MSNBC "Hardball with Chris Matthews" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Richard Blumenthal
Interview
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MATTHEWS: Well, for more, I`m joined by Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat from Connecticut. He`s on the Judiciary Committee.
Look, I don`t know what to make of that back and forth. I wasn`t very happy with it, because I think the senator could have told us who that she`s talking about before we get into that query.
But, anyway, have you learned anything about Brett Kavanaugh since these hearings began, about his attitude towards, say, presidential power, the power of a president to ignore a subpoena, for example?
SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D), CONNECTICUT: What I have learned about Brett Kavanaugh`s views on presidential power is extremely alarming, particularly at this moment of real constitutional crisis.
And it goes beyond what has been reported most recently, the Woodward book and the anonymous op-ed. It`s the fact that this nominee is the result of a president who is an unindicted co-conspirator.
Think back to Richard Nixon. Would the Senate of the United States seriously have considered Richard Nixon`s nominee for the United States Supreme Court after he was named as an unindicted co-conspirator?
What Brett Kavanaugh has said about presidential power is extremely alarming. He would enable the president to deem unconstitutional or nullify any statute, including the Affordable Care Act and protections against preexisting conditions.
He would in no way commit to preserve Roe v. Wade. And on basic issues, like whether he discussed a specific document within the last 24 hours, he couldn`t remember. So, he has been evasive and ambiguous, beyond cagey. He has been just downright equivocal.
MATTHEWS: This thing about the president not being able to be entitled, if a president did, as Donald Trump said he could get away with politically, shoot somebody and kill them on Fifth Avenue in New York, they would -- he would be arrested, wouldn`t he?
Can a president simply break the criminal laws of this country with impunity? Is that a belief? Is that a constitutional theory?
BLUMENTHAL: In my view, the president of the states can be indicted, even if the trial can be postponed.
And this nominee takes the position that many of the constraints and checks and balances imposed by our Constitution seem absolutely meaningless. That kind of disregard for the importance of checks and balances, all the more important, as is the independence of the judiciary, at a moment of constitutional crisis, when the president seems out of control and completely contemptuous of the rule of law.
So Brett Kavanaugh has come before us and failed to give us the confidence that he will be an effective check on presidential power, not only if there is an indictment of the president, but also if the president is subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury, or testify against his friends and cronies in a criminal case.
MATTHEWS: Is he the fifth judge to overrule Roe v. Wade? Is he the fifth member they needed on the Supreme Court to make good on President Trump`s promise to get rid of Roe v. Wade?
BLUMENTHAL: He is clearly a potential fifth vote, with Gorsuch the fourth, added to the ones who are there right now.
And that`s a very meaningful and real fear, because, as he`s indicated, he is unwilling to say in direct response to my question that he would vote against overturning Roe v. Wade. He gave clear indications in a document that was marked committee confidential, until I used it yesterday in my questions to him.
And I think he could well be the fifth vote to overturn Roe v. Wade and to decimate the protections that women now have in deciding whether and when they want to be pregnant and have children, not to mention Americans deciding whom they want to marry, or clean air and water, and workers` rights and consumers` rights.
MATTHEWS: Thank you so much. It`s great having you on, as always, Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut.
BLUMENTHAL: Thank you.
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