WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on Sunday joined CNN’s State of the Union with Jake Tapper to discuss national intelligence reports that Russia is currently interfering in the 2020 presidential election and his recent trip to Munich and Ukraine, including his meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif. 

Excerpts from Murphy’s interview with Jake Tapper are below: 

On Russian interference in the upcoming U.S. elections, Murphy said: “What we know is that the Russians never stopped interfering in American politics. They don't just get involved in elections. They are involved every single day, and analysis of what they've been doing on Twitter since 2016 has been pretty clear: they are weighing in over and over again in support of right-wing causes in support of Donald Trump's political agenda.” 

On U.S. intelligence leaks, Murphy added: “What I am worried about is the politicization of intelligence by this administration. The new acting head of intelligence has no background in Intel. He is a Trump loyalist, and I think we all worry about this administration controlling massive amounts of intelligence, massive amounts of classified information and leaking it out to the press when it advantages them.” 

On his meeting in Munich with Javad Zarif: “…[I]t is of course my job as a member of the Foreign Relations Committee and as the top Democrat on the Middle East subcommittee to meet with regional leaders, even our adversaries, and the fact of the matter is, it's dangerous that this administration is not talking to the Iranians. The Trump policy on Iran has been a total disaster–that Iran is more powerful today than they were at the beginning of the Trump presidency. They've restarted their nuclear program, they’re shooting at the U.S. troops. They're offering up more support for proxies. I'm not negotiating with Iran, but it does make sense for somebody to be listening to them and to be engaged in some level of outreach as perhaps a means of trying to avert crisis and disaster down the road.” 

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