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Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), Is Interviewed About Colonial Pipeline Cyberattack; Gaetz Associate Plans To Plead Guilty, Strikes Cooperation Deal. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired May 13, 2021 - 12:30   ET

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

[12:30:00]

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Secondly, over the weekend, we reviewed and worked with the company to get a portion of the pipeline system, from North Carolina to Maryland, to operate under manual control and deliver -- deliver its existing inventory.

In addition, we've put in place emergency orders that lifts hours -- the hours restrictions and allowed states to lift weight restrictions for tank truck drivers to be on the road. This allows those drivers to work more and carry more fuel to the affected regions.

Third, the Environmental Protection Agency issued a targeted 20 day waiver of standards in several states to give fuel suppliers more flexibility to use available fuels where they're needed, which will boost the fuel supply.

And those -- those last two actions have made tens of millions of gallons of additional fuel available each day to be able to be distributed. Put another way, the extraordinary measures the administration has taken, we estimate, sent enough gas to stations to fill the tanks of over five million vehicles in the last few days.

Fourthly, as part of an effort to use every possible means to accelerate fuel deliveries, last night, I granted a waiver of the Jones Act to fuel suppliers. This allows non-U.S. flag vessels to transport refined fuel products from the Gulf of Mexico to affected areas, and we'll grant additional waivers if necessary.

These steps are temporary but they'll remain in place until full service is fully restored. This is -- this is a whole of government response to get more fuel more quickly to where it's needed and to limit the pain being felt by American customers.

Now, here's what drives the driver in the states that are affected -- here's what the -- you can do, the drivers. Don't panic, number one. I know seeing lines at the pumps or gas stations with no gas can be extremely stressful but this is a temporary situation. Do not get more gas than you need in the next few days. As I said, we expect the situation to begin to improve by the weekend and into early next week and gasoline supply is coming back online and panic buying will only slow the process. And I also want to say something to the gas stations -- do not -- I repeat, do not try to take advantage of consumers during this time. I'm going to work with governors in the affected states to put a stop to price gouging wherever it arises and I'm asking our federal agencies to stand ready to provide assistance to state-level efforts to monitor and address any price gouging at the pump. Nobody should be using this situation for financial gain. That's what the hackers are trying to do, that's what they were about, not us. That's not who we are.

And as for the people who carried out this attack, the FBI's released details on the attack so others can take steps to prevent from being victimized like Colonial has been. We do not believe -- I want to emphazize -- we do not believe the Russian government was involved in this attack but we do have strong reason to believe that the criminals who did the attack are living in Russia. That's where it came from, where -- from Russia.

We have been in direct communications with Moscow about the imperative for responsible countries to take decisive action against these ransomware networks and we're also going to pursue a measure to disrupt their ability to operate. And our Justice Department has launched a new task force dedicated to prosecuting ransomware hackers to the full extent of the law.

And finally, let me say that this event is providing an urgent reminder of why we need to harden our infrastructure and make it more resilient against all threats, natural and man-made. My administration is continuing to safeguard our critical infrastructure, the majority of which is privately owned and managed, like Colonial Pipeline.

Private entities are in charge of their own cybersecurity and we need -- and -- and we have to -- we know -- we know what they need. They need greater private sector investment in cybersecurity, and that's why we launched a new public-private initiative in April that is focusing on strengthening cybersecurity in the electric sector, for natural gas, for pipelines, as well as water systems and other lifeline sectors.

And last night, I signed an executive order to improve the nation's cybersecurity. It calls for federal agencies to work more closely with the private sector, to share information, strengthen cybersecurity practices and deploy technologies that increase reliance against cyber attacks.

[12:35:09]

It outlines innovative ways the government will drive to deliver security in software, using federal buying power to jumpstart the market and improve the products that all Americans use.

To assist in this urgent work of protecting our nation's -- our nation against cyber attacks, I'm calling on the United States Senate to move quickly to confirm Chris Inglis as our National Cyber Director and Jen Easterly to be the Director of Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency at the Department of Homeland Security. (CORRECTED COPY)

BIDEN: In America, we've seen critical infrastructure taken offline by floods, fires, storms and criminal hackers. In Texas last month, we saw what happens when storms hit power systems that aren't fully modernized or ready for the threats of extreme weather, with tragic results. Now, we're seeing the effect of criminal hackers, with gas lines throughout the southwest -- excuse me, the southeast.

