CNN "Anderson Cooper 360" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Tina Smith
Interview
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COOPER: Jamie Gangel, thank you. We'll come back to Jamie for late developments on the Hill. Joining us now Senator Tina Smith, Democrat of Minnesota. Senator
Smith, thanks for being with us. What does it say that the majority of your Republican colleagues are planning to vote against this?
SEN. TINA SMITH (D-MN): Well, you know, I've been thinking about this story that Mitch McConnell is calling this -- calling on his colleagues to do this as a personal favor. And, you know, on the Senate floor, senators asked one another for favors all the time. You know, could you let me go first in my questioning? Could you pick me up lunch? Could you help me on this special project that's important in my state?
But on this issue, to call for a personal favor on this issue, from the leader that has so much power over you and your career? I mean, I don't think that that sounds to senators like something that they can say no to. And it feels like a threat to me. And I think it's despicable to think that that's where we've come when it is so clearly the case that this commission is the right thing to do, it is the right thing to do to get to the bottom of what happened. So, it is -- I think, it's a sad day
COOPER: That sounds like a threat to you from Mitch McConnell to his fellow Republican senators, stay in line.
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SMITH: Yes. Yes, stay in line. This is important to me, this is a personal thing for me. I need you to do this. It's not like a normal thing that you would have on an issue of this magnitude. And, you know, I keep thinking about how we all ran together from the Senate floor and there was a moment of actual human interaction between us.
We were fearful. We were calling our family. And we gathered together to say that we were going to work on this together.
And to see the about face that I'm fearful is going to be on display tonight because of people's fear of Donald Trump, putting politics first. It is just -- it is just a terrible day.
COOPER: So when you hear what Mitch McConnell is saying publicly, which is we know what happened. We were witnesses. We don't need a commission. You know, we'll make some adjustments on law enforcement, numbers of police officers. What do you say to that?
SMITH: Well, what I say is that this would be a bipartisan commission. We have accepted as I -- as far as I understand it, everything that the Republicans said that they wanted for a bipartisan commission. And not to do this in this moment, to say that we have all of the answers I just think is not true. That's why we had a 9/11 Commission. It's why we had the Warren Commission.
It's why we should come together in a bipartisan way to understand exactly what happened, to make sure that it will never happen again. And you know, Mitch McConnell is saying that we should hold those accountable who caused this, yet he is the one who said immediately after the insurrection that the President was directly responsible. He said it was a despicable dereliction of duty.
So the inconsistency here is just jaw dropping.
COOPER: Yes, it seems -- I mean, his focus is okay, well, you know, people have been arrested, justice should run its course on them and we should work on, you know, policing failures, or what the needs of the police officers are that would help them prevent this in the future, meaning, you know, more riot gear, whatever it may be. It doesn't get at, well, what actually caused this, like, who's responsible for that? And how do we make sure something like this does not happen again?
SMITH: Well, yes, I mean, that is exactly right. And to basically say that we don't need to know the truth here is what I hear when I hear them say this. I think that it just is -- it's nonsensical.
And you know, the reality of this is that we don't know exactly what happened. That's why we need a 9/11 Commission and we need to get to the bottom of it. And of course, the context here is a Republican Party filled with people that are trying to rewrite history, even as we speak to say that this was nothing, but a tourist visit to the Capitol that got out of hand, the big lie that the election was stolen.
So that's the bigger context we have to understand as we see this rejection of a bipartisan commission.
COOPER: So what happens when this gets voted down? Assuming it does, as it looks like it will because of the Republicans? Do you think that a House Select Committee investigation should be launched?
SMITH: Well, it's so ironic because what we want is a bipartisan commission. The House can do a select commission and that may well be the path that Speaker Pelosi decides to take. But I don't think that it will fulfill the same role that this January 6th Commission would and we will all have seen that the Republicans had a choice. They could choose to stand with Capitol Police, the 140 of them that were assaulted, stand with our democracy or stand with Donald Trump and they'll be choosing Donald Trump
COOPER: Senator Tina Smith, I appreciate your time. Thank you.
SMITH: Thank you.
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