MSNBC "Hardball with Chris Matthews" - Transcript: Loretta Lynch Confirmation
Interview
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CAPEHART: Senator Chris Coons is a Democrat from Delaware and a
member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which held confirmation hearings
for Lynch back in January. Senator, thanks.
SEN. CHRIS COONS (D), DELAWARE: Thank you, Jonathan.
CAPEHART: So Senator, do you think that Senator Durbin is right? Is
the GOP throwing Loretta Lynch in the back of the bus?
COONS: Look, what this issue is essentially about, Jonathan, is that
Loretta Lynch is a remarkably qualified nominee to serve as our next
attorney general, and it raises real questions for her to be languishing on
the floor longer than all five previous nominees for attorney general
combined. For a total of 131 days so far, we`ve been waiting for a
confirmation vote on Loretta Lynch.
And I`m not sure there would be this debate, this back and forth that
you`ve just summarized if there weren`t other issues where we`re not able
to make progress. As you know, I was just in Selma a few weeks ago for the
50th anniversary of the voting rights -- of the incident, both Bloody
Sunday and then the successful march from Selma to Montgomery, that led to
the introduction of the Voting Rights Act.
And I continue to work with my colleagues, with Senator Leahy and
Senator Durbin, to try and find a Republican co-sponsor who would join us
in restoring the core of the Voting Rights Act that was taken out by the
Supreme Court Shelby County decision two years ago.
I`m not sure that it would be this poignant, this pointed, if it
weren`t for the combination of Ms. Lynch`s remarkable qualifications, how
well she did in the confirmation hearing before the Judiciary Committee and
how important the issues are that are going unaddressed -- voting rights,
enforcement of Civil Rights, enforcement of the laws against human
trafficking.
I don`t think this would be quite as sharp an exchange on the floor if
we weren`t having such difficulty finding Republicans to take up their
historic party`s commitment to Civil Rights and join us in fixing things
like voting rights.
CAPEHART: And Senator Coons, on that -- on that mark (ph), we are
agreed. But back to Senator Durbin and his comments. Do you think they
were smart politics or a distraction? We`re spending more time talking
about what he said Republicans are doing than -- in blocking her nomination
than on trying to get her confirmed.
COONS: Well, let`s take at face value what Michael Steele just said
on this show, that the real reason she`s being held up is because the
overwhelming majority of Republicans don`t like her position on the
president`s executive orders.
Well, it`s the president who`s nominated her. The idea that the
president would nominate someone to be attorney general who has an opposite
view from him of the law and of the appropriate scope of his action just is
ludicrous on its face.
There are arguments being offered here on both sides that I think miss
the central point. We have a remarkably qualified nominee, someone who
should have been confirmed weeks ago, who is languishing for murky reasons.
And I think Senator Durbin was simply trying to highlight the fact that
this is an alarming development and that it`s important for us to move
forward to this nomination.
CAPEHART: A highly qualified candidate, nominee, who was -- her last
confirmation, she was confirmed unanimously.
COONS: Unanimously.
CAPEHART: Thank you, Senator Chris Coons.
MCMAHON: Thank you.
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