CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Benghazi

Interview

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BLITZER: Let's bring in Republican senator, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, key member of the Armed Services Committee, a vocal critic of the Obama administration's handling of Benghazi and what happened there. Senator, thanks very much for coming in.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM, (R) SOUTH CAROLINA: Thank you.

BLITZER: You're threatening now. This is a big deal to hold up, correct me if I'm wrong, every presidential, not personnel nomination, because they have not allowed certain people to testify about Benghazi? Is that right?

GRAHAM: Yes. The bottom line is 14 months after the attack, the Congress has never had access to survivors of Benghazi. And you can't let the executive branch police itself. So, I find it just unacceptable that the United States Congress is part of oversight. It doesn't have access to those who are at Benghazi, who survived the attack on the consulate.

And the FBI interviews taken two days after the attack and never been provided to the Congress, and to me, that's unacceptable.

BLITZER: So even someone like Janet Yellen who's been nominated to be the next chair of the Federal Reserve, you would hold up her nomination, the important work she needs to do in order to try to put pressure on the administration to make these people available?

GRAHAM: Yes.

BLITZER: Is that right?

GRAHAM: Yes. Why? Why? Because I just think we can't live in a country when something bad happens, when there's a national security failure, and the "60 Minutes'" piece and Erin Burnett, the media has done -- a pretty good job basically of explaining to the fact -- to the American people that the story told by the administration about what happened in Benghazi doesn't have an ounce of truth in it.

I mean, this was a pre-planned al Qaeda inspired-led terrorist attack and protests gone bad. And I find it appalling that the Congress can't talk to the people that survived the attack and be able to interview them independent of the executive branch.

BLITZER: The spokesman for the White House and the state department, Jay Carney, Jen Psaki, they say they made unprecedented cooperation with Congress on Benghazi. I'll play a little clip from what Jay Carney said. GRAHAM: Yes.

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JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I think it's unfortunate to hold up any nominee or any nomination process. And when it comes to doing so for this reason, I think I've noted the considerable cooperation that the administration has provided on these issues.

BLITZER: Have they provided considerable cooperation?

GRAHAM: No. We -- they -- people who are at Benghazi who survived the attack have never been interviewed, one, of the people that have been interviewed by the Congress. The FBI interviews 48 hours after the attack and never been provided to the Congress. And here's why I think that's important.

I don't believe there was ever a protest and I think the people on the ground told the FBI that they were attacked by a bunch of terrorists and I don't know how in the world the story started there was a protest inspired by video gone bad. You know, when we investigated Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib and affairs in Iraq, I was there with my Democratic colleagues pushing the system to get to the truth about the abuses at Abu Ghraib and about Gitmo.

And now, the shoe is on the other foot and it's pretty disappointing. But no, they haven't provided the basics about Benghazi. Do you believe you understand what happened in Benghazi? Can you tell me how the story started that this was a protest gone bad when everybody on the ground in real-time reported a terrorist attack?

BLITZER: So, have they not made these people available even on a confidential classified basis before the intelligence committees, for example?

GRAHAM: It's my understanding that the survivors, the state department personnel who survived the consulate attack, one, of that group has been interviewed by the House. And the CIA agents at the annex have not been interviewed by the intelligence committee of the House and the senate.

And I think the House and Senate needs to do that, to have an independent look at what happened in Benghazi and I want the FBI interviews. Forty-eight hours after the attack is probably the best evidence we have of what actually happened in Benghazi.

BLITZER: When you asked for all of this, what did they say to you?

GRAHAM: Take a hike. At the end of the day, can you imagine the shoe on the other foot? Can you imagine if this was the Bush administration and they were refused to make available survivors of a national security debacle to the Congress and would not provide FBI interviews about an al Qaeda-inspired attack, what would be happening in this country? This is just an unacceptable way for the executive branch to behave.

BLITZER: When Congressman Darrell Issa wants information from the administration and not getting it, he issued subpoenas. Are you ready to do that? Should you be doing that?

GRAHAM: Well, I don't have subpoena power in the minority. All I can do is have what leverage I have. The only question President Obama has ever answered was when we threatened to put Brennan on hold is the CIA chief. I don't like doing this. It's not in my nature.

But 14 months into this, after the sixth amendment story, how can I, in good science, go back to South Carolina and talk to the families and tell them you've been told all there is to know about Benghazi when we never been able to talk to the people who lived through the attack itself?

How can I explain the people in my home state, and for that, for the country, that the story they told us about Benghazi holds water after the "60 Minutes" story?

BLITZER: Lindsey Graham, Republican senator from South Carolina. Senator, thanks for coming in.

GRAHAM: Thank you.

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