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High-profile Senators Demand Investigation; McConnell Holds News Conference Next Hour; Trump Scoffs at CIA Claims of Russian Meddling. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired December 12, 2016 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:16]

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: For now, he's scoffing at reports that Russia helped put him in the White House but four powerful senators, both Democrat and Republican are concerned. They are demanding an investigation. And they say the findings of Russian interference should, "alarm every American." We're covering it all. CNN's Manu Raju, live on Capitol Hill. Jason Carroll, live outside of Trump Tower. Let's start with you, Manu. Good Morning.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Good morning, Carol. Yes, this news conference is designed for McConnell to talk about Republican accomplishments in the 114th Congress given at the end of the session but expect a lot of questions about Russia, especially given the fact that Senator McConnell sits on these top secret briefings that no other members of Congress get that he gets because he is the Senate Majority Leader. Now, one of the questions, whether or not he supports calls for a bipartisan investigation into Russia and look, he's stepping in right now.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL, (R) MAJORITY LEADER: Well, I think this has been one heck of a year. I hate to see it end. And it was topped off Saturday night. You see I have my Louisville sweater on. Louisville quarterback, Lamar Jackson, won the Heisman Trophy Saturday Night, topping off a terrific year for the things that I care about, like holding the Senate and electing a president.

I know the main subject you were interested in this morning and I'm going to read a statement which I typically don't do at these but I want to make sure you fully understand what I have to say on the issue that I think is mostly undermines this morning.

Obviously any foreign breach of our cybersecurity measures is disturbing and I strongly condemn any such efforts. Prior to the election, the Director of National Intelligence released a statement, saying that the Russian government directed the recent compromises of e-mails from U.S. persons and institutions, including from U.S. political organizations. That is what the intelligence community believes can be said in unclassified remarks without risking sources and methods. Anything else, anything else is irresponsible, likely illegal, and potentially for partisan political gain. I agree with Senator Schumer, Chairman McCain, Burr and others, this simply cannot be a partisan issue. Let me remind all of you that the Senate Intelligence Committee on which I and the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, sit as ex- officio members, is more than capable of conducting a complete review of this matter. And Senator Schumer will soon join us on the committee and he can review this matter through the regular order. I have every confidence in Chairman Burr that he will review the matter in a responsible way. The Obama administration is also, now launching a review and when the Office of the Director of National Intelligence completes its review, there will be additional information released to the public in a responsible manner.

Chairman McCain has announced that he will conduct a review within the Armed Services Committee of the threat we face from cyberattacks that will be useful as we need to integrate our cyber capabilities into our overall war-fighting doctrine. The Obama administration for eight years attempted to reset relations with Russia and sat back while Russia expanded its sphere of influence, intervened in Crimea, Eastern Ukraine, Syria and attempted to bully the Baltic countries. It defies belief that somehow Republicans in the Senate are reluctant to either review Russian tactics or ignore them.

So last, let me say that I have the highest confidence in the Intelligence Community and especially the Central Intelligence Agencies. The CIA is filled with selfless patriots who anonymously risk their lives for the American people.

Excuse me. Can I have some water?

Let me just say, in wrapping up the Congress -- and then I'll open it up for your questions, I think by any objective standard, the 114th Congress looks pretty good compared to the previous one. Everything from the cures bill to NDAA bills, first long-term highway bill in 20 years, FAA Florida, the water resources bill, permanent tax relief, we addressed the Opioid and prescription drug, an epidemic and a major way, a complete rewrite of no child - behind the K-12 education issue via accountability, cyber security bill, a permanent doctrines, human trafficking, trade promotion authority and many others.

[10:05:16] So even though there were obviously some pretty big differences in a time of divided government, I think we were able to search for the things that it was my desire to search for the things that we had some agreement on and make some progress for the country. And there were a number of things upon which we were able to score some points for the American people. So with that, let me throw it open, Manu.

RAJU: Senator, from what you understand, do you believe that the Russian government was intentionally trying to sway this election to Donald Trump?

