CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Nikema Williams
Interview
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Joining me now is Democratic Congresswoman Nikema Williams of Georgia. She is the first black woman to represent Georgia's 5th congressional district, the seat once held by civil rights icon, John Lewis.
Congresswoman, obviously, no one wants to see your state's economy damaged but it looks like the Georgia economy will lose, as Natasha was just mentioning, $100 million because of this. As painful as it is, will it take these major corporations doing this, pulling business out of that -- out of your state to get the type of meaningful change that you want?
REP. NIKEMA WILLIAMS (D-GA): Well, first, congratulations on the show, Jim. Happy to be here today.
ACOSTA: Thank you.
WILLIAMS: I mean, I listened to the remarks from Governor Kemp and it doesn't matter how many times he repeats this over and over again. It doesn't make it true that this is anybody's fault other than his own. He had an opportunity to get this right and he failed to stand up for the people.
So, saying that Major League Baseball should have talked to him, what about the people of the state that were raising their voices? That were making sure that he heard from them? That he was not willing to listen to. That's who Major League Baseball is standing up for. And so, I always applaud activism.
And so, I know that there are two sides to this issue. So, he can say that people have differences of opinions about the November 2020 election. There's no differences of opinions. There's facts, Donald Trump lost. We recounted the votes. He lost again. We counted them a third time and he still lost.
And they rewrote the election laws in Georgia responding to Donald Trump's big lie. And so, now, here we are as a state suffering the consequences because Brian Kemp and his Republican Party is still uplifting Trump's big lie.
ACOSTA: And former President Trump still sounds like a sore loser. He issued the statement after the game urging his followers to, quote, we put this up on screen, boycott baseball and all of the woke companies that are interfering with free and fair elections.
Are you listening Coke, Delta and all?
And then there was this from former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. This is almost too stupid to put on television, but we'll read it because this is as an indication of how crazy this issue has gotten for some people.
I've decided to identify as Chinese, the former governor of Arkansas says. Coke will like me. Delta will agree with my values, and I'll probably get shoes from Nike and tickets to MLB games. Ain't America great?
What's your reaction to some of those responses that we're seeing?
WILLIAMS: You know what, Jim? They're trying to make a joke out of this and they're trying to minimize the issue at hand. And what I look at that's happening right now, this is our civil rights moment. If you ever wonder as a corporation, as a person which side of the civil rights movement you would have been on had you been alive during that time, this is your chance to find out.
So, there are no two sides of this issue. You are either on the side of democracy or you are not. And so, it is time for everyone in this country to stand up.
We can't change what already happened with SB 202 in Georgia but we have HR-1 right now that has already passed the House, going in the Senate right now. We have an opportunity to get this right and we can make sure that everybody in this country has equal, fair access to the ballot box.
ACOSTA: And, Congresswoman, I want your take on this. We've been following the case of Georgia State Representative Park Cannon. Let's look at some of this video.
She is now potentially facing eight years in prison if convicted of two felony charges for trying to witness that bill signing by Governor Brian Kemp. She was knocking on the door there and then put in handcuffs by the police officers.
You yourself were arrested at the state Capitol back in 2018 for protesting voter suppression and the contentious election between Kemp and Stacey Abrams, two very similar scenes three years apart. It has to be frustrating.
What is your response to what you saw earlier this week?
WILIAMS: When people show you who they are, Jim, we should believe them.
Brian Kemp has a history of voter suppression. Brian Kemp has a history of being at the forefront of having black elected officials, women, arrested at their jobs and taken to jail.
And we're not going to stand down. They can't silence us by trying to remove us from the Capitol, taking us to jail. It only gives us more resolve to keep fighting for the people.
That's what I'm doing in Congress and I'm not going to stop until I make sure that everyone in this country has free and fair access to the ballot.
ACOSTA: Yeah. I wonder what's going to happen when people start bringing folks cookies while they're standing in line to vote.
But let me move on to the situation of Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz who's under investigation by the DOJ for sex trafficking allegations.
[16:25:08]
We now have additional CNN reporting that Gaetz was allegedly showing off photos and videos of naked women he had slept to other lawmakers. This is almost too embarrassing to ask you about, Congresswoman, but apparently, some of this happened on the House floor where you're serving, in Congress.
What is your reaction to all of these sordid allegations?
