CBS News: Sen.John McCain says Putin is a “thug” and “killer”

| Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, says Russia has interfered in other elections.

JOHN DICKERSON, CBS HOST: Today on FACE THE NATION: New reports about Russia influencing the presidential election create a political firestorm and sour relations between the president-elect and the intelligence community.

President-elect Donald Trump took a break Saturday afternoon to take in an all-American classic, the Army-Navy game, but the news about Russia took some of the attention off the field.

QUESTION: Do you trust the U.S. intel community?

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT-ELECT: I do.

DICKERSON: But does he really? And will Mr. Trump join a bipartisan call for a wider investigation of Russian efforts? We will talk to the senator leading the charge for an investigation, John McCain, and also get his thoughts on the leading contender for secretary of state, Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson.

Top Trump aide Kellyanne Conway will be here.

And Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders also joins us.

Then we will hear about efforts to improve relations between the police and the community from South Carolina Senator Tim Scott.

Plus, plenty of political analysis and some thoughts about an American hero who died last week.

It is all ahead on FACE THE NATION.

Good morning, and welcome to FACE THE NATION. I am John Dickerson.

New developments this morning. A bipartisan group of senators led by Senator John McCain have called for an investigation into Russian interference in the U.S. election, this after “The Washington Post” reported the CIA had come to a new conclusion, that the Russians were actively working to elect Donald Trump.

Mr. Trump responded to “The Washington Post” report in an interview that aired on “FOX News Sunday.”

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, “FOX NEWS SUNDAY”)

TRUMP: I think it is ridiculous. I think it is just another excuse. I don’t believe it. I don’t know why. And I think it is just — you know, they talk about all sorts of things. Every week, it is another excuse. We had a massive landslide victory, as you know, in the Electoral College. I guess final numbers are now at 306, and she is down to a very low number.

No, I don’t believe that at all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DICKERSON: And we begin this morning with Senator John McCain.

Senator McCain, you want an investigation, a bipartisan investigation. The president-elect says that this notion of Russians trying to be involved in the election is ridiculous.

What do you make of that disconnect?

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: I don’t know what to make of it, because it is clear the Russians interfered.

Now, whether they intended to interfere to the degree that they were trying to elect a certain candidate, I think that is a subject of investigation.

But the facts are stubborn things. They did hack into this campaign. And they did it, I think, with some — with at least what seemed to be effective. Sort of every week or so, there was new information. And were they hacking the Republicans the same way? The Republican National Committee?

And, if so, why didn’t they — there is a whole lot of issues out there. It requires an investigation. The president has ordered an investigation for the — you are not going to find this all out in the next month between administrations. It is fine with me if he starts an investigation.

But it is going to require congressional involvement. It is going to require in-depth — and, by the way, the Russians have interfered in a lot of other elections. The Russians have hacked into some of our most secret military information. The Russians have been active using as a tool as part of Vladimir Putin’s ambition to regain Russian prominence and dominance in some parts of the world.

DICKERSON: So, your point is both there is specific evidence that points you to this conclusion, and then there is a broader pattern of behavior that the Russians have been a part of?

MCCAIN: And they have hacked. They have — in the case of a little country called Estonia, they basically tried to cut — shut down their economy for a while.

They have intervened — here is a fundamental fact that — and we may get to this later on. Vladimir Putin is a thug and a murderer and a killer and a KGB agent. He had Boris Nemtsov murdered in the shadow of the Kremlin. He has dismembered the Ukraine. He has now precision strikes by Russian aircraft on hospitals in Aleppo.

Let’s call Vladimir Putin for what he is. Does that mean you don’t deal with him or talk to him? Of course you talk to him. But you do it the same way that Ronald Reagan did. And that’s from a position of strength.

And, by the way, the Congress of the United States is not acting very responsibly on that issue, which is the subject of another encounter with us — between us.

DICKERSON: Based on what you heard the president-elect say about Russia, he doesn’t seem to share your view of Russia.

