NBC "Meet the Press" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Cory Booker
Interview
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CHUCK TODD:
And joining me now from Urbandale, Iowa, is Democratic senator and presidential candidate, Cory Booker. Senator Booker, welcome back to Meet the Press.
SEN. CORY BOOKER:
It's great to be on. Good morning, Chuck.
CHUCK TODD:
So you have to be a juror while a candidate, so let me ask you about your juror role here first. I almost want you to respond to something one of your colleagues, Bill Cassidy, Republican senator from Louisiana, sort of implied in our setup piece, which is this idea of a fair trial, everybody -- essentially, who's not impartial here? What, what do you think a Senate trial should look like?
SEN. CORY BOOKER:
I think we all swear an oath. And we're going to swear a very special oath. We -- we will literally swear to this idea of impartiality. And I've heard from my Democratic colleagues, folks -- just tell me, "This is just not a good thing for America." I don't think the colleagues that I know that are my friends in the Senate on both sides of the aisle, think this is a good thing. None of us are happy about this. As a guy who's a big competitor, I want to beat Donald Trump mano a mano. I want to face him down on a debate floor. So this is not something that I want to do. And yes, I'm going to evaluate the facts objectively and honor the oath that I swore, even though I think Donald Trump has violated his oath of office.
CHUCK TODD:
Speaker Pelosi right now is delayed sending over the articles. Do you think that is a good maneuver? And is there a point where you think she should send them over no matter what? Or is there, is there a time table in your head?
SEN. CORY BOOKER:
Look, I mean, Nancy Pelosi, I've watched her over this past year and more. She's been a lightworker in dark times, balancing the most difficult circumstances a third time in American history a United States president has been impeached. Those articles will come over. I talked to Chuck Schumer this week. We all know they will. I think what she's just trying to do is to make sure the best possible case for a fair trial happens. To have this all happening in a context that Mitch McConnell is openly saying he will violate his oath and not be impartial, that we have a situation here that to me is just very simple. You're going to have a trial, have the firsthand witnesses. If you're innocent, have acting Chief of Staff Mulvaney come before the Senate, swear to an oath, settle this whole thing. So I think she's just trying to say, "Hey, let's not make this a circus, a partisan circus. Let's just get to the facts and get this trial conducted rightly and then behind us."
CHUCK TODD:
Do you view the ask of Hunter Biden and Joe Biden as witnesses as basically an attempt by -- whether it's the Republicans or the Trump Administration -- as sort of to make the witness requests a mutual assured political destruction?
SEN. CORY BOOKER:
I'm exhausted, frankly, of the Biden aspect of this.
CHUCK TODD:
Sure.
SEN. CORY BOOKER:
This does not speak in any way that's germane to the president's behavior. Did the president or not -- and there were witnesses in the room -- did he violate his oath? Did he violate national security? Did he pursue his own personal interests with our taxpayer dollars, counter to the mandates of Congress? This is a very clear-cut and dry thing to me. And there are people who could be testifying in front of the American people and settle this once and for all, under oath, "What did you witness?" And we should be doing that. Because god, all of us, on both sides of the aisle, we're just fatigued of this. So much noise.
CHUCK TODD:
Right.
SEN. CORY BOOKER:
So much obfuscation. So much distraction. Let's just get to the facts and move on as a nation from this very sad period.
CHUCK TODD:
Well, I actually want to play you a clip of, of a couple of, basically, voter responses to the impeachment. One is from 1998. And one is from a voter in Iowa, from the last week. Take a listen.
[BEGIN TAPE]
1998 VOTER:
Him dropping his pants with somebody in the White House isn't going to affect my bottom line.
MIKE HARVEY:
I think he's a jerk, but things are getting done. I think it's just a ploy to try to not get Trump elected.
[END TAPE]
CHUCK TODD:
Senator, I bring that up because there is this, the fatigue you brought up -- yourself. I think there's fatigue out there in the country. And a lot of people are, are looking at this in sort of -- through their own pocketbooks. And the economy is doing well. How much should public opinion's exhaustion from this factor into this, how you conduct this Senate trial?
SEN. CORY BOOKER:
It should not at all, not at all. You know, when I walk onto that Senate floor, I still am one of those folks that gets this sort of overwhelming sense of gravity. We have these institutions. They're so much bigger than us, these traditions, the Constitution. This is not a question about popular opinion right now. This is a question about the sacrosanct ideals of our nation. Did a president of the United States violate his oath of office? Did he violate the values of this nation? And we created a system of checks and balances to hold him accountable. He is not above the law. He should be subject to the Constitutional mandates. And so we should do this, independent of public opinion. This is a time -- history will look back on this moment. "Did a president violate his oath? Did he violate the sanctity of our Constitution?" If he did, he should be held accountable. And we should, again, move on. Do the right thing and then let's move on to -- as a nation.
CHUCK TODD:
All right, I want to ask you about your campaign. You were not on the debate stage last week. Something that obviously -- that's not something that pleased your campaign. And you've made your views known that you feel as if the parameters to get into the debates are too high. The DNC just raised the bar even higher for January. Let me ask this. What do you believe was missing from the debate that your voice would've added last Thursday night?
SEN. CORY BOOKER:
Well, let's just be clear. What you hear from local media in Iowa and people is, "Why is some DNC officials in Washington determining who we get to evaluate?" Because here on the ground, our campaign is third or fourth in net favorability. Our campaign is number one or two in overall endorsements from local leaders. We're picking up county chairmen, local mayors, state reps. We now, according to Des Moines Register have one of the top teams organizing on the ground, setting up. There's even articles talking about "why Cory Booker's going to upset here in Iowa." John Kerry, John Edwards, polling sixth and seventh in a crowded field at 2 percent and 4 percent, one month later went on to finish one and two. Barack Obama around this time was 15, 20 points behind Hillary Clinton. The polls have never predicted who would go on. Our campaign is surging right now. And this is why I'm grateful to the American public. Because there's almost a backlash against us not being on the stage. We had one of our best fundraising periods of the entire campaign.
CHUCK TODD:
All right.
SEN. CORY BOOKER:
And I hope people who want my voice in this race will continue to go to CoryBooker.com and help us to surge like we are now and win when it comes to February.
CHUCK TODD:
Well, your history is correct, Senator Booker, December leaders in Iowa often don't finish as the leader when the caucuses actually happen. So, you definitely have to watch out for upsets there. Senator Booker, thank you for coming on. Sounds like you are campaigning hard. You've got the Sunday morning -- you've been campaigning a lot voice there. Stay safe on the trial. Rest that voice.
SEN. CORY BOOKER:
Yes.
CHUCK TODD:
And have a -- enjoy your holidays.
SEN. CORY BOOKER:
Chuck, really appreciate you. Merry Christmas to you and all who celebrate. And Happy Hanukkah to those as well.
CHUCK TODD:
Thank you very much. When we come back, the two big stories of the week, impeachment and the Democratic race. Panel is next.
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