MCCONNELL: Manu, as I indicated, the reason I read that statement, is I think that pretty thoroughly covers what I'm prepared to say about that issue.

RAJU: And you said - you talked about an investigation, do you support a separate bipartisan investigation, a commission in any way or do you want to do this through the Intelligence Committee? Would you oppose a bipartisan commission? --

MCCONNELL: We have -- we're going to follow the regular order. It's an important subject and we intend to review it on a bipartisan basis.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You embedded in your statement there, a critic of Obama administration, reset, refresh - does it likewise concern you the signals that are coming from the new administration - top of it, the different attitude, orientation and more friendliness towards Russia, go through appointment transition?

MCCONNELL: Well, let me just speak for myself. The Russians are not our friends. Invaded Crimea, Senator McCain and I and some -- our Democratic friends met with the delegation from the Baltic countries just this past week. To say that they are nervous about the Russians, to put it mildly, let me also say, as I said last year, NATO is important, we intend to keep the commitments that are made in the NATO agreement, which I think by any objectives, Sanders probably been one of the most, if not, the most successful military alliance in world history. And I think we ought to approach all of these issues on the assumption that the Russians do not wish us well.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Senator McConnell, is it a problem though, that the incoming president is sending resource signals to Russia that he is and what do you say about his supposed appointment of Rex Tillerson?

MCCONNELL: Well, I'm going to say this lot of time, by saying I just addressed how I feel about the Russians. And I hope that those who were going to be in a position of responsibility in the new administration share my view.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You mentioned you're confident in the U.S. Intelligent Agencies. Are you concerned that the president-elect continues to deny their conclusion that Russia was behind the hacking and that he's now questioning the credibility of the CIA?

MCCONNELL: Look, I've already addressed my own view about where we are on those issues and I really don't have any intention of further elaborating. Yes?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Should President-elect Trump nominate Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State? (INAUDIBLE) - Financial benefit - from Russia?

MCCONNELL: Well, I've been very impressed with the nominations so far and we'll have to wait and see who is nominated for Secretary of State and we'll obviously treat whoever that is with respect. They will go through the regular process and respond to questions and we'll see where it comes out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think Rex Tillerson could be confirmed in the Senate if he was nominated?

MCCONNELL: Let's wait until we get nominees. I think, of the nominees that we're already aware of -- I think -- I'm optimistic that they will all be confirmed. But I don't want to comment on a kind of nominee today. Yes?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Leader, can you just go back one more time, can you clarify for us, if it was reported over the weekend that you had expressed skepticism (INAUDIBLE) about the intelligence. Can you just clarify for us if that is accurate?

MCCONNELL: Well, I clarified for you what I had to say about that in the statement that I read at our opening. Yes?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senator, do you think though that this president- elect is getting off on such a great footing with the Intelligence Agencies overall? That's the general, you know, trajectory that he's getting on right now?

MCCONNELL: Well, I'll comment on who has been nominated so far. I think Mike Pompeo is an outstanding choice for CIA. I think General Mattis is an outstanding choice for Defense. I'm optimistic we're -- the president is going to have a good national security team, all aspects of it in place.

[10:10:16] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With regard to his relationship with the Intelligence Agency?

MCCONNELL: I think I've pretty well covered that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sen. McConnell, there is a three-year transition to replace Obamacare. Outside conservatives are saying that's too long. Do you agree it's too long to wait three years to replace Obamacare?

MCCONNELL: Well, let me just make sure everybody understands. The status quo is not sustainable. The notion that we could do nothing and allowed the current law to implode is unacceptable. So, I hope no one believes -- no action is possible or appropriate.

COSTELLO: All right. We are going to step away from this so we can talk about what Mitch McConnell just had to say, with me now, Democratic Congressman Eliot Engel of New York. Welcome, sir.

REP. ELIOT ENGEL, (D) NEW YORK AND RANKING MEMBER OF THE HOUSE FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE: Thank you.

COSTELLO: I'll ask you the same question of you that Manu Raju asked Mitch McConnell. Do you believe that Russia interfered in U.S. elections to elect Donald Trump?

