The following is a transcript of an interview with Rep. Jim Himes, Democrat of Connecticut, on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” that aired on Sept. 8, 2024.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Joining us now is the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, Democrat Jim Himes of Connecticut. Congressman, good morning to you.
REP. JIM HIMES (D-CT): Thanks for having me, Margaret.
MARGARET BRENNAN: A lot I want to get to with you, but I did want to offer you a chance to respond, if you care to, to Congressman McCaul. I know you and most Democrats supported President Biden’s decision to withdraw from Afghanistan, although I think you’d agree the exit was one of the darkest days of- of his presidency to date. What do you make of the Republican argument that this reflects on Vice President Harris’s abilities to serve as commander-in-chief?
REP. HIMES: Well, you’re right, Margaret, when you say that that was a very dark day. Any time we lose service members, it’s a very dark day, and the 13 that we lost at Abbey Gate are- are rightly remembered. And you know how you remember them best? You remember, as you pointed out in your interview with- with Chairman McCaul, that there were also almost 2500 others killed in Afghanistan over a 20 year period. What Chairman McCaul is going to offer to the American people, though, is, and- and you said it right. It’s going to be about Vice President Harris. It is a politicized, cherry picked report designed to do one thing, not shed light on a tragedy, which, by the way, I would support 100%. And- and by the way, let’s also look at the 20 years and the four presidents that doubled down on Afghanistan policy. It is going to be a nakedly partisan campaign thing. Chairman McCaul said it at the end there. You know- what- the military issues that he was raising? You know, he didn’t mention the fact that- when he said that President Biden came with an agenda to withdraw from Afghanistan, President Biden did not come with an agenda. He came with a binding agreement negotiated by President Trump, who also released 5000 Taliban. And by the way- and here’s the key point that didn’t come up, who also left President Biden with 2500 troops in Afghanistan. Margaret, when we were attacked on January 6, on the Capitol, in the days after we had more than 2500 National Guardsmen guarding the Capitol. That’s the tools, and that’s the agreement that Donald Trump left President Biden with.
MARGARET BRENNAN: And there were thousands more NATO troops as well. So the 2500 is a little bit misleading, but let’s put that aside, just to honor our allies there. And I’m sure, surely you know about. I want to ask you about the ISIS threat. On Friday, it was disclosed that a 20-year-old ISIS supporter was apprehended 12 miles from the U.S.-Canada border. The FBI said the individual was a Pakistani citizen residing in Canada who was planning a mass shooting attack in New York City on or around October 7 to kill as many Jews as possible. Do you have any insight into whether this individual was self radicalized? Was he directed? What is the threat picture here?
REP. HIMES: Yeah, you know, we’ve been out of session for some time, so it’s been a little while since I’ve had a classified briefing. So I probably can’t specifically answer the question about that individual. What I can tell you is two things. Number one, ISIS is dedicated, as is, by the way, Iran and any number of other groups, to trying to strike the United States. That is a fact, and that is why it is so important the- the work of the intelligence community and the FBI to stop that stuff. And they’re pretty good at that. You saw the arrests, of course, of the eight people who were affiliated with- with terrorist groups. They’re very good at what they do. It’s very hard for them to be perfect, but it’s also important that we not over exaggerate the threat here. We have come a very long way, I’m actually just back from a 9/11 ceremony on the 23rd anniversary celebrating- or memorializing that hideous attack. The intelligence community, the military, the FBI, have come a long way since 9/11 and as a consequence, we learn about these things, and hopefully we’ll be in a position to obstruct as many of them as possible.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Fair point. I want to switch gears if I can. And you are right to remind us all that we are coming up on that 9/11 anniversary, a memorial to all of those. On the question of election interference, we got these disclosures from the intelligence community this week and the Justice Department. This was a sophisticated scheme to interfere in the election by setting up fake news sites, paying $10 million to a Tennessee based company to launder Moscow’s propaganda. They use podcasters, they use well known personalities on YouTube to trick American voters in swing states, according to the DOJ. How effective has this campaign been?
REP. HIMES: Well, that’s a really hard question to answer Margaret, because that gets into the question of, you know, gosh, are these crazy right wing websites and right wing journalists who, evidently, their money came from Russia, are they actually having an im- an impact on the election? It’s sort of hard to believe in a 50/50 election that’s going to be played out in sort of four or five states, that it’s not going to have some impact on the margin, which is why two things are really important. Number one, back to the FBI, back to our intelligence community. They need to double down on identifying, naming and shaming those countries that are doing this. And Chairman McCaul was right. It’s primarily Russia, Russia has really pulled out all the stops, but it’s also China. It’s also Iran. There’s even some other countries that are thinking about it. But Margaret, I feel very passionately about this. They can only succeed if American citizens hand over their autonomy, their sovereignty, their critical thinking abilities, to the Russians or to the Chinese. And so what I always tell my constituents, if you’re looking at some random social media site and you are getting hotter and hotter and angrier and angrier, and people who disagree with you are not just the opposition, but they’re traitors? You know what you’re doing, you are being manipulated. And it may just be by Facebook’s algorithms, but there’s some chance it might actually be the Kremlin or the Chinese or the Iranians who are manipulating you. And if you’re going to be manipulated that easily, guess what? This country is going to get the democracy that we deserve.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Vladimir Putin publicly said he was endorsing Vice President Harris this past week. U.S. intelligence, though, assesses that it is Donald Trump that is, in fact, Moscow’s preferred candidate. Do you know whether Putin is directing this particular campaign?
REP. HIMES: Well, I will tell you that super sensitive things like meddling in U.S. elections, you know, the nature of the Kremlin and of Putin and of his autocracy, nothing serious happens in Russia without Vladimir Putin signing off on it. So precisely how he- involved he is, is an open question, but believe me, yes. He would- and look, you know, the whole, you know, I’m endorsing Harris thing, all you need to do is listen to the way the two candidates talk about Russia and Ukraine, and you can develop a pretty independent sense of what Putin would like to see happen on election day.Â
MARGARET BRENNAN: You said earlier this week that banks are required to research their clients, when you were being asked about this case of a Tennessee based company that CBS is reporting is- is Tenet Media, that was being manipulated by the Russians. What is the principle you’re asking to be applied here?
REP. HIMES: Well, I guess, and- and I’m not talking about legal compulsion necessarily here, although banks are required to know their customers, it’s nice to imagine that, you know, massive social media platforms, or massive media platforms like Tenet might actually do a little research to try to figure out where their money is coming from. Frankly, the people who look at their media have a right to know where that money comes from. So, you know, at a minimum, check this stuff out, because you may not want to be complicit in a Kremlin operation.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Congressman Himes, thank you for your insight. We’ll be right back.