DJT Audio Archive: Republican Debate #9 - Greenville, South Carolina (February 13, 2016)

First, the death of Jo- Justice Scalia and the vacancy that leaves on the Supreme Court.

Mr. Trump, I wanna start with you.

You've said that the president shouldn't nom in any, nominate anyone in the rest of his term to replace Justice Scalia.

If you were president and had a chance with 11 months left to go in your term, wouldn't it be an abdication to conservatives in particular not to name a conservative justice with the rest of your term for the-

Well, I can say this.

If the president, and if I were president now, I would certainly wanna try and nominate a justice.

And I'm sure that, frankly, I'm, uh, absolutely sure that President Obama will try and do it.

I hope that our Senate is going to be able, Mitch and the entire group is gonna be able to do something about it in times of delay.

We could have a Diane Sykes or you could have a Bill Pryor.

We have some fantastic people.

But this is a tremendous blow to conservatism.

It's a tremendous blow, frankly, to our country.

So just to be clear on this, Mr. Trump, you're okay with the president nominating somebody.

I, I think he's going to do it whether I'm okay with it or not.

I think it's up to Mitch McConnell and everybody else to stop it.

It's called delay, delay, delay.

[cheering]

Governor Kasich, I wanna get your thoughts on this.

Justice Scalier was, uh, Scalia was a real believer, obviously, in the strict word of the Constitution.

Now, Harry Reid says that a failure to fill his vacancy would be, quote, "Shameful abdication of one of the Senate's most essential constitutional responsibilities." Where do you come down on this?

Well, John, first of all, if I were president, we wouldn't have the divisions in the country we have today.

And I do wanna take a second as we reflected on Judge Scalia, it's amazing- It's not even two minutes after the death of Judge Scalia.

Nine children here today, their father didn't wake up.

Uh, his wife, uh, you know, sad.

But, uh, you know, I just wish we hadn't run so fast into politics.

First, the death of Jo- Justice Scalia and the vacancy that leaves on the Supreme Court.

Mr. Trump, I wanna start with you.

You've said that the president shouldn't nom in any, nominate anyone in the rest of his term to replace Justice Scalia.

If you were president and had a chance with 11 months left to go in your term, wouldn't it be an abdication to conservatives in particular not to name a conservative justice with the rest of your term for the-

Well, I can say this.

If the president, and if I were president now, I would certainly wanna try and nominate a justice.

And I'm sure that, frankly, I'm, uh, absolutely sure that President Obama will try and do it.

I hope that our Senate is going to be able, Mitch and the entire group is gonna be able to do something about it in times of delay.

We could have a Diane Sykes or you could have a Bill Pryor.

We have some fantastic people.

But this is a tremendous blow to conservatism.

It's a tremendous blow, frankly, to our country.

So just to be clear on this, Mr. Trump, you're okay with the president nominating somebody.

I, I think he's going to do it whether I'm okay with it or not.

I think it's up to Mitch McConnell and everybody else to stop it.

It's called delay, delay, delay.

[cheering]

Governor Kasich, I wanna get your thoughts on this.

Justice Scalier was, uh, Scalia was a real believer, obviously, in the strict word of the Constitution.

Now, Harry Reid says that a failure to fill his vacancy would be, quote, "Shameful abdication of one of the Senate's most essential constitutional responsibilities." Where do you come down on this?

Well, John, first of all, if I were president, we wouldn't have the divisions in the country we have today.

And I do wanna take a second as we reflected on Judge Scalia, it's amazing- It's not even two minutes after the death of Judge Scalia.

Nine children here today, their father didn't wake up.

Uh, his wife, uh, you know, sad.

But, uh, you know, I just wish we hadn't run so fast into politics.