CNN "Erin Burnett Outfront" - Transcript Interview with John Barrasso

Interview

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And I want to go straight now to the third ranking Republican in the Senate, John Barrasso.

And, Senator, I very much appreciate your time.

OK. So, you heard the president. He wants to, in his words, much rather have a vote before the election. Will you make that happen, that this vote will happen before the election in November?

SEN. JOHN BARRASO (R-WY): We're certainly going to have a vote this year, Erin. The president is going to nominate someone, I think, who's going to be a very highly qualified woman at the end of this week. Then we will hold hearings in the United States Senate Judiciary Committee.

We know with Justice Kavanaugh and Justice Gorsuch, the Democrats did lots to delay and slow down the process. We want to move the process along. We want to make sure there is plenty of time, and there is plenty of time between now and the end of the year. But I can't predict right now whether the election in November and the vote in the Senate or the nominee will be before or after the election.

BURNETT: Would anything change your mind?

So, I mean, let me just give you the obvious scenario, President Trump picks somebody. You don't get it done by Election Day. He loses the election. Maybe even lose the Senate but you've got a lame duck period to do it, but you're clearly at that point going to be going against the will of the American people.

Would you still support going forward with it?

BARRASSO: We are going to have a vote this year. I can't tell you much about the timing but I know the president is going to nominate a very highly qualified nominee.

I've heard the scare tactics from the Democrats already on lots of different topics, even before the president has made the nomination. I was at home in Wyoming this weekend. People I've talked to are pretty fed up with the entire political process and the politicization of the courts.

BURNETT: Yeah.

BARRASSO: They want us to fill this vacancy and they want it done as soon as possible.

BURNETT: All right. I just want to be clear though in that scenario where you have the Senate still in the lame duck, but the president has lost, right, the American people have obviously picked somebody else, very different point of view, you would still support going forward with this?

BARRASSO: I can't tell you when we're going to vote. We are going to vote this year on that nominee. And it's a matter of how many delaying processes and techniques the Democrats try to do.

They've done it in the past. I expect them to try to do it again this time. They will do anything it seems to delay the process.

You have seen Nancy Pelosi, who has no role according to the Constitution, the speaker of the House --

BURNETT: Yeah.

BARRASSO: -- but there she is threatening impeachment, you know, kind of wanting to throw bombs from the sidelines, anything that she can do to defeat or delay this president, the Democrats seem to want to do and to prevent us from moving forward as a nation.

BURNETT: OK. So here's the thing -- they are going to delay. They're going to do that. But they're only doing what you all did back in 2016.

I think this is part of the reason Americans have disgust with the whole process, right? It all depends on, well, if I have power today, I'm okay with it, but if I'm not in power, I call the other side out. Obviously, you know I'm going to do this, so let me do it.

This is you back in 2016 when the shoe was on the other foot. President Obama had eight months until Election Day for a Supreme Court justice. You guys managed to stop him from getting it. Now there's less than two months.

Here you are in 2016.

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BARRASSO: The best way to avoid the fight is to agree to let the people decide. Give the people a voice. Let the next president put forth the nomination.

That's what the American people are saying. Give the people a voice. They're saying a seat on the Supreme Court should not be just another political pay-off to score points in an election year.

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BURNETT: Things have changed?

BARRASSO: Well, the hypocrites in this to me are really the Democrats. When you take a look at what has happened in the 29 times that a vacancy has occurred in the United States -- when there is an election year for the president, and a vacancy has occurred in the Supreme Court, the Democrats are the ones that want to upend the precedent that has been out there.

[19:35:15]

Each time, and this is in, and Joe Biden talked about this as head of the Judiciary Committee, Chuck Schumer did it as well. And now, he is the minority leader.

When the party that has the White House and the Senate and all 29 times isn't the same party the person gets confirmed. Where there are opposite parties, the person isn't confirmed and the decision goes to the voters. That's what happened in 2016 with Merrick Garland. And then what happened is the voters said, OK, we want the Republicans in charge of the Senate and the White House by electing President Trump, and then in 2018 after the Democrats put Brett Kavanaugh through the meat grinder, the Democrats lost two additional seats in the Senate and the Republicans picked up two more.

That's the situation we're in today, and that's why we're going to move forward with the president's nomination.

BURNETT: All right. Senator, I appreciate your time. Thank you very much.

BARRASSO: Thanks, Erin.

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