ENGEL: I think there's no doubt. You have to be pretty naive to think that the Russians weren't interfering because they wanted to elect their preferred candidate. I think that the president-elect has been a little bit naive when it comes to Russian's intentions and Putin's intentions. But I think we're really beyond that. You know, nobody is saying there needs to be a redo of the election. The election has been decided. What I'm worried about is not what the Russians intended to do but it's what they actually did. And I think it's quite serious and I agree with Sen. McConnell that this should not be a partisan issue. We need to be outraged as Democrats and Republicans if indeed the Russians and it seems like it's true from the assessment of the CIA - COSTELLO: Well Congressman, let me ask you about that because you're a Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Did you hear from Intelligence sources that Russia's intent was to put Donald Trump in the White House?

ENGEL: I haven't heard from Intelligence sources. I only know what I'm reading in the newspapers. The Intelligence sources have not contacted the members of Congress. I'm calling on the Intelligence sources to brief the members of Congress to give us a thorough briefing as to what they know and why they came to the conclusion that they came with. And I'm also calling on the House to hold hearings on the Ranking Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee. I think it's appropriate if we hold hearings or some other committees might want to hold some hearings, you know, in the House. We've had all kinds of hearings about Benghazi, about Planned Parenthood, about Hillary Clinton's e-mails. I certainly think that the House ought to do hearings involving this very, very serious breach. I agree with --

COSTELLO: Let me ask you this because Donald Trump has been tweeting about this very subject this morning and I'll read you a few of them. Donald Trump tweeted, "Unless you catch hackers in the act, it is very hard to determine who was doing the hacking. Why wasn't this brought up before the election?" But as you know, it was brought up before the election.

Another tweet from Donald Trump, "Can you imagine if the election results were the opposite and we tried to play the Russia/CIA card. It would be called a conspiracy theory!" Your reaction?

ENGEL: My reaction is it's ridiculous. First of all, no one is saying that they should be redoing the election. Seriously, nobody is saying that. This is much more serious. This is the Russian government, Mr. Putin, who invaded Crimea, who invaded Ukraine, who is invading Syria and killing people, who wishes us harm, who is our adversary, trying to influence the U.S. Elections. This is very, very serious and Senator McConnell is right. This needs to be done on a bipartisan basis from the point of view that we don't want an enemy of the United States having access to a sensitive material that can influence a U.S. Election. I think both Democrats and Republicans should want to do this.

COSTELLO: Congressman Eliot Engel, thank you for being with me this morning. I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:17:55] COSTELLO: All right. I want to take you to Trump Tower for just a second. Yes, your eyes aren't deceiving you. That is Carly Fiorina entering the Trump Tower with Trump's senior adviser, Kellyanne Conway. She's going to go up and have a short meeting with Trump. Now, we don't know exactly what they'll talk about. But wouldn't you like to if we're on the wall, right? So let's head to Trump Tower. On the outside, Jason Carroll is there. Hi, Jason.

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And good morning to you, Carol. You know, it's widely speculated that Carly Fiorina could be one of the lead folks, up for the director of National Intelligence, or perhaps that's why she's having her meeting this morning with Donald Trump and his team. Donald Trump for his part, the president- elect, multitasking, taking meetings this morning, here at Trump Tower also weighing in on Twitter, as mentioned in your last segment there, about the whole Russian hacking scandal. The president-elect for his part, Carol, basically saying, that he's not at this point buying into what the Intelligence Community is saying about Russia. Pointing to what happened back in 2003, when the Intelligence Community said that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, that turned out not to be the case. And he says that perhaps this time the Intelligence Community is wrong about Russia as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KELLYANNE CONWAY, SENIOR ADVISER TO TRUMP: What he said yesterday is what he's calling laughable and ridiculous yesterday, George, is the specific conclusion that what Russia did led to his victory and Hillary Clinton's defeat. That's where our beef is. He respects the Intelligence Community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: The Intelligence Community obviously very concerned that the president-elect seems to be dismissing some of their findings. Team Trump, for its part, basically saying, that whatever may have happened, if anything happened with Russia being involved with hacking, it had nothing to do with Trump winning the election.

