CNN "Wolf" - Transcript: Islamic State American Fighters

Interview

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KEILAR: Yes, it's a terrorist organization with a serious P.R. effort. Brian Todd, thank you so much.

What about those U.S. passport holders, for instance, who have gone to Syria to fight alongside ISIS? What should authorities do to keep them from returning to the U.S. to carry out terrorist attacks? Republican Senator John Thune of South Dakota joining us. Now, you're more than one of a dozen senators that is calling for action. What do you want that the administration isn't doing?

SEN. JOHN THUNE (R), SOUTH DAKOTA: We want to see a plan, Brianna. I think that the thing that concerns a lot of us and should concern a lot of Americans is there are so many westerners involved in this. And as you just heard, the effect of social media and trying to radicalize some of these people, make this a real, attractive magnet, for younger people in particular, to come there.

But the fact that there are Americans and Europeans in the fight with holding passports is a real concern. How do we prevent these people from coming back into the country? They're on no fly lists but there are other ways that they go through, Visa are a way for (ph) countries of getting back in. So, simply, we're just asking secretary of state, John Kerry, and Jeh Johnson, the Secretary of Homeland Security, what's the plan? You know, do you have a plan and what is that for preventing any of these people from coming back into the United States where they might do harm.

KEILAR: I wanted to talk to you about sort of the semantics of some of what we're seeing but also, first, I want to talk to you about the Congressional role here. There are so many people who are saying there should be Congressional authorization here -- an authorization of military action. Republicans run the House. You're a former House member. Why don't they just do it? Why -- it's not exactly a profile encourage if there are people calling for this and yet the House isn't going ahead and actually taking action.

THUNE: I think one of the reasons is it's -- historically, it's been the role of the commander in chief to put forward an authorization for the use of force. That's always been the case. And, yes, Congress could do that on its own. They're going to act on a continuing resolution next week which will provide the authorization to train the troops, the moderate opposition.

But I think, in terms of the broader authorization, the administration says they have the legal authority to do it. They say they welcome Congress in -- you know, doing it themselves. But I, frankly, think it would be advisable for the administration to come to Congress with that request and for Congress to act on it. I think that's the way the process ought to work. But most of us -- I shouldn't say most of us. I, personally, believe that they do have legal authority, based upon the 2001 and 2002 AUFMs.

KEILAR: But a year ago, we heard the president say it would be -- you know, it's stronger if Congress is involved and not just in a consultant role but beyond that, voting on this. To your point, that this isn't the way that it's been done, we heard Speaker Boehner yesterday. He basically said, well, it hasn't been done that way before. I mean, it sounds kind of like a lame excuse, in a way, to say, well, that's not how we've done it before.

THUNE: Well, I think -- and really, frankly, though, I mean, it is. There's one commander in chief and the commander in chief is the person who says, this is what I want to do. This is my objective. He's the one who comes and sells his plan. And, you know, we've gotten sort of conflicting signals about that.

And I think the concern that a lot of Republicans in Congress have is is the president in this to win it? And if he really is, he could come with an authorization for the use of military force, get Congress to vote on it. The last time he proposed doing that, of course, is when he was talking about using force in Syria and then he got pushback from his left and then he kind of backed away from that.

So, I think a lot of us are questioning, right now, whether or not the president, and particularly members of his party, have the resolve to follow through with this.

KEILAR: I want to end on a sound bite that we have of Secretary Kerry. This is how he is describing, in an interview with our Elise Labott, the campaign to destroy ISIS. He says it's not a war. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KERRY, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: What we are doing is engaging in a very significant counterterrorism operation. And it's going to go on for some period of time. If somebody wants to think about it as being a war with ISIL, they can do so. But the fact is, it's a major counterterrorism operation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: A major counterterrorism operation. Why not call it a war?

THUNE: Well, it is. And I think that they are trying to give comfort to their political base in this country. And I think there are a lot of Democrats who are a little -- you know, are very leery of this and, frankly, most of the calls for the president to come to Congress are coming from Democrats right now. But I think when he says that, it's basically denial of what's happening. We're dropping bombs in a foreign country. We've got 1,700 troops on the ground. This is a war against ISIS. This is a war to destroy an organization that is set upon doing great harm to Americans and to our allies around the world.

KEILAR: Senator Thune, thanks so much for being with us. We really appreciate it.

THUNE: Thanks, Brianna.

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