CNN "The Lead with Jake Tapper" - Transcript Interview with Gwen Moore

Interview

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Joining us now, Democratic Congresswoman Gwen Moore of Wisconsin, where part of this week's convention will take place.

Congresswoman, thanks so much for joining us.

You're one of the speakers this evening in Milwaukee, where the convention was supposed to be, before the pandemic changed everything.

Hillary Clinton was much derided for taking the state of Wisconsin for granted. I know Biden is not taking the state for granted. But you must regret that he's not there to show that he is competing for the state in the way that you had hoped he would be.

REP. GWEN MOORE (D-WI): Well, thanks for having me, Jake.

And, of course, we're disappointed that Vice President Biden, and presumably our next president of the United States, is not here.

But I think, as Democrats, we're going have a spectacular convention, because we faced the reality as far back as April that we may, in fact, have to do this virtually. So we started the really hard slog of putting this all together. And, as you just mentioned in the setup to our conversation, we're

going to have our parties' luminaries there tonight, Bernie Sanders, Michelle Obama, and Andrew Cuomo (AUDIO GAP).

And, of course, I'm going to be speaking tonight as well. I hope I won't (AUDIO GAP) I hope that I'm not going to upstage all these folks who are coming on.

But, in all seriousness, I think Milwaukee, even though we're meeting and gathering virtually, I do think that we're going to be able to demonstrate for the first time in history that people will get a substantive view of what our party has to offer the American people.

Not only are we going to have a prime-time -- but we're going to have virtual trainings. We're going to have caucuses. People will be able to Zoom from room to room and to experience everything, except our beer and brats.

TAPPER: Right.

But, Congresswoman, obviously, Wisconsin is an important state. Hillary Clinton did not compete in it, and she lost it, and along with Michigan and Pennsylvania lost the presidency. President Trump is going to be in Wisconsin today. His son Eric is going to be in your home district tomorrow and Wednesday.

Are you worried about Wisconsin, where the Trumps are going to be this week, and I don't think the Bidens are going to be?

MOORE: Well, they're trolling us, obviously.

But it is also a sign of their desperation. They're getting the same polling information that you're getting, Jake, and all of us, is that we are just sick and tired of being sick and tired.

Even though we are doing socially distancing here, we're still meeting up in the grocery stores and places. And people on the street have had enough.

I live in a very urban area, but, over the past 40 years, we have seen the suicide rate among farmers grow exponentially. We have had farms closing every single day. Harley-Davidson, a manufacturer in my district, just laid off about 700 people.

These awful trade agreements, trade policies that the president has executed has almost single-handedly devastated our economy here in Wisconsin. And so he can come here if he wants to, but we are not going for the okeydoke.

TAPPER: OK, Congresswoman Gwen Moore, Democrat of Wisconsin, thank you so much. Break a leg this evening. And best of luck to you.

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