Sen. Elizabeth Warren Still Won't Endorse Sanders Or Clinton
BOSTON (CBS) -- In a tense interview on CBS This Morning Thursday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren again refused to endorse a candidate in the Democratic primary race, only saying that she's glad both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are "out talking about the issues."
CBS This Morning host Norah O'Donnell noted that all of Warren's fellow female Democratic senators had endorsed Hillary Clinton as the party's presidential nominee, and asked Warren if she would endorse a candidate before the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia in July.
"I don't have a timeline for this," said Warren, instead saying she was just proud that both Clinton and Sanders have been talking about issues of education and wealth inequality.
"But you know your lack of an endorsement at this stage, though, has raised some questions," said O'Donnell, who then asked if Warren thought Clinton should release the transcripts of her speeches to Goldman Sachs, another question Warren avoided.
"What I'm glad to see is what's happening right now, and that is that the Democrats are out talking about the issues," said Warren. "I think it makes it very distinct what happens between our side and what's happening over on the other side. They're doing some kind of reality show, we're out here trying to talk about the issues that affect the American people."
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Warren has long avoided showing support for one candidate over the other. Much earlier in the presidential race last August, as Clinton wrestled with an email scandal and Sanders began to draw crowds, WBZ political analyst Jon Keller asked Warren if it was a mistake for the party to 'anoint' Clinton as the front runner so early.
Warren replied, "I don't think anybody's's been anointed."
Warren was also asked on CBS This Morning Thursday if she was enthusiastic in her support of Merrick Garland, President Obama's nominee to fill the Supreme Court vacancy left by Justice Antonin Scalia's death. The Senator would not answer that question with a yes or no, saying the point was that the confirmation hearing process needed to happen before she could make a decision.
"We want Judge Garland to come over, I want to meet with him, I want to look at his credentials, I want to see him perform in a hearing, and then I want to be able to have a vote on him," said Warren. "That's what 'advise and consent' means. It's not supposed to be some kind of crazy political process."
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She called out Senate Republican leaders for their refusal to even consider Garland.
"Senator Toomey said if he had been nominated by a Republican, then yes, he'd be willing to consider him--but not since he was nominated by president Obama," said Warren. "This has just really taken off in a direction that is a direct insult to the President, it is a direct insult to the constitution, and now it is a direct insult to Judge Garland."
She said that, in the past, nominees have gotten their due hearings and a vote, and that the only ones who didn't get a hearing didn't get one because their confirmation went straight to a vote.