Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) should not resign early.
In an interview with Time journalist Charlotte Alter at the Chicago Humanities Festival, Clinton, 75, argued that the cons outweighed the pros in terms of a possible resignation from Feinstein, 89. She also praised Feinstein's leadership and said it would be against the democratic will of California to pressure her to resign because the people had voted to reelect her.
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“Let me say a word about my friend and longtime colleague Dianne Feinstein,” Clinton said. “First of all, she has suffered greatly from the bout of shingles and encephalitis that she endured. Here is the dilemma for her: She got reelected. The people of California voted for her again, not very long ago. That was the voters’ decision to vote for her, and she has been a remarkable and very effective leader.”
The biggest reason for keeping Feinstein, Clinton argued, was her position on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Because Republicans would likely refuse to allow Democrats to replace her seat, the party would be unable to confirm any judges.
“Here’s the dilemma: The Republicans will not agree to add someone else to the Judiciary Committee if she retires,” Clinton said.
“I want you to think about how crummy that is. So, I don’t know what’s in her heart about whether she really would or wouldn’t, but right now, she can’t. Because if we’re going to get judges confirmed, which is one of the most important continuing obligations that we have, then we cannot afford to have her seat vacant.”
Clinton also bashed Republicans on moral grounds, saying that it was cruel to force Democrats to keep Feinstein in Congress while she was so ill.
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“If Republicans were to say and do the decent thing and say, 'Well, this woman was gravely ill. She had just lost her husband to cancer … of course we will let you fill this position if she retires.' But they won’t say that,” she said. “So, what are we supposed to do? All these people pushing her to retire: Fine, we get no more judges? I don’t think that’s a good trade-off.”
Feinstein has faced increased pressure to resign after being absent from the Senate for roughly three months, including from within her own party.