And we're in a competition with China and the rest of the world to win the 21st century economically, and we're not gonna win it in competing with an infrastructure that is out of the 20th century. We need a modern infrastructure.

My American Jobs Plan includes transformative investments in modernizing and securing our critical infrastructure. Later this afternoon, I'll be meeting with Republican senators to discuss ways we can move forward on modernizing the infrastructure we have today and building the infrastructure we need for tomorrow.

I'm willing to negotiate, as I've indicated yesterday to the House members and to the leadership. But it's clearer than ever that doing nothing is not an option. Again, we expect things to return to normal over the next several days. I will be monitoring Colonial's progress and the federal government's support every step of the way.

So stay strong, help is on the way. We're going to get through this as we always do as Americans, and we're going to do it together, and it's going to be quick.

God bless you all, and may God protect our troops.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Mr. President, has the U.S. retaliated?

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: You said that the hackers are believed to be living in Russia. At what point does the U.S. start to try to inflict pain on governments who allow this sort of thing to happen in their territory?

BIDEN: We are working to try to get to the place where we have sort of an international standard that governments knowing that criminal activity was happening from their territory, that we all -- we all move on those -- those criminal enterprises. And I suspect that's one of the topics I'll be talking about with -- with President Putin.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Are you confident that Putin was not involved?

BIDEN: I am confident that I've read the report of the FBI accurately, and they say they were not, he was not, the government was not.

(CROSSTALK) QUESTION: Mr. President, when (ph) (inaudible) executive order mentioned the Colonial Pipeline directly, but the press release says -- it only encourages private sector companies to follow the federal government lead, which -- encouragement is good, but in the face of profit, it's kind of sketchy. So what concrete steps is the administration taking to ensure that companies are prepared and held accountable for their cyber issues, cybersecurity issues?

BIDEN: You've asked three different questions in that one thing, I think, as I understand it. The bottom line is that I cannot dictate that the private companies do certain things relative to cybersecurity.

Now, a lot of you are very seasoned reporters, you've been covering this debate up on Capitol Hill for -- before I became president, and unrelated to President Trump, just the debate internally among senators, as to whether or not the government should be insisting -- and that gets (ph) into privacy issues and a whole range of things.

So that's going to be an ongoing negotiation, but I think it's becoming clear to everyone that we have to do more than being done now, and the federal government can be significant value added in having that happen.

Yes?

QUESTION: Are you -- will you consider doing any kind of retaliatory cyber-attacks to shut down these criminals? Are you ruling that out?

BIDEN: No.

QUESTION: Is Prime Minister Netanyahu doing enough to stop this violence there from escalating?

BIDEN: I had a brief conversation with him yesterday, and the -- I have my -- my intelligence community, the Defense Department, as well as the -- the State Department have been in contact with all of their counterparts in -- not only in Israel, but in the region.

[12:40:12]

And one of the things that I have seen, thus far, is that there has not been a significant overreaction. The question is, how -- how we get to a point where -- they get to a point where there is a significant reduction in the attacks, particularly the rocket attacks that are indiscriminately fired into population centers. But I expect I'll be having some more discussions.

And it wasn't -- we haven't just spoken with the Israelis. The Egyptians, the Saudi, and others. So we're -- it's a work in progress right now.

So thank you all so very much.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: ... Mr. President? Just (ph) one more on the ransom. Were you briefed on the fact that the company did pay the ransom?

BIDEN: I have no comment on that.

Thank you. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you very much.

DANA BASH, CNN HOST: Just listening to President Biden give an address on what we have been seeing because of the cyber-attack on the Colonial Pipeline, a lot to talk about there. And one of the headlines was that the President was using the bully pulpit to try to calm people down, saying, don't panic, this is a temporary situation, don't get more gas than you need.

I actually want to bring in the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mark Warner, senator from Virginia. We're lucky to have you here after hearing that from President Biden.

First, generally what was your reaction to what you heard from the president?

SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA): Well, I think the president sent the right signal to the American public that, you know, the gas in the pipeline is starting to flow again, that these shortages are being created by this panic buying. And, you know, in a few days we'll be back to normal.

But I also think there is a much bigger issue, and I say this as someone who frankly, Dana, unsuccessfully had been saying for years we need to up our game on cyber protections. We see in this case a single company being hit with ransomware and the effect it could have to a third of our country.

If we connect the dots and think for a moment back to the SolarWinds hack perpetrated by Russia, was public -- made public end of the year, beginning of the year, 16,000 companies and government agencies were penetrated.

Luckily it was only for espionage purposes of extracting information. But there was nothing that said that that malware could not have been used to shut down all of those companies.

BASH: Yes (ph).

WARNER: We see the effect of what happens when one critical infrastructure company is shut down. If 16,000 companies were shut down simultaneously, our economy would come to a screeching halt.

BASH: Yes.

WARNER: And we need -- and the fact is, we don't even have a requirement at this point that those companies that are affected report in a near immediate term --

BASH: Right.

WARNER: -- to some public, private entity that could actually respond. And I think there's a moment now where the public is focused and I think (ph) there is a great sense of bipartisan agreement --

BASH: Senator --

WARNER: -- and actually business agreement on this. Go ahead, sorry.

BASH: Yes, Senator, I agree -- I mean, I understand that you're agreeing with the president I should say, and I know that you've been screaming from the rooftops about the need to legislate on this and that this nation is very vulnerable to cyber attacks like what we saw.

I want to ask a question that we -- based on what we heard from President Biden. From your perch as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, when President Biden said that there is - that, I don't believe the Russian government was behind the attack. He said, they were criminals living in Russia. And later when asked about he said that that is based on what he read in an FBI report.

Knowing what you know about how President Putin operates and how things work in Russia, do you really believe that a private entity in Russia could have been behind this without it being connected to the Russian government?

WARNER: My sense is the level of sophistication of this attack was relatively low. You know, the level of sophistication in the SolarWinds attack was much greater. But do not think for a minute -- and I'm not -- I agree with the president, chances were it was just cyber criminals.

But do not believe for a moment that our adversaries, Russia, China and others, are not learning from these incidents. Let's assume it was just cyber criminals, but you don't think the Russian services are seeing what havoc was wreaked in a third of our economy by simply shutting down one pipeline?

And, again, the Russian services have done this before. They have done this repeatedly to Ukraine in a series of attacks over a variety -- a variety of the years. So, let's (ph), you know, I'm not going to contradict -- I think the president's probably right; it was a cybercriminal group. But don't think for a moment that this is not potentially in the arsenal of our adversary's spy services.

BASH: And I know, just one last question because I know you have to run. But you are working very aggressively on legislating and answering the call to do what the president said, for example, allowing the government to potentially be more involved in these private companies that are in charge of so many of the infrastructure areas in America. But in the short-term, he did put this executive order in place last night.

You released a statement saying, "This executive order is a good first step, but executive orders can only go so far. Congress is going to have to step in (sic) and do more to address our cyber vulnerabilities, and I look forward to working with the Administration and my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to close those gaps."

So, really briefly, how realistic is it given how much you've been working on this that you can actually do this, A, in a bipartisan way, because you're going to need to? And B, quickly to be able to have an affect on whatever is, you know, coming up that other hackers are seeing this and saying, oh, you know, now is the time to strike?

WARNER: I'm very confident that it's going to be extremely bipartisan. I think the Intel Committee -- and there's other committees -- the Homeland Security Committee is working on a much broader bill. We're working on an incident response so that the folks in the government and for that matter in the private sector know almost real-time what's going on.

The main thing I want to leave folks with is, there is no government only response to this, there's no private sector only response. We've got to get all the right players at the table knowing when these attacks are happening virtually real-time.

BASH: Senator Mark Warner, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, of -- also, of course, of Virginia, where I should say at that right now as of 7:00 AM, 55 percent of gas stations in your commonwealth are still without gasoline. I know that that's what the president was trying to address. You have to go --

WARNER: Saw the lines (ph).

BASH: Yes. Thank you so much, Senator, I appreciate it.

WARNER: Thanks a lot, take care. Bye, bye.

