CNN "State of the Union" - Transcript: Interview With Rep. Rashida Tlaib

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

TAPPER: In the wake of the horrific tragedy in New Zealand, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, one of only three Muslim lawmakers in Congress, posted a personal response, tweeting a picture of her family and saying she hugged her -- quote -- "two brown Muslim boys a little tighter and longer."

And Congresswoman Tlaib is joining us now from her home state of Michigan.

Congresswoman, thanks for joining us.

First of all, let me just say, we're all thinking about the Muslim community today and sending our support and our love.

You released a statement after the attack about how difficult this is, particularly as a mother of two young Muslim sons.

How do you talk to them about what happened on Friday?

REP. RASHIDA TLAIB (D), MICHIGAN: Oh, it's so difficult.

I don't know. How do you talk to your child about this? I remember my son at 9 years old hearing me talk about how "USA Today" had depicted Muslims as Nazis. They had done this cartoon, and was talking to his father in the bedroom about how just awful that was and how people are going to want to kill us when they see this cartoon.

And I was just so distressed about it. And my little boy walks in and he says, "You know, mama, don't worry. If anybody asks if I'm Muslim, I will lie and tell them I'm not."

At that moment, I cried even more, realizing my son, you know, who is 13 today, is growing up in a country where he's become a target just for his faith, just for the fact that he's Arab-American.

I can tell you it's very distressful. And now I'm a member of Congress, and I have to speak up and I have to be loud and clear. And I don't care if it's anti-blackness, xenophobia, anti-Semitism. Whatever form of hate, I feel like we need to really be starting to connect together on all forms of hate, against white nationalism.

This is domestic terrorism. It's actually something we should be very, very much at the forefront condemning, being very loud and clear that we're going to go after you, we're going to make sure you're held accountable, and that you will not target a person based on their faith or sexual orientation, based on the color of their skin or even their income status.

I mean, we have gotten people that are being targeted from all forms of all -- over the country right now. It's -- distressed, Jake. I can tell you, as a mother,it's hard to sit your child down to help them understand.

All I can do is some from a place of love and give them a sense of hope. There are more of us than of them, meaning more people that are coming from a place of respect and equality and justice.

And if they truly believe that, then they will feel a little bit more safer in our country.

TAPPER: The president condemned the attack, but he has not yet given a direct message to Muslims in the United States or around the world.

You just heard Ambassador Brown talk about that. He -- he has. He's talked about standing with our Muslim brothers and sisters, in his words.

Do you think President Trump needs to make such a gesture?

TLAIB: Absolutely.

I mean, Ambassador Brown is doing what he needs to do, but he needs to understand President Donald J. Trump is the most powerful man in the world right now. He's in a position, president of the United States. He, from the Oval Office, from that power position, can be able to send a signal very loud and clear.

And we have done this in the past against foreign terrorism. We need to do it on domestic terrorism, against white supremacy that's growing every single day that we stay silent, not myself.

[09:15:10]

But the leadership, the administration, when they continue to stay silent, it's going to increase. I remember Oak Creek. I remember hearing about the Pittsburgh synagogue very shortly -- I mean, these are constant, from the black church in Charleston.

It will not stop until we send a loud signal and put the resources together to combat it and to stop it, because it is probably the most dangerous element of terrorism, and that's making us less safe in our country, than what we might think about what's happening outside of the lines of our country.

We need to be focused on what's happening from within.

TAPPER: You also said in a statement after the attack that you were angry at -- quote -- "those who follow the white supremacy agenda and my own country that sends a signal across the world that massacres like this are some kind of call to action."

Who are you specifically talking about?

TLAIB: The ones that stay silent and the ones that support the Muslim ban.

Not only once, but twice, three times, did we in this nation say to the world and to everyone in this country that Muslims don't belong here, from the fact that every time we talk about a wall, it's not about a structure, but about xenophobia. It's about racism.

It's a symbol in so many ways of targeting brown and black people in our country. The fact that we continue to stay silent is what's going to make us, as a country, less safe.

And I can tell you, it's not just brown, black people speaking up. It's also white Americans across this country that are very distressed and also feel less safe because we're not speaking up against white nationalism.

TAPPER: President Trump said he didn't really see white supremacists as a rising threat around the world when asked in the Oval Office on Friday and said he called them a -- quote -- "small group of people that have very, very serious problems" -- unquote.

What did you make of that?

TLAIB: Well, I think he needs to pick up the phone and call the Department of Justice.

There's real data and information currently right now of the rise of white supremacy right here in this United States of America. He needs to look at the data and the information and the facts and actually listen and understand the tremendous responsibility he has in being our president, our leader of our country.

He cannot just say it's a small group of people. There's too many deaths, not only from the synagogue to the black churches to the temples to the -- now the mosques. We need to be speaking up against this, and it has to start with him reiterating the importance of real information and data that says it's on the rise.

You can't just say it isn't, when the facts say the complete opposite. He needs to do better by us and the country. He needs to speak up and condemn this very loud and very clearly.

TAPPER: Chelsea Clinton was confronted by an NYU student at a vigil for those killed in New Zealand this weekend over the way that she, Chelsea Clinton, had condemned recent comments from Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.

Take a listen to this confrontation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: After all that you have done, and all this (INAUDIBLE) that you have (INAUDIBLE)

CHELSEA CLINTON, DAUGHTER OF BILL AND HILLARY CLINTON: I am so sorry. That certainly is never my intention.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This right here is the result of a massacre stoked by people like you and the words that you put out into the world.

