CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI)

Interview

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BLITZER: That's a good point, as well. All right. Thanks very much, Evan, for that.

Joining us now Democratic Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii. She's a member of both the Judiciary and the Armed Services Committees.

Senator, thanks so much for joining us.

SEN. MAZIE HIRONO (D), HAWAII: Certainly.

BLITZER: So let's begin with the breaking news. The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, has now formally invited President Trump to deliver his State of the Union address on February 5, a week from tomorrow. That's a week later than originally scheduled.

Do you think it was a good idea for the speaker to make that offer while the president is still threatening to shut down the government again if lawmakers can't come up with a border security deal?

HIRONO: She made her offer. I think she's being very gracious. I personally would have preferred that he give his State of the Union remarks after we keep government running, at least until the end of the fiscal year. I certainly support Nancy in what she does.

BLITZER: Are you surprised that she made this -- this invitation, as she did?

HIRONO: I think she probably doesn't want this particular aspect of the whole terrible shutdown to continue to be a focus. We should be focusing now on how to make sure that government keeps running until the end of the fiscal year, and I hope that the committee, the joint committee, will be able to come up with a border security proposal that we can support.

And the only person who keeps talking about a wall, basically, is the president. So again, I reiterate that, if this joint committee can come up with good border security, which Democrats and Republicans support, that we should pass the legislation; and the president can veto it, if that's what he wants to do. And we should override his veto.

BLITZER: Would you support any bill that includes funding for a border wall with Mexico?

HIRONO: I support and I have supported proposals that would ensure border security. And part of that includes fixing the walls that are -- are needing to be fixed, et cetera.

But when we talk about border security, it means much more than what's going on with the border. It, of course, includes what's happening in our ports, which is where most of the drugs come in. So it has to be much more of a total aspect of how to ensure our security at our borders and ports, not just totally focusing on the wall in some sort of -- I don't know.

The president really is so adamant about it that I'm afraid that he will contemplate another shutdown. In fact, it's appalling that, after 35 days of tremendous harm to not just the federal employees but all the contractors, as well as, by the way, the $11 billion lost to our national economy, which will not be recovered, it's appalling that he still thinks that maybe we can have another shutdown so he can get his vanity wall.

BLITZER: We've got some breaking news, Senator. And I want to inform you and our viewers of what's going on. It involves the Russia investigation.

And we're just now learning that the acting attorney general, Matt Whitaker, has just said that he's been fully briefed on the Mueller investigation, and the investigation, in his words -- and I'm quoting now -- "is close to being completed." Close to being completed. Your reaction?

HIRONO: Well, for one thing, I don't think that Whitaker should even be that acting attorney general. I'm part of a lawsuit to -- to say that he should have been confirmed. So he is a total Trump supporter. And I am very cautious about anything that he has to say.

This just points out how important it is for the Mueller investigation to proceed. And by the way, the next person who's coming up for attorney general is Barr, who has said that he doesn't think that Mueller should be looking into any obstruction of justice claims against the president.

So in the coming attorney general, we have somebody else who is looking, it seems to me, to limit the Mueller investigation. So once again, Mitch Miller [SIC] -- Mitch Miller [SIC] -- Mitch McConnell should bring the bill that would protect Mueller investigation to the floor of the Senate.

BLITZER: Senator -- Senator I want you to stand by for a moment. Our justice correspondent, Laura Jarrett, was at this briefing with the acting attorney general.

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BLITZER: Certainly is significant, because he says he has been briefed on the state of the Mueller investigation, and once again, he says it's close to being completed.

Stand by. I know you're getting more information, Laura. I want to go back to Senator Mazie Hirono right now.

You heard the precise statement that the acting attorney general made.

HIRONO: Yes.

BLITZER: I'll give you a chance to respond.

HIRONO: Well, this is an administration, starting with the president, who has continued to call the Mueller investigation a witch hunt. And he -- the president handpicked Whitaker because of his comments about the Mueller investigation that comported with the president's.

So I would hesitate to characterize what Whitaker is saying in anything other than we shall see.

At the same time, I know that in Barr, he's got another person who says that, "Well, even if the Mueller report is issued, that we're not so sure that that is going to be made public." This is candidate Barr speaking. So it remains to be seen.

What I care about and what so many of us care about is that there be no effort to limit the Mueller investigation at all. And I certainly hope that in the briefing that Whitaker got, that he did not in any way indicate to Mueller that the investigation should come to a close.

BLITZER: It's interesting. Two of your colleagues on the Judiciary Committee, Senator Blumenthal, a Democrat, Senator Chuck Grassley, a Republican, the former the immediate past chairman of the Judiciary Committee, they just release a bipartisan bill that would require the Mueller report to be made public. I assume you support that legislation.

HIRONO: Yes, I do. Yes, I do.

BLITZER: Do you think it has any chance of passing? And do you think if the president were to veto it, that you guys could override that veto with 67 senators?

HIRONO: I certainly hope so. And that would be the optimal thing. But of course, optimal things are not happening around here. And the fact that McConnell still has not brought the protect the Mueller investigation bill to the floor gives me pause. But nonetheless, I'm glad that, in a bipartisan way, that we are asking for the Mueller report to be made public. Something that Barr did not commit to, by the way, very significantly.

BLITZER: Have we decided whether or not you'll vote to confirm Barr as the next attorney general?

HIRONO: For all the reasons that I had been articulating over the last several weeks about Barr, you know he auditioned for this job. And when he testified I believe that he was testifying for an audience of one, meaning President Trump. He made sure that he would be very supportive of the president.

In fact, he even said, "Well, I think I could understand why the president would think that it is a witch hunt. Maybe he knows some things that we don't know."

[17:20:08] Well, the underlying investigation has to do with the Russian interference with our elections, which all of our intel communities have said happened. So I don't know why the -- why Barr would think that the president has some basis for continuing to call it a witch hunt.

So he's not making the Mueller report public. And he certainly didn't reassure us that he would follow the ethics guidelines about recusing himself, if that's what the -- the ethics people in the Justice Department recommend -- recommended to him.

BLITZER: So does that mean you're going to vote against this confirmation?

HIRONO: So -- I will. Yes. I was getting to it. I will not be supporting him.

BLITZER: Senator Hirono, thanks so much for joining us.

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