CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview with Senator Chris Murphy

Interview

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BLITZER: Yes, they will be enormous, those challenges.

All right, Jeff Zeleny reporting for us, thank you very much.

Joining us now, Senator Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut. He's a key member of the Foreign Relations Committee as well.

Senator, thanks so much for joining us.

I want to get to the Biden transition in just a moment, but let me get your reaction to the attorney general of the United States now saying the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security have not found any evidence of widespread fraud in the election.

And he told the Associated Press this -- and I'm quoting now, and this is a direct quote -- "There's a growing tendency to use the criminal justice system as sort of a default fix-all and people don't like something, that they want the Department of Justice to come in and investigate."

It certainly sounds, Senator, like he's describing President Trump. How significant is this very public rebuke?

SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): I mean, I don't know how significant it is. I mean, it's not shocking to anyone that the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security have found no evidence of widespread voter fraud, because there's no widespread voter fraud.

And I don't know how many more people have to say that before the American people believe it.

The problem is, the base of the Republican Party today doesn't listen to Bill Barr. They listen to Donald Trump. And Donald Trump's assault on the rule of law, the assault on the sanctity of elections is going to have an effect in the long run.

The Republican Party now believes that, if Democrats win elections, it must be because of fraud. And so I'm not sure why any commonsense middle-of-the-road Republican is going to ever run to be secretary of state or -- of a state like Georgia or run to be on an elections board.

It's going to be QAnon Republicans that are going to now populate those positions, who all believe that Democratic victories must be due to fraud.

So, I'm glad Bill Barr said it, but I'm not sure it has much of an impact, so long as Donald Trump continues to make up these stories about the election being rigged. That's who his followers listen to.

BLITZER: But, on that point, is it likely this public statement from Bill Barr to stop the president from spewing these conspiracy theories, or his campaign, for that matter, for pursuing them in court?

They have failed time after time after time.

MURPHY: Yes, I mean, I don't think he's going to stop them from continuing to pursue cases in court.

The president hasn't been scared off by losing 30 cases. Why would he care if he loses 12 more? And he's certainly not going to stop the president from making these claims.

The president is making a ton of money by making these claims. He's raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for his political operation by continuing to make his supporters believe that the election is illegitimate. He is going to use that as the basis for his ongoing political operations for the next four years.

So, again, I just don't know what the impact of this is. Donald Trump is going to continue to be Donald Trump.

BLITZER: Yes. When you say hundreds of thousands of dollars, since the election exactly four weeks ago, his campaign has now raised more than $170 million for various political purposes that he wants to do with in the coming years, whatever that may show.

I want to quickly get to the COVID relief talks that are so critical right now. It looks like there's some renewed momentum going on. Yet the Senate majority leader, the House speaker, a separate bipartisan group of senators, they're all on different pages right now.

Are you optimistic at all, Senator, that the Congress can reach a deal before Biden's inauguration on January 20?

MURPHY: Well, let's just be crystal clear. Congress has to reach a deal.

We should not and cannot go home for Christmas unless we have delivered relief to the millions of desperate families out there who are running out of money.

In Connecticut right now, people are desperate. They are running out of unemployment benefits. Their eviction protections will end by the end of the year. Businesses are closing up because they're running through their federal assistance. We need an assistance package.

Good news today that a group of Republicans and Democrats came together on a package worth about a trillion dollars. That certainly is enough money to be able to get us through the worst of the winter.

But until Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump actually gets serious about bipartisan talks, I'm not sure how hopeful I am.

Mitch McConnell ultimately has to decide to sit down with Nancy Pelosi. And he's refused to do that. He's refused to enter that negotiating room, I think because he's got about 20 Republican senators who don't want to appropriate a single additional dime for COVID relief. And he doesn't really want to split his caucus.

[18:25:00]

So, good news today. We have to get something done, but Mitch McConnell sitting on the sidelines day after day is not good news for the country.

BLITZER: What is some good news, he finally today said that a lot will depend, in his words, upon what the new administration wants to pursue in January.

So, he's now speaking, finally, about the new administration. That's at least some step forward, a modest step, but at least some step.

Senator Murphy, thank you so much for joining us.

MURPHY: Thanks a lot.

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