MSNBC Interview - Transcript

Interview

MSNBC Interview - Transcript

MSNBC Interview With Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)

Subjects: Roxana Saberi, Supreme Court Interviewer: Andrea Mitchell

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MS. MITCHELL: A very grateful Roxana Saberi expressing thanks to all of those who helped her win release from an Iranian prison.

Saberi, an American journalist, spent four months in jail after she was convicted of spying on Iran; charges that the U.S. said were ridiculous.

Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota worked with members of the North Dakota delegation to push for Saberi's release.

Senator, you must feel really very good about this long-sought release from jail.

SEN. KLOBUCHAR: You know, I do, and I'm sure no one feels better than Roxana Saberi and her parents and her friends. This has been a long, long time in coming. This is a young woman who was simply over there as a reporter. By all accounts, she went to buy a bottle of wine and got arrested. There was never any evidence that she was a spy, and this was simply a miscarriage of justice.

MS. MITCHELL: Let's talk about what the larger implications might be. Is there the possibility that this is a signal from Iran that this could, at least, remove an obstacle to a warming of relations? And if not that, perhaps signal that they are prepared for some sort of engagement because it was a letter about Saberi that Hillary Clinton delivered in The Hague, personally, to the Iranian representatives there at their very first meeting.

SEN. KLOBUCHAR: It is true that this is a sign, but I don't think we know enough with this one case where the charges should never have been brought. They clearly did listen to us. They listened to the Swiss ambassador and the Swiss embassy was involved in this. I talked to them several times. The U.N. was involved in this as well. I met with Susan Rice last week.

So there has been a lot of involvement on all levels. So I think it's a little early to tell, although we are just so glad she got out of this and that she's coming home.

MS. MITCHELL: Let me ask you about the Supreme Court. Just now, Robert Gibbs at his briefing was asked about the timeline and let me listen to that with you and ask you about it on the other side.

MR. ROBERT GIBBS (White House Press Secretary) (From video.): We have to have somebody in place when the Court next hears fresh business in October. I think the best way to ensure that that's the case would be to get this done before the lengthy August recess.

MS. MITCHELL: Now, I've been told that the president will be actually interviewing candidates, if not already, in the next couple of weeks and you can expect that a lot of women are going to be on that list. We've already seen Diane Wood, an appeals court judge who used to teach law with him in Chicago, who is well known to him, so he doesn't have to deep interviews. He knows these people better than any previous president.

What about the whole supposition that the nominee should be someone from the political arena, someone like Jennifer Granholm or Janet Napolitano, who have law experience, but are not judges?

SEN. KLOBUCHAR: You know, I think the president has known that this was going to come up for a long time. He didn't know which judge would be retiring, but he knew that he was going to have the opportunity to appoint a new Supreme Court justice, and I'm sure he has a number of names in mind. As you said, he's worked as a constitutional law professor. He's well aware of the importance of this, to have someone who is thoughtful, who has had some experience, who knows the law, but also understands what's going on in the outside world.

So I am hopeful and I don't think we should sort of predict which way he's going to go, but he clearly knows a lot of people that will be well qualified and I think we need to give him that opportunity to pick someone.

I'm also hopeful as was mentioned today at that press conference that we can get this hearing done and that we can keep the partisan rancor to a minimum for the president's first Supreme Court justice nominee. I believe that's going to be very important for this country to be able to see a hearing where we have a civil discourse, a civil hearing.

Senator Sessions -- I just was with him at one of his first hearings of the full committee, the Judiciary Committee, it was on local law enforcement funding. It went quite well. So I will hope that we can do this in a very good way so we can get a Supreme Court justice in place as was mentioned by the October work period.

MS. MITCHELL: Will you be disappointed if the choice is not a woman?

SEN. KLOBUCHAR: You know, I would like to see more women on the Court, there's no doubt about that. We only have one woman on the Supreme Court right now. I'd like to see more women, but I don't think we should have a litmus test for the president's first choice.

MS. MITCHELL: All right. Amy Klobuchar, thank you very much.

SEN. KLOBUCHAR: Thank you very much, Andrea.

MS. MITCHELL: And again, congratulations, and thanks from a lot of people for what you have accomplished in helping to get --

SEN. KLOBUCHAR: Well, in the North Dakota delegation, Senators Dorgan and Conrad worked on this as well. So thank you.

MS. MITCHELL: Thanks to all of you up there on the Hill and Secretary Clinton and the others who all weighed in.

END.

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