CNN "The Lead with Jake Tapper" - Transcript Interview with Kirsten Gillibrand

Interview

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Joining me now to talk about this is New York Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. She sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Senator, good to see you. Thanks for joining us.

I want to get your reaction to something former national security adviser John Bolton told just a few minutes ago that he's confused by the White House's confusion over this briefing mix-up and they don't have a grip on this. SEN. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND (D-NY): Yes. The president really has failed

in his job as commander-in-chief. He has not taken his responsibility of force protection seriously.

The fact that we have intelligence reports of money going between Russia and members of the Taliban and go-betweens with the Taliban, the fact that we found $500,000 in one of these individual's houses in Afghanistan just shows how out of touch the president is.

He should be briefed on these issues. If he wasn't, we have understanding that he was briefed on these issues, it's shocking. He should have done something.

But even more concerning is the fact that he's been unwilling to stand up to Putin his entire presidency. We all watched what he did in Helsinki. We now are watching him had multiple calls with Putin during this time when he would have known and said nothing. It's an outrage.

So, we need a full investigation, Jake. We need to have investigations through the Senate Intelligence Committee and Senate Armed Services Committee, and we have an obligation for our service members to get to the bottom of this.

TAPPER: So you were briefed on the Russian bounty intelligence yesterday. The White House has pointed out that there is a dispute among intelligence agencies about the veracity of this report. Did you question the veracity of it?

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Did you find anything unreliable on what you were told?

GILLIBRAND: So, I can't speak to what we heard in the briefing because it had a top secret level. But what I can tell you is what I read in "The New York Times" and the fact that they got information from not only Special Forces but CIA operatives, and the information that they have has been corroborated.

And so, I believe there's enough information that's publicly available today that this is something that should have been taken very seriously by the White House, by the president, and he should have done everything to protect our service members.

We have concerns that perhaps three service members were killed because of a bounty. We need to know if that's true. One of those service members is a New Yorker. And we've heard from his father that he has a right and demands the facts. And every member of the Senate should be willing to have full investigations to get to the bottom of it.

TAPPER: The White House is saying that it was the decision of the CIA briefer to not verbally tell the president, though obviously it's been reported by CNN and others that the information was in the president's daily brief earlier this year.

Take a listen to the White House press secretary seeming to point the finger about why there was no action. And take a listen.

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KAYLEIGH MCENANY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: There were under President Obama just 39 on average criminal leak referrals. In this administration, we've seen 100 criminal leak referrals to DOJ in 2017, 88 in 2018, and 104 on average per year.

REPORTER: Members of the IC are going after Trump, is that what you're saying?

MCENANY: It very possibly could be.

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GILLIBRAND: OK. Well, that's absurd, because -- sorry. Go ahead.

TAPPER: No, no, I'm just saying Kayleigh McEnany saying that it's possible, very possibly that this is a leak with members of the intelligence community going after President Trump, and I wanted to get your reaction.

GILLIBRAND: I think she's obfuscating and trying to protect her boss. But the fact that president doesn't read his daily readings is concerning, the fact that he doesn't understand what the national security risks are at any given time for our country just means it is a dereliction of duty of his job as commander in chief.

TAPPER: So, you're demanding congressional hearings. You said the Senate Intelligence and the Senate Armed Services Committee should look into this. Obviously, you're in the minority. Republicans control the Senate.

Are your Republican colleagues going to hold hearings over this? Have you talked with them about it?

GILLIBRAND: Well, the first hearing that we did have in the Armed Services Committee was inadequate. I can tell you the people who briefed us did not know the essential facts of these intelligence reports. Some of the intelligence reports that we reviewed before the hearing, they hadn't reviewed.

So, I was very dissatisfied with their lack of preparation and their lack of knowledge of the relevant facts that we are entitled to know.

And so, we made it clear to the chairman and the ranking member that we expect further briefings specifically from CIA and people who will know the facts behind these intelligence reports.

TAPPER: Well, what about hearings, though? Because you want hearings. Will Republicans have hearings?

GILLIBRAND: We need hearings. I don't know. But I think the next step is to have another briefing again on a secret platform.

But you can have hearings that are classified as well. You can have hearings both open and classified, and I don't think any Republican should be afraid of getting the facts.

I can tell you based on the questioning I heard from my Republican colleagues, there is concern. And they are not satisfied with the amount of information they have been given to date. So, hopefully, that will lead to a bipartisan request for hearings.

TAPPER: All right. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Democrat of New York, thank you so much. Good to see you again.

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