Sen. Warner slams White House for excluding Dems from briefing on drug boat strikes

Geoff Bennett:

Keeping our focus on Capitol Hill, top Senate Democrats are blasting the White House after being excluded from a classified briefing on recent U.S. military strikes against boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific, strikes the administration says are targeting suspected drug traffickers.

The briefing held yesterday included more than a dozen Republican senators, but no Democrats. And that's with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle already raising concerns about transparency and oversight.

Virginia Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, called the move indefensible and dangerous.

And Senator Warner joins us now.

Thanks for being here.

Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA):

Thank you.

Geoff Bennett:

So what's your understanding of how the White House organized and arranged this briefing?

Sen. Mark Warner:

Well, let's step back for a moment.

As the vice chairman of the Intelligence Committee, I'm part of what's a group called Gang of Eight. And if there's anything that's classified, and particularly around foreign policy, where we have troops in harm's way, since we're sending an aircraft carrier to the region now, we are briefed up.

I got a briefing on some of these topics a week ago. And my friend who I'd worked with along, Secretary Rubio, promised that the legal opinion, because I have got concern from sailors who are being deployed, gosh, what's the legal basis that we're blowing up these boats and what's going to happen with Venezuela, he promised me that legal opinion and further briefing.

We didn't receive it. And then out of nowhere, there is suddenly a briefing held by the White House with not even the appropriate, key Republicans, but just kind of a random group, because they're concerned that there may be a War Powers Act issue on this coming up next week, because we got not only the question of the drug traffickers, but also Venezuela.

The notional idea that this is going to be suddenly briefed only on a partisan basis is so against and counter to any kind of congressional oversight. It is — it's insulting. It's dangerous. It undermines the integrity of our national security framework.

And, quite honestly, I think we caught the White House. They said, bad. But my calling now is, if we're going to have troops in harm's way, if we're going to start blowing up or continue blowing up boats in both the Caribbean and the Pacific, all senators need to be read in.

Geoff Bennett:

Why do you think the White House iced out the Democrats?

Sen. Mark Warner:

I think this is a pattern. We saw this a little bit when the president bombed Iran. He only notified Republicans, didn't notify Democrats, although this is — I have never seen an administration — even in Trump one, I differed with, but they had professionals in place.

This administration just thinks they can just blow off Congress at basically every corner. And when it comes to national security, that kind of failure to have oversight could lead us to very bad places. And I think it is nothing but a political decision that goes against the law, goes against precedent, goes against the whole notion of oversight.

And particularly when we're talking about a classified item, there are only 17 of us that get any kind of visibility into this. And if you're suddenly making it only partisan of that group or suddenly going beyond that group, as they did yesterday, to just other random Republicans, this is undermining our whole basis of congressional oversight and national security.

Geoff Bennett:

A question about the committee itself, because the Senate Intelligence Committee has a reputation for Democrats and Republicans working together on matters of national security. You had a good working relationship with Marco Rubio when he was the top Republican. Same for Richard Burr, Saxby Chambliss.

Why not Tom Cotton? What has happened? What's the dynamics?

Sen. Mark Warner:

I try to work with Senator Cotton. And we have an interpersonal relationship fine. But not just on the case of the intelligence issue, but on so many issues, I think, in the past, showing bipartisan support is viewed as a strength.

I feel, from this White House, you lose points with them if you're bipartisan. I have seen another issue recently where my good friend Mike Crapo mounted a major Republican opposition to destroying Community Development Financial Institutions, and he made the judgment, it would be better to be Republican-only.

And that's dangerous enough when you're talking about financial sector. It is I think unpalatable and against the law when you're talking about national security.

Geoff Bennett:

Setting aside matters of process for a moment, what's your assessment of the strikes themselves? Do you believe that they were carried out within the bounds of the U.S. law and U.S. interest?

Sen. Mark Warner:

I have no idea because I have not seen the legal opinion. And I know I have got sailors' families contacting me, saying they're concerned that their sons and daughters could be violating international law.

We also have a lack of clarity about what the president's goals and ambitions are vis-a-vis Venezuela. And let me be clear. I'm against the drug dealers. I am against Maduro as a bad guy. And, frankly, under Biden, we should have — when the Venezuelans voted to oust him, we should have put more pressure there.

But to do this without a legal opinion, to do this without potentially putting troops in harm's way in Venezuela without any explanation, and doing it only on a partisan basis, again, this is unprecedented, not the way national security works.

Geoff Bennett:

On another matter, the president now says he wants the U.S. to resume nuclear weapons testing, he says on an equal basis with Russia in China.

It's not clear whether he's talking about testing the delivery systems or actually testing the bombs themselves. The U.S., as you know, has not conducted a nuclear test since 1992. How do you assess what is known, I would imagine, about the strategic reasoning behind this move.

Sen. Mark Warner:

I didn't — this — was this a planned change in policy? Was it throwing out chum into the water before he met with President Xi? I don't know.

And if a president was going to make this kind of dramatic turn, historically, by law, you're supposed to brief up Congress. And there are times when a president has to act quickly, all presidents have, when a moment strikes. And, generally, you kind of allow that to happen.

Matter of fact, President Trump in his first term was quite good on briefing. Matter of fact, when he threatened to bomb Iran in his first term, he literally brought all the congressional leadership around national security in and had a fulsome discussion.

The idea now that he's kind of ignoring any congressional oversight — and this is where I again appeal to my Republicans who I know care about our country and care about the law as much — you got to stand up and just say, this is not right. If you don't push back, as we have seen on issue after issue, this president will push the edge, push the boundary.

And if he's suddenly on his own, restarting testing of nuclear weapons without briefing, taking strikes in the Caribbean, in the Pacific, or potentially looking for regime change in Venezuela, and only briefing one party, that is a long stride away from how this country ought to operate.

Geoff Bennett:

While you're here, I want to ask you about the shutdown, because every day this shutdown drags on more Americans are feeling the impact, from missed paychecks to stalled services.

How do you think this gets resolved?

Sen. Mark Warner:

I think it needs to get resolved next week. People are seeing the health care bills explode. We're seeing literally millions of Americans potentially losing food benefits at a time when our costs continue to go up. Everybody knows grocery prices have gone up dramatically under this president.

And, again, a bit of a frustrating thing is, in the past, as somebody who's always been part of the so-called bipartisan gangs that come together to try to get us out of these challenges, you have got to be willing to kind of make your own team and the other team mad to get it done. And in this administration, I don't think any of our Republicans have the freedom to cut a deal without the president's approval.

So I think we have got to get it resolved next week. The president's back. I hope he puts America first. And that means let's resolve this. Let's get the government reopened. Let's go ahead and find a way to avoid this health care cliff and also make sure that Americans who deserve this food assistance get it.

Geoff Bennett:

Senator Mark Warner, thank you so much for your perspectives and for coming in. We appreciate it.

Sen. Mark Warner:

Thank you.