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Extraordinary Look Inside Trump Bipartisan Meeting; Major Developments in Senate Russia Investigation. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired January 09, 2018 - 13:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[13:30:00] And a lot of things we're talking about on border security and some of the interior things have trade-offs, and we made those during that process. I don't see how we get there before March 5th.

TRUMP: That's okay. So I think that's why we make it a phase two. We do a phase one, which is DACA and security, and we do phase two, which is comprehensive immigration. And I think we should go right to it, I really do. We do one and we then do the other. But we go right to it.

Yes.

REPRESENTATIVE DIAZ-BALART: Mr. President, I think it's important to thank you for your flexibility and your leadership. And so I think what all of us have to do is have the same willingness to have a little bit of flexibility to get this issue done. And, obviously, I want to do a lot more than DACA. But the urgent thing now, for obvious reasons, are these young men and women who we have to deal with, first and foremost.

TRUMP: I agree.

REPRESENTATIVE DIAZ-BALART: And to Steny's point, there are two issues which we keep hearing that everybody agrees to, and that is dealing with these individuals on a permanent and real solution, and border security.

So I don't see why we shouldn't be able to do that, and I'm hoping that that will then lead us -- to Senator Collins' point, there's a lot of lack of trust. If we can get real border security and deal with these individuals, if we can get that done, then I think, my gosh, it all opens up to do a lot more things in the future for the Americans.

REPRESENTATIVE GOODLATTE: I just want to reemphasize what Secretary Nielsen said. It is so important they understand when you talk about border security, if you apprehend somebody at the border, but then you cannot send them back outside the United States, even though they're unlawfully present in the United States, you have not solved this problem, because they're then released into the interior of the country and the problem persists. And that sends a message back to wherever they come from.

TRUMP: I agree, Bob. And you know what? We're going to negotiate that. I agree, and I think a lot of people agree on both sides.

Henry? REPRESENTATIVE CUELLAR: Thank you, Mr. President. And I agree with my good friend, Mario, in the sense that if we focus on DACA and border security, I think we can address this. Issues of chain migration or the other issues, I think that should be looked at in the second phase.

But again, I say this with all due respect to both Democrats, Republicans -- but being from the border, I always get a kick out of people that go down, spend a few hours, and they think they know the border better than Cornyn -- or some of us there, because we've lived there all our life.

Let me explain this. For example, if you look at the latest DEA -- you're worried about drugs, look at the latest DEA report -- more drugs come through the ports of entry than in between ports. But we're not even talking about ports of entry, number one.

REPRESENTATIVE MCSALLY: Our bill does.

REPRESENTATIVE CUELLAR: No, I know -- I'm just saying. I'm saying. (Laughter.) I'm just saying ports -- let's finish this. And some of us have been working this longer than some other folks.

Number one, if you look at the 11 or 12 million undocumented aliens, which is the second phase, 40 percent of them came through visa overstays. So you can put the most beautiful wall out there, it's not going to stop them there because they'll either come by plane, boat, or vehicle itself.

REPRESENTATIVE MCSALLY: That's in our bill, too.

REPRESENTATIVE CUELLAR: Yeah, and I know. So the other thing is, the other thing that we had looked at -- the wall itself, Mr. President -- if you talk to your Border Patrol chief or the former Border Patrol chiefs, I've asked them, how much time does a wall buy you? They'll say a couple minutes or a few seconds. And this is our own Border Patrol chiefs that have said that.

SECRETARY NIELSEN: It's not mine. Mine has made clear the wall works.

TRUMP: Not the ones I spoke to.

SECRETARY NIELSEN: They have not. The wall works.

TRUMP: Not the ones I spoke to. They say, without the wall, we cannot have border security.

REPRESENTATIVE CUELLAR: All right. Okay. Let me show you.

TRUMP: All you have to do is ask Israel. Look what happened with them.

SECRETARY NIELSEN: No, ask Yuma. Ask San Diego. The wall works.

TRUMP: Henry, without the wall, you can't have it.

REPRESENTATIVE CUELLAR: All right. Homeland Appropriations, your chief that was there, and the former chiefs have all said that.

Now, the other thing is --

TRUMP: Well, they didn't do a very good job.

REPRESENTATIVE CUELLAR: Well, if you look at -- this is where the wall -- Mr. President, if you look at where the walls are at right now, this is where the activity is where the walls are at right now.

