CNN "State of the Union" - Transcript: Interview With Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth

Interview

TAPPER: Welcome back to STATE OF THE UNION. I'm Jake Tapper.

Thousands of protesters across the nation took to the streets this weekend demanding an end to the president's zero tolerance immigration policy at the border, which has resulted in more than 2,000 children being taken from their parents.

Chants of "We care" and "Abolish ICE" even rang through a Senate office building Thursday.

Also in the crowd, Democratic lawmakers, including Senator Tammy Duckworth, Democrat of Illinois, who brought her newborn baby, this as more leaders from the Democratic Party embrace calls from the far left to speak out and even call for the abolition of ICE.

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TAPPER: Joining me now, Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois. She's an Iraq War veteran.

And, of course, I want to recognize your service on this July 4 weekend. Thank you so much for that.

I know that July 4 is not specifically a veterans day, but it is a day when I think a lot about the people who fight for the freedoms of this country.

SEN. TAMMY DUCKWORTH (D), ILLINOIS: Thanks.

TAPPER: So, thank you so much.

Let's start with the fact that your fellow Democratic Senators Gillibrand, Warren, and Harris have joined the rallying call to abolish and replace ICE.

Do you agree?

DUCKWORTH: Well, I just think that, if you abolish ICE as it is as an executive agency, it reflects the policies of the White House, of the president.

You abolish ICE now, you still have the president with the same failed policies. Whatever you replace it with is just going to still reflect what this president wants to do.

TAPPER: So, no, you don't support abolishing ICE?

DUCKWORTH: I -- you know, I -- I think there's a lot of other things we can do before we get to that point, first of which, which is you have got someone in the White House who has these policies which are horrendous, which he still hasn't fixed.

And families are still separated. Children are still in cages. Nursing babies are still separated from their moms.

TAPPER: Let's talk about this.

You sent a letter to the Trump administration Thursday demanding answers on exactly how they are going to reunite these children with the parents, asking for a plan to have these families in touch within 72 hours.

Today marks the deadline of your demand of the administration. Have you heard anything back? And, frankly, do you even think they have a plan to reunite these families? DUCKWORTH: Well, that's precisely my concern, that they don't have a

plan, I -- that's my suspicion.

I don't think they even really know where all of these children are and who these children belong to. And, remember, some of these children are so young, that they don't even know their parents' names. So, we could end up with kids who are separated from their parents for a very long time.

Many have already entered into the foster care system. No, I have not heard from the administration. And I'm deeply concerned that these children are going to remain separated from their parents.

TAPPER: Will you support Senator Ted Cruz's plan to keep families together and double the number of judges at the border to move the cases along more quickly? Wouldn't that solve the problem?

DUCKWORTH: Well, I haven't seen the details of his plan.

I can tell you that, if we have someone who has come to this country seeking asylum, they should be heard in a timely manner, and we should process that case. And, in the meantime, we should not be separating families.

TAPPER: I want to turn to the new vacancy at the Supreme Court.

Just hours after Justice Kennedy announced his retirement, you pulled out this tweet taking -- pulled out this tweet taking a swipe at Mitch McConnell, using his own words from 2016 to argue for delaying the vote on President Trump's nominee until after the midterms.

You wrote -- quote -- "The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court justice." That's exactly what McConnell, except he did hashtag -- what did he do? -- #SCOTUS, I guess.

[09:20:07]

And you did the hashtag Kennedy -- #Scalia, #Scaliaseat. You did #Kennedy.

Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, said that you and other critics who are using that quote against him and that policy against him are -- are all wrong, this is very different from then.

Take a listen.

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TAPPER: How do you respond?

DUCKWORTH: Well, I think Mitch McConnell is someone who is very cynical, and he will do whatever he needs to do. I think he's demonstrated that.

Who I would want to talk to are my colleagues who are casting their votes. Those votes are very consequential.

