Angus King: ‘Right Now We’re a Cheap Date’ with Our Response to Russia

RUSH TRANSCRIPT: 
KING: "With the possible exception of North Korea’s nuclear weapons, this is the biggest threat today.
TAPPER: "Warning about foreign powers, especially Russia, continuing to interfere in U.S. Elections which the independent senator . In a new report the Senate intelligence committee is recommending states purchase voting machines produce paper ballots so they can could their own audits and they’re urging the Trump Administration to warn that interfering in our elections would be a hostile act. You said that your classified report would terrify anyone who read it. Why?
KING: "Because what it sort of makes the point that this was a very sophisticated, conscious deliberate persistent comprehensive strategy to undermine our democracy. I’m sort of in the process, after working this for the better part of a year, putting the dots together. When you have the DNC hacking, you have the efforts to get into 21 different state elections systems, you’ve got the misinformation on Facebook, all of these things together come as a really serious threat. And I just don’t think we’re adequately dealing with it. Here’s the biggest problem that I see. We don’t have any kind of announced doctrine or strategy or policy of responding to this kind of thing. The Russians and the Chinese, everyone else knows, if they send a missile to New York, they know what will happen as a result. In this case, if they try to take down our democratic system through the Internet, or through computer systems or even people coming in, there’s no consequence. No result. No punishment. And one. Our admirals testified the other day, there is nothing that we’re doing now that will make they will change their calculus. They will be back.
TAPPER: "You referenced how in 2016 Russians tried to hack into elections systems in 21 states. They succeeded in Illinois. You said that seems like test. Is the Russian capability to package those machines, to hack into those machines as well as the other things they did in 2016 that there’s no evidence they changed any voter tabulations. Is the capability greater now?
KING: "They weren’t doing in it 2016 for fun. It was a practice. It was a test. And not only, Jake, it’s not necessarily voting machines. It is things like registration roles. But also the communications links between the counting of the votes and putting them up our your network or another one. Imagine for example all the votes you have with John king and the magic board and everything, turn out a day and a half later turn out to be all wrong. It would be chaos. And one of the purposes is to undermine the confidence of the American people in their election system. And they’re doing a pretty damn good job of it."
TAPPER: "You talk about how there’s no doctrine no, warning to China, Russia or others, if do you this, the U.S. Will retaliate in such a way. Beyond that, when president Trump called Vladimir Putin yesterday, he either ignored or did not read an all caps warning from his national security team telling him, do not congratulate the Russian president on the election. What message do you think President Trump sends by congratulating Putin?
KING: "Well, I think the message was just what you said. It was congratulations. And they talked about other things. I don’t want to judge one phone call. What bothers me, I keep hearing at these meetings that we go about the whole of government effort. I’m tired of that term. I said I don’t want to hear that. Whole of government means none of government. I want some specific leadership on forming a cyber doctrine or a strategy, so that our adversaries know if they strike us, they’re going to be hit back. If we, all we’re hearing is about patching and protecting the state election systems. If all we’re doing is trying to be defensive, it is like being in a boxing match with your hands behind. You can Bob and weave and duck. Eventually you’ll get knocked out. The best way to protect ourselves is deterrence. That people have to understand, they’re going to pay a price if they strike us. Right now we’re a cheap date. There are no consequences. No results. And I’m a sort of broken record on this. My poor colleagues on the armed services committee say there goes king again about this doctrine. But we have to do. This otherwise they’re going to keep hitting us and they’ll always find a way to get in.