TRUMP: We have massive miles of area where people are pouring through. Now, one of the good things, because of our rhetoric or because of the perceived -- you know, my perceived attitude -- fewer people are trying to come through. That's a great thing.

REPRESENTATIVE CUELLAR: Right.

TRUMP: And therefore -- I mean, our numbers have been fantastic, maybe for all the right reasons.

REPRESENTATIVE CUELLAR: But let me just finish my thought. I want to ask you that -- we're playing -- you saw the game last night. It was a good game last night.

TRUMP: I did. Very good game.

REPRESENTATIVE CUELLAR: We're playing defense on the one-yard line called the U.S. border. We spend over $18 billion a year on the border.

If we think about playing defense on the 20-yard line -- if you look at what Mexico has done, they stop thousands of people on the southern border with Guatemala. We ought to be looking at working with them.

TRUMP: Henry, we stopped them. We stopped them. You know why? Mexico told me, the President told me, everybody tells me -- not as many people are coming through their southern border because they don't think they can get through our southern border and therefore they don't come. That's what happened with Mexico. We did Mexico a tremendous favor.

REPRESENTATIVE CUELLAR: We actually put appropriations to help them with the southern border.

TRUMP: The point is -- I know, we always give everybody -- every other nation gets money except ours.

REPRESENTATIVE CUELLAR: But finally --

TRUMP: We're always looking for money. We give the money to other nations. That we have to stop.

REPRESENTATIVE CUELLAR: But finally, the last point, Mr. President, is instead of playing defense on the one-yard line, if you look -- this is your material -- we know where the stash houses are at, we know where the hotels are at, we know where they cross the river --

TRUMP: Right. And we're going after those.

REPRESENTATIVE CUELLAR: Why stop -- why play defense on the one-yard line called the U.S. --

TRUMP: Henry, we're going after them like never before. We're going after the stash houses --

REPRESENTATIVE CUELLAR: All I'm saying is, if we focus on DACA, we can work on the other things separately -- on sensible border security, listen to the folks that are from the border, and we can work with the --

TRUMP: And you folks are going to have to -- you're one voice -- you folks are going to have to come up with a solution.

REPRESENTATIVE CUELLAR: Yes, sir.

TRUMP: And if you do, I'm going to sign that solution.

REPRESENTATIVE CUELLAR: Yes, sir.

TRUMP: We have a lot of smart people in this room. Really smart people. We have a lot of people that are good people, big hearts. They want to get it done.

I think almost everybody -- I can think of one or two I don't particularly like, but that's okay. (Laughter.)

REPRESENTATIVE MCSALLY: Where is he looking?

REPRESENTATIVE CUELLAR: Who is he looking at? (Laughter.)

TRUMP: I'm trying to figure that out. Everybody wants a solution. You want it, Henry.

REPRESENTATIVE CUELLAR: Yes, sir. I want to work with you on this.

TRUMP: I think we have a great group of people to sit down and get this done. In fact, when the media leaves, which I think should be probably pretty soon. (Laughter.) But I like -- but I will tell you, I like opening it up to the media because I think they're seeing, more than anything else, that we're all very much on a similar page. We're on the same page.

REPRESENTATIVE CUELLAR: We are. We are.

TRUMP: And, Henry, I think we can really get something done.

REPRESENTATIVE CUELLAR: Yes, sir.

TRUMP: So why don't we ask the media to leave. We appreciate you being here.

QUESTION: Is there any agreement without the wall?

TRUMP: No, there wouldn't be. You need it. John, you need the wall. I mean, it's wonderful -- I'd love not to build the wall, but you need the wall.

And I will tell you this, the ICE officers and the Border Patrol agents -- I had them just recently on -- they say, if you don't have the wall -- you know, in certain areas, obviously, that aren't protected by nature -- if you don't have the wall, you cannot have security. You just can't have it. It doesn't work.

And part of the problem we have is walls and fences that we currently have are in very bad shape. They're broken. We have to get them fixed or rebuilt.

But, you know, you speak to the agents, and I spoke to all of them. I spoke -- I lived with them. They endorsed me for President, which they've never done before -- the Border Patrol agents and ICE. They both endorsed Trump. And they never did that before. And I have a great relationship with them. They say, sir, without the wall, security doesn't work; we're all wasting time.

Now, that doesn't mean 2,000 miles of wall because you just don't need that because of nature, because of mountains and rivers and lots of other things. But we need a certain portion of that border to have the wall. If we don't have it, you can never have security. You could never stop that portion of drugs that comes through that area.

