U.S. rep. high on Tillerson, Sessions nominations

U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) joined Boston Herald Radio’s Adriana Cohen Show yesterday to talk about President-Donald J. Trump’s Cabinet appointments and his social media use:

Q: Do you believe (Secretary of State nominee) Rex Tillerson would be an asset to the United States?

A: I do. I think what you have to do is look at his total experience that he’s had ... And not only has he worked hard in career, he has worked hard in giving back ... his working way through the volunteer structure of Boy Scouts and becoming president of Boy Scouts of America, I think that is significant and shows his priorties and what is important to him.

And now what he is saying is, look ... I am ready to serve my country in a different capacity.

Q: How troubling is it to you that classified information is getting leaked to the press?

A: We need to get to the bottom of this and figure out what actually is happening with this. It is troubling that you would see this type of leaking take place. It is troubling if it is coming out of our intelligence agencies.

Q: Do you support Jeff Sessions as the next attorney general?

A: I think Jeff Sessions is going to be a tremendous attorney general.

He is a man who is known for being fair, known for being collaborative.

Q. What are your thoughts on Trump tweeting and saying that if the media was more ethical and honest, he wouldn’t need to tweet?

A: Well I think that’s right. He uses Twitter as a way to set the record straight and to call out things that are being inappropriately reported. And time after time we have seen him to be proven correct on this ... of course, Mr. Trump is right to come out and say what you’re doing is fake news ... I think you can expect to see Mr. Trump to continue to tweet once he goes into the White House.

Q: Should Congress take a stronger stance on the growing national security threat with terrorist recruitment via social media?

A: We’re going to have some hearings and do some work on the cybersecurity encryption, data security, privacy issues, and how we work with the internet service providers and social media outlets and the utilization of this ... I think this is an issue that needs a very thorough and thoughtful review and we’ll embark on that over the next 2 years as I chair the communications the technology subcommittee.