BASH: And let's bring in our panel, I thought that he chose his words very carefully on the question about Russia.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: No, I think that's right. And you can see him almost holding himself back and choosing the right words and talking slowly and deliberately. Not trying to raise the temperature here, not trying to incite anything, or inflamed things very different from the former president, who was much more inflammatory in terms of his reaction to anything and everything.

So Biden there saying, I think for Americans, the main takeaway is don't panic, things will get better. But then this other kind of broader issue about cybersecurity in gas, which I think the average Americans not necessarily thinking about, oh, well, you can hack into a pipeline --

BASH: Right.

HENDERSON: -- and cause this level of panic.

BASH: Right.

HENDERSON: Yes. And so this is something that will have to be addressed by Congress going forward.

BASH: And he said, the reason why he didn't want to contradict the President on the Russian government not being involved in this is because it was relatively low tech. It's relatively low tech, and it did that kind of damage, right, yes, that went down, forgive me, the pipeline, not just the actual pipeline, but the way that this affected so many different layers that allow -- that led to people really being panicked, which obviously was what the President was trying to stop. But that is really an indication of how vulnerable --

MELANIE ZANONA, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, POLITICO: Right.

BASH: American infrastructure is.

ZANONA: And as Senator Warner touched on, what signal does this send to our adversaries about how we can use, what our weaknesses are, what our vulnerabilities are with U.S. infrastructure is that easy to take down a pipeline and shut down a piece of the economy? What can someone like Russia do, you know? And I think that is something that is going to be addressed in any infrastructure bill on the Hill. We're already hearing murmurs about that, but the need to address these vulnerabilities and cyber-attacks. But it's going to be difficult.

BASH: OK, standby, guys.

[12:49:41]

Up next, we have new details about a planned guilty plea of cooperation deal from a former associate of Congressman Matt Gaetz. Stick around for that new reporting.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: A new court filing today hints at potential legal complications for Congressman Matt Gaetz, Joel Greenberg, an ex Florida tax collector accused of orchestrating and paying young women for sexual tryst with Gaetz and other public corruption charges now plans to plead guilty.

I want to get more details from CNN's Paula Reid. Paula, what do you learn from your sources?

PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Dana, we have learned that in addition to pleading guilty Joel Greenberg will cooperate with the federal government in its ongoing investigations. This is not good news for Congressman Matt Gaetz. As we know he is currently under investigation for possible sex trafficking, prostitution, possible public corruption, and questions about whether he may have had sex with a minor.

[12:55:17]

Now, it's not clear yet exactly what Greenberg will give federal investigators as part of this deal. But we know from our sources that he has previously shared information with federal investigators about instances where he and the Congressman have exchange sex for money and gifts with women. So this is a big development in his ongoing investigation.

Mr. Greenberg is currently facing 33 federal charges. He's been in jail. This plea agreement will likely result in a lesser sentence for him in exchange for his cooperation. But the big question now is what exactly is he going to tell investigators?

BASH: A very, very big question. And based on your reporting, I don't mean to put you on the spot now. But based on your reporting, do we have any clue as to how far Greenberg could be willing to go to save himself and take down, potentially take down Matt Gaetz?

REID: I think we can look to what we already know about what he's been discussing with federal investigators. They are interested in this question of possible prostitution or sex trafficking. We know we spoken with several of the women who were involved in some of these arrangements. They told us that Mr. Greenberg would often go online to recruit them for potentially paying for sex, then some of them were subsequently introduced to Congressman Gaetz.

Investigators are likely going to be very interested in these arrangements and how these people were paid. We also know, Dana, from our sources that investigators have hundreds and hundreds of transactions that they have records of, and they're likely going to want to talk to Mr. Greenberg, about some of those transactions, who they were for, where the money came from, why it was exchanging hands.

There's a lot of information that Mr. Greenberg could potentially provide to investigators. We know he was a very close associate of Congressman Gaetz and we know from our reporting that these two did engage in these arrangements, exchanging gifts, travel, money for sex with women.

BASH: Paula Reid, thank you so much for that reporting. I know you're going to be on more throughout the day as you talk to your sources. Thank you for joining us. Our coverage will continue after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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