Yes, it comes through planes and lots of other ways and ships. But a lot of it comes through the southern border. You can never fix the situation without additional wall. And we have to fix existing wall that we already have.

QUESTION: So you would not be for what Senator Feinstein asked you, which would be a clean DACA bill that doesn't --

TRUMP: No, I think a clean DACA bill, to me, is a DACA bill where we take care of the 800,000 people. They are actually not necessarily young people; everyone talks about young -- you know, they could be 40 years old, 41 years old, but they're also 16 years old.

But I think, to me, a clean bill is a bill of DACA. We take care of them and we also take care of security. That's very important.

And I think the Democrats want security too. I mean, we started off with Steny saying, we want security also. Everybody wants security. And then we can go to comprehensive later on, and maybe that is a longer subject and a bigger subject, and I think we can get that done too.

But we'll get it done at a later date.

Yes, ma'am. Go ahead.

SENATOR HIRONO: Mr. President, I'm Senator Hirono from Hawaii.

TRUMP: Yes, I know.

SENATOR HIRONO: And as the only immigrant serving in the United States Senate right now, I would like nothing better than for us to get to comprehensive immigration reform. But what I'm hearing around the table right now is a commitment to resolving the DACA situation because there is a sense of urgency.

You have put it out there that you want $18 billion for a wall or else there will be no DACA. Is that still your position?

TRUMP: Yeah. I can build it for less, by the way.

SENATOR HIRONO: But you want that wall?

TRUMP: I must tell you, I'm looking at these prices. Somebody said $42 billion. This is like the aircraft carrier. It started off at a billion and a half, and it's now at $18 billion.

No, we can do it for less. We can do a great job. We can do a great wall. But you need the wall. And I'm now getting involved. I like to build under budget, okay? I like to go under-budget, ahead of schedule.

There's no reason for seven years, also. I heard the other day -- please, don't do that to me. (Laughter.) Seven years to build the wall. We can build the wall in one year, and we can build it for much less money than what they're talking about. And any excess funds -- and we'll have a lot of -- whether it's a Wollman Rink or whether it's any -- I build under budget and I build ahead of schedule. There is no reason to ever mention seven years again, please. I heard that and I said -- I wanted to come out with a major news conference, Tom, yesterday.

No. It can go up quickly, it can go up effectively, and we can fix a lot of the areas right now that are really satisfactory if we renovate those walls.

SENATOR HIRONO: And can you tell us how many miles of wall you're contemplating? Whether it's $17 million or $13 million or whatever is -- can you tell us?

TRUMP: Yeah, we're doing a study on that right now. But there are large areas where you don't need a wall because you have a mountain and you have a river -- you have a violent river -- and you don't need it. Okay?

SECRETARY NIELSEN: Senator, I'm happy to come visit you this week to walk you through the numbers.

QUESTION: I'm not the most politically astute person in the world, but it seems to me not much has actually changed here in terms of your position at this particular meeting.

TRUMP: No, I think it's changed. I think my positions are going to be what the people in this room come up with. I am very much reliant on the people in this room. I know most of the people on both sides. I have a lot of respect for the people on both sides. And my -- what I approve is going to be very much reliant on what the people in this room come to me with. I have great confidence in the people. If they come to me with things that I'm not in love with, I'm going to do it because I respect them.

Thank you all very much.

QUESTION: Think you could beat Oprah, by the way?

TRUMP: Yeah, I'll beat Oprah. Oprah would be a lot of fun. I know her very well. You know I did one of her last shows. She had Donald Trump -- this is before politics -- her last week. And she had Donald Trump and my family. It was very nice. No, I like Oprah. I don't think she's going to run. I don't think she's going to run. I know her very well.

QUESTION: (Inaudible.)

TRUMP: Yeah, it's phase two. I think comprehensive will be phase two. I think -- I really agree with Dick. I think we get the one thing done and then we go into comprehensive the following day. I think it'll happen.

Thank you all very much. I hope we've given you enough material. That should cover you for about two weeks.

(LAUGHTER)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Truly extraordinary 45 minutes or so, maybe 50 minutes the president allowing TV cameras in that extraordinary meeting. A bipartisan meeting with Republican and Democratic members of the House and the Senate discussing the critical issue right now. Whether to allow the 800,000 or so DREAMers as they are called to stay in the United States. The president sending conflicting signals whether he wants them to stay or wants border security as part of the deal. It's unclear whether or not a wall, building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border would be part of the initial arrangement or save it for comprehensive reform which the president said he wants down the road.

