ICYMI – Vice Chairman Warner on Meet the Press: “We’ll get this done in a bipartisan way”

WASHINGTON – On Sunday, March 26, U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner, Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press with Chuck Todd to discuss the Intelligence Committee’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and the upcoming March 30^th Senate Intel Committee’s first open hearing:

On the Committee’s investigation: 

“Weeks ago when I was first getting started with this I said this is the most important thing I’ve ever worked on. With what I know now, I doubly believe that. This is a serious effort and it has to be done bipartisan. We have to get the facts out to the American people.”

On House Intel Chairman Nunes’ surveillance claims:

“I am totally mystified by what Mr. Nunes has said. I’ve talked to my chairman, Richard Burr, and he didn’t know. I’ve talked Democrats and Republicans on the committee. I think it’s fairly mystifying if not outrageous that he makes these claims and then goes down and briefs the White House.”

On what’s next for the Committee:

“What we’ll do is have the public hearing. We’ll continue to do as much as we can in public, but we have a lot more raw intelligence that we have to go through. When we bring in people like Mr. Manafort and others, we want not some spectacle. We want to be able to ask the right questions.”

Video of Sen. Warner’s interview on Meet the Press can be found here. A transcript follows.

Chuck Todd: Welcome back. Last Monday the House Intelligence Committee held its first open hearing on Russia since President Trump’s inauguration. The result: the bombshell confirmation that the FBI is indeed investigating the Trump campaign’s potential ties to Russia, and a chaotic back and forth between the committee’s top two members after the Chairman briefed the President whose campaign his committee is supposed to be investigating. And all of this calling into question over whether the House can conduct a credible investigation, and it appears now that investigation could be falling apart before our eyes. So this week the Senate Intelligence Committee will get its turn to prove that someone in congress can credibly investigate this in a bipartisan way.

Senator Mark Warner of Virginia is the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee. Welcome.

Sen. Warner: Good morning.

Todd: Look, I want to get right to getting your reaction to what FBI Director James Comey said when he testified that they are indeed investigating ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Warner: Well, Chuck, I want to talk about Russia as well, but we just saw the first half of this show talk about the failure of Trumpcare take place. The reason was, nobody talked about the details of the bill. It would have cost 24 million Americans their healthcare. It would have raised prices for seniors. It was a major tax cut for the wealthy. And it was an $800 billion cost shift for the states to pick up the cost of Medicaid and it was an awful bill. And I think people across the country revolted against it. Sometimes the substance actually matters.

In terms of Russia, this is — I’ve said before this is the most important thing I’ve ever done in my public life. And what I know now as I get more and more into this, I will double down on that statement because it is extraordinary. We have the FBI Director admitting there are investigations going on. We know the Russians massively interfered with our elections with both hacking — they had 1,000 paid internet trolls that flooded the zone with fake news. And we have a series of people that are very closely affiliated with the President who have had extensive ties with Russia including the fact that 60 days into the Administration. we have both the National Security Adviser that had to resign and the Attorney General had to recuse himself because of those ties.

Todd: How much does an active investigation in the FBI hamper the Senate Intelligence Committee’s ability to do an investigation? Isn’t it plausible the FBI says it can’t turn over some of these materials because they aren’t done?

Warner: There have been prior examples: think back to Watergate. There was a DOJ investigation going on along with a congressional investigation.

Todd: You think you can do both?

Warner: We’re going to have to be able to do both.I talk regularly with Director Comey. There will be times when we’ll have, I’m sure, brush-ups. We start our process in terms of an open hearing this week and we already have terms of reference and we have incredible access to information at the CIA. We’re going to have to get more information. We’ve already started interviewing witnesses. We’ve got a long way to go to get this done but we’re going to get this done in a bipartisan way.

Todd: You had the House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes claim that he has now seen some raw intelligence reports that perhaps confirmed that there was at least some inadvertent surveillance of folks connected to the Trump campaign. Have you seen any of this material? What is he referring to?

Warner: I am totally mystified by what Mr. Nunes has said. I’ve talked to my chairman, Richard Burr, and he didn’t know. I’ve talked Democrats and Republicans on the committee. I think it’s fairly mystifying if not outrageous that he makes these claims and then goes down and briefs the White House. I know Adam Schiff, the lead Democrat, still wants to keep the investigation bipartisan. I don’t think Mr. Schiff even knows today what those documents are.

Todd: We have talked a couple of times and you have hesitated on endorsing the idea of an independent commission. John McCain has been the biggest champion of this, saying at this point maybe it can’t be done inside of Congress. What do you say to that?

Warner: Listen, if we could get an independent commission, I’m open to that. That means you have to pass a bill and the President’s got to  sign it, and then you have to have a big debate about who will be on it.

Todd: That’s movement. You were not there even two weeks ago.

Warner: We’ve got a committee–we have Tom Cotton on the committee and Ron Wyden: we cross all of the political divides. And frankly, we have bipartisan support. Serious Republicans, Marco Rubio, Roy Blunt, Susan Collins, James Lankford, Richard Burr — all saying we’ll go where the intel leads. Why not use that process?

Todd: I want to ask you about Richard Burr and your trust and faith in him. The White House used — asked both Devin Nunes and Richard Burr at one time to essentially help push back against one of these New York Times stories and they both did in some form or another. Does that call into question Senator Burr’s ability to be bipartisan in this and do you trust him?

Warner: We’ve had some bumps, but i am working very closely with him right now…

Todd: You trust him?

Warner: I trust him that we will get this done and we have a list of witnesses that I think you will see that is comprehensive and we’ll talk to everybody involved.

Todd: Paul Manafort apparently made a statement that he’s willing to testify before the House and the Senate intelligence investigations. When would we see somebody like Paul Manafort?

Warner: What you have to do first is you have to get your information. You’ve got to get all the raw intelligence. You’ve got to build your case. You only bring in those kind of witnesses at the appropriate time, and we will bring them in.

Todd: Is that like a three-month, six-month, outline the time line here?

Warner: What we’ll do is have the public hearing. We’ll continue to do as much as we can in public, but we have a lot more raw intelligence that we have to go through. When we bring in people like Mr. Manafort and others, we want not some spectacle. We want to be able to ask the right questions.

Todd: As you know, you brought up Adam Schiff and he’s the ranking Democrat in the House Intelligence Committee. He said there is more than just circumstantial evidence and that there is some evidence of collusion that’s going to come out. is that –

Warner: I’ll simply say what I said at the outset. Weeks ago when I was first getting started with this I said this is the most important thing I’ve ever worked on. With what I know now, I doubly believe that. This is a serious effort and it has to be done bipartisan. We have to get the facts out to the American people.

Todd: You keep saying there is more smoke?

Warner: There is a lot more smoke.

Todd: Do you think there is a fire there?

Warner: Time will tell. But what we do know is the Russians massively intervened and they’re doing the same thing right now in France and Germany.

Todd: Before I let you go, Neil Gorsuch, is it worth filibustering him, or do you believe he should have a vote on the floor of the U.S. Senate?

Warner: What I believe in terms of Mr. Gorsuch: bright guy, but I was very disappointed with his answers. He was not even willing to acknowledge that bedrock cases like Brown vs. Board of Education are part of our existing –

Todd: So there’s voting no and preventing a vote. Where are you?

Warner: Listen, time will tell. I want to review more of his cases before I decide.

Todd: So you have not made a decision on filibustering?

Warner: I have not made a decision yet, and but I was not pleased with his answers personally or at the committee level.

Todd: Senator Mark Warner, we’ll—the public will be seeing a lot of you later this week with that first intelligence hearing. Thanks very much. Appreciate it.