CNN "Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees" - Transcript: Interview with Congressman James Clyburn

Interview

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COOPER: All right, Phil Mattingly. Fascinating. Thanks. Now with an eye toward all of that, but also the White House claim about ending the pandemic. We're joined right now by House Majority Whip James Clyburn, Democrat from the Palmetto State.

Congressman Clyburn, thanks for being with us. First of all, what is your reaction to the White House claiming victory over ending the pandemic because it's far from over? If anything -- if we're rounding a turn as the President says that we're rounding a turn that may be, you know, falling off a cliff?

REP. JAMES CLYBURN (D-SC): Well, thank you very much for having me, Anderson. Well, you know, we've been hearing a bunch of, as Joe Biden was saying, malarkey, coming from this White House for a long time, and this is a big pile of malarkey.

I chair the select Subcommittee on the coronavirus efforts, and I can tell you, this pandemic is getting worse. It is spiking in about 40 of our 50 states. And there is nothing to give anybody any indication that this is at an end.

I don't know why they would say this, and I don't know why anybody in this country would believe that. This is just a fairy tales coming from this President. We are in this for the long haul.

[20:10:42]

CLYBURN: I've studied the Spanish flu, how long it took us to get out of that. It was two years before we got any kind of normalcy coming after the Spanish flu. I believe we're in the same situation now.

I wish this President would spend some time given reality, but what he's doing is just a lot of fairy tales.

COOPER: The Biden campaign going to Georgia today with the candidate, does Biden actually have a chance to flip Georgia?

CLYBURN: Yes, he does. He has a chance to flip Georgia and he has a chance to flip North Carolina. And I think he has still got a fighting chance in Florida. So, I do believe that Joe Biden can finish the work in Georgia.

I don't know if anybody who believes that Stacey Abrams did not win Georgia. It was stolen from her, just like they stole these seats on the Supreme Court from Obama.

So Joe Biden is in Georgia to finish the work and put an exclamation point behind a Democratic victory in Georgia.

COOPER: What do you think about Texas?

CLYBURN: I think Texas -- we've got a chance in Texas.

COOPER: But Michael Bloomberg is pouring in a lot of money into Texas.

CLYBURN: And that's what we need, because I think Joe Biden has gotten a bad rap when it comes to Hispanic voters. I think that if you really hone in on the interest of the Hispanic voter, Joe Biden is the much better deal for them.

And so if I could get them to focus on the issues, and not the headlines that may be coming from various places, I think he'll do very well with his Hispanic votes.

All you've got to do is look at the Hispanic representation in the Congress, which party has got the most Hispanic representation in the Congress? It's the Democrats.

Which party has got the most African-American representatives in the Congress? It's the Democrats. So this whole notion that the Republican Party got something better for Hispanics offer blacks than the Democratic Party is just that -- a notion.

COOPER: I want to play something that Jared Kushner told FOX News yesterday about the black community saying that they have to want to be successful. We are going to play that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JARED KUSHNER, SENIOR ADVISER TO DONALD TRUMP: One thing we've seen in a lot of the black community, which is mostly Democrat is that President Trump's policies are the policies that can help people break out of the problems that they are complaining about, but he can't want them to be successful more than they want to be successful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: What's your response to that?

CLYBURN: Well, you know, the pandemic or the virus has been floating around the White House, and I think that there's something else floating around the White House as well. And whatever it is, Jared Kushner has caught it. He really ought to be ashamed of himself.

I've spent all of my life with various white people telling me what's best for me. Well, I want Jared Kushner to know. I think I've got a pretty good idea as to what's best for me and my children. And I can tell you this, it ain't in the policies of Donald Trump.

I want to see what black man and I'm hearing all this numbers they're coming out with. Some that they expect to get 20 percent of the black vote. Let me tell you something. I want to see the black man who can tell me that he can reconcile President Donald Trump looking in the camera, speaking into my and calling an African-American woman adult, tell me how you reconcile that?

Tell me how you reconcile this President calling the first African- American woman, Asian-American woman to be on a national -- major national party ticket, call her a monster? And you're going to vote for him?

I would like to talk to the person who can get beyond that. I'm the father of three African-American women. I'm the son of an African- American woman. I cannot abide those kinds of insults coming from Donald Trump. And I cannot abide that kind of insult coming from Jared Kushner telling me that he knows what's best for me.

[20:15:35]

COOPER: It seems like the President and a bunch of other Republicans are now going after Senator Harris, not only on her gender, but also just her name, mispronouncing it intentionally over and over again. I just want to play that for our viewers just kind of a show. This is a pattern here.

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TRUMP: By the way, you know, whose further left and crazy Bernie? Kamala, Kamala, Kamala.

Biden even chose as his running mate the most liberal senator in America.

[BOOING]

TRUMP: Kamala, Kamala. Senator Kamala Harris is a sponsor of the socialist Green New Deal.

Biden's running mate. Kamala Harris.

[BOOING]

TRUMP: You pronounce her name wrong, she goes crazy. Kamala, and like a comma.

The Biden Harris -- Kamala. You like Kamala?

[BOOING]

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: I mean, it's like a fourth grade, you know -- you know, in fourth grade, kids making fun of each other, you know, mispronouncing their names. It's just so juvenile, it just -- and of course, it's something, he is targeting a woman of African-American descent. I mean, he is targeting a black woman in America.

CLYBURN: Well, you're being very kind to elevate him to the fourth grade. That's kindergarten stuff. But that's his mindset. He has a very low regard for African-American women. He disrespects women. He disdains African-American women, and I really

feel that the goodness of this country is what's on the ballot. This country, you know, I often talk about what is reputed to be the words -- the lessons of Tocqueville, though I can't find he ever said it.

But it's a tough road, his poster say it that this country is great, because its people are good. And if the people of America ever cease to be good, America will cease to be great.

This campaign is about restoring America's goodness, so that we can maintain America's greatness. Donald Trump is not a good person.

COOPER: Congressman Clyburn, I appreciate your time, sir. Thank you.

CLYBURN: Thank you.

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