CNN "Erin Burnett Outfront" - Transcript: Rep. Denny Heck (D-WA) Is Interviewed About Senior Officials In Charge Of American Embassy Security Were Not Told Of Any Imminent Threat

Interview

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BURNETT: All right. Kylie, thank you very much with those developments.

I want to go now to Democratic Congressman Denny Heck, member of the House Intelligence Committee. And Congressman, I appreciate your time. What's your reaction to Kylie's reporting that the senior people in charge of American embassy security were not told of any imminent threats?

REP. DENNY HECK (D-WA): Well, because there were no imminent threats, Erin. I think it's as obvious as the nose on our face and if you doubted it before, you shouldn't doubt it today after members of the administration have indicated no really this strategy was deterrence, not in fact to preempt an imminent threat.

In order to have eminence, Erin, you have to have certain elements. You have to have a target, you have to have time and you have to have some approval from the upper authorities to actually execute the plan.

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None of those elements were present here. So there were ...

HERE

REP. DENNY HECK (D-WA): -- time and you have to have some approval from the upper authorities to actually execute the plan.

[19:30:06]

None of those elements were present here. So, there were no imminent threats per se.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: So, you point out some Trump administration officials now sort of indicating what you're saying and it is true, Congressman, that some of them were not able to confirm the president's claims there were plots, specific plots to attack four U.S. embassies.

Here are a couple of them.

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ROBERT O'BRIEN, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Look, it's always difficult even when the exquisite intelligence we have to know exactly what the targets are.

MARK ESPER, SECRETARY OF DEENSE: He didn't cite a specific piece of evidence. What he said is he probably, he believed, could have been --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you saying there wasn't one?

ESPER: I didn't see one with regard to four embassies.

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MADDOW: OK. You have the secretary of defense. He didn't know -- didn't see any threat regarding four embassies. Our national security adviser did not know what targets are.

From what you understand -- do you believe that General Soleimani posed an imminent threat to four American embassies or not?

HECK: I do not. I believe that General Soleimani represented a continuing threat of bad behavior in the Mideast. That he's a bad -- he was a bad guy and he was doing bad things. That's a separate question from whether or not there was an imminent threat, and whether or not the president possessed the constitutional authority or the legal authority to actually do this.

Look, Erin, at the end of the day, an action like this, set aside the fact of whether or not it was legal or even illegal, at the end of this day, this ought to be about furtherance of American policy objectives. And the administration has helped us out here.

They said what our objectives are in region. Number one, keep Iran from getting a nuclear bomb. Number two, keep them from getting a intercontinental ballistic missile which could deliver a nuclear bomb, and number three, deter bad behavior in the region. So, take them one at a time.

Number one, they have lifted the lid the uranium enrichment. Number two, they're continuing to make the R&D investments to develop an ICBM, and number three, Hezbollah has now announced we're targeting all U.S. bases in the region. So, strike one, strike two, strike three.

BURNETT: Secretary of Defense Esper went further, though, Congressman, with what appeared to be a new standard, because you're talking about the standard of imminent threat to have a legal strike. There as a new standard he seemed to be putting forth for launching lethal attacks against someone who wished ill will against America.

Listen to him.

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ESPER: My expectation was they were going the go after our embassies. The embassy is the most prominent display of American presence in a country.

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BURNETT: OK, that's a statement of fact. If the expectation that people who wish Americans harm will target embassies because they are the most prominent display of American power, if that's now the standard. How many people does this add to America's kill list?

HECK: I'm sorry, I don't understand the question, Erin.

BURNETT: If we're going to say that someone wants to go after an American embassy because it's the most prominent display --

HECK: Oh, right, right.

BURNETT: -- of American power, anybody who has that as their goal is now fair to strike. How long does the kill list get?

HECK: Infinite. I mean, if the standard is we're going after all bad actors who do bad things, then we probably would be in the business of dropping a whole lot more bombs than we already are. But the fact of the matter is, there were no imminent threats, per se and there is no evidence to suggest the embassies were targeted. The absolute proof of that is as you said at top of the conversation, if the embassies were not notified this way (ph).

BURNETT: I want to get your take, if I may, Congressman, of something. I don't know if you've seen but it just crossed a few moments ago. Breaking story, it's in "The New York Times". They're reporting that Russian military hackers targeted Burisma which is the Ukrainian gas company, which Hunter board serve -- Hunter Biden served on the board of, and experts are saying the timing of this hacking was sort of as all this story was breaking about Hunter Biden, right? So, this is happening over the past few months.

The suggestion is that Russia is looking for information on this story and dirt on Joe Biden. What do you make on that?

HECK: Well, if they're not looking for it, they'll make it up. Look, Erin, throughout the entire Mueller report and investigation, whenever I went home, the most frequently asked question I would get is do you think the Russians will be back in next election and, of course, my response was back. They've never left.

This is standard operating procedure for Vladimir Putin's Russia to use cyber warfare weapons in other words to further advance their objectives. And this doesn't surprise me in the slightest and moreover, I wouldn't trust a thing they shared or revealed as a consequence of their illegal hacking of that company in the Ukraine.

BURNETT: All right. I appreciate your time, Congressman Heck. Thank you, tonight.

HECK: You're welcome.

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