MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript

Interview

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SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D), JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Well, thanks, Chris. It"s great to be with you on THE ED SHOW, although you look a little different than Ed.

HAYES: Well, he"s getting some much deserved rest.

KLOBUCHAR: Excellent.

HAYES: Can I ask you, you know, I know that you"re - you"re not going to want to rag on your colleagues, but did you find that exchange in which Senator Graham basically solicit a note of support for Miguel Estrada to be a bizarre one?

KLOBUCHAR: Well, first of all, when you listen to Senator Graham"s entire exchange with Solicitor General Kagan, I think he was really quite impressive. (INAUDIBLE) obviously his command of the law and some of the issues that he talked about, but also he was incredibly positive and looked for the good in her and where they had points of common agreement. I think it was very positive for her confirmation process when you have those kinds of words coming from someone as conservative as Lindsey Graham.

As far as this letter, it really - I"m sure he"s just trying to get
her to confirm in writing what she said very clearly at the hearing, which
was that they had been friends in law school, that they had sat next to
each other, that she thought that he would have made a good justice and
that she appreciated the support that he gave her. I don"t think it was -
it was a little odd, but I don"t think it was a big deal at the hearing, so
I - I want -
I did want to say, what you said earlier, just her charm. She"s been going at this, it may be 10 hours today, and she continues to sort of disarm these senators from the Right and Left. It"s not that easy to disarm Arlen Specter with her charm.

Probably one of the more interesting moments was when Senator Graham actually said - was going down the road of some serious questions about the Christmas Day bombing and asked her where she was on Christmas and said kind of paused and said, what do you - no, he said, where were you? And she said, well, like all Jews, I was at a Chinese restaurant. And everyone thought she was joking but she said, no, I really was at a Chinese restaurant.

So, I mean, she was quite incredibly charming and smart throughout this whole thing, and really was never stumped once.

HAYES: Was there anything that came out of General Kagan today that surprised you, whether sort of jurisprudentially, questions she didn"t answer that you were not anticipating?

KLOBUCHAR: I didn"t know that she was going to come out so strongly for cameras in the courtroom. I thought that was great. I must sponsor that legislation. That was a nice surprise. I also thought that the way she handled the military recruitment at Harvard was very good, when she talked about how she had actually - the only time during the whole process where she teared up was when she read the letter from the soldier who was at the law school when he wrote a letter to piece for the newspaper in which he went on and on about how she was so supportive of veterans at the law school, and I thought that that was a sort of a surprising moment and nice touch.

HAYES: I noticed today she - she declined to - there was a very interesting exchange between her and Senator Graham. I think we actually have a piece of tape we"re going to play you right here.

KLOBUCHAR: All right.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: One could imagine a system in which because of the duration of this war it was necessary to ensure that enemy combatants continuing dangerousness. That is a question that I think has not been answered by the court.

GRAHAM: Do you believe it would serve this country well if the Congress tried to work with the Executive Branch to provide answers to that question and others?

KAGAN: Whether the Congress and the president work together, that courts should take note of that, that courts should - when - when that occurs, the action is at - it ought to be given the most deference.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HAYES: Now, in terms of executive power which has been something that a
lot of people have spoken about in the run up to this, I"m wondering what you are looking for out of General Kagan and her responses about questions like is the whole world a battlefield? How should we handle enemy combatants, et cetera?

KLOBUCHAR: Well, I think, here you saw that she was being cautious. This is an issue that can come before the court and she wasn"t going to opine at that moment about how she thought that should end up. I think that question was more directed at when Congress and the president are in general agreement and can work something out, which is what one of the things that Senator Graham has been trying to do, that the court would give it greater deference, and she was acknowledging that in other rulings that that is the case.

So I think in - when you look at her record as a whole, you see one of balance. She said many times she was taking the positions of the administration.

My questions tomorrow, because these questions will continue, will be focused, one, on her work experience. I don"t think people have asked about that enough. When you look at someone"s whole life, I think it"s good to look at their approaches and how that"s going to influence what kind of judge they are, and then secondly some of the criminal issues.
I used to be a prosecutor, so I think there"s been some cases that I don"t think have been very practical, and one of the things I love about her that you could see during today"s long questioning is that she is a pragmatist. She is practical, and she looks at sort of common sense solutions to problems.

HAYES: Pragmatism reigns supreme. Senator Klobuchar, thank you so much for joining me tonight. I really appreciate it.

KLOBUCHAR: Oh, it was just great to be on. Thank you very much.
Have a good day.

HAYES: And enjoy - enjoy your shot tomorrow.

KLOBUCHAR: OK. Thank you.

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