I'm Wolf Blitzer, in Washington. We want to welcome our viewers from around the world.

Let's go to Jim Acosta.

You listened closely, and I have to give the president a lot of credit for allowing the cameras in there for this remarkable meeting. I covered the White House, and you have, for many years. I don't remember when a White House has allowed cameras in such an unusual meeting.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It doesn't happen very much. And this was an extraordinary exchange. And you heard the president hammered with questions from Democrats and Republicans. Lindsey Graham saying, at one point, you need to get this deal done, Mr. President.

Wolf, in this deal, details matter. As you were laying out, there were key questions during that spray with reporters in the room, he wants to do this in a two-step process. Extend that protection for the DREAMers, the 800,000 or so young immigrants who are in this country, who were brought here through no fault of their own.

They came with their parents and many speak English and have been going to public school for many, many years. Some are in college and working in the United States and only speak English and so on. The president wants to extend protection for them and wants a second step, and that is comprehensive immigration reform. This will come down to basically this point.

Whether or not that DACA protection bill will include border security and lawmakers and said yes, some kind of border security will be include this n that proposal. Just how far that goes is going to determine whether it rises or falls. Is the wall in the DACA protection bill? It sounds like, at this point. And we want to emphasize at this point because things can change, it does not sound like a wall is part of a DACA protection bill at this point.

The president can come out in the next hour and say the wall has to be a part of this bill. When we talked to the lawmakers, the president really believes at this stage in terms of the DACA protection package that it includes border security measures and they would deal with the wall at a later date. Wolf, as you know, we have seen the president dance all-around on this issue. He said we will build a wall and Mexico will pay for it. Now he won't even talk about it. U.S. taxpayers pay for it.

And there is a funding deadline coming up in about a week and a half. That has also complicated these matters as well. But it sounds like, at this point, the president is willing to take DACA protection without a wall and Democrats say they want to take that deal.

[13:46:00] BLITZER: That's a good point you are making.

Let's bring in our panel.

Gloria Borger, let me start with you.

And didn't get a firm answer from the president whether the first phase allowing the DREAMers to remain in the United States, the first piece of legislation would include generic border security but not necessarily a wall.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Can we take a step back, first of all, and remark upon what we just watched? This was not just cameras in the courtroom. This was cameras in the jury room. I have covered Washington for a very long time. I have not seen anything like this. I think the president deserves credit for this because what we got to watch was people actually -- and I turn to Dana at one point and said is this real? You said, yes, I think this is real.

(CROSSTALK)

BORGER: We are not used to watching this. This was Lindsey Graham saying to the president in, no uncertain terms, you need to close the deal. The president saying a pathway to citizenship was, quote, "an incentive," saying he will take the heat on whatever Congress gives to him. The right wing, as John was pointing out while we were listening to him, is starting to attack the president on this and this is a president who I think is pointedly behaving not as Michael Wolff will have him not portrayed in his book, but is sitting around with people and is in charge. Yes, the details have yet to be worked out obviously. And Congressman McCarthy tried to lay it out for the president. You do DACA and then you do border security, and then you do chain migration. I think this was kind of stunning. I had not seen anything like this.

(CROSSTALK)

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: There is a lot to discuss with regard to the substance. There a lot of unanswered questions and a lot of real discussions in this room, but it definitely bears underscoring. We all covered a lot of photo ops for the sake of bringing the cameras in to send an image around the world. That's not what this was. We are as skeptical as they come. That's fair to say. This really was a negotiation. We really got to be the fly on the wall listening to the way they talk. I'm really not convinced that it would have been any different had the cameras not been in there. I was just communicating with two Republicans in that meeting who said they had no idea that the cameras were going to stay in there as long as they did. The president said we will just do a typical thing. I will make a remark and you can, too, so on and so forth.

I'm sure I will get hit for this and I don't care. The bottom line is this is, a year ago, this is the presidency that many people thought Donald Trump was capable of. We don't know if this is a results- driven debate, but just the notion of him being in command. Him wanting the cameras in there and wanting the cameras to see him sitting at a table with Republicans and Democrats and playing the role of a deal maker. This is what people who had high hopes for the Trump presidency thought it would be. Meeting after meeting like this.

(CROSSTALK)

SHANNON PETTYPIECE, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, BLOOMBERG NEWS: He has to do that now. He can't jam things through with Republicans. He is also embattled at this moment. He needs to come out there. There's questions about his mental fitness. He needs to come out looking strong like the commander-in-chief.

