Virginia senator on Signal fallout, National Threat Assessment and more
WASHINGTON (CBS, KYMA/KECY) - Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) spoke with Major Garrett on Face the Nation Sunday about the continued fallout from the controversy surrounding the Trump administration's use of the Signal app to discuss attack plans, and the role congressional oversight will play going forward.
"If we don't see action taken by this administration, if someone is not held accountable, I believe Secretary Hegseth should resign or be fired. I think Mike Waltz should resign or be fired. If no action is taken, what message does that send to the workforce? Because...I can tell you this, if you were a military officer or a CIA agent and you treated classified information this way, you would be fired. End of story."
Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), Vice Chairman, Senate Intelligence Committee
When Garrett asked Senator Warner if Senators Roger Wicker and Jack Reed calling for an "inspector general investigation" gives Warner any comfort, Warner said:
"I'm glad there's that bipartisan effort. I hope there will be additional ones. I hope, frankly, I think the Department of Justice needs to look at whether laws have been broken. Because, again, put this in context, the Director of National Intelligence, I think, 12-13, days ago, boldly tweeted out, you know, anybody that leaks information should be pursued to the full extent of the law? Well, if Tulsi Gabbard believes that, is that just for others, or does that standard apply to her as well? Well, she frankly, in our hearing, one, refused to acknowledge she was even on the call to start with, wouldn't tell us if her phone was hers or the government, and then, at least initially, said there was no classified information at all. When clearly, if you've got this kind of information about time of an attack that's classified, and one of the things I'd love her or Hegseth to do is go down to the Norfolk, Virginia Beach area. I was there yesterday for a couple town halls. The aircraft carrier Truman is home ported in Norfolk. I was talking yesterday with friends and family of members who are on the Truman. Their anger level was so high because if that information had gotten out and the Houthis had been able to redirect their defensive tools, very likely, we would have had American life loss. That could've been prevented if you just have treat classified information appropriately."
During the interview, Garrett and Warner talked about the newly released National Threat Assessment and strategic importance of Greenland.
"Greenland has got a lot of rare earth minerals and has enormous value, just as many other places around the world do, so legitimate interests and stronger ties with Greenland, absolutely. The idea that we are going to threaten a military invasion against a population that at least everything I've read, overwhelmingly people in Greenland don't want to become part of America. The going against Denmark, who is a NATO member, who rules Greenland currently, this whole approach that Trump has of treating our allies, I mean, he turned Canada into an enemy, our allies as not allies. And suddenly wanting to buddy up with Putin in Russia or with Xi in China. Think about it. America, two weeks ago, three weeks ago, voted with Russia, North Korea, I think it was Belarus, against everyone else who was a democracy, because we wouldn't acknowledge that Putin started the war in Ukraine. This is a crazy foreign policy, and America is stronger when we have allies. America alone is weaker if we don't have that intelligence sharing, if we don't have these mutual defense pacts."
Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), Vice Chairman, Senate Intelligence Committee
When asked if he agrees with the National Threat Assessment saying the biggest threat to America is drug cartels, gangs, fentanyl and Islamic terrorists, not Russia and China, Warner said:
"I think the threat of drugs is awful, and we need to do more against fentanyl. I think the long term strategic technology competition with China is the issue, not just of today, but of the next 30 years, it's AI, it's quantum, it's a whole series of biotech as well. On the question of Russia, here's the remarkable thing, the intelligence assessment said Russia is still an enemy, and said Russia is still going to do malign election interference. In that document, they say that at the very same time, the Trump administration is getting rid of the election threat group inside our intelligence community, that is a complete contradiction."
To watch more of Garrett's interview with Warner, click here.
