ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Ruth Bader Ginsburg has reiterated her mea culpa this afternoon over her ill-advised public criticism of Donald Trump. She made her remarks in an interview with NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg after issuing an apology this morning in a written statement.
NINA TOTENBERG, BYLINE: My long-planned interview late this afternoon was to be a biographical one for the Academy of Achievement, a non-profit educational foundation. But I did ask Ginsburg some questions about the furor over her Trump comments.
Why did you just think that it was time to say you were sorry you had made these remarks?
RUTH BADER GINSBURG: Because it was incautious. I said something I should not have said, and I made a statement that reads, on reflection, my recent remarks and response to press inquiries were ill-advised. I regret making them. Judges should avoid commenting on a candidate for public office. In the future, I will be more circumspect.
TOTENBERG: I ask Ginsburg if she had just goofed.
GINSBURG: I would say yes to your question, and that's why I gave the statement. I did something I should not have done. It's over and done with, and I don't want to discuss it anymore.
TOTENBERG: In several interviews over the past week, Ginsburg criticized the presumptive GOP presidential candidate, calling him a faker and inconsistent and said she didn't want to think about what his election would mean for the country or the court. Now she's trying to put the whole matter behind her with an apology. Nina Totenberg, NPR News, Washington. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