And Carol, as I was saying before, moving on with Trump and his transition efforts, once again meeting with Carly Fiorina today. Also, naming John Kelly, General John Kelly, he now will be named as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Also today, Donald Trump expected to meet with Senator Joe Manchin. He's expected to be one of those lead -- in the lead

[10:20:16] for Secretary of Energy. So the president-elect taking a number of meetings today, also taking a lot of heat from the Intelligence Community over what he believes did not happen with Russia. Carol?

COSTELLO: All right, Jason Carroll reporting live outside of Trump Tower. Thanks. So let's talk about that and more. With me now, Lynn Sweet, Washington bureau chief for the "Chicago Sun-Times" and Andre Bauer, former South Carolina Lieutenant Governor. Welcome to both of you. Andre, I want to start with you. Does Donald Trump trust American Intelligence Services?

ANDRE BAUER, FORMER SOUTH CAROLINA LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR: Well, I haven't spoken with him directly. I think that like all Americans, he doesn't just trust everything that's given to him and that among the agencies themselves, they have different understanding. They don't all agree as well. The CIA has a different director than the FBI. The FBI has almost like -- an A.G. They have to make sure that they have enough, that they could actually prosecute when a case where the CIA goes. A lot more on you know what they feel to be the situation. So agencies disagree but I think anybody is fair and reasonable to question if they believe everything they've heard from their government. You know, I love my government but that doesn't mean I always take everything they tell me. As President of the United States, I hope he questions a lot of what's always been the same old and same old in Washington. That's why he got elected.

COSTELLO: And Lynn, I just want to make it clear for our viewers because the FBI and CIA aren't on completely different pages. Both think that it was Russia who tried to influence the American Elections. The CIA differs with the FBI because the CIA thinks the Russians did it to put Donald Trump in the White House. So they are not completely on different pages but the difference is the CIA has a Russian motive and the FBI does not.

LYNN SWEET, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF "CHICAGO SUN-TIMES": Well, here's what I hope our viewers could - understand and we could all understand as we delve into the story, Carol and Andre. First, let's get a set of - you know, question one is, were the Russians involved? That's what you have the Intelligence Agencies looking at. By the way, there are 16 Intelligence Agencies that have input into the presidential daily briefing. The ones that are the most famous are the CIA and FBI, which are the main players in this case.

So, one, the analysis is the Russians were players. The disagreement is on the analysis of the motivation and that's where you have a discussion and different agencies see it differently. The point is you can't just dismiss information saying it's not relevant. You know, what the president does is in the end, because he's the decider, take this incoming and decide what should be done in terms of crafting a policy or response.

So it's not -- the point isn't that there's disagreement if you have a sense that the foundation is there and we know from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, he found the Intelligence credible. He found there is evidence of Russian meddling. So there's more to be done and the view, I guess of President-elect Trump of figuring out -- no, he said the Intelligence was ridiculous. So we have that breach but as we look at Intelligence, let's separate the poor facts and then the analytic conclusions that the agencies come to.

COSTELLO: So if all of these high-powered people are agreeing there's something up with Russia and the American elections, Andre, why isn't Donald Trump like, all in when it comes to holding Congressional hearings and finding out exactly what happened?

BAUER: Well, a couple points. Number one, as a taxpayer, I wonder why we have 16 or 17 different agencies. Surely we can reduce the number of those. That's seems like a bit of overlay to me. --

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: -- budget

SWEET: Well, not necessarily for one of them -

COSTELLO: No, no, I don't want to focus on that right now. Andre, I want to focus on why Donald Trump does not want to divulge into the issue of the Russians possibly interfering in American democracy? Why wouldn't he of all people, very patriotic, "Make America Great Again" Why wouldn't he be all in?

