CNN "The Lead With Jake Tapper" - Transcript "Interview with TX. Rep. Veronica Escobar"

Interview

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TAPPER: And we're back with our national lead.

President Trump now landing in El Paso, Texas. You see Air Force One there on the tarmac.

Joining me now to talk about the president's visit, Democratic Congresswoman Veronica Escobar. She represents El Paso and turned down a meeting with the president there.

Congresswoman, thanks for joining us on such a horrible week.

You said you would only meet with the president if you could talk to him about his rhetoric beforehand. The White House turned you down.

But I wonder. By not being part of the delegation, by not meeting with them, did you miss a chance to talk to him about his rhetoric?

REP. VERONICA ESCOBAR (D-TX): Here's what -- the challenge that I faced, Jake.

If I didn't have an opportunity to really have a one-on-one conversation with him in advance, and if I had been part of the motorcade, I don't know that I would have been in the car with him to speak.

And then, once he went to the hospital, if that's where he went -- I don't know what his schedule was -- then there just is no opportunity.

And that's why I felt, when we got the invitation -- and I appreciate that they reached out to us to invite us to be part of the motorcade -- I thought this is an opportunity, this could be a possible opening to really use this moment, this moment of pain and this moment of severe suffering, to use it as a moment of opportunity for the whole country and for this community, an opportunity to heal.

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But in order to heal, there really needs to be an acknowledgement of the words and the power of the words and the hate and the racism in the words that he's used to describe my community and to Spanish and immigrants.

And if we can't have that dialogue, my feeling was, I refuse to be a prop. I'm not going to stand next to him as he pretends to care about what's happening in this community.

I hope he truly does care. But these are really difficult and important conversations that need to be had. They can't be had in moments of passing.

TAPPER: We're looking right now at the pictures of the president and first lady Melania Trump. They're meeting with Governor Abbott, Senators Cornyn and Cruz.

The Mayor of El Paso, Mayor Margo, is there as well. Now, the Mayor of El Paso says he's meeting with the president because he says this visit should not be about politics. What's your response to that?

ESCOBAR: Humanity should not be about politics either.

Respecting the dignity and the grace of every human being should not be a Republican or Democratic value. It should be a human value, right?

And the words that the president has used have dehumanized us, Jake. That's why a terrorist can walk into a shopping center and gun down people in such cold blood, because he doesn't see us as human.

The words that the president has used also dehumanized us. We should -- there should be no division this issue.

There should be only unity and calling for accountability on those words, the power of those words, the damage done by those words, and calling on the president to say every human being, regardless of the color of your skin, regardless of who you love, who you are, or regardless of whether you were born on this side of that river or the other side of that river, every human being deserves dignity and respect.

That shouldn't be a partisan issue.

TAPPER: I remember President George W. Bush saying family values don't stop at the Rio Grande River.

Let me ask you, Congresswoman, if you could, whether you're speaking on behalf of yourself or your constituents. I have heard from a number of Latino and Latina friends who are scared, who are afraid in their own country, who have never felt more afraid.

And I'm wondering if you could speak to that.

ESCOBAR: Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. Be proud of who you are. Be proud of what you represent.

But this is -- this is why it's so important, Jake, for the president to this. He can have a country that is living in fear, living in division, divided by hate, divided by racism, or he can rise to the occasion of embracing every human being with the dignity that we all deserve, the dignity and the grace.

It is up to him, really. And we're going to see in the days ahead whether the person reading the lines from the teleprompter is the same person as the person on Twitter and the same person on rallies.

This community is resilient and strong and beautiful. And we are united in love. And we are determined, determined to make sure that every person is treated with that dignity that they deserve.

TAPPER: Democratic Congresswoman Veronica Escobar of the beautiful city of El Paso and the surrounding area, thank you so much for your time. We really appreciate it. We know it has been a really awful week.

ESCOBAR: Thank you, Jake.

TAPPER: As President Trump arrives in El Paso, some of the Democrats hoping to challenge him in 2020 are, well, unleashing.

That's next.

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