Louisiana senator on Todd Blanche’s Senate confirmation, AG-DOJ cooperation and more

WASHINGTON (CBS, KYMA) - Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) spoke with Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation Sunday about the Senate confirming Todd Blanche as Attorney General.

Blanche, who was the acting Attorney General after Pam Bondi was fired earlier this year, was confirmed, over the weekend, by the Senate in a 50-49 vote, with Sen. Cassidy serving as the deciding vote.

"I'll be criticized for this vote. What's new? But the people of Louisiana can be assured that I worked hard to understand the issue and to make the right decision," the senator said regarding his vote.

However, Brennan said his voice cracked during his speech, prompting her to ask why his voice cracked, as well as ask why he thinks he's going to be criticized, to which he said:

"My voice cracked because my wife thinks it's endearing. I think it's embarrassing. But sometimes you're aware of the incredible privilege of representing your state and your nation. Incredible privilege, and as a- as a little boy, I would read history books, and I'd read about these great decisions on the Senate floor, and the fact that I have the ability to participate, and after an intense 48 hours of coming up with a decision that wasn't black or white. You can argue one way or the other, and you can come up with just this side or just that side of approval. Now, the fact that I, Bill Cassidy, was able to do that, I am so privileged. And whenever I just for a second am hit by the gravity of that and the honor of that, I get emotional. And that's just again, my wife finds it endearing. I find it embarrassing."

During the interview, Brennan and Cassidy talked about the senator's opinions on Blanche as the new attorney general, and what positives could come out of it.

"There's three aspects to the attorney general. The attorney general is supposed to give advice to the president, supposed to run the Department of Justice and is supposed to make sure that the U.S. attorneys nationwide are doing their job. It really weighs strongly in his favor when I speak to my U.S. attorneys in Louisiana, and I spoke specifically to David Courcelle and Kurt Wall, and they said, listen, we have calls once weekly between our office and DOJ, and they give metrics for our prosecutors, and each individual prosecutor is weighed on that metric, and we've had our focus restricted down to fighting violent crime, human and drug trafficking, and going after fraud in programs like Medicare and Medicaid. And if I need extra resources to bring a case home, we do it. And if there's a drug kingpin, we get the resources to go after them, and- and our morale is up, not despite the accountability, because of the accountability. Now, if you want a DOJ which is actually doing its job, you need stable leadership, and you need leadership which is effective, and in that which is making the greatest difference in my life, in your life, in the American people's life. There's a lot of positive things to say about Todd Blanche."

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.)

When asked if he is confident Blanche will uphold the Constitution with the upcoming elections after Democrats said he may not, the senator said, "There's always this existential anxiety...But I am as confident as you can be about the future you are. I cannot predict the future, and this is not a black or white decision. But I'm confident on that."

Also during his conversation with Brennan, Cassidy commented on recent comments that other Republicans made about newly elected Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) said, "Democrats just voted to send a terrorist to the Senate. He's a radical Islamist," while Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) added, "Every single Muslim holding public office in America is a Trojan horse and a threat to both national security and our republic. We refuse to be silent."

This led Brennan to ask Cassidy if he is comfortable with Sen. Tuberville and Rep. Mace's comments, and if the Republican Party needs to condemn them, and the senator said:

"I condemn language like that...The Muslims that I typically work with are doctors working in a remote area of Louisiana who otherwise would not have a physician unless Dr. Mohammed actually agreed to move there and be their doctor. Or he is the- or she is the professor teaching students something positive. Now- so you have to take every community in its totality. Every community has a bad apple, and every community has those people, my gosh, weren't they wonderful people? Now, my exposure has been to the wonderful people. I condemn those statements, and everybody should be treated as an individual. If somebody is awful, they should be treated as awful. But we shouldn't treat everybody as awful because somebody with whom they are identified may be awful, if you follow that."

Later in the interview, Brennan and Cassidy talked about Social Security.

The Social Security Board of Trustees said it's going to be insolvent in the next six years, with 70 million beneficiaries seeing a 22% cut to the their checks.

This prompted Brennan to ask the senator what he can do during his last few months in office, to which he said:

"We're trying to get something done. We were trying to set up a process by which the Senate would invite the House to join and present bills that could be a solution. We don't dictate what the bill would be. It could be Ron Wyden's bill. It could be Bernie Sanders' bill. It could be Bill Cassidy's bill. We would just present things to the Congress in order for us to consider. To set up that process."

To watch more of Brennan's interview with Cassidy, click here.