CNN "State of the Union with Jake Tapper" - Transcript: Interview with Senator Chris Coons

Interview

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[09:22:40]

TAPPER: Welcome back the STATE OF THE UNION. I'm Jake Tapper.

Judge Amy Coney Barrett appears to be on something of a glide path to the U.S. Supreme Court, with Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee all but certainly vote this week to send her nomination to the full Senate for a vote ahead of the election.

Now Democratic nominee Joe Biden says seeing how that process plays out could determine whether he will consider supporting a push to add more justices to the court next year if he wins.

Joining me now, a close friend of Biden's, Democratic Senator Chris Coons, also a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Senator Coons, thanks for joining us. We have a lot to get to. But, first, I just want to get your reaction

to what you heard from the president's senior adviser, Lara Trump, especially when she said, even though obviously she's not qualified to diagnose such a thing, that the vice president, Biden, suffers from a cognitive decline.

SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): Thanks for a chance to be on, Jake.

That was just a remarkable statement by Lara Trump, obviously unfounded, inappropriate.

What I also found particularly troubling, when you pressed her about the Michigan rally at which President Trump was encouraging folks to chant "Lock her up" in response to Governor Whitmer being threatened by more than a dozen folks who've now been arrested by the FBI, domestic terrorists who were threatening to kidnap her and potentially kill her, her comment was, he was just having fun.

If that means that, for a president, fun is fueling division and encouraging folks to say and do things that are threatening and completely inappropriate, well, that's a reminder of what kind of president we currently have, in sharp contrast to Joe Biden, someone who can and will bring our country together.

TAPPER: Let's talk about the campaign.

In a memo to supporters yesterday, Biden campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillon warned that the race is closer than polling suggests and that -- quote -- "We cannot become complacent, because the very searing truth is that Donald Trump can still win this race, and every indication we have shows that this thing is going to come down to the wire."

So she's warning that people shouldn't be complacent. President Trump visited two swing states yesterday. He's in a third today. I get you don't like what he's saying, but if the Biden campaign is so worried about complacency, where was Joe Biden yesterday? He had a whole day without any public events with less than three weeks to go.

COONS: Well, Jake, Joe Biden takes no votes for granted.

As you know, both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have crisscrossed the country, campaigning in critical, decisive swing states.

TAPPER: Not the way that President Trump is saying.

[09:25:01]

COONS: And I, frankly, think we can't take -- President Trump is campaigning in an unsafe way that doesn't follow the directions of public health experts.

Joe Biden has continued to be engaged and effective in laying out a clear plan for how he's going to get us out of this pandemic and the recession that President Trump's bungled mishandling of the pandemic has made worse than it ever needed to be. TAPPER: OK.

Look, I take your point on the unsafe rallies that the president's having. But Joe Biden didn't have any events yesterday. I'm not saying he should be having unsafe events. But why is he taking a day off with less than three weeks to go before the election?

COONS: Jake, Joe Biden has campaigned tirelessly, but he has campaigned safely.

And, as you saw, this past week, during the national town halls that both of them held, it is a sharp contrast between President Trump, who's frenzied, who continues to lie just incessantly morning, noon and night, and President -- excuse me -- former Vice President Biden, who is laying out a clear and compelling plan.

Polling is showing that it's making a difference, particularly with suburban women.

But I agree with you that we shouldn't take anything for granted in these last few weeks, and it is still possible for President Trump to win reelection. That's why I say, don't focus on the national polls. Focus on getting out and voting.

TAPPER: I would just say that I think it's pretty much the opposite of the word tireless to take a day off.

But let's move on.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is poised to vote on Judge Barrett's nomination to the Supreme Court on Thursday.

Take a listen to what the top Democrat on that committee, Dianne Feinstein, had to say about this week's hearing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D-CA): Mr. Chairman, I just want to thank you.

This has been one of the best set of hearings that I have participated in. And I want to thank you for your fairness and the opportunity of going back and forth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: And then, afterwards, she gave him a big hug.

California Congresswoman Katie Porter said that she disagree strongly with Feinstein. Groups like NARAL, Demand Justice have called for her to be replaced as ranking member of the Judiciary Committee.

Should Dianne Feinstein be replaced as the Democratic leader on that committee?

COONS: Well, Jake, across the four days of hearings, Senator Feinstein was clear in her opposition to Judge Barrett, and she has a long record of fighting for reproductive rights, for gender equity, as did Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

I think she carried the torch well for those of us on the Democratic side who were fighting this nomination. And I don't think we should put too much weight on just a few sentences at the end of four long days, where she was being gracious to the chairman.

She and I and all the Democrats on the committee are angry at Chairman Graham for racing through this partisan confirmation process.

TAPPER: OK.

COONS: Unprecedented for us to have the Senate hearing a confirmation just two weeks, a little more than two weeks, before a presidential election.

TAPPER: So, that's a no, she shouldn't be replaced.

If Barrett is confirmed, and Democrats win back the Senate, would you vote to expand the number of justices on the Supreme Court if it came up for a vote? Is that something you would be in favor of?

COONS: Well, Jake, like Joe Biden, I'm not a fan of expanding the court.

But we have a few weeks here to see whether there are four Republicans who will step back from this precipice. It is President Trump who has pressed for this nominee, so he can have a key vote to overturn the Affordable Care Act in the middle of a pandemic.

It is the Republican majority that's responsible for racing forward with this extreme unqualified nominee, unqualified because of her extreme judicial philosophy. And that's who should be bearing the brunt at the ballot box in this election, that they're doing this to get someone on the court just in time, a week after the election...

TAPPER: Right.

COONS: ... to take away critical health care protections from a majority of Americans.

We need to focus on that.

TAPPER: So, you oppose...

COONS: And then, if we happen to be in the fact pattern where we have a President Biden...

TAPPER: Yes.

COONS: ... we will have to look at what the right steps are to rebalance our federal judiciary.

TAPPER: So, your mind is open about adding justices to the Supreme Court, yes or no? Just your mind is open?

COONS: Yes. TAPPER: Your mind is open. OK.

Let's talk about coronavirus relief negotiations. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell plans to put forward a $500 billion relief bill. You have called it a political stunt.

The fact is that nearly 900,000 Americans filed for jobless claims last week, the highest level since August. There is no other deal in sight between the White House and Congress. Why not vote for this, at least as a stopgap effort, so that some Americans have more money, so that they don't fall into poverty?

COONS: That is a great question Jake.

And, frankly, no one would like to see us do another round of PPP loans and grants than me. Democrats have been trying for months, since the Democratic majority in the House passed and sent over to the Senate a broad, appropriately broad relief bill that would deal with everything, from rent and mortgage payments, to nutrition, to another round of unemployment support, to assistance for state and local governments, to also expanding the PPP program.

[09:30:03]

But to do this at the last moment, and where we haven't seen Majority Leader McConnell's text. so it probably includes a get-out-of-jail- free card for every employer in the country, regardless of whether they have been reckless or responsible.

That was the piece of the last bill, the only bill that he's put on the floor in months...

TAPPER: OK.

COONS: ... that made it difficult for any Democrat to support it.

We have to see what he brings to the floor. But Democrats have worked on this for months. Mitch McConnell hasn't even been part of the negotiations.

TAPPER: All right, Senator Chris Coons, Democrat of Delaware, thanks so much for your time today. We appreciate it.

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