And, you know, Lisa Murkowski, who is my next-door neighbor, I would say to her, look, you said that this should not be done before a major election back when it was Merrick Garland, that this would be a political football. Let's listen to that.

We're talking about someone who, on the Supreme Court, could end Roe v. Wade, could help to overturn much of the legislation that protects not just a woman's right to choose, but health care.

There are many cases running their way through the justice system right now. And so I would say to my colleagues, who have shown some real bravery -- both Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski have shown me some incredible bravery in these last -- my first couple of years in the Senate -- to don't just trust that what somebody says to you in a conversation trying to get your vote is what's going to happen when they are on the Supreme Court.

TAPPER: Well, what did you think of Susan Collins just there, what she told me, she doesn't think that Chief Justice Roberts would vote to overturn Roe vs. Wade, because he has assured her that he respects precedent?

DUCKWORTH: Well, I would say that Justice Gorsuch told her that he would respect precedent, and yet he has voted against precedent just this week with the Janus case.

If anything, this president, this administration is all about overturning precedents. And I don't think that a president should be able to appoint someone who could potentially sit on a case and decide a case against that sitting president.

I think that we should wait and let the American people have their say. Let's get through the election. We're just four months away. That's not a long time. And then let's take a look at these nominees.

TAPPER: There are obviously a lot of Democrats from red states, states that Trump won, who are up for reelection this year.

There's going to be a lot of pressure on them, Heitkamp from North Dakota, Donnelly from Indiana, Manchin from West Virginia. Some of them are even opponents of abortion rights.

What do you think? Should they vote the way that they need to vote to win reelection, if it comes down to that, or do you think they should vote the way that their party wants them to vote?

DUCKWORTH: I will tell you what I have learned in my short time here in the Senate, that those -- all three of them vote in whatever they need to do to take care of the people of their state.

They put their constituents first. And I have seen some real bravery from the three of them as well. Manchin, for example, has said time and again that he will protect health care for the people of West Virginia. Same with Heidi Heitkamp.

They -- who they put first is not themselves, is not the party. They put their own states and the people -- their constituents first. And I just ask them to vote for their constituents. And they will know which way to vote then.

TAPPER: There were obviously a lot of shockwaves in the Democratic Party Tuesday night, when 28-year-old Democratic socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defeated the fourth-ranking Democrat in the House, Joe Crowley, has a platform of Medicare for all, federal jobs guarantee, free college tuition.

Is this the future of the Democratic Party?

DUCKWORTH: I think it's the future of the party in the Bronx, where she is.

I think that we, as legislators, need to listen to our constituency and get out there. I think what she did was, she did the hard work. She pounded the pavement, and she was out there talking to every one of her constituents. And I think that was the difference.

She turned out her voters and reflected the needs of her district.

TAPPER: Are you concerned at all that your party is going too far to the left to either win in the midterms or win back the White House?

DUCKWORTH: Well, I think that you can't win the White House without the Midwest. And I don't think that you can go too far to the left and still win the Midwest.

Coming from a Midwestern state, I think you need to be able to talk to the Industrial Midwest. You need to listen to the people there in order to win an election nationwide.

TAPPER: So, this is the last day of your maternity leave.

DUCKWORTH: It is.

TAPPER: You just had a baby in April. You pushed for Senate rules to be changed, so senators can bring children onto the floor and your baby onto the floor.

How are your male colleagues adapting to this new rule?

DUCKWORTH: They are great, and they have been very, very bipartisan about it.

I hope that they will keep that in mind when we start looking at the Supreme Court nominee. You know, Roe v. Wade is important to me. I would not be able to have both of my beautiful children and my newborn daughter without IVF. And their abolishment of Roe v. Wade could actually deny those of us who use IVF the ability to seek fertility treatments.

[09:25:03]

TAPPER: Senator Duckworth, it's an honor to have you here on this Fourth of July weekend. Again, thank you for your service. Appreciate it.

DUCKWORTH: Thank you. It's good to be here.

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