And speaking about it plainly — if speaking about it plainly is really the starting position in your case, then what do you say to the president-elect about his view of Russia?

MCCAIN: I say I hope that he will listen to people like General Mattis, for example, his appointee to the secretary of defense. I hope that he would call people that he respects and who the American people respect and get the facts.

The facts are there about Russian behavior, and Russian, not just hacking into the United States in the 2016 election campaign, but throughout the world. Vladimir Putin, and the Chinese, by the way, and other rogue states, view cyber as a form of warfare.

And, by the way, according to testimony of our chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and others, that’s the area, cyber, that we are not ahead, do not have an advantage over our adversaries, nor, by the way, does the Obama administration have a policy or a strategy in this whole issue of cyber-warfare.

DICKERSON: Well, in terms of this investigation into Russian efforts with the election, do you want a just regular old through the Senate investigation? Do you want a special commission? Do you want a select committee?

MCCAIN: I would like, in an ideal world, to have a select committee.

DICKERSON: And why is that important? Explain to people.

MCCAIN: But that would have — I would want that to be — that would be either a Senate — the leaders of the Intelligence Committee, Foreign Relations, then Armed Services, obviously.

But that takes a long time. It takes a lot of negotiating, et cetera. So, on the Armed Services Committee — by the way, I work very closely with Richard Burr, with Senator Cardin and Senator Corker. We work closely together.

But what we are going to do in the meantime is going to have a subcommittee on the Armed Services Committee. We are going to ask Senator Lindsey Graham, who is as smart as anybody on this issue, to be the chair, along with a really smart Democrat.

And we will go to work on it. We will go to work immediately, because the issue of cyber is not a static issue.

DICKERSON: But on this question of the election, you are trying to — that would be part out of it? You have said you want it to be bipartisan.

The president-elect Trump says this is basically cooked up by the Democrats. How do you squeeze the politics out of this?

(CROSSTALK)

MCCAIN: Because I am confident — Chuck Schumer — in the statement we made this morning, Chuck Schumer said we would be working on a bipartisan basis.

You can’t make this issue partisan. It is just — it is too important. A fundamental of a democracy is a free and fair election. And, again, I am saying, they are doing this in other countries, not just this one.

So I am confident that we can address this in a bipartisan fashion.

DICKERSON: You are headed to the Balkans with Senator Lindsey Graham to do what?

MCCAIN: Yes.

DICKERSON: What message are you…

(CROSSTALK)

MCCAIN: To talk to them.

The message is that we will not abandon them. We understand the challenges that they face. We understand the cyber-attacks. We understand the threats and the bullying of Vladimir Putin. And we are a government that has a role to play for the Congress of the United States, as well as the president. And so…

DICKERSON: Are they more worried about — because of this president’s position on Putin?

MCCAIN: They are very worried.

DICKERSON: Let me ask you about…

MCCAIN: But they aren’t the only ones who are very worried.

DICKERSON: … his potential nominee for secretary of state, Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson. What is your view?

MCCAIN: I don’t know him. I believe that we should give every nominee of the president of the United States a fair hearing, because that is the result of elections, and elections have consequences.

But I just described my view of Vladimir Putin. And I think it is correct. And so I’m…

DICKERSON: And you’re worried he has ties to him?

MCCAIN: Maybe those ties are strictly commercial and got to do with his business in the oil business. Fine.

But we will give him a fair hearing. But is it a matter of concern? Certainly it should be a matter of concern. But I am sure, in a bipartisan way, he will get a fair hearing.

DICKERSON: But if it is a matter of concern, play that out for people. What…

MCCAIN: It is a matter of concern to me that he has such a close personal relationship with Vladimir Putin.

And, obviously, they have done enormous deals together, that that would color his approach to Vladimir Putin and the Russian threat. But that is a matter of concern. We will give him his chance. That’s what the confirmation process, that is what advise and consent is all about.

DICKERSON: All right, Senator John McCain, thanks so much for being with us.

MCCAIN: Thanks, John.

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