WILLIAMS: Well, one, I guess this is a good thing that I never had a conversation with the congressman and probably would not be able to pick him out since we all wear masks on the floor, but this is -- this is what we've become in this country when we allow one political party to not respect the government, the foundations of our government.
The Republican Party right now needs to do a reflection on itself. Look at the leaders that they sent to Washington, D.C. Look at the issues they push across the country and most of them are not fit to serve. And they need to evaluate if they really want to be in this body.
We're at a critical moment in our country's history and we need to make some tough decisions and the Republican Party has a lot of self- reflecting to do.
ACOSTA: All right. Congresswoman, strong words there. Stay with me. We have more to discuss. I want you to stand by.
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Democratic Congresswoman Nikema Williams, if Georgia, is back with me. She had been in office only three days when the capitol insurrection broke out on January 6th. Since then, has received threats that warrant around-the-clock security.
Congresswoman, there's a lot of folks in the press who can relate to that.
I can't imagine what it must be like to live through such a horrible ideal on January 6th, and then, less than three months later, hear of another deadly attack up on Capitol Hill.
What was your reaction to what happened yesterday?
WILLIAMS: First, my heart goes out to the family of the Capitol Police office and all of the officers who are grieving, having lost a colleague yesterday. No one goes to work thinking they won't return home.
When I had to call my chief of staff yesterday because she was in the office and ask her if she was OK. I could hear it in her voice she wasn't OK. She is there to help me serve my district, and yet, it feels like she's under a constant assault.
[16:35:06]
Yesterday, my son got out of school, out of kindergarten. Spring break started. He wanted to go for a walk in our neighborhood. Our neighbor today was, like, Carter, I saw you walking your dog. He said, that wasn't me. That was the security guard. He's holding Ginger.
The fact that I can't even walk down my sidewalk with my son down the sidewalk to walk our dog without armed security behind me because that's what it's come to in our country right now.
People are targeting members of Congress. And the very symbol of our democracy is under attack.
ACOSTA: It's just wrong, wrong, wrong.
Let me ask you this. There's been a big battle over the fencing and the razor wire around the capitol. People in the neighborhood don't like seeing it.
Senate majority (sic) leader, Mitch McConnell, says the security measures remind him of Kabul, Afghanistan. Obviously, it wouldn't be that way if they didn't have the insurrection on January 6th.
I get that nobody wants to feel like they're living in a war zone. But at this point, do you believe all the fencing needs to stay up? What could they do about all of that fencing?
WILLIAMS: After what I saw yesterday, I definitely think we need to reassess what our threat levels are and see what we need to have in place.
Because I want my staff to feel safe when they're walking back and forth from the metro to get to work. Right now I don't know what that safety looks like.
We have not received information to determine what the next steps are. We need to make sure we are keeping people safe.
My Republican colleagues can help us in that. And talking to some of the people that support them and making sure that they understand that everything they're still fighting about online and through the state legislatures was based on a lie, but they still haven't admitted that.
It's hard to move forward as a country when we have an entire political party that is still campaigning for the midterms based on a lie.
ACOSTA: As you know -- I don't have to tell you this -- we're living through an incredibly polarized time. Some have tried to whitewash the events of January 6th.
But the reality is five people have died. Officers have been horrifically injured. Members of Congress, as you were saying about your own personal situation, afraid for their lives.
As someone who has had to have security not just at work, but at home, you were talking about your family, your kids a few moments ago, what do you tell your family about where mom goes to work? Do they have questions?
WILLIAMS: My son is only 5, but he's quite precocious 5-year-old, and he asks lots of questions. He ends up explaining it to neighbors and people at school about why mommy has security and why there's an extra person in the carpool lane when I'm picking him up from school. So it has become a part of our life.
It's very sad that a 5-year-old has to deal with this reality at such a young age. But I want to make sure that when we are here and going about our day of just watering the plants in the front yard, that we are safe.
Unfortunately, this is something that I have to pay for to make sure I'm safe. I don't get security through the United States Congress. This is something I personally have to make sure is taken care of.
ACOSTA: Congresswoman Nikema Williams, thank you for sharing that part of it, too. It's so important to understand what you and your family are personally going through as well. You are human beings, even if there are folks out there who don't see it that way.
And we appreciate you spending all this time with us this afternoon. Thanks so much. We appreciate it.
WILLIAMS: Thank you, Jim.
ACOSTA: And happy Easter.
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