Virginia senator on potential government shutdown and Gilbert and Siebert’s resignations
(CBS, KYMA) - Senator Tim Kaine (D-Va.) spoke with Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation Sunday about a potential government shutdown.
When asked if he was concerned about seeing a massive layoff if the shutdown happens, Senator Kaine said:
"We are really worried about it...When Ted Cruz forced a shutdown of the government in October 2013, it hurt Virginia pretty bad. And when Donald Trump forced a shutdown of the government in late 2018, early 2019 it hurt Virginia pretty bad. And this one would be the same. The only thing about the President's threat to fire more people is he's already doing it, and instead of threatening, he should just be meeting to negotiate. We came near shut down deadlines during the Biden administration, but we never shut government down because the President would sit down with congressional leaders of both parties and would find a path forward. And that's what we've been asking for since the Democrats put an alternate plan on the table on September 18, just sit down and talk with us, and finally, he has agreed to do that tomorrow. But if you're reporting, is to be believed, he's sort of going into it, setting reducing expectations improperly. He should be doing what presidents do and saying, we're going to find a deal to keep the government of the greatest nation on earth open."
Brennan followed up by asking if it is "enough of a deal to say, take the short term, seven week funding deal, and we'll continue to talk about these health care subsidies that Democrats say they are so concerned about," and if it is worth the risk, and Kaine said:
"Here's my thought about this...We've got to solve this health care issue. And Republicans are saying the same thing. Mike Johnson has said it. Senator Cornyn has said it, Senator Hawley has said it. Senator Murkowski has said it. We're asking to fix a problem that even Republicans want to fix. I don't think we have to have every detail pinned down with all the Is dotted and Ts crossed in order to do a short term extension, but I do want to see that Republicans are saying, You're right. We can fix this, and here's the path to finding a fix. And the second thing we need, which is so reasonable, we're just asking, if we do a deal, please don't, Mr. President, sign the deal, and then immediately the next day start, starting to take away funds, rescinding agreements that you just made yesterday. A deal should be a deal, and we should all agree that Americans should not see their health care suffer, their premiums spike, and people lose insurance and providers close. We've already had providers in Virginia announce that they are closing their doors because of the bill that the Republicans passed in July, and this is happening all over the country. Let's just do what's right by our constituents and fix it."
During the interview, Brennan and Kaine talked about Todd Gilbert, who resigned as the the US Attorney for the Western District of Virginia last month, and Eric Siebert, who resigned earlier this month as the US Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia after failing to bring a case against Letitia James, Attorney General for New York.
This prompted Brennan to ask the senator what happening in the Virginia court system, to which Kaine said:
"It's pretty darn plain the President nominated two U.S. attorneys in Virginia, both with Republican bona fides. Todd Gilbert in the Western District, had been the Republican Speaker of our house of delegates. He resigned as a legislator to take the Trump appointment. President Trump's team interviewed these candidates, approved the candidates, nominated the candidates, and then even appointed them into the interim position. But both were forced out because they said their integrity as prosecutors would not allow them to genuflect to Donald Trump. And in Todd Gilbert's case, they wanted to force him to demote a long time career member of the Western District of Virginia who had served under multiple administrations and presidents. He refused to do so. And in Eric Siebert's case, he refused to bring a criminal charge against a perceived Trump political opponent when there was no evidence to support the charge. President Trump is spending time going after enemies, trying to figure out a way to give $20 billion to a friend, the Argentine Government, instead of dealing with the challenges we elected him to confront. Food prices are going up. Building supplies are going up. School supplies are going up. Energy costs are going up, health care costs are going up, and Donald Trump seems to be focused on a retribution campaign. You got to focus, man, this is an important job. It's time to focus."
Brennan followed up by asking if Kaine spoke with both men to "understand why they felt they had to resign," and Kaine said:
"I have talked to each of them after the resignations were done. These were individuals I knew both. I knew Todd Gilbert because of his legislative role, and I knew Eric Siebert very well by reputation. And again, this was the prosecutor Margaret, who, when the Biden administration transitioned to the Trump administration, the Trump administration DOJ put him in the role as an interim even before we recommended him, along with our republican governor, Glenn Youngkin, as you mentioned. So after they had been fired, yes, I did call and say I'd like to understand why you were forced out, and they shared thoughts with me without getting into anything about particular cases or particular communication they'd had with Trump administration officials. But I am convinced, and Virginians are convinced. I traveled around the state this week. People are talking about this. Both of these individuals had a backbone. They wouldn't genuflect to Donald Trump, and they wouldn't bring baseless cases, and we shouldn't see that in any district in this nation. And it's sad that President Trump is more focused on retribution than serving his constituents."
To watch more of Brennan's interview with Kaine, click here.
