CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: "Interview with Rep. Andre Carson"

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

REP. ANDRE CARSON (D-IN): Thanks for having me.

BALDWIN: First your response, obviously, a, to Israel banning these two sitting members of Congress and b, to the fact that a U.S. president is essentially telling a foreign country and an ally not to let them in.

CARSON: I'm deeply disappointed. Israel has been an important ally to the United States for countless years and for them to allow a tweet from President Trump to influence them is akin to a bully taking a kids lunch money to school.

BALDWIN: You say Israel is being bullied by Trump. Have you talked to either of these --

CARSON: No.

BALDWIN: Have you talked to either of these congresswomen about this?

CARSON: Not yet, I mean, we talked about the trip -- I have a conflicting commitment that wouldn't allow me to attend the trip, but I'm deeply disappointed. I mean we have two democratically elected members of Congress who are serving our country phenomenally well. For them to be prevented from entering into the country, I think it speaks to a kind of political opportunism on the sides of both Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu who both face questionable re-election efforts.

And so, this effort at political expediency disappoints me because it raises the point, how deeply are they concerned about strengthening the relationship between the United States and Israel. Or are they just concerned about both their far right wing constituents.

BALDWIN: I want to come back to Netanyahu in a second. But we've seen the tweet, the statement from Congresswoman Omar. What would you advise these congresswomen to do? What are their options?

CARSON: Well I think they're smart. I mean, colleagues are speaking out, myself and others, Speaker Pelosi, Steny Hoyer, other rank and file members are speaking out. Even AIPAC has spoken out against this measure, which is just saying a lot.

And so, I think globally, people see that this is a grave injustice. And it doesn't look well for Israel. My appeal is to Prime Minister Netanyahu, who I met with on several occasions to reconsider this ban. Not for political expediency, but for the sake of all democracies across the globe.

BALDWIN: I should also add to your list of folks speaking out, even Republican Senator Marco Rubio, you know, talking about how he disagrees with these ladies on policy, but he said denying them entry into Israel is a mistake. Now, Netanyahu mentioned the boycott movement, right, known as the BDS movement. And you're one of only 17 people in the House to support it, can you tell me why?

CARSON: Well, for me it was about allowing free speech, no government, no individual, no group of people, no person, including myself is above reproach, criticism, critique and I think if you consider yourself to have democratic values, if you consider yourself to be a democracy, you should be self-aware enough or self-critical enough to have enough of an approach to self-analysis to be able to accept criticism and critiques to strengthen your policies and to strengthen your nation.

And so to stop this kind of dissent, to stop this kind criticism of the Israeli policies as it relates to settlement expansion, as it relates to the mistreatment of Palestinians, as it relates to this treatment of Africans, Ethiopian, Jews. I think there has to be a reassessment about the direction that the great state of Israel wants to take.

BALDWIN: Congressman Andre Carson, thank you very much. Appreciate it.

CARSON: What an honor, thank you.

BALDWIN: Thank you, sir.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source