CNN "Newsroom" - Transcript Interview with Maxine Waters

Interview

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ACOSTA: And joining me down, Democratic congresswoman from California, Maxine Waters. Congresswoman, thanks for joining us. We appreciate it. What is your reaction to the president's executive actions? You heard Jason Miller, the Trump campaign adviser just a few moments ago blame Democrats in Congress. What is your response?

REP. MAXINE WATERS (D-CA): Well, actually I wished I could say that I was so disappointed, but nothing this president can do to cause me to be disappointed anymore, who is playing politics. As a matter of fact, Nancy Pelosi, out of the $3 trillion bill -- $3.4 trillion bill, offered up to give up $1 trillion of that.

The president walked away and he wanted to use this as an opportunity to try and send a message out to the American public that he was looking out for them, that it's the Democrats that's causing the problem.

Be sure that this president has created an opportunity to say that he's doing something about rental assistance, he is not. He did not really provide any money, any resources to help out, you know, families who could be evicted after this 30-day notice.

[17:19:57]

He said, you know, to HUD and to FEMA and to HHS, you take a look, you consider this. If you think that this moratorium should be extended with funds, then you may make a decision to do that. Most people seeing what he said would think that he was offering some real rental assistance.

So, these four executive orders that he's come up with, some are certainly unconstitutional. This payroll tax holiday that he's talking about, the Congress said the United States determines expending the revenue of this country. He does not get to do that.

But listen, I think this will all be over by Monday. They'll be back negotiating. Nancy Pelosi has said he wants to negotiate. Schumer wants to negotiate. And I think that these executive orders will fall by the wayside and they will get back into the negotiation.

What he's asking, you know, simply does not make good sense for the most part. This unemployment, the $600 unemployment is extraordinarily important to our families. You know, people who have been laid off, their jobs have closed down, business have closed down, and they need this money desperately. He's saying that perhaps --

ACOSTA: But congresswoman, where can you -- where can you compromise here because obviously you're going to be able to get everything that you want.

WATERS: Sure.

ACOSTA: And the White House has made it very clear they're not going to go as far as where Democrats are at this point. The White House has been saying we're off by a $1 trillion or more here. Where can you bend? What compromises can you make at this point?

WATERS: Let me just say, in negotiation, when you have $3.4 trillion on the table and your opposition comes up and say, okay, I'll take $1 trillion off, that's a great compromise. That is a compromise where you're going to have to figure out where you're going to take the money from. You're going to take it from food stamps or where you're going to take it?

You're going to take it from the citizen states and the first responders? You're going to take it from the PPE that's the equivalent of the hospitals and the clinics need? And so that's a great start. And this president knows that. And so I would hope that Meadows and Mnuchin will be back in negotiations on Monday with the Speaker and with Schumer who've already put $1 trillion on the table and really begin to do some real negotiation.

ACOSTA: And what is your message to Americans who see this gridlock and just say why can't the lawmakers and the politicians in Washington get this done? We're in an unprecedented pandemic. Why can't they get the job done?

WATERS: Well, I think that the citizens of this country, Americans know very well what we're dealing with when we deal with this White House. The president has defined himself so clearly. I don't think the president could honestly negotiate with anybody and be credible, be believable in any shape, form or fashion.

The president not only has defined himself as not always telling the trust, but absolutely bending everything and twisting everything. And he's not reliable. We don't know what he's up to next. Every day he comes up with a new initiative to divert attention away from the real negotiations that are going on. And so I think the American people know that now. I think they know

who this president is, and I don't think that they're blaming Democrats. I think they're blaming the president of the United States of America. They know that he's interfering. He says he wants to send the stimulus checks out with his name on it so that people will think he's the savior.

He does all these tricks all the time. And so I hope he would back off from that and let Mnuchin and Meadows do the kind of negotiation that will get us to a consensus so that we can put food on the table. We can have credible subsidy for unemployment, insurance for our families so that we can have PPE that is the equipment that is needed. But we cannot ask the states to do matching funds on unemployment. They don't have the money to do it with and so to say --

ACOSTA: And let me switch gears for a second if I may, Congresswoman. I want to get to this because as you know, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Joe Biden, is expected to announce his vice presidential pick any day now.

I suppose it could happen, you know, within the next couple of days I suppose, if its' going to happen this week. You've been very outspoken about this, saying recently -- and we can put this up on screen -- "Let me guarantee you this, based on everything that I know and understand and the help that Biden has already gotten from the Black community, he can't go home without a black woman being a vice president. We're going to have a black woman VP."

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Who do you hope hi picks and how serious is it for him at this point do you think for him to pick an African-American female vice president?

WATERS: Well, first of all, let me just say I'm very pleased that the president of the United States decided that it was going to be a woman. And so he's made that commitment so we know that's going to happen. It's going to be historic whomever it is.

Do I believe that it's going to be an African-American woman? I certainly do. And I think it's going to be an African-American woman because of under the leadership of some of our elected officials, you know, Jim Clyburn in South Carolina, who turned this campaign around for the president and the way African American women have emerged in this country, showing they're the most reliable part of the Democratic Party, I believe it's going to be an African-American woman. I do.

ACOSTA: Any hints? Kamala Harris? Susan Rice? Karen Bass? Who do you --

WATERS: No, I don't know exactly whom it's going to be. I know who I would prefer, but I don't think that whom I would prefer has anything to do with who he's going to select.

But obviously, as they have gone through all of the women, black, white, Asian, what have you, it seems to me that they have gotten down to possibly just two. And that is Kamala and that is Susan.

And So I believe it will be one of them. I do have preference. I'm not going to say who it is at this point, but I think my preference is going to be the one that will be selected.

ACOSTA: All right. Congresswoman Maxine Waters, we appreciate and thanks for narrowing it down for us. Maybe it is down to two. We'll see what happens with that. Thank you so much. We appreciate it.

WATERS: Thank you.

ACOSTA: All right. And up next --

WATERS: Thank you so very much.

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