Putin: Let Trump Assume Office, Then We'll Meet; Bipartisan Call for Investigation into Russia Hacking
BLITZER: The Russian President Vladimir Putin, he's ready to meet with President-elect Donald Trump. And in an interview with a Japanese newspaper and TV station, Putin said - and I'm quoting him now -- "As for meetings, I think the president-elect should be given an opportunity to form his administration and assume office. Meetings will come next." This comes on the heels of news Trump has chosen Exxon-Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson to serve as secretary of state. The pick sparked controversy over Tillerson's close ties with Putin. For more, let's go to our senior international correspondent, Matthew Chance, who's joining us live from Moscow right now. Matthew, has there been reaction in Russia regarding Tillerson's nomination?</s>MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There has. Even before his nomination officially, there were already a whole line of Russian officials lining up to pour praise on this. Since the announcement is official, since Trump tweeted it, in other words, a whole raft of statements coming from the Kremlin. The Kremlin saying Mr. Tillerson is a respectable and professional person. The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, who will be the counterpart of Rex Tillerson, of course, if he is confirmed secretary of state, he said, he thinks, "Both President Rump and the new secretary of state were not opponents to developments of relations. On the contraire, pragmatic and expect the pragmatism is a good basis for building relations between the two countries." And the head of the parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee here in Russia, the Russian parliaments, saying he believes, going further, saying, "The appointment of Tillerson is a sensation," and it demonstrates what he says is the seriousness of Donald Trump. The seriousness, of course, to do some sort of deal and bridge the divide, perhaps, in the relations between Russia and the United States.</s>BLITZER: Matthew, you know, a bipartisan group of Senators calling for a full-scale investigation into the CIA's conclusion that Russia hacked -- that Russian hackers attempted to influence the U.S. election, and in Trump's favor. Any reaction from the kremlin?</s>CHANCE: Oh, I mean, only the reaction that we've got since October, which is when this issue first was made. When we first floated it during the height of the presidential campaign, and it's been categorical denial saying, look, there's absolutely no concrete evidence linking anyone Russian individual, any Russian government organization to this hacking. Of course, that's a line that's been put out there by Donald Trump as well. I mean, they're playing from the same songbook, Trump and the Kremlin, when it comes to this issue. But there's always been a suspicion and this motivation that the Russians have had to try and influence the U.S. presidential election. They made no secret they supported Donald Trump and despised Hillary Clinton. She's seen as someone incredibly anti-Russian, whereas, Donald Trump voiced sympathetic comments towards Russia, so inevitably they supported him. The argument now here in Russia, the extent to which Russian officials actually acted to try to influence the outcome of that election, and that at the moment is an allegation as far as the Russians are concerned, not a proven fact.</s>BLITZER: Matthew, in Moscow, thank you. Here in Washington, the House Speaking Paul Ryan, the House Intelligence Committee chairman, Devon Nunez, are vowing to continue an investigation into Russian hacking during the U.S. election, but ranking Democrats and several committees say that's not enough. One of those Democrats, Maryland Congressman Elijah Cummings. He's joining us now from Baltimore, ranking member of the House Oversight Committee. Why is that not enough, Congressman?</s>REP. ELIJAH CUMMINGS, (D), MARYLAND: First of all, Mr. Nunez is on Donald Trump's transition team. And one of the things we need to do in this situation is, we need to have an investigation that has integrity. I listened to one of your earlier guests talking about whether the motive for the Russians interference was to sway the election in Donald Trump's favor. Let's be clear. To me that's a distraction. The question is, that we've got 17 intelligence agencies that we pay to put their lives on the line that we pay $70 billion a year to get intelligence and they have said a fact that the Russians did interfere with our election elections. Whatever the motive, we need to look into that. I believe a commission. Something like the 9/11 commission where we don't get all muddied in politics, because the American people deserve to know if a foreign government which is not a friend of the United States, is interfering with our elections.</s>BLITZER: President Obama, the other day, announced he wants a full-scale intelligence community investigation, and he wants the results before he leaves office on January 20th. Why isn't that enough?</s>CUMMINGS: First of all, I applaud the president for doing that, but I think that that will get us, some basic information to start with. This investigation to do done properly may take quite a while, long after the president has left. So, I think what we'll do with that is get some basic information. But there's something else that needs to happen. The entire Congress needs to know about what is going on with the Russians. Only a few members of Congress now have seen the secret documents. One of the reasons why I joined Steny Hoyer and many others in asking that we have a briefing from our intelligence community. Again, keep in mind, this is a -- this has been an effort based upon 17 intelligence agencies. They have told us that the highest level of the Russian government was involved in this, and that it happened. So now, how do we make sure and figure out how it happened? How we can prevent it from happening in the future? Now, if there is -- if they had certain motives, I think those, the Russians had certain motives, I think those things will come up in the midst of the investigation. We have always said in our committee that we follow the evidence wherever it may lead, but right now, I'm more concerned just trying to figure out exactly what happened, how it happened, and how can we make sure that it doesn't happen again. And every American should be concerned about that. And as I've said to you before, Wolf, this is a fight for the soul of our democracy. And I'm going to fight with everything I've got.</s>BLITZER: Congressman, I want you to listen to something that the outgoing Senate Democratic leader, Harry Reid, told our correspondent up on Capitol Hill, Manu Raju, yesterday. Listen to this.</s>SEN. HARRY REID, (D-NV), SENATE MINORITY LEADER: The DNC was hacked. Everybody knew that. We knew WikiLeaks was coming out, drip by drip by drip. They wouldn't do it all at once, of course, because they were coordinating this, obviously, from -- with the Trump folks and the Russians.</s>BLITZER: Are you aware of any evidence that there was coordination, as he claims, between the Trump folks -- those are the words he used -- and the Russians?</s>CUMMINGS: I don't know of any, but, again, that's what the investigation is all about. That's why we need to look into it. The evidence will lead us to where we need to go, and I would hope, and I would think, that President-elect Trump would join us in this effort. After all, he swears, just like we do, to uphold the constitution and protect us from enemies, domestic and abroad. So, this is a part of our duty. This is not doing the American people a favor. This is our job.</s>BLITZER: So what should the U.S. do, if the U.S. intelligence community has concluded, and they did conclude, what, on October 7, 2016, as you point out, in a statement that Clapper, General Clapper, head of the -- the director of National Intelligence, Jeh Johnson, secretary of Homeland Security says, "The U.S. intelligence is confident the Russian directed e-mails of institutions," referring to the Democratic National Committee. And they said, "We believe, based on the scope and sensitivity of these efforts, that only Russia's senior most officials could have authorized these accesses." So, what should the U.S. do about that? They've already reached that conclusion. The Russians did it. Highest levels of the Russian government were involved. What's your recommendation?</s>BLITZER: What does the U.S. do about that?</s>CUMMINGS: Let me be clear -- I want -- I want the investigation, first of all, and I want the people who address these eschews every day, those 17 agencies to come back with their recommendations. I'm not the expert in this area. That's why we have experts. I want to hear what they have to say. After all, we do pay them the $70 billion a year. And I'm sure they'll come back with recommendations and hopefully the Congress and president will follow those recommendations, Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Elijah Cummings, the congressman. Thanks so much for joining us.</s>CUMMINGS: Always a pleasure, Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Thank you. Coming up, the United Nations holding an emergency session to discuss the humanitarian crisis in Aleppo, Syria, and reports of trapped children, the mass execution of civilians. We're going live to the region. We'll be right back.