Transcripts For CNNW CNN Newsroom With John Berman And Poppy

Questions that the acting director, no doubt, needs to face today. Especially given all weve learned in the last 12 hours about what is reportedly what drove this president to fire the fbi director. Lets bring back in our panel, mark preston, niamalika henderson, bob baer, laura coates, dana bash, evan perez. And evan, to you first. As andy mccabe sits down, what questions will he be drilled with off the bat, do you believe . Well, one of the first questions im sure theyre going to ask him is how he found out that his boss, james comey, was fired. We know how comey found out. He was addressing agents at the Los Angeles Field Office when fox news incorrectly reported that he had resigned. And he sort of laughed it off because he knew he hadnt resigned. Then he sees cnn and others start reporting that high been fired, and thats when he really found out. So, that is the big question for mccabe. And obviously, the other question is how is this firing going to affect this investigation into russian meddling in the 2016 election . Thats obviously one of the biggest resourcedriven investigations at the fbi. We know comey had asked for more resources. Were going to see what the fbi is doing about trying to get those resources to do this investigation as quickly as possible. And mark preston, you know, we expect to hear from the chair of the intel committee, senator burr from north carolina, also the vice chair, democrat mark warner from virginia. What kind of message, mark, do you think that they want to send this morning . Well, a couple things. I think weve already seen a relationship, a working relationship, between democrats and republicans on the Intelligence Committee, and that is very, very important. As weve seen in hearings in the house, you know, previous hearings where you could see there was friction between democrats and republicans about trying necessarily to get to the truth. But why this is so important and why we keep talking about james comey and this russia investigation is that this hearing today is about worldwide threats. There are major issues right now facing the nation. And when you have the president of the United States taking action and firing his fbi director at a time when were dealing with issues of north korea and the middle east and were dealing with the situation in syria, thats why this hearing is so important. So, in addition to what were hearing about comey, were also going to hear from our leaders of the Intelligence Committee, john and poppy, who are going to tell us what they think the u. S. Needs to focus its attention on. Laura coates, given that the former deputy, now acting director, of the fbi will be testifying, do you believe it will come up that he will be asked about that prominent part that the president added to his letter firing comey about, by the way, thank you for telling me three times that i am not under investigation. I mean, youve got to believe hes going to be asked about that, because there are a lot of issues around the idea that the president would even have those conversations with the then fbi director about an Ongoing Investigation. Absolutely, hell be asked about it. It was curious to know that if you know your days are numbered, perhaps, youre already interviewing interim directors, will you be forthcoming . Will you be defiant . Will you be particularly averse to keeping things close to the vest like you would have been prior to this . Thats going to be an interesting point to see how he actually asserts himself in this position. But of course, his testimony could also lend some credence to what we know could be a concocted reason, but justification that trump may be saying, listen, he wasnt focusing on other priorities that i had, like leaks or other National Security interests. So, if this conference is intended to be one that will be allencompassing about other things, he may be able to say, look, there should be other focus there isnt to focus on here, other than the russia investigation. But youd Better Believe he will be peppered with questions about when he knew it, whether or not james comey was, in fact, a nonpartisan person who was on nobodys side and whether he would have really pulled rank in a way that he had told the president of the United States about the investigation. Youre looking at live pictures of the chair of the committee, richard burr, and now some of the people who will be testifying walking in. Are filing in, and you will see those photos go off, no doubt, very, very shortly. Niamalika henderson, to you. The democrats this is one of those peculiar meetings, by the way, where this hearing is supposed to be a worldwide threat, supposed to be about something other than what will come up here. So you can bet the republicans will focus on terrorism around the world. How far do you think democrats will push to get answers about the russia investigation and to keep the focus on the firing of director comey . I think they will push incredibly hard on this. We have seen sort of partisan lines drawn, as mark talked about before, and i think youll see some of that here as well with the members, the democratic members of that Committee Really trying to paint a fuller picture of whats happening with the russia investigation, where it stands, what people know all right, nia, sorry to interrupt. Nia, hold that thought. Lets go to our manu raju, live with senator marco rubio. Thats a question other people are going to ask, no doubt about. Reporter do you want comey to testify in an open hearing . Id say in a closed hearing first and potentially in an open one as well. Look, i already told people, i never had a problem with james comey. I know he was in a tough spot and by his own acknowledgement made some decisions that had a political implication perhaps he regretted. He felt he had two very poor options. I do think that after having served our country the way he did, he probably, if he