CNN "The Lead with Jake Tapper" - Transcript Interview with Mazie Hirono
Interview
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Joining us to discuss, Democratic senator from Hawaii, Senator Maize Hirono.
Senator, let's start with the president announcing this afternoon that he is ending the talks over the stimulus. Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House, had been talking with Treasury Secretary Mnuchin.
But President Trump tweeted: I have instructed my representatives to stop negotiating until after the election, when, immediately after I win, we will pass a major stimulus bill.
What's your response to that?
SEN. MAIZE HIRONO (D-HI): It's very clear that the president and Mitch McConnell do not put protecting American people as a priority. They make it so plain. This reminds me of Trump saying, I'm going to build a wall and Mexico will pay for it.
And if people fall for his lies one more time, oh, my goodness. So, that's the president.
TAPPER: We also --
HIRONO: That's one thing one day.
TAPPER: Yeah.
HIRONO: Another, another day.
TAPPER: We all saw President Trump last night moments after he returned to the White House, he was, in fact, remains infected with COVID-19. He came out on the balcony, took off his mask. There was a White House photographer behind him.
HIRONO: Uh-huh.
TAPPER: Today, the president's doctor released a memo in which President Trump said he is experiencing no symptoms. President Trump reports no symptoms.
What's your reaction?
HIRONO: Most medical professionals are wondering what exactly happened to the president are saying that he is not out of the woods yet. I would like to hear his personal physician say he is not out of the woods yet. I don't think we're going to hear that from this physician. If he does say that, he's not telling us the full picture.
So, here's the president --
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TAPPER: Well, I mean, the White House physician say that. The White House physician did say it yesterday that the president is not entirely out of the woods. He wouldn't go in detail --
HIRONO: Well, there you go.
TAPPER: -- about a number of other items, but he did say that.
HIRONO: Good. But the president continues to play down this pandemic. He lied to us from the very beginning.
And so, you know, Dr. Fauci has to say that we should not trivialize this pandemic when you have 40,000 people a day testing positive, with 7 million now plus testing positive and over 210,000 people dying.
This is not -- this is not a trivial matter? Tell that to all of the families who are suffering from what's going on in this pandemic.
And, by the way, Jake, you know, this pandemic is touching all of us. My mother in Hawaii is in a nursing facility. I have not been able to visit her in seven months.
So, this is something that so many families are having to undergo.
And now, the president is saying, forget it, we are not going to do another stimulus when millions of people are out of work and millions are without health care. And the main thing they want to do -- hear me, Mitch, and Lindsey Graham -- is to put this nominee on the court just in time for her to listen to the Affordable Care Act case so that she can vote to strike down the Affordable Care Act, costing millions of people off of healthcare.
TAPPER: Yeah --
HIRONO: This is their number one priority.
TAPPER: I want to talk about Judge Barrett in a second. But I'm curious about what the protocols are for the safety of U.S. senators and their staff on Capitol Hill, because three of your colleagues right now have tested positive for COVID, including Utah Senator Lee and North Carolina Senator Tillis, people who attended that event announcing Judge Barrett as a Supreme Court nominee.
What is -- what is the protocol for somebody like you going into work? Do they require masks on Capitol Hill? Are you -- do you have access? Does your staff have access to COVID tests? Because it's quite possible that the hot zone at the White House might also become a hot zone on Capitol Hill.
HIRONO: Of course, when you have three senators that currently have tested positive. So there is no protocol that Mitchell McConnell or Lindsey Graham have put forward or veto (ph).
So, they want to have this hearing, come hell or high water, and there is very little -- in fact, they haven't said anything about how they (INAUDIBLE) to protect the senators who are going to be attending this hearing.
TAPPER: Can -- is there anything that Democrats can do to stop the nomination of Judge Coney -- Coney Barrett?
It appears to me from my reporting and conversations with Democrats and Republicans that really if they have the votes, they have the votes and there is not much you can do.
HIRONO: We are still waiting for two more Republican senators to develop some guts, but I'm not holding my breath. But, at the same time, we are in the middle of a pandemic that has entered really the Judiciary Committee and, yet, Lindsey Graham and Mitch McConnell do not prioritize the safety of their own senators.
So we are -- I'm going to take whatever precautions I can. I think most of us who attended judiciary hearing over the last week, most of us have been tested. I have tested negative. But that doesn't mean that I'm not still susceptible.
TAPPER: Yeah.
HIRONO: So we will see. But we, of course, are saying this is no time for us to compromise the safety of any of us. And it's not just us, it's our staff, all of the people who have to work at the Capitol.
TAPPER: Yeah.
HIRONO: But this shows so plainly that their number one priority is that justice would strike down the Affordable Care Act. We already know that because Amy Barrett has said that Chief Justice Roberts' decision that save the Affordable Care Act went way beyond what he should have done to find that act constitutional.
TAPPER: Senator Mazie Hirono, thanks for joining us today. I do hope you get to see your mom soon.
HIRONO: Thank you. Keep your fingers crossed. Yes, we need to get control over this pandemic.
TAPPER: I hope so. For all --
HIRONO: And we can't count (ph) on this president to do it.
TAPPER: For all the people who can't see their aging loved ones.
Thank you so much, Senator.
HIRONO: Thanks.
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