Interview with Congressman Gregory Meeks of New York
SCIUTTO: Welcome back. And sticking with politics now. Like shouting into a hurricane, that's how researcher get the truth to break through the fake news stories during the 2016 presidential campaign. Now, those researchers tell "The Washington Post" that Russia helps spin those fake stories by exploiting American-made platforms like Twitter to boost stories pedaling conspiracy theories, for instance, around Hillary Clinton's health, or a secretive group of power brokers that really runs the world. Joining me now is Congressman Gregory Meeks. He is a Democrat for my home state of New York. Thanks very much. And he sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Very happy Thanksgiving to you, Congressman Meeks.</s>REP. GREGORY MEEKS (D), NEW YORK: Thank you. Same to you.</s>SCIUTTO: So, this is serious stuff we are talking about here, a coordinated effort to spread fake news, really just false information to in effect poison the U.S. election campaign. What's your reaction to this report?</s>MEEKS: Well, I think throughout the election campaign, you saw that there was only, it was one-sided. I mean, the Russians clearly were supporting Mr. Trump and clearly did not want Hillary Clinton to be the next president of the United States. All of our intelligence agencies have indicated that. And so, whether it's WikiLeaks, whether it's these fake stories that were on the Internet, they've perfected them to try to distort -- at least the thought process of the electorate and probably with some success. Some folks, you read something and they believe it, because it's written on the Internet. So, it is troubling and it's very concerning.</s>SCIUTTO: This is, in effect, an attack -- and you mention in addition to something that U.S. intelligence has identified. They say that Russia was behind those cyber attacks, exposed the emails of the DNC, other Democratic officials. That is, in effect, not even just in effect, it is by definition a cyber attack on the American, on America's democracy. What do you think that the response should be?</s>MEEKS: Well, I think that there has to be a response and I would hope that the president-elect would not, you know, he seemed to disbelieve everything that was being thrown at that time and he says, ah, it's not Russia. So, the first thing I am focused on is hoping that the president-elect reads the intelligence briefings and believes in the intelligence briefings and not the scientists say, well, you are wrong, I'm right, just based upon a whim that he may have. So, that's my first concern, based upon his statements during the campaign that you've got to read these briefings. You got to analyze them, then you can make the appropriate responses to make sure that we're protecting the integrity of the United States.</s>SCIUTTO: Should Congress investigate Russia's attack on the U.S. election, one? Then I would ask you in conjunction with that, do you expect the Republican-led Congress to do so?</s>MEEKS: Should Congress do an investigation? Absolutely. Should Congress conduct hearings in regards to what took place? Absolutely. Will Congress do it? Well, it doesn't look like it right now. I think, but you will see and hear Democrats -- I think Elijah Cummings on the government operations, on Oversight Committee, has sent letters to the chair of the committee, saying that we need to look into some of these things and we need to look into it very religiously for the country of the United States. And I think that Democrats will be making a lot of noise to the American publics that Congress should do its job to make sure that we are investigating the integrity of the elections and the infiltration of Russia propaganda into American politics.</s>SCIUTTO: You mentioned intelligence briefings. There's a report that Donald Trump in the 17 days since he was elected president of the United States, has only taken two intelligence briefings. Although he has the option every day to get the presidential briefing as it's known. Does that concern you?</s>MEEKS: Well, it does concern me, because our national security is the first priority, and on top of which concerns me is what Donald Trump has said all along, that he knows more than the intelligence agencies, that he and he alone can move forward with foreign policy. So, that concerns me very much. You know, sometimes as a business person, you can do something on a whim and sometimes if the whim is wrong, you know, you go file bankruptcy and you do something else. You can't do that as president of United States of America. You can't -- our national security is at stake here and so, you know, as I've looked and heard and read about prior presidents, they've delved into some of these matters very seriously, between the time of day where the president-elect to the time they became president. I think that it's -- you know, when you look at Mr. Trump and his background, it's unprecedented that you have someone like him, who has never been in government before. So, I would think he would delve night more than anyone else. But it seems to be that's just not the case here.</s>SCIUTTO: Certainly, no shortage of national security threats. Congressman Meeks, wish you the best this holiday season.</s>MEEKS: Thank you. Good being with you, Jim.</s>SCIUTTO: It's been nearly three weeks since Election Day. But one state still doesn't know who its next governor will be. Next, the vote fight that's getting uglier by the day in North Carolina.