CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: Interview with Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL)
Interview
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
SCIUTTO: Joining us now is Democratic Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois. He serves on the Judiciary Committee.
Senator, thanks very for taking the time this morning. First of all I'd like your reaction to Rudy Giuliani's comments yesterday. He could have said very simply, no one on this campaign colluded with Russia. We stand by our statements over the last two years, more than two years.
From your view, was there a meeting in his walking back that denial back?
SEN. DICK DURBIN (D), ILLINOIS: I try to measure Giuliani's statements as a lawyer and as a politician. And it's a tangled web. It just makes no sense. It either reflects his client who may be leading or misleading him or his own musings as to what might have occurred here.
I don't see any clear statement from him, credible, consistent statement that I would want to take into a courtroom.
HARLOW: I want to ask you obviously as a member of the Judiciary Committee who heard the -- you know, who was present for the hearing for William Barr, the president's pick for attorney general, and who questioned him, have you made up your mind as to whether or not you will vote to confirm William Barr as the next attorney general of the United States?
DURBIN: Let me tell you, I'm wrestling with three things and I'll be very brief about each one of them. The first is I was glad to hear him say the Mueller inquiry is going to go forward without any interference. But when it came to disclosing the report of that inquiry, he equivocated. He should have been just as clear and straightforward on that.
Secondly his statements on immigration are unintelligible, to suggest that narcotics will be stopped by some glorious wall from sea to shining sea just belies the reality that 90 percent of them pass through existing ports of entry.
HARLOW: Right.
DURBIN: That's where we should focus. And the third part is, when we pass criminal justice reform, he was opposed to it in the earlier stages and goes back for years in strong opposition. Those are the three things that trouble me.
HARLOW: Yes. That sounds like a no to me that he won't get your vote.
DURBIN: Well, I can tell you at this point I'm looking at it very carefully.
SCIUTTO: I want to get to the shutdown now. We are hearing from some members of your own party who are frustrated as well with the continuing shutdown and have said, we had Congresswoman Katie Hill, new member of Congress, who told us last week, told Poppy last week, she would vote for some barrier funding. As you know, Democrats have supported legislation in the past several months that included barrier funding.
How do you convince the American people that the Democratic Party's stand now is about more than denying the president a win on the wall?
DURBIN: The president asked for $1.3 billion for barriers and border security and we gave it to him.
[10:10:05] And that's the offer we've made again to bring an end to this government shutdown. Now he has increased the demand to $5.7 or whatever the latest number happens to be. There is little or no justification as to how he would even spend that money. During the course of one year, even two, he's trying to spend money that we gave him two years ago. So there is clear misunderstanding as to where the president stands because it changes. And some concern in Congress as to what we're being asked to give him.
Yes, will we end up with more fences and barriers at the end of the day? We've done it for two straight years. We're likely to do it again. But this wall concept that brings us to this moment in history is much different. HARLOW: Well, that's really telling what you just said, that will we
end up with more barriers at the end of the day? That that's likely. Whereas Leadership Nancy Pelosi has said zero. There's not a dollar for the wall.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
HARLOW: Would you like to see her budge a bit on that? And do you think this can end if leadership doesn't?
DURBIN: Well, let me just be careful in analyzing what Nancy has said. She has said she is opposed to the wall as the president portrayed it to the American people over and over and over again. Nancy would acknowledge, and I would, too, that we have put restrictions on what the Department of Homeland Security can build and they have been building 60 to 80 miles a year of fences and barriers with those restrictions.
That is what I was referring to. I certainly wasn't blessing any type of a wall structure that the president talked about in his campaign. Nancy hasn't either.
SCIUTTO: Let me ask you about the State of the Union.
HARLOW: Yes.
SCIUTTO: As you know, Nancy has in effect disinvited the president, citing security as a result of a shutdown. We heard from the Department of Homeland Security yesterday saying in no uncertain terms that they have the resources to keep the State of the Union safe. Is this position from the Democrats -- is it about security or politics?
DURBIN: Well, remember that this started when the Department of Homeland Security secretary announced that, as is usually is on an annual basis, this is a major security event for our government to have all of these leaders assembled in one place.
HARLOW: Right.
DURBIN: So Nancy is certainly not fabricating that. That is a reality. Secondly --
SCIUTTO: But the secretary of Homeland Security says that they can secure all those leaders and lawmakers in one place.
DURBIN: And I understand just from what I read in the papers this morning that Nancy has heard otherwise. I have not spoken to her about it. I don't know how she reached this conclusion. But if security is the most important part of this, for goodness sakes, why in the heck isn't the Department of Homeland Security open for business with everybody showing up for work with paychecks? That's the point she is trying to make and it's one that we ought to make over and over again to the president.
HARLOW: I just wonder if you think the State of the Union is -- should be a moment to make a point. Do you think it's better for the American people, Senator, just to put a button on it, to not hear from the president the night of January 29th?
DURBIN: I would like to see a State of the Union with the government not shut down. Period. We can't take business as usual approaches to this government.
HARLOW: Yes.
DURBIN: With so many people, 800,000 federal employees currently furloughed, half of them showing up for work and not receiving a paycheck now for over three weeks.
HARLOW: Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, we appreciate your time. Let's hope this can get worked out. Thank you.
DURBIN: Thank you.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source