ICYMI: Senator Collins Discusses Russia Investigation on CNN’s “New Day”

Click HERE to watch the interview

Note to assignment editors and news directors: Click HERE for high-quality video of the interview

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Susan Collins appeared on CNN’s “New Day” this morning with host Chris Cuomo to discuss the Russia investigation.

A transcript of the interview follows:

CUOMO: Joining us is Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine. She's a member of the Intelligence and Appropriations Committees. Senator, always good to see you. You're much taller in person.

COLLINS: I was just going to say that to you. You stole my opening line.

CUOMO: You've always made me feel small. This time it's literal. So, you heard the interview with Kellyanne. It’s very interesting that so much of the talk about this memo—and I know the Senate Committee has nothing to do with it, I know it's about the House.  I know that they’ve been shy about even showing it to people in the Committee, including the Ranking Member, and that's odd—But people are frustrated with the Russia investigation, so then there's this. And there have been no answers in the Russia investigation, and so we have questions about this. Is that what this is? Is this tit-for-tat politics about, we don’t like one investigation so we’ll start another?

COLLINS: Well, this issue is too important for it to break down along partisan lines. And in the Senate, the Intelligence Committee has managed to avoid that. The Chairman, Richard Burr, the Vice Chairman, Mark Warner, have worked together and the Committee has worked together. When you're dealing with allegations that are this serious, of the Russians trying to meddle in our elections, that's the kind of approach that I think should be taken.

CUOMO: You have been counsel and also a solid interview for us when it comes to these matters. I wanted your take on this. The idea of releasing a memo and not the classified information that comes along with it. So you have people reading a set of conclusions but not the basis for the conclusions. Then we find out that the person whose name is on the memo, Devin Nunes, didn't read the supporting information that his own conclusions are based on. How should we have confidence in something like that?

COLLINS: Those are the kind of questions that arise when you have a partisan investigation. There is a legitimate concern that the Justice Department has about whether the release of this memo would result in a compromise of sources and methods, aside from whether or not it's cherry-picking intelligence - that's another issue. And what we did in the Senate Committee, when we had a controversial report on the torture allegations, is we sat down for months with the CIA and with others from the intel community. We went through it. We redacted parts of it, and ultimately we released it. We released assenting views at the same time and it gave - not all of it was released, because some parts of it remained classified - but it was a much better way to proceed. It seems to me that what the House Intelligence Committee ought to do is sit down with the Justice Department, go through the report, see if there are issues that are contested or that would compromise our security and come up with a redacted report. That’s not as satisfying to the press and the public, but there's some underlying intelligence that will never be able to be released.

CUOMO: Well they say no, they're not going to do that because they don't trust the Justice Department. Now it's on the president's desk. Do you think he should release it?

COLLINS: I believe that he should follow the advice of his Justice Department, which so far is to not release it. But I think there's a compromise here, and that is to go through the report and redact those parts that are sensitive. I also don't like the idea of these dueling reports because it's going to be very hard for the public to know what is true. That’s why I place a lot of confidence in having the Senate Intelligence Committee complete its work, Robert Mueller complete his work and Michael Horowitz, the Inspector General of the Department of Justice, conclude his investigation. That’s the kind of outside, impartial review that we need.

CUOMO: Do you think Mueller will be able to complete his work? You know the report about the President once expressing frustration, wanting him out. McCabe is gone. Comey is gone. Do you have any concerns about whether or not there may be an effort to stop this investigation?

COLLINS: It would be a devastating development if Mr. Mueller were in any way impeded in completing his investigation. It is absolutely essential that he be allowed to complete it. He is a person of great experience, impeccable integrity, whose appointment was praised by both sides of the aisle, and he has to be allowed to finish his work.

CUOMO: Kellyanne Conway has never ceased to amaze me in her ability to answer questions. Yet, she has no answer for why the President didn't execute the sanctions that you guys voted 98-2, very wide margin in the House as well. Why? Why didn't the White House move on the sanctions that you voted on?

COLLINS: That is perplexing to me. That bill passed with only two dissenting votes in the Senate. It was not partisan in the least. Bob Corker, Ben Cardin, the leaders of the Foreign Relations Committee, worked very closely together. They came up with a bill that was balanced and needed. The one thing we know for sure already is the Russians did attempt to meddle in our elections, and not only should there be a price to pay in terms of sanctions, but also we need to put safeguards in place right now for the elections for this year, because we know that the Russians have not given up on their disinformation campaign and their attempt to sow discord in this country and also to undermine faith in democratic institutions. They’ve also tried it in Western Europe and in Montenegro. So we need to act now to try to stop that.

CUOMO: Border security, they'll throw all the money at it in the world. Cyber security, nothing so far. Senator Collins, as long as you're around, I feel we're going to get to the right place.

COLLINS: Thank you, Chris. Great to see you in person.