Page 34 - Intelligence Committees News Today

Themselves. so i would think it would need at a minimum to brief the gang of eight and possibly more broadly the intelligence committees on both sides. >> but if the president was the one who was working with a foreign power in a way that was illegal under u.s. law and an intelligence concern for the intelligence committees, they would have to brief it to the president? >> its hard to see how they avoid that unless they refer it through law enforcement channels and, you know, the justice departm...

That out through their own capacities, if the element in the u.s. election system that is getting that help that has had those foreign contacts and thats accepting it is the presidents campaign, who should the intelligence community brief that information to? i mean, you wouldnt go to the perpetrator to say, hey, weve got important information that youre the perpetrator, would you? would they go to the gang of eight, go to congress and not directly to the president and the president turns out to...

Got important information that youre the perpetrator, would you? would they go to the gang of eight, go to congress and not directly to the president and the president turns out to be the bad guy? >> fortunately thats the dilemma we havent encountered to date. in my estimation it would be the obligation of the intelligence community to not only brief the appropriate executive branch officials, including the presidents cabinet, the president and the vice president, but it would also require that ...

Will be able to testify fully and freely and enjoy the protections of the law? >> yes, congressman. >> will the whistleblower be allowed to speak to the intel intelligence committees about his or her complaint. well, the dni says yes. we shall see. beyond just being allowed to speak to the intelligence committees, will the whistleblower be protected more broadly? and i mean that in a very basic sense because you may have heard about this today. this is the way president trump was talking about t...

Turn that information over to the intelligence committees. and if they dont, i think congress would be well within its right to selectively defund anyone behind this and go after these people. this would be an outage us thing to do to hide this from the american people. >> lets move to the whistleblower comments the president made yesterday talking longingly about the days of people that committed treason were executed and suggesting that the same thing should happen to those that gave informati...

Senators are criticizing president trumps call with ukraines president. joining me now is former ohio governor and cnn senior political commentator mr. john kasich in studio. good to see you. >> good to see you, sir. >> you say that youre shocked by the summary, just the summary. were not even getting into the whistle-blowers complaint. but youre shocked by this summary, but you still dont think its impeachment material? >> well, i think the jurys still out in my mind, don. look, i was on the ai...

Released it. since that is such a different tactic than the usual stonewalling the democrats have faced from the white house, do you think it is something your republican colleagues in the senate did that changed the tactic of the white house? >> i do think there were a number of republican senators, i spoke to senator graham on the floor yesterday, obviously we saw majority leader mcconnell join with minority leader schumer in passing a unanimous resolution that the whistle-blower complaint oug...

Concerns for democrats who, as again, announce they are moving federal with an impeachment inquiry this week. just a turn of significant events and you could expect that today could be another turning point for democrats. john and alisyn. >> it sounds like a turning point. thank you, lauren. lets bring in democratic senator chris coons serving on the judiciary and foreign relations committee and a supporter of the joe biden 2020 campaign. can you hear me. >> i can. good to be with you, alisyn....

It was not stonewalling. i didnt receive direction from anybody. i was trying to work through the process and the law the way it is written. i have to comply with the way the law is, not with the way some people would like it to be. if i could have done otherwise, it would have been 67 more convenient for me. >> do you commit to providing every single whistle-blower complaint intended for congress to the intelligence committees as required by the statute, sir? >> if its required by the statute, ...

Go through the steps to determine. because of one phone call, do you remove this president, and you could read that many different ways. what im saying is im reserving judgment. and what im saying is lets let the intelligence committees review this. let them call the witnesses, and let the chips fall where they may. i dont want to pre-judge it all. >> its not -- >> yes, it is. >> pre-judging would be saying he should be removed from office. if he is impeached, that doesnt mean that hes going to ...