was going to be dismissed, theres probably a better way to have done it than the way it was conducted. But that said, i just want to be clear, the fbi is staffed with highquality individuals. Theyre going to continue to work on everything. Reporter how much of the timing of the firing were you given the russia investigation was accelerating at this point . I dont know. Thats a good question. Im not sure that thats one of the issues that i think has created all this uproar, for lack of a better term. But were going to im going to continue to focus on our work here, and thats unaffected by this. Reporter do you think it would be helpful to have a special counsel to investigate the circumstances of this firing and to reassure the American Public that this investigation is actually taking place and give confidence to the public . Maybe that will eventually happen. Maybe not. But the point is that i think the Intelligence Committee should my advice is, let us finish our report, let us put all the facts out there and then people can make that determination about whether they think, based on the facts that weve discovered, such a measure is warranted. Reporter do you support a special counsel at this point . I dont think the time has come for that. It may, it may not, but lets wait to get the facts. This hearing just gaveling in, richard burr delivering opening statements. And acting director of the federal bureau of investigation, andrew mccabe. I thank all of you for being here this morning, especially to you, director mccabe, for filling in on such short notice. Since 1995, this committee has met in an open forum to hear about and discuss the security threats facing the United States of america. I understand that many people tuned in today are hopeful well focus solely on the Russian Investigation of their involvement in our elections. Let me disappoint everybody up front. While the committee certainly views russian intervention in our elections as a significant threat, the purpose of todays hearing is to review and highlight the extent, to the extent possible, the ranges of threats that we face as a nation. The National Security threat picture has evolved significantly since 1995. What used to be a collection of mostly physical and statebased National Security concerns has been replaced by something altogether different. Today our traditional focus on countries like north korea, russia, and iran is complicated by new challenges like strategic threats posed by nonstate actors in the cyber arena and the danger of transnational terrorists who can use the internet to inspire violence and fear in the homeland, all without leaving their safe havens in the middle east. What has not changed, however, is the tireless dedication and patriotism of the women and men who make up the United States Intelligence Community. The very people represented by our witnesses this morning. One of the many reasons i find so much value in this hearing is that it provides the American Public with some insight into the threats facing our country, but it also lets people know whats being done on their behalf to reduce those threats. I encourage all the Witnesses Today to not only address the threats to our nation, but to talk about what their organizations are doing to help secure this country to the degree they can in an unclassified setting. Director coates, your written statement for the record represents the collective insight of the entire Intelligence Community. It is a lengthy and detailed account of what this country is facing. It is also evidence of why the substantial resources and investments this committee authorizes are, in fact, necessary. From the human tragedy of the refugee crisis in the middle east to the risk that territorial ambitions will set off a regional conflict in the south china sea, its a complicated and challenging world. Director pompeo, the korean peninsulas a point of particular concern to me and to many on this committee. Id like your insights into what is behind north koreas unprecedented level of nuclear and missile testing and how close they are to holding the u. S. Mainland at risk of a nuclear attack. Id also value your sense of how tuesdays elections of a new president in south korea is going to impact things for us on that peninsula. General stewart, im sure youre aware of the reinvigorated policy discussions on afghanistan. While we all respect that you cant offer your own recommendations on what that policy should be, i would very much value your assessments of the situation in afghanistan today, including the state of governance in kabul, the sustainability and proficiency of the afghan National Security forces, and whether taliban reconciliation is a realistic objective. If the u. S. Is ramping up in afghanistan, we need to know the ics views on what were getting into. I also hope youll share your assessments of the battlefield in iraq and in syria with us this morning. Your insights into conditions on the ground, including operations to dislodge isis from mosul and sustainability of the mosul dam would be of great value to the members of this committee and to the public. Admiral rogers, ive made a couple of references to cyber already. And thats for good reason. Of the many difficult challenges were going to discuss this morning, nothing worries me more than the threat of a wellplanned, hewellexecuted, widescale attack on the Computer Networks and systems that make america work, from banking and health care to military and Critical Infrastructure, the functionality of our modern society is dependent on computers. When the first line of the dnis statement reads, and i quote, nearly all information, Communications Networks and systems will be at risk for years, that alarms me. Admiral rogers, i look forward to hearing from you on this line of assessments. Director cardilla, as head of the nga, you sit at the nexus of innovation and Data Collection and analysis. Given the complexity of the intelligence questions