CNN "Anderson Cooper 360" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

COOPER: It's not just these four women of color, they represent a dark underbelly in Kellyanne Conway's. And somehow, she brought in the troops and that they're being disrespected and underfunded by these four women and this dark underbelly.

Has the president ever told Bernie Sanders, you know, arguably a real socialist, a democratic socialist, and occasional critic of Israel government who's obviously male and obviously white, to go back where he came from? No, he hasn't.

A lot to talk about right now. Two Republicans join us shortly with their take. But joining us now is Democratic Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee.

Congresswoman Jackson Lee, you voted yes on this resolution tonight condemning the president's comments. When the president says he doesn't have a races bone in his body, you know -- I always wonder how anybody can say that. We all have biases. We all have things that we need to work on.

What do you make of what is going on right now?

REP. SHEILA JACKSON LEE (D-TX): Well, Anderson, I'm hoping by the 400, 240-person vote today, that there is some sense of calmness and harmony brought to the American people and to the United States Congress. It was a bipartisan vote, and it rejects really the president's own interpretation of himself and the distortion that he has given to Americas values, and it takes away the distraction and then he always seems to want to put in place. I don't know whether he wants to call himself racist or whether he has a racist bone. But his words and many of us know, that words can be inciting and they can provoke war over peace.

How do you say that a federal judge of Hispanic background is of Mexican and cannot be fair? How can you say that five boys, vindicated in New York for a crime that he did not do are still guilty or me part of a hanging crowd that puts a "New York Times" ad that says execute them? Or how do you talk about s-hole countries?

I think the president has to look inward and that's why this resolution, H. Res. 489, and the rest that I put in, H. Res. 494, captures the words but also captures the essence of the goodness of America.

So, Mr. President, let me just say, I don't know what the definition of racism is, but I do know that your words, your words that you have offered to the American people are racist?

COOPER: You said this was a bipartisan vote. The truth is that only four of your Republican colleagues supported it.

JACKSON LEE: Well, I think we had four and one independent, that's a good number because obviously my good friends unfortunately rather than seeking to bring us together, they chose to walk in the drumbeat of President Trump and that's unfortunate but I will never give up on reaching out for them to have a better understanding that the nation should be promoted over the wishes of the president.

COOPER: You know the word demagogue is a word we used last night and basically mean someone who uses other people's, you know, prejudices or biases for political purposes and it seems like whatever is in the presidents head or in his heart, he is playing with very dangerous themes, very, you know, raw, dangerous themes that have a terrible history in this country and there is a real danger into this. And then to categorize it adds this dark aliment and they don't want to support the military and they are sending messages to the military that it is only the White House and the Republicans who are supporting them and funding them, does it worry you?

I mean, these are deep waters here.

JACKSON LEE: Well, interestingly enough, Anderson, as I was coming here, I heard some commentary about the fear of an individual who said the next step is violence.

[20:10:04] We must not suffer violence. When I spoke in the floor today, I indicated what my colleagues said, why are we doing this? We could be voting on education bills or infrastructure bills. I said, Dr. King said, why we can't wait.

We cannot wait to stifle out the violence and it is a concern and the reason it's a concern, we know the era of Germany in the 1930s and we know how the history suggests that individuals who felt that they were left out were provoked by those who want to use that for their own advantage. The president now has one distraction at the border where he thought immigration was going to be his selling tickets for victory in 2020. Now, he sees the American people appalled by the way children are being treated and just plain human beings are being treated at the border, and he is not anymore successful in that narrative as he was with the border wall.

So what else does he do? Then he begins to characterize four very fine women, distinguished members of Congress, who I believe are as patriotic as any others and love the country, because they have backgrounds that would suggest that this country is a place that they could work with and make things better. How would he characterize them as hitting the military? Absolutely absurd.

But it is a distraction and a narrative, the same one that he used --

COOPER: Yes.

JACKSON LEE: -- for the birther movement of President Obama. So, it has to be that good people stand up. And though, Dr. King is no longer with us and other peacemakers have worked through the various movements of this nation, it is our responsibility and that's why we took that vote, 240 members of Congress, I wish there were more on the other side of the aisle, but we made a statement on behalf of the American people.

COOPER: Yes. Congresswoman Jackson Lee, I appreciate your time. Thank you.

JACKSON LEE: Thank you for having me.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source