CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: Interview with Mazie Hirono
Interview
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ACOSTA: All right, Oren Liebermann, thanks so much.
I'm joined now by Democratic Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii. She's a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Senator, great to have you on. We appreciate it so much. Have lawmakers been receiving -- good to be with you. Let me just ask you right off the top, have lawmakers been receiving regular briefings from the administration? And what have you learned that is new since the president spoke yesterday? Anything you can tell us?
SEN. MAZIE HIRONO (D-HI): We are briefed pretty regularly. And yesterday we had an all-senators briefing from Secretaries Blinken, Austin, and Milley, and our staff get apprised and of course the DOS is doing regular briefings for the public. So we know that this is an ever-changing situation and we have to stay on top of it. And the main mission is, of course, to get U.S. citizens and our Afghan partners and their families out as soon as possible.
ACOSTA: And the Pentagon today confirmed that some Americans have been beaten by the Taliban on their way to the airport in Kabul. Do you think that the U.S. mission needs to expand beyond just keeping the airport secure? And what do you make of this latest news coming out of the Pentagon that the U.S. military is looking at perhaps developing some alternative routes to get people to that airport and get them out of the country?
HIRONO: Well, clearly I support those kinds of plans. So whatever the tactical decisions are made, that needs to happen and I also think that we should extend the deadline beyond August 31st so that we can complete our mission as well as we can.
ACOSTA: And you think the president should make it very clear -- he did make it clear the other day if it needs to go past August 31st, it should go past August 31st. But how long are you willing to see that mission extended? Obviously you don't want it to be done indefinitely or the U.S. is not going to complete this withdrawal.
HIRONO: I don't think that we should be putting an end time frame. I think the focus should continue to be let's get our U.S. citizens out and let's get our Afghan partners and their families out as well as other Afghans who are at risk, such as women leaders and journalists and others. Stay focused completely on that mission.
ACOSTA: And President Biden on Friday promised that nobody would be left behind, Americans, Afghan partners, that we're going to do the best that we can to get those folks out. Let's listen to that, let's talk about it on the other side.
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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Let me be clear. Any American who wants to come home, we will get you home.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Will you commit to the same -- would you make the same commitment to bring out Afghans who assisted in the war effort?
BIDEN: Yes, yes. We're making the same commitment. There's no one more important than bringing American citizens out, I acknowledge that, but equally important almost is all those -- those SIVs, we call them, who in fact helped us. They were translators that went into battle with us.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
[15:10:06]
ACOSTA: And Senator, what is your view on how we're handling pulling our Afghan partners out of the country? The images that we've been seeing over the last week, the harrowing scenes that we're seeing at the airport, people lifting their children up to soldiers and so on. Do we think we're doing enough? Do you think the U.S. is doing enough to make sure that we're getting those Afghan partners out of the country?
HIRONO: I think we need to expand our ability to process the SIV applicants and applications outside of Afghanistan. My understanding is that's one of the bottlenecks because we need to keep those planes full. They're not going out full because there's some roadblocks along the (INAUDIBLE) SIVs. I just want to mention, though, you know, President Trump had four years to process these special immigrant visas to get our Afghan friends and partners out and their families, and they totally slow-walked everything.
They totally slow-walked these SIV immigration visas. So, you know, we should just do everything we can to make that process go faster. If it means outside of Afghan, as I think some of that is already happening, then we should expand that.
ACOSTA: Let me follow up on that. You know, as you know, Congress will be questioning administration officials on this situation next week. Would it be helpful do you think to hear from some former Trump administration officials about what was going on behind the scenes? They, after all, cut the deal with the Taliban. They, after all, as you said, were not exactly rapidly moving towards a situation where Afghan refugees would be brought out of the country. Do you want those questions answered as well?
HIRONO: Well, first of all, I think we need to focus on what happened with our leaving. And I support the president's decision. It's the execution that we would like to focus on. To also put it into context, this didn't happen overnight. I would like to hear from Stephen Miller, for example, as to his part in slow-walking these SIV processes. I'd like to hear from Miss Troye who has been telling us about how hard it was for her when she was working for Vice President Pence to facilitate the processing of these visas.
It was very clear to her that the Trump administration had absolutely no intention of really moving the process along. So there are a lot of questions to be asked and we'll get to that. But again first and foremost we need to get the U.S. citizens out and our Afghan allies and their families.
ACOSTA: Absolutely. And we hope to see that happen in the coming days, Senator Mazie Hirono. You mentioned Olivia Troye, we did talk to her in the last hour. And of course anybody who wants to see what was said during that interview can check our Web site, check our Twitter feed and so on to get to the bottom of that.
Mazie Hirono, senator from Hawaii, thanks so much. We appreciate it.
HIRONO: Take care, Jim. Aloha.
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