Mueller Subpoena Crosses What Trump Called His Red Line; Russians Hacked Energy.
BLITZER: U.K. police are treating the suspicious death of a Russian citizen as a murder. The victim, a Putin critic Nikolai Glushkov was found dead in his home this past Monday. Today, an autopsy reveals the cause of death and I'm quoting now, "compression to the neck." I want to go straight to our Cnn International Correspondent Melissa Bell, she's joining us from Salisbury, England, right now Salisbury is where a former Russian spy and his daughter were found poisoned just a week before Glushkov's death. And Melissa, do police believe Glushkov's death could be related to these poisonings?</s>MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well,</s>BLITZER: Yes, a truly disturbing development where you are. Melissa Bell, thanks very much. A plan to plunge the U.S. into darkness. The Department of Homeland Security here in Washington is now detailing planned cyber attacks, they say, from Russia targeting U.S. energy, nuclear, even water facilities. The report is part of the newly imposed sanctions that have just been imposed against Russia for its election meddling here in the United States. Joining us now, Congressman Chris Collins, he's a Republican from western New York. Congressman, thanks for joining us.</s>REP. CHRIS COLLINS (R), NEW YORK: Good to be with you, Wolf.</s>BLITZER: You're on the House Energy Committee, your district out in western New York near Buffalo includes Niagara Falls area. Major Niagara power plant. A lot of production for electricity coming from that part of the -- from your district and the district next to yours. What have you been told about these alleged cyber attacks that the Russians are planning, and how close are they to actually succeeding?</s>COLLINS: Well, we've been monitoring this, we've held hearings on it. And when you look at -- it's not just Russia, it's North Korea, it's Iran. We said all along that the cyber attacks into our infrastructure, which includes power plants but also any and all, you know, computer-related things, is something that we all take very seriously. You know, we're trying to harden everything we can, even from an electromagnetic pulse which we've always been talking about the last ten years, the EMP, vulnerability of electronics. So we should be concerned about this, we need to make sure that our counterterrorism folks are on this. We -- on the Energy and Commerce Committee in Congress are very aware of it, the industry is very aware of it. We take it very seriously.</s>BLITZER: Even with the announcement of these new sanctions that the Treasury Department just imposed this week against the Russians, the White House pointedly still isn't saying, at least as of yesterday, whether they consider Russia a friend or a foe. What do you consider Russia to be, a friend or a foe?</s>COLLINS: Oh, there's no question, they are a foe. They are flexing their muscle. Vladimir Putin is flexing his muscle around the world. It's somewhat disturbing to hear that his popularity is at an all-time high as he is flexing the Russian muscle, meddling in any and all sorts of activities, not only in the U.S. but in Europe and around the world. So we need to be very diligent in this. The sanctions that Trump imposed recently are certainly a step, but you know, this is the type of activity that has to be monitored by many agencies around the clock, and I don't see it stopping any time soon.</s>BLITZER: We know that the president's top national security advisors, whether the outgoing secretary of state, Nikki Haley; the UN ambassador and others, they've really been outspoken in criticizing the Russian leader Vladimir Putin. But the president doesn't do that, he never criticizes Putin. Why is that?</s>COLLINS: Well, I mean, I can't speak for the president, but the sanctions he just leveled on Russia, I think, speak for itself. We all know that Putin is, in fact, a dictator. You know, they may have elections, but those elections are not true elections. And he is focused on disrupting the west, what we call democracy and freedom which does not exist in Russia. And so I'm glad to see we put more sanctions in place. Certainly, I was someone that voted for those in Congress, and certainly from what I've seen, his administration and all the things that I have read say, that is our number threat to just disrupting our way of living. You know, we have a nuclear threat from North Korea and the same with Iran, but it's Russia who is meddling in all sorts of our activities.</s>BLITZER: The administration this week as you know, they finally did impose those new sanctions on Russia overwhelmingly approved in the Senate and the House. The president didn't want to sign that legislation into law. He did so because he knew he couldn't override a congressional veto. But it's 90 days after the deadline, he goes ahead and authorizes the Treasury Department to implement those sanctions. Why do you think it took so long? As you know, you voted in favor of the sanctions together with almost all of your Democratic and Republican colleagues last August.</s>COLLINS: The important thing is they are now in place. You know, I'm not part of those discussions inside, you know, the West Wing. And you know, there's a lot of moving targets. We actually, frankly, are still hoping that Russia could assist us in denuclearizing North Korea, and there are places that we still need because Russia is, you know, a very powerful nation. Russia and China can do a lot to help us with North Korea. So it's a fine line you walk where you're an adversary one day and a potential ally another day when it comes to the nuclear threat of North Korea. That's where we stand with both Russia and China. So it's a delicate balance, Wolf, and I'm not privy to those particular discussions. They are now in place, but we have to remember that Russia could assist us greatly in the nuclear threat from North Korea.</s>BLITZER: The president last summer said it would be a red line if the special counsel Robert Mueller looked into Trump family finances. The special counsel has now gone ahead and subpoenaed records from the Trump organization. Do you believe that this does cross that so- called red line, and do you think if it does, the president is close to firing Robert Mueller?</s>COLLINS: Well, I mean, to many of us, you know, we've closed our investigation in Congress, Devin Nunes issued his report, finding no collusion whatsoever between --</s>BLITZER: That's just in the House Intelligence -- the House Intelligence --</s>COLLINS: Correct --</s>BLITZER: Excuse me for interrupting.</s>COLLINS: Right.</s>BLITZER: There are other congressional investigations going on, the judiciary --</s>COLLINS: Yes, the Senate --</s>BLITZER: Today, it's the Senate investigations --</s>COLLINS: Right --</s>BLITZER: So it's only the Republican majority in the House Intelligence Committee that's closed up its investigation.</s>COLLINS: Well, that's correct. And many of us have seen Mueller go on what would appear to be a very -- much what we could call a witch- hunt. But putting that aside, I think if -- and Trump has cooperated fully with this. If the current subpoenas as specific to Russia, then I don't think that's crossing a red line. I think it's you know, a stretch at best. But not having seen the subpoenas, I think we have to see whether they're delving into a Russian money piece which I suppose you could say would fall under the auspices of his charge. But if they're, you know, looking at some financial deal in Hilton Head, South Carolina, you know, that's a whole and other matter. And I don't know the answer to that, and I'm sure we'll see more as this develops over the next few days, but I have not heard any indications that Trump is close to firing Mueller. And again, we have to see what the details of the subpoena are.</s>BLITZER: Yes, well, he does have the authority under the terms of his assignment, Robert Mueller, to investigate not only alleged collusion or cooperation between the Trump campaign and Russia, but other related matters that are discovered during the course of the investigation, presumably matters that don't have anything to do with Russia if he wants to go down that road. We'll see if he does. There's so much that we don't know about his investigation --</s>COLLINS: Right --</s>BLITZER: Clearly right now. Congressman Chris Collins of western New York, near my hometown of Buffalo, thanks very much for joining us.</s>COLLINS: Always good to be with you, Wolf, have a great day.</s>BLITZER: Thank you very much. Coming up next, he's called for preemptive strikes at Iran and North Korea, and now he may be the next top adviser to the president when it comes to national security. And there's more layoffs loom over the West Wing, we're awaiting a White House briefing, stay with us for live coverage.