MSNBC "Morning Joe" - Transcript

Interview

MSNBC "Morning Joe" - Transcript

SEN. CORNYN: (From videotape.) My concern is not whether our colleague, Senator Clinton, is qualified to be secretary of State or not. She is, and I intend to vote for her confirmation.

But I also believe it's very important to flesh out some of the concerns that have been raised legitimately by Senator Kerry and Senator Lugar and others that I think bear some public discussion and some debate here in the Senate.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: Let's bring in right now Republican senator from Texas and chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee -- he is, of course, Senator John Cornyn.

Senator, thanks so much for being with us.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: Good morning.

SEN. CORNYN: You bet. Good to be with you.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: So did you feel like there was a stampede to appoint all of the Obama nominees before all the tough questions were asked?

SEN. CORNYN: Well, of course, the question I had for Senator Clinton and, more importantly, for the Clinton Foundation, is what they were going to do to make the contributions from foreign countries and foreign nationals more transparent.

Because, as President Obama said, we need to do the public's business in the light of day. That's what helps build public confidence, and that was really what I was trying to get at.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: You voted for her, but they really didn't make much movement, did they?

SEN. CORNYN: Well, I did get a private commitment from Senator Clinton to -- and I hope with President Obama now, given his very clear stance, which I applaud, in favor of more transparency, more openness in government and less secrecy.

I've worked closely with Senator Pat Leahy, my colleague on the Judiciary Committee, to pass everything from Freedom of Information Act reforms. And I look forward to working with the administration to try to make government more transparent and more accountable.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: You know, one of the low points of Hillary Clinton's senatorial career was at the very beginning. There was a cloud cast over her because of the Marc Rich pardon.

I was surprised that Eric Holder's name was brought up as attorney general, when he was there right in the middle of it from the very beginning.

Are you going -- I know you're asking some tough questions, but is it possible that you may vote against Eric Holder because of his involvement in Marc Rich's pardon?

SEN. CORNYN: Well, I'm very concerned about it. As you know, former FBI Director Louis Freeh called that pardon a corrupt act. And, of course, Mr. Holder was involved in considering that pardon. And that and obviously the pardon for the FALN terrorists, that concerns me a lot in a post-9/11 world.

And then there are some of the statements that are a little hard to flesh out for Mr. Holder about whether he's going to go after some of the officials who were operating within legal guidance they'd been given in doing aggressive interrogations and getting actionable intelligence that I believe saved American lives.

So those are the areas I intend to explore further with Mr. Holder.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: Is it possible that you will vote against him?

SEN. CORNYN: Yes, it is. But I want to give him --

MR. SCARBOROUGH: What -- what about -- what --

SEN. CORNYN: I want to give him a chance.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: What about Geithner? You look at how some people got pounded in the past. My God, John Tower. You remember, Pat, the lynching of John Tower.

MR. BUCHANAN: Right. Right.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: Here you have a guy that wants to run our economy, for the most part, who didn't pay taxes.

Senator, how does he get appointed?

SEN. CORNYN: Well, I think it's troublesome, but obviously this is a different time and a different sort of sense of euphoria, with the Obama administration coming in. And I think some of his Cabinet picks are getting a pass that others have not gotten in the past.

But my concerns on Mr. Geithner primarily are what's he going to do to consult more closely with Congress and make sure the money that's appropriated to help the economy is actually used for the purpose that Congress intended it?

The past administration pivoted, going from the TARP to then buying equity in financial institutions, something they said they would not do. There's no transparency; we don't know who's gotten the money, what the connections are. We need to know more about it.

And I hope that Mr. Geithner will heed that call.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: Pat Buchanan.

MR. BUCHANAN: Senator, in times past -- Mr. Geithner's problems and Mr. Holder's problems -- I think when you had a change of party could result in both of them being turned down or really put through a wringer.

Is the Republican Party in the Senate and on Capitol Hill somewhat intimidated by the enormous popularity -- you called it euphoria -- popularity and enthusiasm and sort of sense of unity behind President Obama as sort of a historic figure? And, you know, 2 million people out on the Mall is a very impressive showing.

SEN. CORNYN: Well, we can read the poll numbers too, Pat. (Laughter.) And we know this is a popular president. He's going to have a honeymoon, and people want him to succeed.

And I've told him personally I want him to succeed, but I'm not going to sacrifice my principles. But that leaves a broad, common, middle ground where I hope we can work together.

He's said some very encouraging things, and I hope the reality matches the rhetoric. So -- we'll see.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: Senator, Time Magazine's Mark Halperin has a question for you.

Mark?

SEN. CORNYN: Sure.

MR. HALPERIN: Senator, good to talk to you.

You talk about -- people talk about your party being the loyal opposition. You say you want him to succeed; you can read the poll numbers.

What is the point of the Republican Party during this period? Is it to nitpick at some of these people who are going to be confirmed? Is it to propose new ideas? Is it to find common ground with the president? What's the point for your party now?

SEN. CORNYN: Well, I think what President Obama -- his administration is starting to find already is that governing is hard -- harder work than running for election. They ran a flawless campaign, but governing is hard work.

Dealing with these important questions about closing Guantanamo Bay -- what are we going to do, release some of these dangerous people into the American public? Are we going -- I don't want them in Texas, that's for sure.

What are we going to do with our intelligence officials, who were following legal guidance about what they could do to get actionable intelligence from some of these detainees?

We certainly can't turn around and then prosecute them and, further, make them risk-averse -- which, of course, the 9/11 Commission said risk aversion was one of the big problems we had that resulted in 9/11.

So these are legitimate areas for policy discussion. We need to do it civilly and in a dignified way, but I think we've got to stick to our principles.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: Hey, Senator, is it fair to say, in closing, that if Barack Obama's administration strips our agencies of the protection that have been afforded since September 11th, if there are terror attacks in the future, that the responsibility of those terror attacks will rest, in part, with an administration that stripped the Bush safeguards?

SEN. CORNYN: Well, I think that's something they ought to be thinking about, because -- of course, people debate it, but the one thing you can't debate is that we have not had another terrorist attack on our own soil since 9/11.

MR. SCARBOROUGH (?): Yup.

SEN. CORNYN: That's not a mistake; that's a result of the hard work of a lot of good people and our troops in the battlefield.

So we've got to be very careful, thoughtful, and try to work together in the best interests of our country.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: No doubt about it. Senator, thanks for being with us.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: Thank you, Senator.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: Senator John Cornyn. Keep up the fight!

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