Transcript: Sen. Mark Warner on "Face the Nation," Nov. 5, 2017
Special counsel Robert Mueller's Trump-Russia probe heated up this week, laying out indictments for President Trump's former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, and Rick Gates, who was Manafort's business partner and Mr. Trump's deputy campaign manager.
Vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., joined "Face the Nation" Sunday to discuss the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election -- and more.
What follows is a transcript of the interview, which aired Nov. 5, 2017, on "Face the Nation."
JOHN DICKERSON: The president left Washington Friday, and we'll update you on his first moves in Asia. But first, we're going to cover the big news of the week and the investigation into Russian interference in the election. Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee joins us from Roanoke, Virginia. Welcome, Senator. I want to start with the indictment and the plea agreement this week with the special counsel. So we - the president said, "There was no collusion proved in the indictment of his former campaign chairman." Mr. Papadopoulos did agree that he had lied about a meeting with the Russians, but so far it looks like the Russians were knocking on the door but they never got inside. You've done hundreds of interviews with your committee. Is there any evidence of collusion that they got inside and they were connected to this campaign?
SEN. MARK WARNER: Well, John, the one thing we do know is that the Russians had a very organized effort to try to intervene in our elections. They tampered with 21 states' electoral systems. They used social media platforms. And obviously they released information that was harmful to Clinton and helpful to Mr. Trump.
They also, we've now seen evidence both in terms of reaching out to Mr. Papadopoulos and the June 9th meeting that Mr. Manafort and Mr. Trump Jr. attended where they had an organized effort to try to offer dirt or emails on, on Hillary Clinton. The question was, did folks from the Trump campaign respond in kind? And those are questions we've still got to get final answers to.
JOHN DICKERSON: But if the Trump campaign was chomping to get this information, as it's been portrayed by their critics, you'd think that one of these two meetings would have sparked something and there's no evidence that they bit when they were offered this. Yes, the Russians were offering, but they didn't seem to grab it, at least based on what we know now.
SEN. MARK WARNER: Well, John, I think those are questions that still need to be answered. There's obviously enormous concerns as well, when the campaign manager and the deputy campaign manager are both indicted as well. I think there are many more chapters in this story to be told.
Some of these - some of this information, we're further down the path perhaps even than the special prosecutor. We've got different lanes. We've got a policy review to do. We've got a fact set that we've got to lay out. He's got criminal intent he's got to find. We've got to continue to deconflict, but I think there's going to be more stories to be written.
JOHN DICKERSON: What are you focused on now, given what you may have learned from the special counsel or just where we are in this narrative? Is there a certain set of questions you really want answered at this moment?
SEN. MARK WARNER: There are still a number of the principals, for example, Mr. Trump Jr., that we still need to see. We've talked to a lot of the folks who were in that so-called June 9th meeting. We've been holding off on the principals until we get all the preliminaries done.
There are other figures that are, are affiliated with the Trump organization that were at the senior-most level that we're going to want to talk to. We also want to continue to explore from a policy standpoint this whole question around social media. The fact that for a relatively small amount of money, $100,000-plus, plus a series of fake accounts, the Russians were able to contact or touch 126 million Americans with their fake news or their stories that were trying to sow discontent. And that was before even Facebook acknowledged the additional hits that were used on Instagram. It means there's a lot of stories there that need to continue to be unraveled.
JOHN DICKERSON: Let me pick up on that. There's a very provocative cover on The Economist that has the Facebook logo, and it says,Social Media, A Threat To Democracy. You had executives from Facebook, Google and Twitter up on the Hill this week. Do they get it?
SEN. MARK WARNER: Listen, I think they are getting it. It's taken them longer than I'd like. You know, these are great, iconic American companies. They've changed our lives for the better. I want them to be successful. But there is also a dark underbelly that's been created. The Russians used it this, this past election.
We've got to make sure on a going forward basis these companies work with us I think to help disclose, particularly when we see foreign countries try to influence directly our political advertising.
JOHN DICKERSON: Should there be regulations regulating ads that are used on social media?
