CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Chris Stewart

Interview

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[09:30:00] REP. CHRIS STEWART (R-UT): Doing this. Hilary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee did it. They hired a foreign agent. An agent with close ties to Russian oligarch who has close ties to Putin --

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: He was a British -- Christopher -- listen, I've heard the Christopher Steele talking point.

STEWART: That's right. That's right, he was -- he was British.

SCIUTTO: Let's -- let's talk about the differences, though, because -- because you've just said it depends on where it comes from.

STEWART: No, no, wait, wait, you've got to let -- you've got to let me -- you've got to let me finish my statement.

SCIUTTO: I'm familiar with the talking point.

STEWART: I'm glad to be on, but you've got to let me finish my --

SCIUTTO: So finish and then I have some questions about it.

STEWART: OK.

They hired a foreign agent, close ties to oligarchs, who then used Russian agents and they used that information to influence a campaign. Don't you see the irony of -- of those who are criticizing the president for something he said and not criticizing Hillary Clinton and the Democrats for something they actually did.

SCIUTTO: OK. I get -- I get -- let's talk about a couple things because, one, I want to focus on whether a president should accept any foreign help. You seem to be saying here, no.

Is that correct?

STEWART: It depends. It depends.

SCIUTTO: It depends if it's coming from a friend, you're saying.

STEWART: There might be -- it might be -- yes, there might be valuable information that comes from one of our allies.

SCIUTTO: OK.

STEWART: If they look at it and it's credible, I think it would be foolish not to take that information.

SCIUTTO: OK.

So was -- was Donald Trump Junior wrong to take a meeting with a Russian lawyer and say, if this is true, I love it, when they were offering campaign dirt?

STEWART: Yes.

SCIUTTO: Was he wrong to do that?

STEWART: You know what, I have -- I have always criticized that decision.

SCIUTTO: OK.

STEWART: And Republican -- the Republican part (ph) was very critical of that decision.

SCIUTTO: OK.

STEWART: I think it was inappropriate and once again I don't think it was something that he should have done.

SCIUTTO: Fair enough. And I -- and I appreciate the straight answers because it's, as you know, in today's Washington, it's often hard to get those.

STEWART: Yes.

SCIUTTO: On the Steele point, and I get the Steele point. I will note, by the way, he's British, so he comes from an ally. He had previously worked for U.S. law enforcement on the investigation into FIFA scandal. He had provided information that was useful to them. And, by the way, he did report it to the FBI.

STEWART: Yes.

SCIUTTO: But -- but let's set that aside just for a moment to say, would you support legislation that requires reporting to the FBI of any foreign information, whether it comes from a Steele or a Russian lawyer, for instance?

STEWART: Oh, I -- I would. And -- and I think we've got to do not just that. I think there's a number of things, a number of forms we have to really look at, that Congress is looking at now. And, for example, one of the real deficiencies that happened here was, this was taking place and Congress was never informed. There is a requirement when they open a counterintelligence investigation such as this into a political campaign, which the FBI and Department of Justice did, they're supposed to inform us of that and they didn't. There's a number of things that I think we need to reform and have a much tighter sense of scrutiny about that really fell through the cracks in 2016.

SCIUTTO: Right. Fair point.

Listen, you've done your homework on this. You're on the Intel Committee that dug very deep into Russian interference here.

As you know, there have been a number of bills in the House. Mitch McConnell has so far not allowed a vote on this. And I'm just curious, are your Republican colleagues in the Senate failing you in the House, but also failing the American people by not being more aggressive about passing legislation to protect American elections going forward? Forget about 2016, let's talk about 2020.

STEWART: Yes. Yes, and that's a great point and thanks for saying that because, you're right, we can learn some lessons from 2016, but what good is it if we don't apply those lessons?

I think our committee had 47 recommendations. To my knowledge, none of them have been implemented yet. They were all designed towards protecting our elections. And some of our allies as well, we could help our allies, because it's not just the U.S. elections that are attacked. And it's very frustrating that here we are, more than a year later, after Republicans released our report, and, once again, we're waiting to have some -- these things implemented. Some of them could be done with the agencies, but some of them have to be done through Congress and it frustrates the life out of me that we can't get this implemented and begin to bring some assuredty (ph) to this.

SCIUTTO: As you know, Speaker Pelosi, and, of course, in your chamber of Congress, the Democrats have the majority, has presented a package of bills that, among other things, would require reporting to the FBI any offers of foreign assistance. Would you support that legislation?

STEWART: Yes, and there's, as you said, there's a number of pieces there's some differences between them. But I -- and so I can't say specifically that piece because I'm not sure what that piece -- what you mean by that piece.

But, no, I -- I would support these reforms. This is something we have to fix.

Look, if we lose this foundation of trust, if the American people actually believe that an election wasn't free and fair, that it was influenced to the point that the wrong person was elected, we lose the entire foundation for our democracy for freedom of trust in one another. And there are some things that we could do that would help that. We should do that.

SCIUTTO: Final question, and with that -- and I know you're sincere in wanting to protect these elections going forward as are colleagues -- many of your colleagues on both sides of the aisle. Is the president helping or hurting confidence in future elections by saying he would be open to foreign help?

[09:35:01] STEWART: Well, again, I've said, I wish he wouldn't have said it for the reasons that you just said, as well as others. But I don't think you can just look at the president and say he's the problem on this. There's a lot of other things. I mean behavior by senior people at Department of Justice, senior people at the FBI, there are a number of people that need to be held responsible and for us to understand really what they did and the impact it had on this -- this trust and this foundation in free and fair elections.

SCIUTTO: Congressman Chris Stewart, it's always good to have you on. We appreciate you taking the time and the hard questions.

STEWART: Thank you, sir.

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