Justice Department Asks for More Time to Reunite Separated Families
BLITZER: Just a few hours from now, the president of the United States will appear on national television to reveal his pick to replace retiring U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. The expected front runners are federal appeals court judges, Amy Coney Barrett, Thomas Hardiman, Brett Kavanaugh, and Raymond Kethledge. Joining us to discuss the potential candidates and more, CNN political analyst and congressional reporter for the "Washington Post, Karoun Demirjian, and CNN political analyst and White House correspondent for American Urban Radio Networks, April Ryan. April, clearly, the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, he's got his preferences. Do you believe the president will necessarily accept the recommendation from the majority leader who's got to push this through a very narrow U.S. Senate?</s>APRIL RYAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: No. President Trump is going to do what President Trump has always done. He thinks for himself. He may take advice, but he is going to do what he wants to do. And according to a Republican source, who just reached out, you know, the decision is not made until it's made tonight. But what we're hearing is that, right now -- and it's not final because he could flip -- it's Hardiman and Kavanaugh. It's really about the fact that he doesn't feel, according to sources, the president does not feel they would waiver on the issue of Roe v. Wade. Amy Coney Barrett is not in the running, apparently, right now, because they feel that -- the president feels she could waiver on Roe v. Wade. This is something that could still change at a moment's notice. This president could change --</s>RYAN: Yes.</s>BLITZER: Amy Coney Barrett, one of the four so-called finalists right now. They need -- the Republicans, assuming no Democrats -- a big assumption -- no Democrats vote to confirm, they'll need every Republican on board. A couple of those Republican Senators have concerns.</s>KAROUN DEMIRJIAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, you've seen Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski basically say they have concerns about people that would be not adhering to precedent on things like Roe v. Wade and might overturn it. I think you have to think those two Republicans and the three Democrats that there's a chief focus on, Joe Manchin, Joe Donnelly, and Heidi Heitkamp, as one group. Because if Collins and Murkowski don't vote for the nominee, that gives cover to some of the conservative Democrats who are facing tight races in states that voted for Trump. I agree with April, we don't know what the president is going to do until he actually does it because we're dealing with a fairly capricious president. But he wants a win on this. Gorsuch was a big win for both McConnell and President Trump. They want to repeat that. They don't want to have that legacy of the court is the thing we won on fall apart. So they have to think about the math going forward and who can both have faith in to stick by the principles he wants but is not going to be dead on arrival or take inordinate amounts of arm twisting to get those really needed votes on board.</s>BLITZER: Let me switch gears with both of you. April, tomorrow is the deadline a federal judge imposed on getting children under 5 years old reunited with their moms and their dads. The administration is asking for a delay. They say they need more time. But it's so, so disconcerting, so worrisome that a lot of these kids and their mothers and fathers, the government itself is unclear who's where and what's going on.</s>RYAN: We're now at a point of DNA testing. We're at a point where they're really scared to put out the visuals and really talk about it because it makes them look like they're not as confident about reunifying these children with their parents as they once were at the beginning of this controversy. If, indeed, the deadline comes and there's a problem, there could be a fine. What's a fine to the United States government? What it does do is create a bigger issue with the psyche of the American public and with the global leaders. What are the world leaders thinking? What is the world thinking about us when we cannot reunify parents? There's a strong possibility some of these kids will not be reunified with their parents. Then what happens?</s>BLITZER: It's so heartbreaking. We're talking about 3,000 children who have been separated from their parents by the United States government under the orders of the United States government, and there's deep concern that some of them, that they don't know where the mothers and fathers are, where the kids are.</s>DEMIRJIAN: And what happens? How long does it take? Even if you reunite them, how long does it take? How much psychological damage has there been to those children in the meantime? The longer this goes on, the more people -- you've seen politicians of all stripes saying this isn't who we're supposed to be. This isn't how we're supposed to treat people that come to our borders and shores. The worse it looks the longer it goes on. It's already not a good optical. The optics are already bad. If it continues, and you end up having a large number of children that never find their parents, again, that's just --</s>RYAN: In the foster system in this country.</s>BLITZER: And you hear these heartbreaking stories of kids who are reunited with their mothers. They cling to their mothers. They refuse to let go. It's so heartbreaking to see.</s>BLITZER: You don't know what long-term damage could develop as a result. All right. We'll watch it closely with you guys. Thank you very, very much. Check out the plane banner flying over Columbus, Ohio, calling on Jim Jordan to resign over allegations he turned a blind eye to abuse. The Republican is back here in Washington, up on Capitol Hill today. He's fighting back. We have details. Stay with us.