Fox News "Hannity" - Transcript Interview with Ted Cruz

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Senator, thank you for joining us such late notice on a Friday night.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): Well, Sean, it's good to be with you.

Tonight, we and the entire nation mourn the passing of an historic justice.
She was only the second woman ever to serve on the court. She served 27
years.

Before she was on the court, she was a court of appeals judge. And before
that, she was a legendary advocate. She was one of the most accomplished
Supreme Court advocates to have ever lived. I argued before her nine times.

She was brilliant and she was a very careful lawyer and she was a
trailblazer, and she leaves a large legacy. Heidi and I are lifting up her
family and prayer as they mourn her loss, but she led an extraordinary
life.

HANNITY: Yeah. Senator, and we're mourning in her life and legacy tonight
and her family. We want to be respectful, but there will be a big political
fight on Monday or Tuesday probably, at least by Tuesday of next week. I
know how Washington works, we all do.

And it raises -- I mentioned earlier Mitch McConnell's segment. Hang on one
second of being told.

OK, well hang on, Senator, right there.

Let me go -- the president was asked very briefly, my sources and John
Robert confirming as well, had told me the president was not aware of the
justice's death prior to going on stage in Minnesota for his rally tonight,
but as he was walking back to Air Force One as he now makes his way back to
Washington.

He was informed by the media. We have that exchange.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died. Justice Ginsburg has passed away.

TRUMP: She just died?

REPORTER: Yes.

TRUMP: Wow, I didn't know that, I'm just -- I'm just hearing this now for
the first time.

She led an amazing life. What else can you say? She was an amazing woman,
whether you agree with her or not, she's an amazing woman who led an
amazing life.

(INAUDIBLE)

Thank you very much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: The president was surprised. He had not known before he went up.
He said, wow, I didn't know that. I'm just hearing this now for the first
time. She led an amazing life. What else can you say about it? An amazing
woman.

There is this cordiality, this -- these cordial relationships that emerge
on the court, you know, you -- I would say you and I are fully in sync on
the issue of judicial philosophy, Senator, I believe in the Constitution. I
want to say I'm an originalist. That would be an accurate statement as what
as are you, as is Justice Thomas, and Alito, and -- as was Justice Scalia.

Then you have this other judicial philosophy, one of activism from the
court -- very, very different, and it is a big campaign issue.

Your thoughts on what is the right course moving forward?

CRUZ: Well, I think the court, we are one vote away from losing our
fundamental constitutional liberties, and I believe that the president
should next week nominate a successor to the court. And I think it is
critical that the Senate takes up and confirms that successor before
Election Day.

There's going to be enormous pressure from the media. There's going to be
enormous pressure from Democrats to delay filling this vacancy. But this
election, this nomination is why Donald Trump was elected. This
confirmation is why the voters voted for a Republican majority in the
Senate.

And I'll tell you one reason in particular, Sean, why I think it is
tremendously important that not only does the nomination happen next week,
but the confirmation happened before election day, because Democrats and
Joe Biden have made clear they intend to challenge this election, they
intend to fight the legitimacy of the election.

As you know Hillary Clinton has told Joe Biden under no circumstances
should you concede, you should challenge this election, and we cannot have
Election Day come and go with a 4-4 court. A 4-4 court that is equally
divided cannot decide anything, and I think, and I think we risk a
constitutional crisis if we do not have a nine justice Supreme Court,
particularly when there is such a risk of a contested litigation, and a
contested election.

Twenty years ago, I was part of the legal team that litigated Bush versus
Gore and went to the Supreme Court. Thirty-seven days, the country did not
know who the president was going to be, and if we had a 4-4 court, it could
have dragged on for weeks and months.

And so I think we have a responsibility -- a responsibility to do our job.
The president should nominate a principled constitutionalist with a proven
record, and the Senate -- it's going to take a lot of work to get it done
before election day, but I think we should do our job and protect the
country from the constitutional crisis that could result otherwise.

HANNITY: Very well-argued as usual.

So, you argued before the Supreme Court, how many times, Senator?

CRUZ: Nine times.

HANNITY: How many times did you win?

CRUZ: Depends how you count it, but probably five is the best count.

HANNITY: I'm sorry, you know, it's funny because one of the -- one of the
most interesting stories that Alan Dershowitz, your former professor at
Harvard, said is -- Ted Cruz was one of my best students ever of all time
and obviously, you guys have some political disagreements.

All right. Senator, thank you for your time tonight on this breaking news
Friday night. We appreciate you being with us.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source