BAUER: Because this is sidetracking from his agenda, the things that he focused on working on. If the U.S. Senate, which I applaud, Senator McCain and Lindsey Graham, for looking into -- great, that's their job. He's got a directive to move America forward. This isn't part of the objective. Julian Assange has said he didn't get this from Russia. Russia said they didn't do it. Usually, they're really good about not leaving a footprint. --

COSTELLO: So Donald Trump is going to believe Russia and Julian Assange and not the CIA and the FBI? Is that what you're saying?

BAUER: They have a history of being able to enter and not even leave a footprint. So again, there are several different agencies have not all agreed on all of the facts that have been pointed out.

COSTELLO: No, no, no. 17 Intelligence Agencies in the United States have agreed that Russia was tampering with the - or trying to influence U.S. Elections. The CIA came out and said that - there was a motive.

BAUER: -- not all of them agree on that.

COSTELLO: Yes, they have. 17 agencies have agreed. Yes, they have. I'm just asking, if that's true and why Donald Trump wouldn't want to get to the bottom -- if he thinks all of these people are lying,

[10:25:16] all of our Intelligence Services are wrong, shouldn't Congress get to the bottom of that as well?

BAUER: Sure. And I said, Lindsey Graham and john McCain are working on that and that's great. That's where their focus is and they have the committees to investigate that. Donald Trump, if he gets sidetracked every time the media tries to dictate what should be the next issue, then he's not going to be able to focus on what he wants to do and he can't let -- I think we've all seen Donald Trump is not going to let the media dictate where he wants to move this country forward.

SWEET: Well, if I may say, Donald Trump, many people, presidents, members of Senate, you do several things at once. If you look at a presidential schedule each day, there are many, many issues, sir. I'm not here to argue with you. Carol, I agree, let's just take one step at a time here and just on the issue that we came here to talk about. It seems the issue is here about if the Russians meddled with the election. It doesn't preclude so many other issues that are on a presidential plate, many of them put on by Trump for his first 100 agenda. There's a multitude of things he wants to do and now things come up, sir, new all the time. This is an issue now that Members of Congress want to resolve, even if President Trump is not interested in them.

COSTELLO: And just another word about - It's just you know, a little bit of confusion about what Mr. Trump is exactly saying. If he doesn't trust the CIA, and he's only attending - he's not attending as many Intelligence briefings as previous presidents-elect. He's leaving that to Mike Pence. He still as President of the United States has to work with these Intelligence Services to quell these terrible uprisings and around the world and also to defeat ISIS. So it is a concern when Americans here that the President-elect doesn't trust the CIA and its assessment. Andre?

BAUER: Well and he's going to have a new CIA director, represented by Mike Pompeo, somebody that he trusts, somebody that he can go to as a confidante and he can get the information when he wants it. And I don't blame him for not wanting to meet every day. Unless there's new information, why would he want the redundancy of continuing to hear over and over again the same stuff? And that's what he has said, he's said if there's new information, then update me. Anytime you need to interrupt me, do. But I don't want to sit there every day because he's got too many other things to do. So, whether there's a press and it's a presidents do it before - this is a business guy. He's not a bureaucrat. And I've been in those types of meetings at a state level with the same thing I hear, the same thing day in and day out. Unless there's new information, why burn his time up when he only has so much of it. --

SWEET: Well, actually there is an answer to that sir. Again, Carol, your viewers might find this interesting. President Truman started the presidential - becomes now, today the presidential daily brief. It's tailored to the president. He's the boss. So if he says, bring to me everyday something that's new and maybe he could tailor it to them. They are devoted in Intelligence. There's a whole operation to tailoring a briefing to the way that a president wants it. So if he thinks he's not hearing enough new, if he wants to reduce to ten things he should know about today from whatever hemisphere, it could be done that way. So I think what probably the briefers heard is that they didn't like the way that he was getting his brief. But it doesn't preclude getting it. So the redundancy issue could be resolved and they now know what his complaint was about the briefing. The brief is designed -

BAUER: And that's a fair assessment. --

SWEET: -- for the client and that's the president.

COSTELLO: OK. I got to leave it there. Lynn Sweet, Andre Bauer, I got to leave it there, thanks for being with me. I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)