the ic is being confronted with and the Global Nature of our National Security threats to this country that this country faces, expectations of the nga are high. We know the ic cant be everywhere at once, but thats still kind of what we look to the nga to do. Id appreciate your sense of what nga analytics strengths are today and what the role of commercial imagery is in ngas future. Director mccabe, welcome to the table and into the fray. To the extent possible, i hope youll discuss the bureaus assessments of the terrorist threat within our borders. Your agents are often our last line of defense here at home, and i will say, continue to do outstanding work. Were fortunate to have six people with the experience and the dedication that we have today. Ill close there, but id like to highlight for my colleagues, the committee would be holding a classified hearing on worldwide threats this afternoon at 1 30. I will do everything i can to make sure that the questions that you ask in this open session are appropriate to the venue were in. I would ask you to think about that long and hard and if theres a question, id ask you to ask a staffer whether this is the appropriate area. And if you as our witnesses feel that theres something you cant sufficiently answer in an open setting, that you will pause long enough to get my attention, and well be sure we try to move to the appropriate setting. With that, i turn to the vice chairman for any comments he might want to make. Thank you, chairman and thank you for your leadership on this committee. I also want to join you in welcoming the witnesses. Its good to see you all, but it is impossible to ignore that one of the leaders in the Intelligence Community is not here today. The president s firing. Fbi director comey tuesday night was a shocking development. The timing of director comeys dismissal to me and to many members on this committee on both sides of the aisle is especially troubling. He was leading an active counterintelligence investigation into any links between the Trump Campaign and the russian government or its representatives, and whether there was any coordination between the campaign and russias efforts to interfere in our election. For many people, including myself, its hard to avoid the conclusion that the president s decision to remove director comey was related to this investigation, and that is truly unacceptable. We were scheduled to hear directly from director comey today in open session. We and the American People were supposed to hear straight from the individual responsible for the fbi investigation. We anticipated asking director comey a series of questions about his actions and the actions of the fbi in terms of looking into which trump associates, if any, and some of their actions during the campaign as it relates to the russians. However, president trumps actions this week cost us an opportunity to get at the truth, at least for today. You may wonder a little bit how seriously i know the white house continues to dismiss this investigation. I point out simply for the record, the front page of the the new york times, which shows a picture of it is important to restate the critical importance of protecting the independence and integrity of federal law enforcement. This is central to maintaining the confidence of the American People in principle that all americans, no matter how powerfpower f ful, are accountable before the law. The president s actions have the potential to undermine that confidence, and that should be deeply concerning, no matter which Political Party you belong to. This weeks remarkable developments make our committees investigation into russias influence on the 2016 u. S. President ial election even more important. And while it is clear to me now more than ever that an independent special counsel must be appointed, make no mistake, our committee will get to the bottom of what happened during the 2016 president ial election. And again, i want to compliment the chairman on his work in this effort. We will not be deterred from getting to the truth. These actions will do nothing to undermine our resolve to follow the evidence, wherever it leads. We hope to speak to mr. Comey. We will speak to anyone and everyone that has something to offer in this investigation. And mr. Mccabe, i didnt necessarily expect to see you here today, and we dont know how long youll be acting fbi director, but while i will adhere to what the chairman has indicated in terms of the line of questioning, i will want to make sure my first question for you, even in this public setting, will be for you to assure the committee that if you come under any political influence from the white house or others to squash this investigation or impede it in any way, that youll let the committee know. This investigations had its ups and downs. And again, some, including myself, sometimes have been frustrated with the pace. We will no doubt face other challenges in the future, but ups and downs and bumps sometimes is how bipartisanship works. Its a constant struggle, but one worth making, and im proud of the way members of this committee from both sides of the aisle have conducted themselves in one of the most challenging political environments weve ever seen. At the same time, chairman burr and i have put this investigation on what we believe to be a solid bipartisan footing with the shared goal of getting the truth. In spite of the events of the last 24 hours, i intend to maintain our committees focus on the investigation. Indeed, the recent actions only increase the burden of responsibility on all of us to ensure that we live up to this challenge and to uncover the truth, wherever that leads. There is, obviously, consensus agreement among the u. S. Intelligence community that russia massively intervened with active measures in the 2016 president ial elections. Nor do i imagine that any member of this committee was surprised to see the exact same russian playbook just being run during the