NBC "Meet the Press" - Transcript: Interview Sen. Corey Booker

Interview

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CHUCK TODD:

Welcome back. Joining me now is Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey. Senator Booker, welcome back to Meet the Press. And I know, on the issue of guns, I think nobody has a, I think, a more aggressive plan to try to tackle it than you. But I want to set the policy prescriptions aside for a minute, and just simply, how do you assess what we're going through in the last 24 hours, what we've seen, particularly in El Paso, sir?

SEN. CORY BOOKER:

Obviously, we all are grieving for the victims, for their families, and for the people who are going to have very painful, long roads of recovery from gun violence. I just want to speak with moral clarity right now. Because I worry that we're having conversations that don't just focus on an understanding that we are all responsible to each other in this country. We have moral bonds and fabric of our country. We have a president of the United States who is particularly responsible. My faith has this idea that you reap what you sow. And he is sowing seeds of hatred in our country. And this harvest of hate violence that we're seeing right now lies at his feet. When you have the president, from the highest moral office in our land, talking about invasions and infestations and shithole countries, the kinds of things that come out of his mouth that so harm the moral fabric of our nation, he is responsible. He's responsible, when he has taken no action whatsoever to even condemn white supremacy, even when his own FBI is talking about this being sourcing major parts of our problem. So we have a president who is responsible, who is not taking that responsibility, and is doing nothing to address the deepening crisis in our country of this kind of violence.

CHUCK TODD:

Okay, what can he do? You have outlined where he might not have the credibility, with many Americans, to do this. And obviously, we're not going to get into whether he has the history of being able to, somehow, admit if he's wrong. I don't want to get into that. Is there anything he can do, in your mind, that would at least begin a healing process here?

SEN. CORY BOOKER:

So Chuck, it's not that he doesn't have the credibility. Please understand what I'm saying. I'm saying the president is contributing to what is going on right now.

CHUCK TODD:

No, I understand.

SEN. CORY BOOKER:

He is sowing seeds of hatred. Yeah, and so what can he do? There are two things that must be done. One is we need to deal with this issue of guns in our community, ease of access, the fact that you can be on the terrorist no-fly list, and you can go in and fill a trunk full of weapons at a gun show, from a casual seller. We have a uniquely American problem, because of the uniquely American phenomenon that anyone who wants to kill somebody can easily use a loophole to go out and find a weapon. As you've said, I have the boldest plan. But my plan is actually based upon evidence. If you need a license to drive a car in this country, you should have a license to buy a gun and possess it. And we know that states that have done that have dropped -- have dramatically dropped the levels of violence. But the problem is, we have a patchwork of these laws in our country. So as we saw in Gilroy, someone who can't get a gun in California, just shoot over to another state that has lax gun laws. Buy your weapons. Come in and do the carnage. So there are specific things we should be doing that are common sense. And again, the moral fabric of our nation, we have a country right now that is, that is boiling over in hate. We have seen this before. My parents grew up in a generation that was trying to overcome lynchings and violence against African Americans, bombings of churches, of little girls. And we came together, black and white, Christian, Jewish, and did something about this. But we have a president that is not only incapable of showing that kind of love, but he is stoking, through his language, hate. He is responsible for the crisis in our country and is doing nothing to actually solve it. It's unacceptable.

CHUCK TODD:

There is one Republican that I know of calling this white terrorism. It's George P. Bush, who is a statewide officeholder in the state of Texas. If the president doesn't, doesn't accept the responsibility that you believe he has, what is your -- what would you like the other elected Republicans to do?

CORY BOOKER:

Well, to me, Martin Luther King said it so eloquently. What we have to repent for is not just the vitriolic words and violent actions of the bad people, but the appalling silence and inaction of the good people. There is a complicity in the president's hatred that undermines the goodness and the decency of Americans, regardless of what party. To say nothing in a time of rising hatred, it's not enough to say that, "I'm not a hate monger, myself." If you are not actively working against hate, calling it out, you are complicit in what is going on. And so this is a moral moment in America, like we have seen before, where demagogues and fearmongers, hatemongers, have risen. We need moral clarity and healing and love in our nation. We need leaders that are capable of doing that.

CHUCK TODD:

Senator Cory Booker, obviously, we had booked you before these incidents. We were going to have a longer conversation about the campaign, in general. But I appreciate you coming on and sharing your views on this, sir. Thanks very much.

CORY BOOKER:

Thank you very much.

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