CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: NYPD Officer Killings

Interview

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But I want to bring in Congressman Hakeem Jeffries. He's a Democrat of New York. He actually represents the area in Brooklyn where these two police officers were gunned down, Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu.

Congressman, what is it like in your district right now? It must be awful over there.

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D), NEW YORK: We certainly are a wounded city right now, although we remain a resilient city.

This was a tragedy for the Bedford-Stuyvesant community that I represent, a tragedy for the city, a tragedy for the country, tragedy for the police department. But, most importantly, Wolf, it's a tragedy for the family of officer Ramos and officer Liu.

And so our first order of business is just making sure that these two heroes are buried with dignity and respect that they deserve, that they are given a hero's send-off. And then we are going to have to come together as a city to repair the damaged relationship between the police and the community, so that we can make sure that there's an appropriate balance between effective law enforcement.

We support the police department, we need the police department, but we also want to make sure that there's a healthy respect for the Constitution and for the civil rights of all communities.

BLITZER: As you know, the police officers, the police union, they are really angry at a lot of the statements politicians have made, not only the mayor, but the attorney general, even the president, presumably you as well, for the aftermath of Ferguson and the aftermath Staten Island, where there seemed to be statements very critical of law enforcement.

Let me play a little clip. Here's clip of an interview you did with our Christiane Amanpour. I want to give you an opportunity to give me some context of what you were saying.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFFRIES: And I was really struggling as a father as to what to say to my oldest son in particular about what this verdict or failure to indict means in terms of his everyday interactions on the streets of New York. I was actually comforted by the fact that I called and he got home safely.

And I have got to worry every day about what could happen to him, not just from the robbers, but from a bad apple on the police department.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: So, it's that kind of statement, bad apple among the police department, that police officers are saying -- and it's fair or unfair -- that could have inspired some of these kinds of anti-police rhetoric and actions we saw with this one guy who killed these two police officers.

JEFFRIES: Well, first of all, this was a deranged individual, a coward who engaged in this assassination of these two officers, someone who had a dramatic criminal record in two states.

There's no way that this individual should have had a gun. One of the public policy implications of this tragedy is figuring out how we can deal with our gun violence problem in America. And I don't think that any criticism of the police department in terms of the few officers that engage in the excessive use of force should be conflated with this tragedy.

These officers did not deserve to die. But Eric Garner did not deserve to die. And clearly there's an issue in terms of equal protection under the law for everyone, which is contained in the Constitution and we want to make sure that that provision is brought to light.

Everybody on both sides of the debate, Wolf, are going to have to conduct themselves in a responsible fashion moving forward. And where there's been heated rhetoric on either side of this issue, I think, as the mayor has urged, everyone needs to restrain themselves, particularly during this period of mourning before these two hero officers are buried.

BLITZER: After the period of mourning, would you support some sort of demonstrations, rally among your supporters in support of the police in New York City?

JEFFRIES: Well, in fact, I think on Sunday, there are already plans under way that I support and plan to be involved in of several religious leaders coming together with police officers who regularly protect and serve our communities, as well as activists and individuals concerned about instances of excessive use of police force, together, to begin to heal a wounded city.

And certainly those are efforts that not only I support, Wolf, but will be actively involved in moving forward.

BLITZER: All right, stand by, Congressman. We have more to discuss. I want to take a quick break. We at discuss what I have never seen before and a lot of other people have never seen before. A sitting mayor goes through a line where police officers are standing and they turn their backs on the mayor of New York City, refuse to even look him in the face.

Much more with Hakeem Jeffries, the congressman from Brooklyn whose district saw this tragedy over this weekend.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We're back with Congressman Hakeem Jeffries. He represents the Brooklyn area where these two police officers in New York were gunned down in their squad -- over the weekend.

The attorney general of the United States, Eric Holder, is now publicly calling their deaths an assassination.

Congressman, do you agree with the attorney general, this was an assassination?

JEFFRIES: Absolutely.

It was a cold-blooded assassination by a deranged individual who should not have been on our streets, should not have had access to a gun. It's a terrible, terrible tragedy. Wolf, these two officers are exactly the type of individuals that we want on our police force.

Officer Ramos was raised in Brooklyn, was raising a family himself in Brooklyn, and, of course, patrolling and protecting the streets of Brooklyn. Officer Liu not only patrolled the streets of Brooklyn, but also lived in Brooklyn and was preparing to start a family in Brooklyn. He had just gotten married two months ago.

BLITZER: It's so sad that this happened just before Christmas. It would have been sad any time, but especially now. Our deepest, deepest condolences to their families.

Congressman, do you remember a time ever, I don't remember it, but maybe you do, when police officers turned their backs on a sitting mayor as we saw in New York City this weekend?

JEFFRIES: Well, it was very surprising to see, and I think quite unfortunate.

As people on both sides of the political divide have indicated, I believe Mayor Rudolph Giuliani suggested that this was inappropriate to occur. I understand that emotions are running high, but as the family of officer Ramos said yesterday, we need to figure out a way to come together to get through this pain together.

And Bill de Blasio is the mayor, will be the mayor for the next three years. And he's elected to lead us all through this traumatic moment. We're going to have to bring together rank-and-file officers, though, Wolf, in terms of a real dialogue with communities of color in particular in the city of New York to have an honest, frank discussion about how we can move forward together.

BLITZER: Has the mayor done enough, in your opinion, to support and protect NYPD officers?

JEFFRIES: I think the mayor has consistently articulated strong support for the NYPD and the job that the police department has done.

Under this mayor, crime is at an all-time low as of the end of this year. And so the police department continues to do its job and be extremely effective. But we, of course, have got to figure out a way to get through these most recent traumas that have arisen over the last few weeks.

BLITZER: How worried are you, Congressman, about copycats out there who -- some deranged individuals who can get access to a weapon, and they feel it's a good moment right now to go out and kill a cop?

JEFFRIES: That's always a concern.

We have to denounce that type of activity in the strongest possible terms, make sure that everyone is vigilant, not just our police departments, which have taken extra precautions all across the country, but to make sure that every single American is paying close attention, monitoring their social media, identifying any possibilities as to individuals who may try to duplicate this heinous criminal activity.

But, Wolf, we also have to deal with the violence problem that we have in America related to guns. We have got 5 percent of the world's population, but 50 percent of the world's guns. More than 275 million guns are in this country.

And since the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut, more than 24,000 additional Americans have been killed as a result of gun violence. You know, if this doesn't serve as a wakeup call for us to collectively do something about this problem in terms of this cop killer having access to a weapon all too easily, despite his aggressive criminal record, I'm not sure what will wake the country up.

BLITZER: Hakeem Jeffries is the Democratic congressman from Brooklyn.

Congressman, our deepest condolences to you and to everyone in your constituency, in your district over there. How sad to lose these two police officers, Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu.

Thanks very much for joining us.

JEFFRIES: Thanks so much, Wolf. BLITZER: Let's bring in our panel right now.

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