and kaylee mcani now white house press
secretary kaley thank you so much for
being here
i think i think two things can be true
at the same time
you can vehemently disagree uh with with
the arguments that she made decisions
she had i know
people like me and others would disagree
but you can
you can ultimately still appreciate the
authenticity of someone
who fought hard for what they believed
in uh and
and uh and was respected by her peers
pete that's exactly right i remember
being at law school at harvard where
ruth bader ginsburg went when she was
one of nine women out of a class of 500
when i went there
more than half or around that were women
she paved the way and i remember you
always paid
a little bit closer attention when it
was a scalia
paved the way she's available a place in
american history that will never be
forgotten
kaylee all those points are well taken
who ruth bader ginsburg was not just as
a jurist but as
a person we move forward to what happens
next we're waiting for joe biden to put
out a list of potential nominees that he
might
put forward should he become president
united states president trump has
already
put forward names that he could
potentially be nominating some examples
including senator tom cotton senator ted
cruz senator josh hawley
judge amy coney barrett of the 7th
circuit attorney general daniel cameron
of kentucky paul clement a famous
uh solicitor general and has argued
before the supreme court noel francisco
also solicitor general
what i would like to ask you kaylee is
this you brought up ruth bader
ginsburg's
important trailblazing as far as a woman
on the supreme court what will guide
president trump in finding a replacement
for
justice ginsburg what will be his
primary focus on finding replacement
well it's a good question this president
has always been
squarely focused on putting people on
the court
who are constitution abiding judges who
are textualists
who are originalist who believe that the
words on the page of the constitution or
a statute
are the plain meaning of what they are
someone who protects the
the right to life someone who protects
the second amendment uh this is a
president who's guided
by the the founding of this country and
the constitution
and you look at the justices he's put in
place neil gorsuch
you look at justice kavanaugh these are
great justices who fall very much in
that ilk
and those are always that have always
been the guiding principles of this
president
kaley i know you and the white white
house have been careful to
pay the proper respects not rush to
the political aspect of it but the
reality is we are 45 days
from a historic presidential election
out of necessity a lot of these items
quickly become political the horse race
of what happens and when it happens
what is your sense as far as the
president's
timeline on this mitch mcconnell has
signaled it would move to the senate
uh before the election what is the white
house current thinking
on timeline i don't want to get ahead of
the president on that right now um his
current thinking is honoring the life of
ruth bader ginsburg
last night he was on the stage he was
unaware that ruth bader ginsburg had
passed he found out when he went
to gaggle with the journalists there in
the pool um and he said then you know
this was an amazing woman there's
nothing more you can say than that and
that he was very sad and we're praying
for her
just over my left shoulder the flag is
at half staff
and i'll leave it to the president as to
how we move forward
but right now he's honoring her legacy
and you'll hear more for from him this
afternoon when we go to
north carolina kelly i appreciate your
desire not to get ahead of the president
but
that is not desire that is shared by
many others including of course vice
president presidential candidate joe
biden
he is saying that there is no way
president trump should be making a
nomination before this election in fact
he said it as recently as last night i
want you to listen
to joe biden we'll get your reaction
clear that the voters
should pick the president and the
president
should pick the justice for the senate
to consider this was the position
of the republican senate took in 2016
when there were almost 10 months to go
before
the election that's the position the
united states senate
must take today and so we should do this
with full consideration
and uh and that is my hope and
expectation what will happen
kaley you can hear joe biden referencing
2016.
how again with respect to not wanting to
get ahead of the president how do you
suspect
the administration will move forward
well look the former vice president and
all due respect instead of telling the
current president what to do
he needs to tell voters where he stands
we don't know who is on his supreme
court list we don't know what kind of
justices he would
nominate we know very squarely this
president's been very transparent
putting forward two lists
as to exactly not just what his justices
would look like but what their names
would be this is paramount importance to
the american voters
this is now a linchpin issue of this
election um and joe biden you know where
do you stand what do your justices look
like do they believe in the constitution
do they abide by the constitution do
they believe in the plain words of a
statute
he needs to answer those questions
before telling president trump exactly
how to move forward
well kaylee you're right we don't know
the names of who
former vice president joe biden might
pick but we do know what that
person or woman would look like here's a
flashback to what the
what the former vice president biden
said in june about possibly picking
a nominee supreme court
the president says he's going to issue
an updated list
of potential nominees to the court you
have said he would put a black woman
on the court should a spot open up but
there are groups calling for you to
release a list of specific names you put
on the court are you
going to do that one thing i hesitate to
do is follow anything the president does
at all because he usually does it all
wrong
i have we are putting together a list of
a group of
african-american women who are qualified
and
have the experience to be in the court i
am not going to release that
until we go further down the line of
vetting them as well
kaylee our politics have been consumed
by identity politics is
does race or gender have a factor in who
who the president ultimately chooses
here no principles are at the heart of
who the president chooses look i
remember
exactly where i was standing um when
justice scalia passed
it was a heartbreaking moment much like
last night was for the nation
uh with the passing of justice ginsburg
and i remember i was just before a
presidential debate in fact
when justice scalia passed um and it
became this
the laser focus on the supreme court
which is always of importance to voters
but now
more than ever this is a lifetime
appointment these are issues that hit at
the very core of our
liberties like the second amendment like
the right to life uh the first amendment
freedom of speech
these issues determine the very values
of this country so knowing where he
stands
knowing these names is very important to
voters
i mean really the onus is on him now to
put out that list
the who is incredibly important both
from joe biden and ultimately from
president trump as well
if i might kayleigh i just want to
return to the win and i totally respect
that you do not want to get ahead of the
president and i respect it now is also a
time for reflection on ruth bader
ginsburg's life but everyone watching
is wondering when this fight when this
nomination might take
place we'll get to who that may be but
senator majority leader mitch mcconnell
has said if the president puts forth a
nomination that
will go to a vote on the floor of the
senate before the election
should we expect the president to make a
nomination here in the near term
yeah again i'll leave it to him you'll
be hearing from him in north carolina
you'll
i'm sure he'll talk to reporters today
and i want to leave that to
president trump to make that
announcement and to decide how we move
forward
uh but make no mistake this president
understands the important
importance of this issue understands the
importance of the court and he has a
legacy now
of two supreme court justices nearly 300
judges
on the federal court would have been
appointed under this president
and they are good hard-working judges
who respect the constitution and the
values of this country
kaylee when you consider what was done
to justice kavanaugh when you consider
the firestorm that was that that was a
that was more or less
a transfer of equal votes i mean it was
sort of a moderate for a more
conservative justice this is the balance
of the court on issues as you mentioned
as fundamental as right to life which
people have dedicated their careers
uh to pursuing the overturning of roe v
wade
uh how would how will the white house
approach this confirmation process
anticipating what was done to justice
kavanaugh
yeah well should that happen what we
wouldn't do is
what we would do is encourage our
democrat counterparts
to be respectful to not malign people
what happened to justice kavanaugh
was a travesty in this country a good
man who was respected
prior to his nomination to the supreme
court respected by both sides of the
aisle
a principled man a father someone who
was of great character
who was malign was drawn was completely
dragged through the mud
all because he was appointed by
president trump so
should that happen we would encourage
our democrat counterparts
to respect the process uh and to respect
people who are very well principled
and have a great record of scholarly uh
work let's hope so kaylee it's
definitely going to be an interesting
next few weeks to say the least
thank you so much thank you thank you
we're praying for justice ginsburg and
her family
amen