Jake Tapper Asks Dick Durbin the $64,000 Question After Senator Waffles on Feinstein: How Did it ‘Work Out’ When RBG Died?

CNN’s Jake Tapper pressed Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) on why his fellow Democrats have been largely reluctant in demanding Senator Dianne Feinstein’s (D-CA) resignation.

Tapper opened his interview Durbin on State of the Union by asking what the Senate Judiciary Committee will do to scrutinize Justice Clarence Thomas over the newly-revealed payments his wife received from a right-wing judicial activist. But the conversation eventually moved to the committee’s paralysis due to Feinstein’s extended sick leave, and the recurring questions of whether she is still capable of fulfilling her duties.

“At what point,” Tapper asked, “do the tens of millions of voters currently lacking full representation in the Senate from California — at what point do they matter more than the feelings of a colleague whose health has been in question for a long time?”

Durbin expressed hope for Feinstein’s return, admitting “We need her” and “It is a challenge in the Senate Judiciary Committee to do our business [without her].”

“I hope she does what is best for her and her family and the state of California and makes a decision soon as to whether she is coming back.”

Feinstein’s future has been the root of difficult questions for many (but not all) Democrats. As such, Tapper compared Feinstein’s situation to what happened to the judicial landscape when Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died while still serving on the Supreme Court — rather than retiring when Democrats had the chance to replace her.

Tapper: I mean, all due respect, sir. You and your fellow Democrats were very ginger and very polite when it came to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and not pushing her to retire when you had a Democratic majority in the Senate. How’d that work out for you? How’d that work out for Roe V. Wade?

Durbin: Well, I can tell you that you can play these out and try to guess what the court opinions resulting from it will be. The bottom line is, though, we have in the past had members of the Senate — I can think of a handful as I sit here, Democrats and Republicans — who have been absent because of medical conditions for lengthy periods of time. I want to treat Dianne Feinstein fairly. I want to be sensitive to her family situation and her personal situation. I don’t want to say that she is going to be put under more pressure than others have in the past, but the bottom line is, the business of the committee and of the Senate is affected by her absence.

Watch above via CNN.