>> you could be a north carolinian. aenjoyed talking, i got chance to talk with some of your other children, very impressive family. judge barrett: thank you for taking the time to talk to the kids. sen. tillis: i guess we will be seated here at some point. >> [inaudible] sen. tillis: i am not taking questions here. thank you. several republican senators have announced they have contracted the coronavirus. senator graham, the judiciary committee chair, issued a statement about the timing of the supreme court confirmation proceed saying, we will with the consideration of the nomination of judge amy coney barrett to be an associate

justice on the u.s. supreme court on october 12. earlier, chuck schumer spoke outside his office in new york reiterating his opposition to the republican plan to move forward with the supreme court confirmation hearing. >> is that ok? good morning, everyone. thank you for coming and we will keep this short as we usually do given the guidelines. course, that the top levels of our government have been hit by the corona outbreak. we wish the president, senators, and everyone else who got corona a speedy recovery. it shouldn't be a surprise. a new poll came out this morning, three out of four americans doubt that president trump took the threat of covid-19 seriously enough.

why might they think that? look at this super-spreader fears to. -- super spreader photo. this is amy coney barrett's ceremony at the white house, people sitting close together for long periods of time with no masks, most of them. inside, they were encouraged to take off their masks even though being inside is more damaging than being outside. to talke here today about two people who have to take covid seriously, more seriously, and act on its. the first is mitch mcconnell. mitch mcconnell seems to be jamming through the hearings on amy coney barrett even though three senators have covid, even though he has said it is not safe for

the senate to meet in session, but it is ok to have the hearings. if it is not safe for the senate to meet in session, it is not safe for the hearings to go forward. the idea of having virtual hearings where no one is with the witness for the highest court in the land for a life appointment that would have such effect on people's lives makes no sense. is virtuallyring no hearing at all. you need to be with the witness and have direct course -- cross questions and back and forth with them. nominee affects people's health care and their protection with pre-existing conditions, helps stands for preserving or eliminating a woman's right to choose, stands for keeping voter rights strong,

lgbtq rights strong. for mitch mcconnell to go ahead with the hearing endangers the safety of not only senators but of staff who work diligently on the hill and they ought to be delayed. there is no reason why they shouldn't be delayed other than an effort to rush a witness through in an inadequate hearing where people can't even see the witness face-to-face. today alongnded with millions of americans that they hearings be postponed. if mitch mcconnell believes they should be postponed in the senate, they should be postponed at the hearing level. the second point is the president. see, wefulton's parent all know the president's cavalier attitude towards covid, masks, social distancing has endangered many people, including himself.

it happened over and over and over again. now, at the minimum, we need full gins there and see. theeed to know exactly level of the president's health, we need to know who else got covid, how severely they have it. that applies to senators, workers in the white house, and top-level people at the white house. when you don't have transparency, when there is cover ups, even lying about something as vital to the nation's security at the president's health, the nation is endangered. we know president trump has a penchant for not telling the truth but when it comes to something as vital as this, the health of the president, the health of the people around him, we need to know the whole truth and nothing but the truth, or just the facts, no cover-up, no

thening, no half-truths, whole story and we are calling on the president to start being andhful about his condition the condition of those around him. we need anything else? no? ok, those are the two issues. questions on these two subjects. >> what options would you have at your disposal? [inaudible] they can still go ahead with the hearings whether the senate meets or not. hearings can occur independent of the senates, they can occur when the senate is out of session. we will have more options when it comes to a vote in the senate committee and on the floor and we will use every tool in the not haveo delay and the votes occur. >> [inaudible] to. schumer: we are going

talk about it, but we will use every procedural tool that we can. first, the ladies hearings. we can't force the hearings, but public pressure on the senators, we should be delaying these hearings so we can have a full and fair hearing, not something over zoom. that does not measure up when you have the most important appointment that the senate makes for a lifetime. >> [inaudible] sen. schumer: i have asked mitch mcconnell repeatedly that all senators get tested and our staff get tested and so far, he has not gone along with it and i think he is wrong. thank you, everybody. have a good day. watch live coverage of the senate confirmation hearings for

judge amy coney barrett starting monday, october 12 with opening statements by judiciary committee members and judge barrett. live coverage on c-span and c-span.org. listed on the c-span radio app and be sure to visit c-span.org to view a playlist of amy coney barrett's legal views. last night, senator lindsey graham took part in a debate against his challenger jamie harrison. according to a political report, this race has tightened in recent weeks. this debate is courtesy of wis-tv in columbia. the coin toss determined the order of opening statements. mr. harrison, you want that. mr. harrison: thank you, judy, and i want to thank everyone here on the campus of allen university. while i breathe, i hope, that is