CNN "Erin Burnett Outfront" - Transcript Interview with James Clyburn

Interview

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And I want to go now to the House Majority Whip James Clyburn, a longtime friend of Joe Biden's. So Congressman, President Trump tonight says he does not know who the Proud Boys are and ask for a definition. Even though, of course, it is very clearly laid out on the news channel that he watches regularly and it was very clear made by Chris Wallace when talking about - he was saying, "Do you denounce white supremacists and right wing militias?" That was the quote from Wallace.

And the President did not denounce their mission today. He just changed his words from saying they should stand back and stand by to they should stand down. What's your reaction?

REP. JIM CLYBURN (D-SC): Well, thank you very much for having me, Erin. I've got two reactions to that. The first one is this. I seem to recall that Mr. Trump said he did not know who David Duke was and it was clear that they knew him very well and had referred to him often before.

And in this instance for him to ask them to stand down gives credence to them. That's not what he was asked. He was asking whether or not he would denounce white supremacy. I'm still waiting on this man to denounce white supremacy, not just the Proud Boys, that's just one group of white supremacists.

BURNETT: Yes.

CLYBURN: And I want to say to all the listeners here, please remember this deflecting. We've got to stop letting this guy get away with this. There was not any antifa or any leftists that walked into manually in the church and kill those nine souls. That was not a leftist, 17-year-old, walking the streets up in Kenosha, Wisconsin, carrying an AK-47 and shooting two people to death.

I have yet to hear this president denounce either one of those perpetrators. One, of course happened before he came into office. But he is very much a part of the second one. Maybe I missed something, but I have not heard it.

BURNETT: No. Today, the Proud Boys in that specific case, members went on an online forum as I showed, they changed their logo to stand back and stand by, celebrating his comment last night. They then commented on - this is on their site, President Trump told the Proud Boys to stand by because somebody needs to deal with antifa.

Then another quote, "Trump basically said to go after f--- tyhem up. This makes me so happy." And The Washington Post looked at their membership. Then they saw a spike in membership since Trump's comments last night. It actually impacted that. What does that say to you?

CLYBURN: That says this President is a recruiter for white supremacist groups. That's what he is and that's what he's demonstrating every day. He knows exactly what he's saying, but this is not the first time. My goodness, he has a history of this.

I saw some media today just laying out a plethora of racist things he has said over the years, going all the way back to his apartment building discrimination and the central part five. This guy is just bad news and I would hope that the people of this country wake up before it's too late. This democracy is under threat and this country cannot afford four more years of this foolishness.

BURNETT: So you referenced and I showed there that even today, when he was saying I denounced it, it was it generally. He didn't he didn't say the words.

CLYBURN: No.

BURNETT: And last night when Chris Wallace asked directly, do you condemn white supremacy, he did not answer the question. He would not answer the question. The one time that we could find that he has condemned white supremacy directly was actually in an interview that I did with him on the phone. It took me asking three times and I wanted to play it for you to ask you something very specific about it. Here it is, Congressman Clyburn.

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BURNETT: There's a white nationalist Super-PAC. They say they've started a robocall campaign in Iowa. It urges voters to vote for you because of your proposed temporary ban on Muslims, does that shock you? Do you denounce that?

TRUMP: Nothing in this country shocks me. I would disavow it, but nothing in this country shocks me. People are angry. They're angry at what's going on. They're angry at the border. They're angry at the crime.

BURNETT: When he says, "We need smart, well-educated white people who will assimilate to our culture, vote Trump," you're saying you disavow that. You do denounce that.

TRUMP: Well, you just heard me. I just said it. How many times do you want me to say it? BURNETT: A third would be good.

TRUMP: I said I disavow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[19:15:08]

BURNETT: He was very loud and clear, I will say Congress, and that's the last time you did an interview on this program. That hit a nerve. And why do you think it that is? This issue should be so cut and dry, someone is doing robocalls saying we need smart, well-educated white people, there should be no prompting.

CLYBURN: Well, Erin, I think you know me pretty well and I'm not going to play word games here today, but I'm tempted to. To disavow is very passive, to denounce is active, I want to hear it denouncing, not a disavow. He's very passive.

BURNETT: And the word choice matters so much, which he knows.

CLYBURN: Absolutely. Absolutely.

BURNETT: All right. Well, Congressman, I appreciate it. And I appreciate that really thoughtful notation about the word. All right. Thank you, sir. Good to talk to you.

CLYBURN: Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you. Bye-bye.

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