PLUS: Sen. McCain: “We have no strategy” right now against cyberattacks
JANUARY 6, 2017 – In an exclusive interview today on Capitol Hill with “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said President-elect Donald Trump “should let everybody know in America – Republicans and Democrats – that you’re going to make Russia pay a price for trying to interfere.”
Sen. Graham and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) sat down with Todd for an exclusive interview airing this Sunday on “Meet the Press”; both senators are members of the Armed Services Committee and toured the Baltic States over the holidays.
“He’s worried that inquiring into what Russia did in the election is going to undermine his credibility and his legitimacy,” said Graham. “Putin’s not the reason that Clinton lost and Trump won. I don’t think anybody’s saying that….What we’re trying to do is find out what the Russians did in our elections and make sure that other people including the Russians won’t do it next time.”
Sen. John McCain added: “We have no policy under this administration, the Obama administration, so therefore we have no strategy.”
A transcript of this interview excerpt is below; watch it here: http://nbcnews.to/2il4ijk.
MSNBC’s “MTP Daily” will also air the interview excerpt today at 5 p.m. ET and be joined by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) who accompanied the senators on their Baltic States tour.
Tune in this Sunday to “Meet the Press” for more from Sens. Graham and McCain as well as an exclusive interview with outgoing Defense Secretary Ash Carter.
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CHUCK TODD: “Witchhunt” is a strong term. President-elect of the United States of America saying this is a witch hunt. Let’s give him the benefit of the doubt. He hasn’t had the briefing yet, the official briefing that President Obama got from the intel community. If that’s still his belief after?
SENATOR GRAHAM: You know, here’s the deal for me. I think he’s worried that inquiring into what Russia did in the election is going to undermine his credibility and his legitimacy. Quite frankly, I haven’t heard any Democrat at all of prominence say that we doubt that Donald Trump won. Putin’s not the reason that Clinton lost and Trump won. I don’t think anybody’s saying that. So Mr. President-elect, that’s not what we’re trying to do. What we’re trying to do is find out what the Russians did in our elections and make sure that other people including the Russians won’t do it next time. No doubt in my mind that Russians interfered, that John Podesta’s emails were hacked by the Russians, not some 14-year-old kid or 300-pound guy, and that the DNC was compromised by the Russians. And it seems pretty clear to me that WikiLeaks got it from the Russians. It didn’t affect the outcome, but they tried to interfere in our election. So he’s going to be the defender of the free world here pretty soon. In a couple weeks, Donald Trump will be the defender of the free world and democracy. You should let everybody know in America –Republicans and Democrats – that you’re going to make Russia pay a price for trying to interfere. Even though it didn’t affect the outcome, they tried to interfere, and they need to pay a price, and I don’t care what their motives were.
SENATOR MCCAIN: Can I just point out this whole issue of cyberattacks is much larger than just this election? There are threats to America’s security. They have been able to hack into some of our most secret defense capabilities. They’ve been able to have a wide range of successes, and a lot of it has to do with national security. So this is just one slice of the challenge that we face. And that’s why the Armed Services Committee will continue to have hearings. Because we have no policy under this administration, the Obama administration, so therefore we have no strategy.
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