(CROSSTALK)

PETTYPIECE: He needs the Democrats, and he needs an image improvement, and that is one way to do it.

BLITZER: John, we've covered the White House a long time. This was unusual.

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We covered the White House, and I stayed on in the George W. Bush days. From a distance, the Obama years. You have Democrats and Republicans sitting around a table having conversations they haven't had in a sustained way in years. They do it when they get up to the deadline on the spending issues. Patty Murray goes into the room with Speaker Ryan and they do an urgent thing at the last minute. But if this is the beginning, the president is responding to the criticism and the Michael Wolff book, the chatter he's not engaged, he's not capable of being engaged president. A president putting the pressure points on both parties, telling the Republicans, I'm open to reform, that is quicksand. Go back to George W. Bush years. John McCain, Lindsey Graham talked about fix it. Here's a guy who ran on build the wall, Mexico will pay for it, I'm going to drain the swamp, and bring back earmarks. Those are the pet projects.

[13:50:42] BLITZER: Very right-wing conservatives say it's amnesty, and that's a word that is poison to them.

KING: So a flexible nonideological engaged president saying let's cut deals. Can we get there? Everybody had their points. Everybody wants to solve DACA, yet, Democrats say let's solve DACA, the DREAMers, then deal with everything else.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Then we heard that from the president a few times, start with DACA and then we'll do comprehensive immigration reform.

(CROSSTALK)

KING: Then he puts pushed back by his own staff and from the Republicans in that room.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Kevin McCarthy, the Republican --

(CROSSTALK)

KING: And Jim Acosta is right, the president didn't always specifically link it to the wall. About when he says security, he means wall. He said himself, doesn't have to be 2,000 miles, it can be a barrier or cameras. But when the president says he wants money for security, he means walls.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: He did say, Shannon, we'll do it in steps, let's get DACA resolved --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: -- then we'll get on to the immigration reform, which was passed in the Senate, never came up for the vote.

PETTYPIECE: Now the political realities kick in. I've seen the Twitter feeds, Trump base, Ann Coulter already tweeting this did more damage than anything in the Mike Wolff book. Because they want nothing more than the wall in the Trump base. Wall is priority number one. They want the wall. And tried to tiptoe away from it before and got ham teared on the right. And no Steve Bannon in the White House to check him on this. (CROSSTALK)

BASH: But no matter what happens, he's going to argue that he got the wall. Because what does the wall mean? It means whatever he makes it out to mean. Meaning it could add a little bit to whatever exists because there is a good amount of fencing there. It could be virtual or border security. So I think the wall is a little bit of a Rorschach test for him and his base.

The big problem for his base is amnesty. Because they consider even for kids who came here through no fault of their own, the DACA kids, they don't care. They say this is amnesty. And that is the key. That is why you heard John Cornyn and Lindsey Graham saying you have to be the one to close this deal. He is the only person getting the Republicans on the ballot in 2018 political cover with the Republican base because of the way he campaigned and how much support he has, still has, with the base. And he's got some goodwill.

BORGER: What the president wanted to show today, and honestly, this was his reality show today, and everybody decided they were going to play and be a part of it. As long as cameras were there, they would tell them what they were thinking. And what we heard from the president multiple times, I'll be signing it. Whatever you bring to me, I have a lot of confidence of the people in the room.

BASH: But he has to build it, so it comes.

BORGER: Right.

BASH: If you build it, they will come.

BORGER: Exactly. But I'll be signing it. I'll be signing it. I'll be signing it. And we don't know what that it is, but we know now this is a president who has been burned by the Michael Wolff book, a president who knows, and John points out, what his approval ratings are, and he wants a win. He wants one win. By the way, by the following afternoon, I'll get another win.

PETTYPIECE: This is something he cares about. Taxes, health care, yes, that's important. But this is tough immigration, one of the things he wanted.

BLITZER: He made the point, John, I want you to explain to our viewers that he wants bipartisan cooperation, Democrats and Republicans working together. Then on a few occasions during the meeting, he said we have to bring back earmarks. So explain what the president is driving at, why that would lead to bipartisan cooperation since earmarks were removed, there has been a deterioration?

KING: When I'm done, Shannon gets to make Oprah connection to it, the earmarks.

