CNN "Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees" - Transcript: Interview with James Clyburn

Interview

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Coming up, we're going to talk to Congressman James Clyburn. Pretty fair to say that if it wasn't for Congressman Clyburn, his endorsement and efforts in South Carolina, Joe Biden very well may not have been the Democratic nominee.

We'll talk to Congressman Clyburn ahead.

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[20:18:16]

COOPER: Three days ahead of the South Carolina Democratic primary, a must-win for Joe Biden's then-struggling campaign, my next guest announced his endorsement for Joe Biden. James Clyburn is a longtime congressman from South Carolina and the current House majority whip. And the weight of his support on February 26th not only helped Biden cement a huge victory in South Carolina, gave the momentum he needed to rally Democrats, win the nomination, it's often said that no other person other than the candidate himself is more responsible for Joe Biden' victory. Clyburn is a longtime confidant of Biden. He'll be speaking tomorrow

night at the convention. On the day of his endorsement Clyburn said of Biden, quote, "We know Joe, but more importantly Joe," excuse me, "he knows us." Speaking of Biden.

Congressman James Clyburn joins us now.

Congressman, thank you very much for being with us. As you look ahead to this convention, which is certainly unconventional, and reflect on how things have unfolded, did you ever anticipate how much your endorsement of Vice President Biden before the primary would reshape the trajectory of this race?

REP. JAMES CLYBURN (D-SC): Well, first of all, thank you very much for having me, Anderson. You know, going into that endorsement, I always knew I was going to vote for Joe, but really not until I had that encounter at the St. John's Baptist Church in Richmond, South Carolina, that I realized that people were waiting to hear from me. You know, a lot of people have talked about it.

A lot of media have written about that encounter. But it's impossible to capture the expression on their face and the way he said to me, I needed to hear that. And this community needed to hear from you. I realized then that the reservoir of goodwill for Joe Biden was there, and people were having a lot of problems with the reporting.

[20:20:13]

Whether or not Joe and the Democrats were taking people for granted, whether or not he had this kind of compassion, sensitivity, that voters wanted to see in the Democratic nominee. And so I felt from that conversation that maybe I could make the endorsement in such a way that would have the kind of impact that it did have.

COOPER: Yes.

CLYBURN: So in preparation for it -- I'm sorry.

COOPER: No, no, I'm sorry. I was saying yes.

CLYBURN: In preparation, I met with him on Sunday evening and then on that Monday I called my longtime friend, Antoine Seawright. And I said to Antoine, this is what I want to do, this is when I want to do it, I want you to help me put together the radio ads that I need to follow up my endorsement bid, the robocalls. And we wanted to do this not just in South Carolina but up in North Carolina, down in Texas, in Mississippi and Alabama.

So we laid that plan out. So this was not any fly-by-night kind of thing. We spent all day Monday putting those together and then, of course, on Tuesday, night of the debate, I sat there on pins and needles hoping that nothing would get blown and so on Wednesday morning when I made the endorsement, we followed it up immediately with radio ads, getting that word out.

COOPER: Yes. CLYBURN: And after the primary election that Saturday the 29th, I went

straight to North Carolina the next morning. Went to Goldsboro, went to Fayetteville. And I could tell it was working and working perfectly. So I called Antoine, I said blanket the Super Tuesday states, I think we got the surge we were hoping to get.

COOPER: Yes. You certainly did. You see Kamala Harris now having to deal with the same birther lies that President Obama had to deal with. President Trump now says he isn't going to pursue that, just that lie, but he hasn't acknowledged that there isn't anything actually to pursue there. It's not surprising, I guess, but what does it tell you about how the next several months are going to go?

CLYBURN: It's going to be a tough several months. There's no question about that. We Democrats expect that we'll have more falsehoods spread around than ever in the history of politics in this country. You know, I know way back in the day, I've studied history pretty fairly, when people would get on the stump, did not have the kind of communication we've got today, but they would just say things. Knowing full well it's not true.

And, of course, we got away from that, but it's back now. And it's come back with a vengeance. And we have a president who seems not to have a very good relationship with the truth. Doesn't care to have a relationship with the truth. And so I believe that we are going to be up against the spreading of these falsehoods and we are going to have to be prepared to contend with that and I think we will.

COOPER: Congressman Clyburn, finally just what are you telling voters who are concerned about voter suppression, who are concerned about, you know, whatever's going on with the Postal Service? What are you encouraging people to do?

CLYBURN: I'm encouraging people to declare October election month. I have been saying for a long time now that we need to dedicate this election year to John Lewis who gave his life trying to get the right to vote. We have renamed our HR forward legislation voting rights to renew the Voting Rights Act in his honor. And we need to make this campaign a dedication to the life and legacy of John Lewis.

I'm asking churches, sororities, temples, mosques, fraternities, masonic orders, to go out and start after Labor Day adopting precincts and make sure that we start on October 5th getting people to vote absentee, in-person, as many as we possibly can. So election day is going to be November 3rd, but October needs to be election month. We can demonstrate to this president that he will not suppress this vote.

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We know. I always say, Victor Hugo. This is an idea. Kamala Harris is an idea whose time has come and we know that we're not going to let anybody stamp that into the ground.

COOPER: Congressman James Clyburn, I appreciate your time. Thank you very much.

CLYBURN: Thank you.

COOPER: We'll be watching tomorrow night.

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