[Blitzer:] President-elect Trump has been meeting with the victims of the Ohio State University terror attack, also with first responders. We're standing by to hear what he has to say. We'll have coverage of that. Stick around with us for that. We're back with Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff of California. He's the ranking member of the Intelligence Committee. We're going to get talk to him about the threat posed by Russia both to U.S. cyber security, U.S.-backed forces. That's coming up. But we want to get the latest from our chief national security correspondent, Jim Sciutto, right now. Jim, you had a chance to speak to a senior U.S. military official about all of this. What's the latest you're hearing about the Russian threat?
[Jim Sciutto, Cnn Chief National Security Correspondent:] Well, Wolf, at a time when you have the president-elect, other members of his incoming administration questioning the threat from Russia, talking about a friendlier relationship, like U.S. intelligence agencies. the view of the U.S. military is that Russia is very much a threat. This senior U.S. military official putting it at least on a par with violent extremism and spoke specifically about the context of Syria, describing an upcoming moment when you'll have U.S.-backed Syrian rebels coming face to face with Russian-backed regime forces there, just one of many places along with Ukraine and elsewhere where the U.S. Are coming into direct conflict with the potential of military escalation as well.
[Blitzer:] Just this week, as you know, Donald Trump told "TIME" magazine And let me quote now from what he said. He said, "Why not get along with Russia? And they can help us fight ISIS, which is both costly in lives and costly in money; and they're effective and smart." And he still says Russia didn't necessarily hack the U.S., didn't interfere with the U.S. election. What are you hearing about that?
[Schiff:] Well, it remains the public assessment of the U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia did, in fact, hack the election. It's our own reporting that there is the possibility of new information that firms up the idea that it was done not just to interfere in the election but also to help Donald Trump win the election. That's purely on the election, though. But in terms of the broader threat, as we were saying earlier, there are other areas where you are coming into conflict. This senior U.S. military official certainly identifying it high on the list. I asked him if he's communicated that to the president in light of those differences of opinion. He said that there is we serve only one president at once. Presumably, that will happen after he takes office. But it's interesting. This happens as a bipartisan group of U.S. senators 15 Democrats but also 12 Republicans wrote a letter to the incoming president specifically on the issue of Russia and Ukraine. And I'm going to read one excerpt from that letter. They said, "In light of Russia's continued aggression and repeated refusal to respect Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereign right to choose its own destiny, we also renew our call for the U.S. to increase political, economic and military support for Ukraine." So you're seeing a clear signal there, Wolf, that even Republican lawmakers will not sit back, at least on the threat like Ukraine, Syria and hacking of the U.S. election.
[Blitzer:] Jim Sciutto reporting for us. Jim Sciutto is our chief national security correspondent. We're back with Congressman Adam Schiff of California, the ranking Democrat on the Intelligence Committee. You've also written a letter on this very sensitive issue to the president, requesting a classified briefing to provide details, specifically details on Russian hacking of various American political organizations. Has that request from you to the president has that request been granted?
[Schiff:] It hasn't been granted yet. And I think that all the members of the House ought to receive the same briefing those of us on the Intelligence Committee have about Russia meddling in our election. This is something, frankly, I think the president ought to speak to the country about and share as much as he can in declassified form with the country. These events, these attacks by Russia, cyberattacks, were really unprecedented in their scale and their impact, and we haven't seen the last of them. And one of my concerns is that there hasn't been an adequate deterrent. There really hasn't been any cost the Russians have paid. And that has got to change. It may have been to the benefit I think it certainly was of Donald Trump during the campaign. But the minute he crosses Putin, as inevitably he will have to, because Putin is not our friend, he may be the subject of damaging dumping of documents, and he may find that he has a different view of it when he's on the receiving end of that kind of punishment.
[Blitzer:] Because the director of national intelligence, General Clapper, Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson, they wrote a letter, a public statement in early October, saying this went to the highest levels of the Russian government, the hacking of the Democratic National Committee, the release of these e-mails that from John Podesta, who's who was the chairman of the Hillary Clinton campaign. When they say the highest levels of the republic of the Russian republic, does that mean Putin himself ordered this, knew about it, was involved in it?
[Schiff:] You know, unfortunately, Wolf, I can't go beyond what the director has agreed to declassify. But I think you can tell Putin has a very small circle around him. He runs that Kremlin. There's not a lot of dissent. And something of this significance, getting involved in the hacking of a U.S. election, leaving fingerprints all over your work, that's not something I think that can't take place, as the director said, without agreement at the highest levels. I also want to say, in terms of the Senate letter that you and Jim referred to about Ukraine, I fully agree with the contents of that letter. I think we should provide stronger support to Ukraine. Frankly, a year or two years ago, I was advocating that we ought to provide stronger defensive weapons to Ukraine. And these things are not unrelated. When you don't deter the Russians, when you don't push back hard, they view it as an open door, whether that's in Ukraine or that's in the cyber world. We have to meet this newly aggressive, belligerent Russia with a strong pushback.
[Blitzer:] Let us know if you get that request granted from the president of the United States. We'll be anxious to hear.
[Schiff:] Thank you.
[Blitzer:] Adam Schiff is the ranking Democrat on the Intelligence Committee. Coming up, the Electoral College meets in just 11 days to formalize the election of Donald Trump. Could a new lawsuit, though, complicate things? Plus, details of the tactics now being adopted by ISIS. Are terrorist forces preparing to bring them to the west?