CNN "The Lead with Jake Tapper" - Transcript: Interview with Congresswoman Jackie Speier

Interview

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TAPPER: All right, Jessica Dean in Wilmington, Delaware, thanks so much.

Here to discuss this all, Democratic Congresswoman Jackie Speier, who serves on the House Intelligence Committee.

Congresswoman Speier, thanks so much for joining us. Congrats on your reelection.

REP. JACKIE SPEIER (D-CA): Thank you, Jake.

TAPPER: First, President Trump's about to speak for the first time since president-elect Joe Biden was declared the winner of the election. What would you like to hear from the outgoing president?

SPEIER: I would like the outgoing president to be presidential, to concede the election, to allow the transition to move forward. It's in the best interests of the American people.

Our national security is at risk the longer he pursues this fallacy that -- or fantasy that he's engaged in about trying to overturn the election results.

[16:10:03] TAPPER: Well, just a few minutes ago, he tweeted part of this tinfoil hat conspiracy theory that the election software is somehow responsible for why he didn't win. It's been debunked by no less than his own cybersecurity czar at the Department of Homeland Security.

So it's not just that he's not going to be presidential, in all likelihood. It's that he's spreading this misinformation to tens of millions of his followers.

SPEIER: Well, it's true.

And what we do know that will happen in the end, when you have more than five million more votes that president-elect Biden has received, there is no way that he is going to be able to overcome that kind of a margin.

When Jill Stein in Wisconsin called for a recount, when then president-elect Trump had 23,000 votes, and we now have president- elect Biden having 20,000 votes, when she called for a recount, there were only 131 votes that changed hands.

So, he's lost. And, unfortunately, he's a poor loser. Meanwhile, the American people are at risk. What we do know is that the 30-odd days that transpired before Bush was called the victor in 2000 was somewhat responsible for the fact that it took six months for him to get the clearances on his staff and actually contributed to our lack of ability to anticipate 9/11.

TAPPER: Yes.

SPEIER: That's what the 9/11 Commission said.

TAPPER: Right. The 9/11 Commission report found that the delayed transition between President Bill Clinton and President George W. Bush in 2000 hampered their ability, as you know, to put key appointees in place before the 9/11 attacks.

Are you worried that something like that could happen again?

SPEIER: Well, I'm worried about that. I'm worried about the fact that our embassy in Iraq has been attacked numerous times and our diplomats who are still there are risk.

I'm concerned about the diplomats in Cuba and elsewhere, who have had brain damage of some sort, that we have not been able to ascertain what caused it or who is responsible for it, although we have some speculation, all those things that are going on around the world, and our adversaries looking at this circus going on here in the United States. And they delight in it.

I can assure you that Putin is just getting the last laugh here, because this is precisely what he wants to see happen.

TAPPER: Have you talked to any of your Republican colleagues who have not yet acknowledged the result of the election? Because it's really a very short list of Republican officials in Washington who have acknowledged what happened last week, the idea that president-elect Biden is president-elect Biden.

Congressman Kinzinger has. I think Congressman Conaway has, but very few Republicans have. Have you asked any of them, what's going on; this isn't good for the country?

SPEIER: You know, I haven't, Jake. And that's probably a good idea. I think I will get on the phone later today and try and get a sense.

What I will probably hear from them is, they realize that Joe Biden is now the president-elect, but they want to give the president more room to come to grips with the fact that he's lost.

I mean, this is treating the presidency like you have got a mental health issue at stake here, and that we have got to be careful with this fragile ego that is in the White House. It's time for the president to put his big man pants on and accept the fact that he has lost.

TAPPER: Yes. I have said it's like they're coddling a 5-year-old whose pet turtle died. It's just remarkable.

(LAUGHTER)

TAPPER: There's a growing list of Republican lawmakers who won't acknowledge that Biden is president-elect, but they say he should be getting the presidential daily brief and the intelligence updates.

What do you think it's going to take to get that to actually happen, so that president-elect Biden is up to speed so he can protect the country when he takes office on January 20?

SPEIER: Well, Senator Lankford, who I served with in the House, has said that, if it didn't happen on Friday, he would do something. He then somehow recanted it a little bit.

That's the fear that so many of these Republican senators have, one, because they have got two Senate seats that are up in Georgia in January, and they want President Trump to be able to rally the forces there. And the other is that they're always concerned about their own skin.

It's whether or not the president will come out and attack them. As an outgoing president, he still will have 70 million people that he will try to rally around him and others. So, it's all about self- preservation.

Meanwhile, we have a country at risk here. And we owe our allegiance to the Constitution, not to President Trump, who has lost the election.

[16:15:07]

TAPPER: Not to mention, of course, the coronavirus pandemic, which is getting worse and worse every day.

Congresswoman Jackie Speier, thanks so much for your time.

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