(CROSSTALK)

KING: Earmarks, if you are watching at home, it's Washington speak. Sorry America. But the pet projects, I need your vote, Wolf, I'll give you a grant, so I can get your vote for this bill that you don't want to vote for. That's the way they used to do it. Greased the project by giving out money. Some find it corrupt. But remarkable for president who ran on don't vote for Hillary Clinton. She's part of the Washington culture. She won't drain the swamp. I will run against the Republican leadership. They are part of the swamp. All these politicians can't be trusted with your money. Saying we need to bring back earmarks, because you don't trust each other, don't talk to each other.

(CROSSTALK)

[13:55:24] KING: Let's bring money into the process. Let's bring money into the process to help grease the deal. That's what the president was talking about.

BLITZER: We need your vote, so a power plant in your district, you get it?

KING: If you are a Trump Democrat, or Republican, or I'm not sure what you have, but you have voted to him. But I want to send a hand grenade to Washington, that's going to be pretty jarring.

BLITZER: A truly extraordinarily moment, indeed.

But other breaking news unfolding even as we speak. A major development from the U.S. Senate involving the Russia investigation.

Manu Raju is standing by.

Manu, update our viewers on this breaking news.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, very significant and surprising development. The top Democrat in the Senate Judiciary Committee surprising releasing 325-page transcript of Glen Simpson co-founder of the opposition research firm, Fusion GPS behind the controversial dossier about Trump and Russia contact something that the White House has furiously attacked for months.

Well, for the first time we are getting a sense of what Glen Simpson, the founder of that firm, said behind closed doors during a 10-hour testimony because of Feinstein decision to release this document. Now what Simpson says, according to this document, was that Christopher Steele, former British agent, who was hired to investigate these connections between Trump and Russia, really, he went to the FBI in July 2016, out of concern of what he was finding. He was so concerned, according to Glen Simpson, that there could be a presidential candidate, President Trump, candidate Trump, who was being blackmailed by the Russians. So he went and he informed the FBI about exactly what he was finding.

Now, in addition to that, Wolf, he also discussed how there was internal Trump campaign source who speaking to the FBI and the FBI thought that Christopher Steele information in the dossier was credible because this internal Trump campaign source was saying something similar. He reveals that this campaign source had met with a FBI attache in Rome that summer as well. Still going through the document, Wolf, but rather remarkable

development here first time we are seeing exactly how Christopher Steele put together this dossier, why he was hired to investigate. We do know that the funding behind this has been under criticism because the Democrats put money behind Fusion GPS in the general election and Fusion GPS then hired Steele to investigate Trump's background. But conservatives had given money to GPS at that time before Christopher Steele was hired. But in this testimony, Wolf, Glen Simpson says Steele was investigating just a basic question about what exactly Trump was doing with Russia. He said Fusion GPS had no role whatsoever in determining what was said in this dossier. But Steele's own concern about prospects of a presidential candidate being potentially blackmailed is the reason why he went to the FBI and briefed them about exactly what he was finding -- Wolf?

BLITZER: And we're just getting started reading the nearly 400 pages of that transcript of that testimony.

Manu, stand by.

I want to get quick reaction from California Congressman Eric Swalwell, a Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.

What's your reaction? I don't know if you've gone through those nearly 400 pages, Congressman.

REP. ERIC SWALWELL, (D), CALIFORNIA: I have. And I sat through the interview that we had with Glen Simpson in our committee, Wolf. So gratitude to Senator Feinstein for doing this. Let the American people see. It illustrates the real credibility of Christopher Steele and the deep concern people had that the Russians had something on the president, backed up by evidence, a mountain of evidence that they had collected during their investigation.

BLITZER: So where does it go from here?

SWALWELL: Well, we hope that the American people can see the transcripts of all the witnesses that we've interviewed, and that we actually will have subpoena power to start looking and testing the stories that the Trump family and campaign team have told us. Right now, we have no way to test and corroborate what they are saying or repudiate it because the Republicans won't issue subpoenas to get text messages, phone records, banking records. That what we truly need if we are going to tell the American people exactly what happened.

BLITZER: From your perspective, what was the biggest revelation?

SWALWELL: There was a member of the Trump team that had gone to the FBI with concerns themselves about Russian interference. But I think the biggest revelation, considering what was alleged in the dossier, is the credibility of the witness, Christopher Steele and his impeccable credentials, and being accurate in the past. And that's why they used him to collect the dossier this time.

BLITZER: Congressman, we'll continue this conversation. Thanks so much for joining us. (CROSSTALK)