And I want you to know that, and I want you to feel that deep inside. Forty-nine people died because of the rhetoric that you put out there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: I don't know if you could hear that. It's a video that's gone pretty viral.

But, basically, this NYU student is saying that because Chelsea Clinton confronted Ilhan Omar, Congresswoman Omar, in the way she did, that the massacre is partly her fault.

I don't know if you saw it. But I'm wondering what your response is.

TLAIB: Well, I just -- I know, you know, Congresswoman Omar and myself have gotten so many death threats.

I think she is probably really -- I actually pray every day for her safety.

I can just tell you the kind of public disagreement and the kind of language that sometimes is being used towards disagreeing with her on a number of fronts, foreign policy issues, people need to be very careful. She's become very much a target. And right after not only the West

Virginia, you know, poster putting her face there with the 9/11 towers in the background -- this is a woman that's a mother, that is an American, that is serving her country.

And we need to be very careful. When we disagree publicly, when we disagree publicly on various policy agreements, we have to be very careful in the language that we use.

And I can tell you, look, I have seen the letters and have seen the various posts from not only Democrats -- from Republicans, but also Democrats, that, when we target or disagree, we need to be very careful, in that it's not feeding into the Islamophobia that is growing in our country.

TAPPER: That's interesting that you raise that, because before the attack in New Zealand, you had said something about Islamophobia in relation to Congresswoman Omar and her comments about Israel supporters that I want to ask you about.

[09:20:00]

You were asked why Democrats responded so strongly to her comments about supporters of Israel. And this is what you said:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TLAIB: This past week, I feel -- and I know this would be somewhat shocking for some -- but I think Islamophobia is very much among the Democratic Party, as well as the Republican Party.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Obviously, we condemn all Islamophobia. I'm sure you and I would agree on that 100 percent.

And the poster of Congresswoman Omar, the death threats against her, all of that is reprehensible.

But are you suggesting -- just help me understand here. Are you suggesting that Democrats who took issue with Congresswoman Omar's comments did so because of anti-Muslim bias?

TLAIB: I mean, I think that's part of it. But let me tell you why.

I have been there only for a short period of time. And there are members on the other side of the aisle that have been very, very -- using various tropes regarding -- against my Jewish brothers and sisters, using different kinds of -- they have -- so-called tweets and different kinds of rhetoric that they support.

And many of those are the same people that support this president, who doesn't want to condemn white supremacy in our country and white nationalism that's growing.

And I want to say, you know, this is what I saw, is this double standard.

Is it because she's a black Muslimah? Is it because it's around the issue of human rights violations from the country of Israel? I don't know.

But I can tell you, if it was really about anti-Semitism and condemning that, then we need to be able to say to all the members -- and that's what we ended up at the end, condemning all forms of hate, but also holding every single person accountable to the same standard.

And that's what I didn't see. And that's when I think to myself and pause, as a person that ran a racial justice campaign for years, who grew up in the most beautiful, blackest city in the country in the city of Detroit, I pause and think to myself, is it because she's a black American and she's Muslim?

And so that's where I pause and say to myself, is there an issue here? And I guess our mere presence there, the fact that now there's not only one, but now three Muslim Americans serving in Congress, that our mere presence is going to be able to possibly break down any of these kinds of racialized, you know, opinions, these -- this kind of Islamophobia that I do feel like is still very present on both sides of the aisle.

And I think my colleagues are not seeing that as an attack. It's just saying that we just have a lot of work to do.

TAPPER: But you don't think that those Democrats, including Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House, who viewed Congresswoman Omar's comments as anti-Semitic, you don't think that they legitimately felt that way? You think that they are -- there is anti-Muslim bigotry that's part of their criticism of Congresswoman Omar?

TLAIB: I think she becomes an easier target, is what I'm trying to say.

I don't understand why some others can say similar, probably things that could be said to be anti-Semitic that are not being held to the same standard. That's what I'm saying.

And I can tell you, I have been there long enough to see that there are some issues there, again, on the other side of the aisle that continue to be held -- they're being held unaccountable.

And so I just want to be able to say, like, when we uplift -- and uplift like people like Ilhan and others and say, we need more people like us to run for office, I realize, again, our mere presence being there, understanding that, for many, they have never met a Muslim before, but also probably the fact we're women of color that is very vocal against, you know, human rights violations, especially in the country of Israel or even Saudi Arabia, that we are coming from a place of personal experiences, as being people of color, with my living grandmother in the West Bank in the occupied territories, that we want to be heard and we want to be seen, beyond whatever these kinds of labels that people like to put on us. And I think we just become an easier target for folks. And that's

what worries me, is that I don't understand why others can say something probably as worse and probably stemmed on white supremacy, can get away with it, but then Ilhan, who is really coming from a place of disagreeing with the policies of the country of Israel, where my grandmother lives currently right now with inequality, is not treated with any human dignity, that, if she speaks up, then it's seen -- and, again, I feel like, because she's Muslim and because she's black, she's an easier target for them to attack and target.

And, again, I am saying this from my experience being a member of Congress, that it is somehow embedded, I believe, in her being someone that was easier to make so-called an example of.

TAPPER: All right, I have a lot more questions for you, but we're out of time.

So, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, I hope you will come back on this show or my daily show, "THE LEAD," to talk more about all sorts of issues, including impeachment and Middle East policy.

And, please, again, I would just like to say, our sympathies to you and to the entire Muslim community in the United States and around the world.

[09:25:04]

Thanks again for being here.

TLAIB: Thank you.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source