CNN "State Of The Union With Jake Tapper" - Transcript "Interview with Sen. Cory Booker"

Interview

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TAPPER: Joining me now from the campaign trail in Dubuque, Iowa, to talk about rising hate and more, 2020 presidential candidate Senator Cory Booker from New Jersey.

Senator, thanks for joining us from the campaign trail.

I want to get your reaction to the president retweeting this deranged conspiracy theory, obviously, no evidence, falsely linking Jeffrey Epstein's death by apparent suicide to an alleged murder by the president's political opponents.

What is your reaction?

BOOKER: You know, this is just more recklessness. What he's doing is dangerous.

He's giving life to not just conspiracy theories, but really whipping people up into anger and worse against different people in this country. And so this is a tired way that the president does. He's been using the Clintons as a means for a lot of his false accusations.

But, remember, this is a nation now where we have just seen horrific acts, whether it is someone walking into a pizza shop, based upon these kind of conspiracy theories, to take violent action.

[09:30:10]

We see people's lives being threatened because this president whips up hatred. This is a very dangerous president that we have right now, trying to divide us against each other and really using the same tactics and the same language, not just of white supremacists, but also using the same tactics and languages of the Russians, if you look at the intelligence reports about how they're coming at our democracy.

TAPPER: President Trump said on Friday that, in the wake of the El Paso and Dayton massacres, he's pushing Congress to enact what he calls -- quote -- "meaningful background checks."

The president said he's going to be able to get the NRA on board as well.

Do you believe that? And do you believe that he's going to push forward for background checks?

BOOKER: I believe very little that this president says, where he tweets, from pulling troops out of Afghanistan to that he solved the nuclear crisis in North Korea.

He tweets a lot of things. He says -- makes a lot of bold statements that don't just come through. He doesn't follow through. He doesn't do the things that keep our nation safe and strong.

So, absolutely not. A real president in this time of crisis, where America is grieving, where fear is penetrating our nation -- I hear from kids on the campaign trail standing up and just talking about what ultimately for our nation right now is a surrender, saying that we can't protect our children. So, when they go to school, we're going to teach you how to duck and cover and hide and shelter in place.

This is an abject surrender of leadership on this president's part. He has taken no responsibility for this penetrating fear that's in our in our society. And, frankly, he's not leading in this moment. So I don't believe what he tweets. I have seen no real action. I

have seen nothing coming out of Mitch McConnell. Here we are on a summer recess, when this nation is deeply hurting and deeply worried about their safety.

I have talked to teachers at the Iowa Fair yesterday who said, we startup school in a matter of days, and we're going to go back to classrooms where that's going to be hanging over the classrooms.

This is the time for decisive action, for Congress to go back, for this president to lay out a real, substantive plan.

But he's doing none of that. He's failing this nation, and in so many ways responsible for where we are right now.

TAPPER: It does seem that there might be a some momentum for a so- called red flag law to pass the Senate that would allow an individual's family or potentially law enforcement to temporarily block an individual from having firearms if he or she seems to be a danger to himself or others.

But Senate Democratic Leader Schumer said passing a red flag law without the background check bill that the House of Representatives passed would be a -- quote -- "cop-out."

He said -- quote -- "Democrats in the Senate will seek to require that any red flag bill that comes to the floor is accompanied by a vote on the House-passed universal background check legislation."

So, Senator, I guess my question is, would you support a red flag law as a stand-alone bill? I mean, isn't something better than nothing?

BOOKER: Well, again, I have a comprehensive plan, perhaps the far -- most far-reaching amongst Democratic candidates.

And, yes, so-called red flag laws are a part of that. And we should do that at a nation.

But it is not going to be enough to end the epidemic of mass shootings. And it's not going to be enough to really restore a sense of -- bring a sense of calm and security back to our nation.

So I will do whatever I can to leverage more change, to leverage the steps that we need that will dramatically -- that the evidence has shown will dramatically lower the levels of shootings.

So, again, this is going to be a chess match and tactical sausage- making in the Senate. But I'm going to say very clearly we need far more bolder action to make our nation safe.

Red flag laws, yes, they're important, but they're nowhere near enough to stop these rising levels of mass shootings, now having more sunrises and sunsets in our nation than we -- less sunrises and sunsets than we've had mass shootings.

We have to do more. The American public should demand more. And, frankly, things like background checks are overwhelmingly supported by gun owners. The fact that we're not doing that is a failure of leadership.

TAPPER: Former Vice President Biden appeared to stumble at an event earlier this week, a campaign event.

He said that -- quote -- "Poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids." And then he seemed to correct themselves saying wealthy kids, black kids, Asian kids. The campaign said he misspoke.

But one of your rivals, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, on Twitter said -- quote -- "To quickly dismiss Joe Biden's words as a mere slip of the tongue is as concerning as what he said. We need to have a real conversation about the racism and sexism behind 'electability.'"

What do you make of this all?

[09:35:00]

BOOKER: I pay very little mind to it. I mean, Joe Biden will have to answer to his -- his words himself.

I will say this, that this idea of electability doesn't usually center on the broader ideals of that.

I'm going to Milwaukee to do a rally. I know we're going to have hundreds and hundreds of people there.

If you can't energize the urban base, as well as the suburban base, as well as rural area -- we need candidates that can create the kind of excitement that we saw -- the last time we really saw it was President Obama.

We would have won a lot of our -- we would have won this presidential election. And, again, I don't put this on Secretary Clinton, who ran, in many ways, a campaign that was dealing with the headwinds of the Russians and the Trump campaign using psychographics, doing everything they could to suppress African-American votes.

We need to learn from that in this race. And we need to have candidates that can inspire a movement-like election, not somebody that we think is a safe bet, but a candidate that can really energize the aspirational nature of our party, talking about a future that engages people and inspires them to come to the polls.

That is why I'm running. I believe we could have a candidate that can reach out to the full breadth, not just our party, but our nation. And that is why I have been going to cities like Philadelphia and cities like Milwaukee to show that we could energize a tremendous excitement amongst core base voters that we need to win.

TAPPER: Senator Booker, before you go, we all want to offer you con condolences on the loss of your aunt Alma.

She was 100 years old. She lived in Iowa, one of your biggest supporters. You went to her memorial, her funeral yesterday. And we just wanted to offer our condolences to you and your family.

BOOKER: I'm really grateful for that.

She lived a extraordinary life, born before women had the right to vote, born during a summer of some of the greatest domestic terrorism we have seen. And from all that, she and my grandmother in this incredible state of Iowa were able to raise extraordinary families that have gone on and done some great things.

This is our common history. And, in Iowa, a lot of people don't know about how a town called Buxton, which is where my family first moved, was this town ahead of its time, blacks and whites coming together, descending into the mines to scrape out their American dream.

We have some incredible history of Americans across racial lines creating a much better America. And that's what we celebrated when I gave her eulogy. And that's what I believe we need to be celebrating now in our country, with so many leaders trying to divide us against each other.

We need to get back to that spirit in our nation that understands we have common cause and common purpose. And that's how she lived. And I hope that her legacy will go on, not just in her family, but will inspire that in the rest of us.

TAPPER: Well, may her memory be a blessing.

Senator Booker, thanks so much.

BOOKER: Thank you very much.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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