'This Week' Transcript 6-18-23: Former Gov. Asa Hutchinson and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse

Interview

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No, I think he's got a lot of time ahead of him, a lot of runway. And I think just laying a good solid base of these strong endorsements like he got out of the environmental community last week and he got out of the labor community at this big rally is just the way to go. I don't know that people are interested in a whole lot of campaign noise out of him, and I think he's doing it right.

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Well, I -- I went on to complete that sentence that you quoted to say that he can do that by continuing to talk about his successes, about the experience, about the wisdom, about the sagacity that he brings to this job, and the record that he's shown to the American people by virtue of those characteristics and qualities that he has.

And I think we're going to see enormous amounts of new construction, whether it's infrastructure. Factory construction in America is soaring right now. And when you're building factories, there's a lot more building that happens after the factories up as you're building the products in the factory.

So, he's got a really good story to tell about the end of Covid, the reduction of inflation, the explosion in infrastructure jobs and manufacturing. And I think that's going to be a really solid baseline for him to go into the voters in the coming, what is it now, 15 months, 16 months.

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Well, I think he's done a good job steering well clear of the prosecution. As you know, there are at least two firewalls between the president and this prosecution. First, he does not do business with Attorney General Garland. He does not speak to him about criminal related matters. And, second, Garland is firewalled off from this prosecution because he's appointed a special counsel. And his ability to engage with the special counsel is extremely limited. Limited basically to violations of departmental rules and policies and procedures and so forth, which hasn't even been alleged yet.

So, he's a long way from the special counsel prosecution. And I think that goes forward the way it should, pursuant to rule of law, pursuant to justice policy, and pursuant to the very able judgment of the special counsel team.

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Yes, I don't think that works well for Trump, to tell you the truth. I know that's his M.O. when he's involved in civil litigation, when he's -- a bank is suing him for the money that he owes, that kind of stuff. He goes into this sort of bullying, bombastic mode where he tries to make the other side as miserable as possible and hopes that they'll go away or settle on good terms.

When you're dealing with federal prosecutors, that stuff just doesn't work. It doesn't matter. It's just background noise to the federal prosecutors. So, it's not going to help him at all in this case.

The case is going to go forward. And as it does, we're going to learn more about it through the motion practice, through, as the Attorney General Garland said, through to the filings that the special council makes in the case. So there's going to be a steady drumbeat of both activity and evidence that emerges as it properly should through the case itself.

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I think that's to be determined. As we all know, her first intervention in the case was very badly smacked down by the 11th Circuit, a conservative circuit that not only overruled her but schooled her. And as a new judge, I'm not sure how often you want to do that. So, we will find out whether she goes back to regular, normal judging or continues to be a Trump advocate in a robe.

And the only good news about that is that her decisions can't kill off this case until after a jury is empaneled and then jeopardy has attached. So, there's going to be a lot of proceedings beforehand for Special Council Jack Smith to test her behavior, to see how she's conducting herself and to have time to move for her recusal if she's not providing proper rulings.

I suspect there's a pretty good chance that she will just decide this is a good time in her career for her to act like a real judge, and she'll take the correction of the 11th Circuit and act accordingly.

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Yeah, it would be very hard to attack this judge...

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... for him -- although I wouldn't put it past him because attack is his mode.

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No.

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Not so much, particularly not since this political episode has begun. I 100 percent support President Biden. I don't think that vaccines are a hoax or a scam or dangerous. And I strongly, strongly support the people of Ukraine in their bid for freedom under the onslaught of the Russian military, because I think that's the frontier for freedom around the world. So I think Joe Biden has those issues and others right, and I'm more than happy to support President Biden for re-election.

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Thank you. You, too.

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