CNN "Erin Burnett Outfront" - Transcript: Interview with Democratic Congressman Bennie Thompson of Mississippi
Interview
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BURNETT: Abby, thank you very much.
And now I want to go to the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Democratic Congressman Bennie Thompson.
Congressman, I appreciate your time.
Were Democrats too quick to reject the Democrat's proposal before he announced anything?
REP. BENNIE THOMPSON (D), MISSISSIPPI: Well, clearly, it was nothing new. This is the Trump shutdown. He owns it.
Let's put the workers back to work. They are not rich people. They have mortgages. They have obligations, and to put them in this situation is untenable.
President Trump put those American citizens back to work, then let's sit down like adults and work through these situations. You can't do it on Twitter. You can't do it on Saturday.
Let's do it together around the table and that's the Democratic message. The wall is a non-starter. Let's put the people back to work and then let's sit down and talk.
BURNETT: So, you know, some of the president's supporters see this obviously very differently than you do. In fact, they think he is giving away too much in his offer. Ann Coulter, and we know she's influential with the president. It's part of the reason we're in this situation, right, she said he shouldn't cave to begin with. She tweeted, quote, Trump promises amnesty. We voted for Trump and got Jeb.
What's your response to that?
THOMPSON: Well, you know, we are looking for a pathway to citizenship for a lot of our Dreamers. Let's work through that. A temporary fix that for three years is really not going to get us there.
So, again, the first thing we need to do is put the 800,000 people who are working and not being paid. Let's put them back to work and make sure all of this is taken care of and sit down like adults and work it out. You can't have temper tantrums. You can't do all those other things that we've been watching.
The president said he will own the shutdown. Mr. President, all you have to do is cut it off, put the people back to work, direct people to be paid and then let's sit down and work this out. Some of the things in terms of what I've been hearing make sense like
adding more judges to the court system. So, our system won't be clogged.
[19:35:02] It makes sense. But the border wall is a non-starter.
BURNETT: Now, obviously, you know, a year ago, you all are willing to include some sort of border wall, right, in exchange for a lot of things. What's changed you don't do it in any case at all, considering obviously there is a wall in a lot of places that does work?
THOMPSON: Well, I think let's take our ports of entry. Most of the problems we have with immigration on our southern border, we catch a lot of drugs coming through there. Let's fortify those areas where we know things are happening.
But this notion of a 2,000-mile wall is not who we are as a people. Our value system as Americans is different than there. So again, those areas at ports of entry I agree, let's make them as solid and as fortified as possible, but what the president is talking about is something all together different.
BURNETT: I want to ask you, of course, congressman about today.
Martin Luther King Day, one of your Democratic colleagues in the House, Congressman Hakim Jeffries spoke about the president on this Martin Luther King Day where the president visited Martin Luther King memorial for two minutes, did not mention him by name.
Here is what Hakeem Jeffries had to say.
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BURNETT: The grand wizard of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Does that go too far?
THOMPSON: Well, let me tell you, you look at a person's record. The fact checkers have indicated that President Trump has lied over 7,000 times since he's been in office.
He's talked about women. He's talked about minorities. He's talked about every group of people you can imagine. You have to set a higher standard. And so, for so for him to go to Martin Luther King's statute today for two minutes and my understanding is that's all he had on his schedule today, two minutes on a national holiday for a man so great who gave his life for this country to make it a better place, I think it's an insult.
So, a lot of people react differently. Congressman Jeffries has his opinion, we all have our own opinion.
But I can tell you this, the president should do better. He can't talk about people every day and expect people to respect him. That's not being presidential. It's about leadership.
Mr. President, we need leadership from the White House, not someone who's always having temper tantrums.
BURNETT: All right. Chairman Thompson, thank you so much for your time.
THOMPSON: Thank you.
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