Interview With Representative Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) About Trump's Latest Rhetoric In Iowa And The House Push For Biden Impeachment;

Interview

Date: Dec. 2, 2023
Location: unknown

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

"Yes, when you said that we were living in the upside down, I was like, oh, thank goodness, it's not just me. Absolutely. That's every day in Congress for me, though, unfortunately right now. You know, there is only one team that has fought for democracy, and this isn't just in words, but this is action. We know that we don't have a strong Voting Rights Act right now, simply because the twice impeached former president made sure that he installed three very far-right Supreme Court justices that gutted that.

That was one of the many steps that he took as it relates to democracy. In addition to his own legal troubles that he has right now, that have him in hot water, as it relates to January 6th, as it relates to, honestly, you know, his phone calls that he wanted to make about overturning the election and calling down to Georgia. So we know that there's only one person that actually has a track record when it comes to harming democracy, and that's Trump.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

It was dog whistle, again, for me. He loves to rile up the racists that love to support him. And, you know, I went through this in the Texas House, where last session they decided to go through this process of making sure that there were people that could observe and guard the vote, so to speak. And there was an article that came out and there was this audio of this recording, saying, we've got to go into Houston.

There's always a target seemingly on majority-minority cities for this former president, and it is still dumbfounding to me how minorities are starting to flock to him more, considering the fact that he always says the quiet part out loud.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

I mean, you never know what you're going to get out of the House Republicans at this point. They were arguing that we didn't need a vote. They said Nancy said she didn't need a vote, so we don't need a vote, so we're not going to do a vote. So Kevin McCarthy said that it was good enough, that he as speaker decided that there was going to be a formal impeachment inquiry. My chairman, Chairman Comer, has made it clear that he had gotten all the documents that he had requested.

And speaking of documents, we know that there has been over 30,000 pages worth of banking documents that have been turned into this committee, and what's so interesting to me is that they started by going after Hunter Biden. They've been going after Hunter Biden since the Trump administration. And we've still not really gotten very far. We have not gotten to the point that they feel like they can connect the dots to say that Hunter has done something wrong and that wrong has also implicated the president.

What is funny about this, though, is that they collected tons of documents on George Santos, and they were able to decide that there was enough there. Not only in the House, but they were able to decide that when it came down to prosecuting George Santos.

This is much to do about nothing. They have been embarrassed over and over and over. Hunter, just this past week, said, hey, I will come in, I will testify in a transparent way. We know that Comer had invited him to testify publicly before. He just didn't realize that Hunter would take him up on it. And so therefore he said, never mind, I don't want to do that.

This is a bad move for them. It has messed up their PR, and it has messed them up, and honestly the American people are still saying what we want is lower gas prices, what we want is lower food prices, what we want is access to health care. They are not saying, go and impeach Joe Biden, but the Republicans, they don't want to do the work of the American people.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Yes, I mean, if he's allowed to get away with this flagrantly violating every rule, every ethic, every law, and still stay in his seat, that means they're rewarding the bad behavior, and we've seen them consistently reward the bad behavior when it comes to Trump. The difference between Trump and Santos is that Trump has a lot more power, and so they wanted to say, hey, we took the high road. We got rid of the bad guy. But to be honest, Santos was the low man on the totem pole. So they're

really just trying to score a few points, hopefully save some of those Republicans in New York that are in Biden seats, in fact, there's Republicans, I believe, in 18 Biden seats, not just in New York, but throughout this country, and right now, they don't -- they know that they can't hold onto the majority unless those in Biden seats win as well.

So this was one of those things, like, hey, we've got to do it, but only because they're looking out for their own hind parts, not because it was necessarily the right thing to do. In fact, the speaker at the last minute said, hey, vote no. Initially, he said vote your conscience. But once he realized that that meant that Santos was about to be kicked out, he and other members of leadership decided, never mind, we need him here. Especially since they don't know if they're going to be able to hold onto that seat.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Absolutely, Jim."

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT


Source
arrow_upward