SEN. MARK WARNER: As a pro-tech guy, somebody who was in the tech business longer than I've been in politics, I think we need to take the lightest touch possible. But the basic requirement that there ought to be the same disclosure for political ads on the internet that, that exists for ads that appear on your show I think makes sense.
JOHN DICKERSON: Two other issues on your committee's - under your purview. One is this so-called "Steele dossier," salacious information about candidate Trump. We learned last week the Clinton campaign had paid for part of it. When you had John Podesta, the chairman of the campaign in front of your committee, he said, "He didn't know who'd paid for it." Susan Collins, a member of the committee had said, "Podesta should come back." The Clinton lawyer who was there with Podesta when he testified as his counsel who could have spoken up and said he knew who paid for it did not -- that he should testify. Where are you on this question?
SEN. MARK WARNER: Listen. I think what we've found out now on the Steele dossier is that it was partially paid for by a major Republican backer. It was partially paid for by the Democrats. What I'm interested in is not so much who paid for it, but whether the dossier is true or not. It's obviously very inflammatory.
What I wish would be that Mr. Steele would work with the committee and come in and testify. The chairman and I have said, "We'll travel anywhere to try to meet with him," because at the end of the day, what's the most important is, is that dossier true or is it not true?
JOHN DICKERSON: But here are two key questions about the Clinton angle is: one, the material that the Clinton folks got is definitely different than what was paid for by the Republican beforehand. It had a Russian component, which is part of what your committee's looking at, so it would be important on that front who paid for it and why, and then secondly, you got to have people coming in front of your committee who are telling you the truth, and there seems to be some discrepancy about who paid for what when. And that would be why they would come back. So do you want him to come back or?
SEN. MARK WARNER: If there's discrepancy - if there's discrepancy, there ought to be a chance to get that cleared up to find out what was the basis of that discrepancy. But most importantly, John, it's - this dossier has been out there for ten or eleven months. I find it, again, pretty remarkable, whether it's news organizations or whether it's our efforts or others that this dossier sits out there, and much of it still remains a real question of whether it is true or not true. End of the day, that's where we ought to focus our efforts.
JOHN DICKERSON: Quickly. Jeff Sessions. Should he come back and testify about what he knew when about Russian contacts with the campaign? There's been some reporting he knew about something but he told your committee that he didn't.
SEN. MARK WARNER: Listen, I want to give the attorney general the benefit of the doubt, but a picture's worth a thousand words. The fact that Mr. Papadopoulos was there with that meeting with, with then Senator Sessions. If, if there's more information that he needs to clarify, we'd like to hear that.
JOHN DICKERSON: And final question. The former D.N.C. chairman Donna Brazile has dropped a bomb this week, saying that basically, "The Democratic National Committee was rigged for Hillary Clinton in her favor." Do you believe that's true?
SEN. MARK WARNER: Listen, I've seen some of the press reports. What I'm a lot more focused on, we've got a really critical election coming up in two days in Virginia where we elect a governor. I hope it's going to be Ralph Northam, our Democratic candidate. That's where I'm focused and for a lot of folks in Virginia who are frustrated with what's going on, particularly from this administration, most important thing they can do is get out and vote on Tuesday and hopefully elect Ralph Northam the next governor.
JOHN DICKERSON: But the problem is, Democrats don't want to get out and vote if they think their party is corrupt, which is the charge that Brazile is making. So if you don't address the corrupt part, how do you get people to go vote for a Democratic candidate?
SEN. MARK WARNER: Well, I can tell you there's a heck of a lot of enthusiasm. I don't believe the Democratic Party is, is corrupt. I believe, you know, Democratic Party's best when it's forward leaning. I think we've got that kind of candidate running in Virginia right now. I'm going to leave here and crisscross Southwest Virginia to try to help get out the vote. And I hope on Tuesday night we're going to have a great victory that both from Virginia standpoint but also sends a message that some of the actions of this president are at least not acceptable in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
JOHN DICKERSON: Senator, thanks so much for being with us.
SEN. MARK WARNER: Thank you, John.
