MSNBC Interview - Transcript

Interview

MSNBC Interview - Transcript

MSNBC INTERVIEW WITH SENATOR SUSAN COLLINS (R-ME)

SUBJECT: DETAINEES AND SUPREME COURT DIVERSITY

INTERVIEWER: ANDREA MITCHELL

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MS. MITCHELL: Senator Susan Collins is a Republican from Maine and the ranking member of the homeland security committee, as well as a member of governmental affairs committee.

Let's, first of all, talk about that decision. It's an initial draft decision. Do you agree with it, not to proceed with the criminal charges? And do you think, as others have suggested, that, at the minimum, there should be disbarment procedures against these three attorneys?

SEN. COLLINS: I do with the agree with the preliminary recommendation of the Justice Department. I don't think it's appropriate to bring criminal charges against civil servants, against attorneys who were giving their best legal advice. That doesn't mean I agree with their advice. I've read large portions of those memos, and I think that the techniques were over the line, excessively harsh, and should not have been authorized. But I don't think that you can bring charges against attorneys who had been asked to review a very complicated area and rendered their best legal opinion.

MS. MITCHELL: Senator, what is your take on Arlen Specter? You worked closely with him. You and he were of course two of the three members of the Republican Party who voted for the president's stimulus package. Now he's under a little bit of fire. He's having a tough adjustment period to becoming a Democrat; for instance, telling The New York Times in an interview that's going to appear in the magazine section on Sunday that Norm Coleman ought to be certified as the next senator, not Al Franken, the Democrat.

Where is he? Is he a Democrat, a Republican? Both? Neither?

SEN. COLLINS: Well, I think Allen -- that Arlen's made his decision pretty clear that he's going to join the other team. I'm very disappointed in his decision. I do believe that some of his criticisms of our party are valid, but essentially he made a political decision. He calculated that he could not beat the Republican opponent in the primary, and thus he decided to go over to the Democratic side.

MS. MITCHELL: Well, you have your own issues with your own party. Clearly, you've had to split with your party. Have they -- has Harry Reid approached you? Are they wooing you to come over to the other side as well?

SEN. COLLINS: You know, all of us who are centrists had been approached by the opposing party on various occasions. But I'm very happy being a moderate Republican. That's my DNA, and I cannot envision circumstances which would cause me to switch parties.

MS. MITCHELL: As you stand here today also in the Senate, both Democrats and Republicans are objecting to the Obama's administration's decisions on Guantanamo. And now that the president has made his initial decision, there's pushback on spending the money, appropriating the money to close Guantanamo because there's no clear plan on where those detainees are going to go. Where do you stand on that?

SEN. COLLINS: Well, many of us agree with the president, and indeed agree with Senator John McCain, that Guantanamo does need to be closed. It's become a very unfortunate symbol in the international community.

But the problem is that the president has put the cart before the horse. He's proposed the closure by a date certain without any plan on what to do with those detainees that virtually everyone agrees would be too dangerous to be released, and cannot be tried for various reasons in civilian or, in some cases, regular military courts.

So Secretary Gates said in the Appropriations Committee last week that retooling the military commissions process is still very much on the table. That makes sense, but I don't think you can close Guantanamo -- much as we want to do it -- until you have a plan for dealing with these detainees.

MS. MITCHELL: Senator, I also wanted to briefly ask you about what Justice Ginsburg told USA Today. She feels very strongly that it ought to be a woman, the replacement for David Souter. Do you think that gender trumps anything else?

SEN. COLLINS: No, it doesn't trump other qualifications for the -- for the court. We want the very best person regardless of gender. But I am sympathetic --

MS. MITCHELL: But does it trump other diversity issues?

SEN. COLLINS: I am sympathetic to the point that Justice Ginsburg made. Women bring different perspectives, different life experiences, whether it's to the court or to the Congress. And I do hope that a highly qualified woman will be nominated to replace Justice Souter.

MS. MITCHELL: And just today, Maine became the fifth state to approve gay marriage. Is this something that you support as well?

SEN. COLLINS: I've always said I think the states are best able to determine this issue. The governor has changed his position and is signing the bill into law. I do expect that there will be a referendum to try to repeal that decision. But this is an example -- family law has been decided at the state level, and that's what I support.

MS. MITCHELL: Okay. Thank you so much, Senator Collins.

SEN. COLLINS: Thank you.

END.

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