CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript Interview with Mazie Hirono

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Senator Hirono, thanks so much for joining us. I know you're busy right now. So give us your immediate reaction to this pick by the President?

[18:10:02]

SEN. MAZIE HIRONO (D-HI): They want to make sure that whoever they picked and it didn't even matter whether it was a man or a woman because the Judiciary Republicans are prepared to vote for whoever the nominee is, but they want to make this person -- push this person through to steal yet another Supreme Court seat to vote down the Affordable Care Act. That is one of the first things that's going to happen with this nominee.

The Supreme Court is going to hear the Affordable Care Act case November 10th, so they want the person, their person, to be sitting there, to listen to the arguments and make a decision.

And the expectation is, of course, that she is going to strike down the Affordable Care Act in the midst of a pandemic, leaving millions and millions of people without healthcare.

And I tell you, Wolf, the President shows us every single day that he doesn't care about our healthcare as he continues to have these super spreader events where nobody is wearing a mask and the only people who gets tested at the Rose Garden are the ones who will physically be closest to him so that he can be protected. So that's what's happening.

BLITZER: You use the word "steal" that they want to steal the seat on the U.S. Supreme Court.

HIRONO: Yes.

BLITZER: They're not doing anything, the Republican majority that is illegal. They're going through the process. They are the majority, right?

HIRONO: Yes. But you know, what Mitch McConnell might -- makes right and unless two more Republican senators develop a conscience and say they're not going to vote for anyone until at least after the election, he can push as many people as he wants, which is exactly what he has been doing.

So here we are, you know, in the midst of a pandemic, with millions of people out of work, we should be dealing with the House passed Heroes Act. He sat on that bill for four months, and yet, he can just push through the Supreme Court nominee, why? Because they want her in place to vote down the Affordable Care Act near and dear to the heart of this President and the Republican majority.

BLITZER: The White House Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, just said, Senator that he hopes Amy Coney Barrett will be confirmed by the Senate before November 1st. The election, of course, is November 3rd. So what's your reaction? Is there anything you and your fellow Democrats realistically can do assuming 51 out of the 53 Republican senators are on board? Is there anything you can do to stop this?

HIRONO: What I have been doing is, we may not be able to stop it. We can slow it down. But the American people need to know what's at stake in this nomination. And what's at stake is their very healthcare.

So they're going to be one day with Amy Barrett voting down the Affordable Care Act protections. They will be sitting at their kitchen tables, wondering how the heck they're going to pay their medical bills. That's what's going to be happening. That is what's at stake for the American people.

And I'm going to use every moment to get that across. And of course, I will question Judge Barrett under oath as to her other views because she has very closely held views that will impact a woman's right to choose. And certainly she's already expressed her, basically, you know, willingness to vote down the Affordable Care Act as well as other Supreme Court precedents.

BLITZER: So you will -- will you or won't you be willing at least to meet with her, give her the courtesy of meeting with her before the hearings, and get to know her a little bit? Clearly, you say you'll participate in the hearings, and you'll ask some tough questions, but are you willing to meet with her, which is a courtesy Dick Durbin, the number two Democrat in the Senate earlier today on CNN, he said he would give her that courtesy.

HIRONO: I will not be meeting with her. I will take the opportunity to question her when she is under oath.

BLITZER: Do you think she is qualified? She has got a pretty amazing personal story, obviously, a wonderful family. But given her legal background, a clerk on the Supreme Court for Justice Scalia, a Law Professor at the University of Notre Dame, a Court of Appeals judge right now, is she qualified to be on the Supreme Court.

HIRONO: The issue is whether or not her closely held views on issues such as the Affordable Care Act, such as abortion rights, can be separated from her ability to be a fair and objective Justice.

Obviously, the Republicans and the President is counting on that not being the case, which is why they want her on the Supreme Court so fast so she can vote down the Affordable Care Act and next on the hit list will be reproductive rights. She has an antipathy to reproductive rights.

She also is more than willing to not follow Supreme Court precedent, and Roe v. Wade is a Supreme Court precedent.

BLITZER: I'll just read to you, while I have you, for a moment Senator Hirono, Harvard Law Professor, former Supreme Court clerk, Noah Feldman who is well known. He writes this in an op-ed. He writes, "Barrett is a sincere lovely person. I never heard her utter a word that wasn't thoughtful and kind, including in the heat of real disagreement about important subjects. If you do believe in an ideal judicial temperament of calm and decorum, rest assured that Barrett has it. I'm going to be confident that Barrett is going to be a good justice, maybe even a great one, even if I disagree with her all the way."

What's your reaction when you hear Professor Noah Feldman say those words?

[18:15:34]

HIRONO: The issue is whether she can be fair and objective as a Justice because she will be on that court, if confirmed for decades. She will be making decisions that impact our lives, starting with whether or not we're going to have the protections of the Affordable Care Act. She will be making decisions on whether or not a woman will have a right to control her own body. She will be making decisions based on other Civil Rights issues, including LGBTQ rights, on workers' rights, you name it.

She would -- she will be making those decisions and that is what we should be concerned about.

If she can be fair and objective and not allow her very strongly held views to -- she can separate those from her ability to be fair and objective, that's another question.

That is -- but that's the concern I have. And it clearly, as I said, Wolf, she is being put on that Court really fast so that she can vote down the Affordable Care Act, after sitting in the court to hear oral arguments on November 10th. That's what the people of America should know.

BLITZER: We'll see what happens on that front, and as we always say, you say it, and I said, we're heading towards Election Day, November 3. Clearly, elections have consequences, elections for the President of the United States, elections for senators here in the United States. And we'll see what happens on that front.

Senator Hirono, thank you so much for joining us.

HIRONO: Thank you.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source