is on lockdown currently. American embassies in Bahrain, Kuwait and Pakistan have all issued security alerts.

How concerned are you about retaliation and what kind of retaliation are you most worried about?

RISCH: Yes. Well, first of all, the Iranians are just notorious for making bad judgments and for miscalculating. That's been their mode. Myself and many others warned them after the president did what I thought was very reasonable forbearance both on the attack done by them on the drone and then secondly by the attack on the oil operation in Saudi Arabia where we had 100 Americans working at the time.

The president used reasonable forbearance I think. And unfortunately in that part of the world, reasonable forbearance is viewed as weakness. And myself and others sent word through publicly and through the usual backchannels to the Iranians that they should not make the mistake of thinking that this president is weak or that this country is weak simply because we engaged in reasonable forbearance.

I hope they don't make a miscalculation again. We're not interested in getting into a war. The president said it best just recently on -- in the interview that you carried. Look, we're not interested in that. But they will be making a horrendous mistake if they up the ante here.

TAPPER: Lastly, sir, at a time like this, it is obviously very important that American people and the people around the world trust the words that they are hearing from the U.S. president and his administration. Are you at all concerned that the president has eroded some of that?

RISCH: Well, look, I think what you have to do is take every instance as it comes along. I could tell you and other people have seen the intelligence on this matter who have followed this man for decades will tell you that this was a very dangerous situation that we were in and the president acted appropriately. He should be commended for that. And I hope we as Americans could get behind our commander-in- chief whenever we're involved with a kinetic force like this.

TAPPER: Mr. Chairman, thank you so much for your time. Appreciate it.

RISCH: Thank you, Jake. Thank you for having me.

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