CNN "Anderson Cooper 360" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Mazie Hirono
Interview
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Joining us now, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Mazie Hirono, Democrat of Hawaii. Senator Hirono. Appreciate you being with us. What does it say that this commission bill, this January 6 Commission bill seems to be basically dead on arrival in the Senate.
SEN. MAZIE HIRONO (D-HI): It's just as you say, it's their pursuit of herd immunity for what happened on January 6th. They're closing their eyes, ears, everything to what happened.
They are afraid to get to the bottom of it because they might actually be subpoenaed to testify on what they knew, what they did, what they -- you know, all of that. So they just don't want to get to the truth because they're afraid of it.
COOPER: Kevin McCarthy was personally lobbying your Senate Republican colleagues to oppose the Commission the morning after the former President released a statement calling on McCarthy and McConnell to defeat the bill. I mean, do you think that's a coincidence?
[20:05:01]
HIRONO: Not at all. They're still totally afraid of former President Trump. It's just amazing. So they've handed over all this power to Trump to continue to hold sway over them. It's more than pathetic, it is cowardly. And all I can say is that the palpable fear that they have of Trump is making them do all kinds of things that I don't know how they look at themselves in the mirror.
COOPER: I mean, I understand Kevin McCarthy, who, you know, wants the -- you know, power and he is up for re-election every two years. Mitch McConnell, I mean, he has folded to the former President, even though he criticized the former President. He is 79 years old. He's not even up for re-election until 2026. Why is he doing that?
HIRONO: Maybe he's afraid for some of his members who are running for re-election, and they want to run away from the truth of what happened on January 6th. So a lot of his members rely on Mitch McConnell for the resources they need to run for re-election, I can tell you that.
There's a lot of dark money behind these elections, and maybe that's what's going on, but they will never admit it. The fact is that they are not doing this country any favors. They're certainly not doing democracy any favors. They're not -- they are not doing any favors for the Capitol Police who bore the brunt of the violence that occurred on January 6, so all around, all they're doing is benefiting Trump.
COOPER: Speaker Pelosi has strongly suggested that she had approved a special select committee in the House to investigate what led to the insurrection if the commission vote fails in the Senate. Do you think that's the best backup plan? I mean, do you worry Republicans will just paint it obviously, or to be pretty clear, they would just paint it as a completely partisan effort.
HIRONO: Of course, they will, because people who don't even want an independent commission are definitely going to paint a select committee doing the work as also partisan, but that is where they are. And so not only do they not want an independent commission, they are prepared to criticize a select committee, which is the reason that Speaker Pelosi wanted an independent commission.
So why don't we just all face up to the fact that they totally do not want to face up to the truth of what happened on January 6th and any responsibility that Trump had because they're definitely afraid of Trump and his base.
COOPER: President Biden signed the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act into law today addressing the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes. You introduced the bill, 62 of your Republican colleagues in the House -- or your Senate Republican colleague Josh Hawley voted against it. Do you know -- do you understand their vote against it?
HIRONO: Well, you have people like Marjorie Taylor Smith and others of her ilk on the House side, you know, they -- what can I say? At least on the Senate side, everyone saw what we all saw, which was all of these depictions of AAPI community people getting beaten up, sometimes with bystanders standing by doing nothing --
COOPER: Marjorie Taylor Greene by the way.
HIRONO: Pardon me? COOPER: You said Marjorie Taylor Smith, it is Marjorie Taylor Greene, I believe.
HIRONO: Oh, sorry.
COOPER: It's okay.
HIRONO: Marjorie Taylor Greene, thank you for that correction. But you know, I don't spend a lot of time trying to figure out what the House members are doing, at least on the Senate side. They did not turn away from the opportunity to stand with the AAPI community, and they did so except for one person we won't talk about.
So that was really important that the AAPI community that for once, the Senate and the House and the President, of course, stood with him from the very beginning, as he saw the rise in hate crimes against AAPIs that we are standing firmly in condemnation of these kinds of crimes. And in doing so, we are also standing up for other marginalized and discriminated against groups.
So today was a good day for those of us who, you know, stand with this community and want to do something about it. And I'm glad that the Attorney General was also there because he has also begun his own actions before this bill even passed, but he told me that he is going to implement the provisions of this bill so that these kinds of crimes and incidents, which are very underreported will be reported.
COOPER: Senator Hirono, I appreciate your time. Thank you.
HIRONO: Thank you. Aloha.
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