CNN "Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees" - Transcript: Interview with Tammy Duckworth

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Joining us now, Senator Tammy Duckworth, Democrat of Illinois. Senator Duckworth, looking at the picture of Kevin McCarthy down at Mar-a-Lago today, gripping and grinning with the man who promoted the attack on the Capitol, praised the attackers even after the fact. What is that meeting and that picture say to you?

SEN. TAMMY DUCKWORTH (D-IL): It tells me that he stands with someone who basically incited insurrection as opposed to standing with our Constitution. He has essentially violated his oath of office that he took when he was sworn in and that is to protect and defend the Constitution. Instead, he is now standing with the enemy of the Constitution.

COOPER: What do you think, you know, with Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, most Republicans are unwilling to even talk about her or address any of her past actions and words, what does it say about the future of the Republican Party? I mean, when Trump said she's a future star of the Republican Party, a lot of Republicans said, oh, you know, that's just not the case. She's in Congress now. And she's a QAnon conspiracy supporter or was, even though she's trying to now hide it on her, you know, past postings?

DUCKWORTH: Well, I mean, it tells me that they're not standing with the American people, that they don't care about the Constitution, that they are backing, you know, these conspiracy theories, these people who seek insurrection and to overthrow our government. That's what these QAnon people believe.

They believe that we need to overthrow the government as opposed to protecting and defending the nation and our Constitution. It boggles the mind. I mean, these are the same people who were hiding, and who were, you know, in the same safe rooms that we were in that I was in, while the Capitol was under attack.

And yet, as you said, three weeks two and a day is all it took for them to turn their backs on reality, on the truth and to go stand with those who would actually violently overthrow our democracy as opposed to keeping their oath of office to defend our Constitution.

COOPER: Kevin McCarthy going to see and pay fealty to President Trump and be photographed with him. I mean, that's all just politics, isn't it? I mean, it's -- he is afraid of Trump supporters who are in his district and he wants to be this he wants to be this -- he wants to, you know, be the top Republican in the House. He wants to take the house. Isn't this just -- just pure politics of him choosing his own political future over any other consideration?

DUCKWORTH: Well, see, that's the thing, Anderson. You just said it. He is putting his own personal ambitions above the wellbeing of our nation. He is putting his own -- whatever he needs to do, his own political expediency, above protecting our Constitution and protecting and defending this great nation of ours. And people like that are not fit to be in office. That's why Trump wasn't fit to be the Commander- in-Chief because he always looked out for Trump first, not the United States of America, not our great union.

And it is absolutely shameful that Kevin McCarthy did this. But unfortunately, he's not the only one, you know, in in both the Senate and the House, you have all of these Republicans are choosing to stand with Trump, as opposed to choosing to stand with our Constitution.

COOPER: Well, I don't -- you know, Lindsey Graham, sort of, you know, indicated in the heat of the moment after the attack on the Capitol that night, you know, stood up and said, you know, I'm done, count me out. You know, I'm sorry, it ended this way. It's not how I wanted to, you know, he was a consequential President. Whatever that means. I mean, that's like faint praise.

He now seems to you know -- he has people yelling at him at the airport, which is certainly unpleasant and uncalled for. And now he seems back, you know, kind of throwing love bombs at Trump.

DUCKWORTH: I think that it's clear that Lindsey Graham is out for Lindsey Graham and, and not necessarily for the wellbeing of our country. I'm sorry to say that. You know, he's had a long career of service, but it seems like Lindsey Graham has lost his way under Donald Trump and he has decided that as you said, you know political expediency is his priority, not protecting and defending our country.

[20:10:09]

COOPER: Are you worried about security inside the Capitol grounds?

DUCKWORTH: Of course, I am. You know, listen, going around the Capitol and seeing all the barricades up, seeing National Guard patrolling. It's not how I want our nation's capital to be. But there is -- there are security concerns. I mean, my office, they attempted to break into my -- we call it a hideaway. So we all have a little office in the Capitol itself, away from our other offices, and that, you know, has still has got broken glass and boarded up windows, where the insurrectionists attempted to penetrate, thank goodness, my window held and my door held.

We're still seeing the scars of insurrectionists, and yet my Republican colleagues seem to have glossed over that. We just lost another Capitol Police officer who committed suicide just recently. Now we've lost three lives, in terms of the Capitol Police, and yet they're overlooking that just so they can go and stand with Trump. That's shameful.

COOPER: Senator Duckworth. I appreciate your time. Thank you.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source