CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview With Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley
Interview
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
BLITZER: Yes, 11 Republicans, all male, on the Judiciary Committee, 10 Democrats, four of whom are women. Phil Mattingly, we will watch this Thursday very, very closely.
Joining us now, one of the United States senators who will have a final vote on the Kavanaugh nomination, Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley.
Senator, thanks so much for joining us.
SEN. JEFF MERKLEY (D), OREGON: You're welcome, Wolf. Good to be with you.
BLITZER: All right, the second most senior Republican on the Judiciary Committee, Senator Orrin Hatch, says Kavanaugh is going to be confirmed.
Do you think anyone is going into Thursday's hearing with an open mind, or is this hearing just for show?
MERKLEY: It seems like the 11 Republican men are not going in with a desire for any sort of a fair process.
If they wanted a fair process, as Kavanaugh actually called for a fair process, then both Kavanaugh and R-11 -- the Republican 11, would say, we want that FBI investigation. [18:10:07]
We even did that with Anita Hill back there in 1991. Well, here we are, a generation into the future, and we have a more extreme version of Republican men saying they don't even want any form of fairness in this process.
BLITZER: Do you include Senator Jeff Flake, Republican of Arizona, on -- who is a member of that committee as part of that list?
MERKLEY: I have not heard if Senator Flake has said, I will not vote in this committee unless these women are treated fairly. And that includes the FBI investigation that they have requested.
And if he has said that, I have not heard that.
BLITZER: What message does it send for Republicans on the committee to have a female outside counsel do all of the questioning, instead of the Republican senators themselves?
MERKLEY: They're turning this into a trial setting.
She agreed to come and answer the questions and address the issues raised by the members of the committee, not to be come and put on trial. It is completely inappropriate.
BLITZER: Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, who is not a member of the committee, says an FBI investigation could answer the questions about these accusations, and she thinks perhaps the second accuser should also come and testify as well.
Why doesn't the Republican leadership seem to be listening to her?
MERKLEY: I think the Republican leadership has one goal, and that is to jam this individual, who is anti-worker, anti-consumer, anti- reproductive rights, always finds on behalf of the powerful, they are seeking to put him on the court come hell or high water.
We have now information regarding the freshman roommate, who says that Kavanaugh was -- and I quote -- "excessively and incoherently drunk," that he witnessed this, that the circumstances certainly add to that.
We have Michael Avenatti, who says he has a client with additional information about activities, inappropriate activities that Kavanaugh was involved in. We have Ms. Ramirez. We have Dr. Ford.
There were a lot of people who testified in 1991 during the hearings on Anita Hill. How is it that we can be a generation in the future, and we can't have a fair examination of a set of sources, a set of individuals with information to bear on the question?
Do we want the truth on someone who is getting a lifetime appointment to stand in judgment, the most important judgments about the application of the Constitution in the lives of ordinary individuals? Do we want that to be an unfair, jammed-through process? And right now, apparently, the R-11 are saying yes. BLITZER: Judge Kavanaugh went on FOX News last night, as you know, to
deny the allegations.
But the way Kavanaugh portrays himself is clearly very different from the picture we are getting from some others, including from his own yearbook, his high school yearbook, from some of his own classmates at Yale University, a roommate describing him, as you point out, as aggressive and belligerent -- quote -- "aggressive and belligerent drinking."
What do you make of that?
MERKLEY: It just -- it comes back to the fact that there's a portrait that is emerging of an individual who did not treat women well.
You mentioned the yearbook. We have heard about the reputation of his fraternity. We have heard from two women directly affected. We have heard that there are others that Michael Avenatti is ready to bring forward. We have heard from the freshman roommate.
This is why you have an FBI investigation. Now, this is not a criminal investigation. This is a background investigation. And it is standard that, when new information comes regarding the vetting of an individual, the FBI steps in and says, well, we will get the facts on this and help present them.
They are the appropriate folks to do it. The White House ordered just such an investigation with Anita Hill when there was additional information. Why is the White House not doing it now?
The president is attacking the victims, and that is just horrific in this day and age. I guess it is what we have come to expect from this individual in the Oval Office. Certainly, Kavanaugh, as somebody who is presenting himself as appropriate to serve on the court, should be the first person to stand up and say, absolutely, have the FBI check into it, have them talk to my colleagues in college who were there when this event is alleged to have occurred, or have the other associates who were involved in high school.
He should want clarity to -- in order to make his case. And when he says he wants a fair process, well, then stand up. Stand up, Mr. Kavanaugh. Stand up and demand a fair process, not stand up and deny a fair process.
[18:15:00]
BLITZER: Senator Merkley, thanks for joining us.
MERKLEY: You're welcome. It's good to be with you.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source