00:00You met with your governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, last month about possibly redrawing New
00:06York's maps. Is this something you can even do in New York? And if so, how many seats could you gain
00:12and could you do it before the midterms? Well, good morning. It's great to be with you. I've
00:18been in touch, of course, with Governor Kathy Hochul as well as the legislative leaders. House
00:23Democrats are going to respond from coast to coast and at all points in between, as has been done in
00:29California, forcefully, immediately and appropriately to make sure that Donald Trump cannot steal the
00:37midterm elections. Okay. Can you be more specific? Just let's just talk about New York, where you
00:42obviously have a window into what's going on there. We know what California is doing. They're
00:47going to try to get this on the ballot. What can you do in New York? Is it even feasible to redraw
00:54the maps before the midterms? Texas acted in a way to try and rig the congressional maps so they
01:04could add a couple of different seats to the Republican column. Understand that Republicans
01:10right now have the narrowest majority, just a three-seat majority of any party since the Great
01:18Depression. And they have no track record of accomplishment to be able to successfully run
01:24on, which is why they are running scared. California responded forcefully, thanks to the leadership
01:30of the governor, the legislative leaders, the members of the California congressional delegation
01:35led by Zoe Lofgren and Pete Aguilar. And we will continue to respond when necessary across the country.
01:42Right now, this has happened in Texas. California has responded. Let's see what comes next.
01:47So is there not a plan yet in New York? Is that what I'm hearing?
01:54There's a plan to respond as appropriately in New York and in other parts of the country as the
02:02circumstances dictate. Well, speaking of circumstances, Republicans are already looking
02:08beyond Texas. And if you look at the map, they could, adding it all up, get about six to eight seats
02:14if, big if, they're successful in redrawing maps and other GOP-led states. Are you worried that
02:22that could be enough right there to prevent you from retaking the House?
02:29Not at all. Listen, as Democrats, we're focused on making life better for the American people,
02:34driving down the high cost of living. Right now, America is too expensive. Housing costs are too high.
02:39Grocery costs are too high. Electricity bills are through the roof. All of this is happening
02:44on Donald Trump's watch. He promised to lower the high cost of living. In fact, to lower the high
02:50cost of living on day one. Costs aren't going down. They are going up. As Democrats, we're going to
02:56focus as well on fixing our broken health care system and cleaning up corruption. So we have an
03:02affirmative agenda that is compelling that we will continue to present to the American people.
03:07The Republicans have failed. That is why they are running scared.
03:11I want to move on to other issues. But first, I do just have to ask,
03:15you talk a lot about Texas, as do other Democrats. You supported a move in your state of New York
03:22where Democrats, you wanted to throw out congressional maps that were drawn by the state's
03:28independent redistricting commission. You praised New York's state legislature for redrawing
03:33new ones. Is criticizing Texas hypocritical given what you push for in your own state?
03:42Yeah. So let's go into the actual facts. The map was not drawn by the independent redistricting
03:50commission. The map was drawn by a special master who was put into place by a random right-wing
03:58judge in Steuben County. That was problem number one. Now, the court then ordered a redraw so that the
04:09process could actually be completed consistent with the Constitution of the state of New York. And that
04:16is what occurred. Third, what's important is that in New York, the redrawn map that was actually adopted
04:23by the legislature, was adopted on a bipartisan basis. Democrats and Republicans in the assembly
04:30voted for the map because the redraw was fair. That's not what's happening in Texas. In Texas,
04:39this is a racial, partisan gerrymander ordered by Donald Trump as part of an effort to rig the
04:47midterm elections. And we're not going to let it happen. And at the end of the day, we were 24 seats
04:53down during Donald Trump's first midterm election in 2018. We won 40 seats in 2018. There's no way
05:02that Republicans can mathematically gerrymander their way to an artificial victory next year.
05:08Speaking of math, I do want to ask about a New York Times investigation showing that Democrats
05:15are losing registered voters in all 30 states that track party registration. We're putting on the
05:22screen the data. It shows altogether Democrats have lost 2.1 million voters. Republicans have
05:27gained 2.4 million. That's a deficit that you have of 4.5 million voters. Why are voters turning
05:36away from your party? What is the problem? Most of that activity, as I understand it, has occurred
05:43in Florida and Texas. And certainly it is the case that nationally, we're going to have to invest more
05:49in these two red states. At the end of the day, it's also going to be important for us to continue to
05:56make clear to the American people what we stand for as Democrats. We believe in a strong floor and no
06:04ceiling. In this country, you work hard. You play by the rules. There should be no ceiling as to what
06:11success you can accomplish for yourself, for your family, for your children, for your grandchildren,
06:16and your community. At the same period of time, we do, as Democrats, believe in a strong floor.
06:21That's a strong floor that is anchored in Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid,
06:26Veterans Benefits, Nutritional Assistance, and the Affordable Care Act, the things that Republicans
06:30are actually trying to detonate. That's the difference between Republicans and Democrats.
06:35And the more we can lean in to what we stand for as a party, the better off we'll be moving forward.
06:42There is new reporting this morning that President Trump has a detailed plan. It's been in the works
06:48for weeks, apparently, to send National Guard troops into Chicago. What is your plan as the
06:54Democratic leader in the House to fight that?
06:57Well, I strongly support the statement that was issued by Governor Pritzker, making clear
07:05that, one, there's no basis, no authority for Donald Trump to potentially try to drop federal troops
07:14into the city of Chicago. There's been no request from the state of Illinois, no request at all,
07:21for federal assistance. I support the Chicago Police Department. I support the New York Police
07:26Department. These are men and women who have taken an oath to protect and serve these communities,
07:32and they do a great job of that. And we should continue to support local law enforcement and not
07:40simply allow Donald Trump to play games with the lives of the American people as part of his effort
07:46to manufacture a crisis and create a distraction because he's deeply unpopular. The one big ugly bill
07:53is deeply unpopular. Ripping health care away from millions of Americans is unpopular. Enacting tax
08:00breaks for their billionaire donors is deeply unpopular. And that's why a lot of this is taking
08:05place, Donna.
08:06Do you think it's manufactured that Americans, even likely in the city of Chicago, are worried about crime?
08:13Of course, people are going to be worried about public safety all across America. I represent a
08:22community that for decades has had to deal with the crack cocaine epidemic, the failed war on drugs,
08:29gunshots going off at different points in time in communities. So of course, all of us will continue
08:35to focus on making sure we can drive down crime whenever and wherever it is taking place. This is
08:43not about the American people. The American people understandably want safer communities. As Democrats,
08:50we want safer communities. We want to continue to make sure that crime can go down as it's doing in
08:56Chicago, in New York, in Washington, D.C., and other places. And to do that, we should support local law
09:02enforcement. We should make sure that the flood of guns into these communities is cut off. We should
09:08make sure that we're dealing with the mental health crisis that exists all across the United States of
09:13America. And by the way, which Donald Trump is exacerbating by cutting funds to actually help people
09:19who are dealing with emotional distress.
09:21I want to ask you about something that President Trump is doing here in Washington, which is he's
09:29launched a review of the Smithsonian museums because he says, quote, everything discussed is how horrible
09:36our country is, how bad slavery was. You're the highest ranking African American in the U.S. government.
09:43What do you think?
09:47There is no good aspect of slavery. And so Donald Trump is once again behaving like a racial arsonist.
09:55And it's extraordinary that he would make such a historically ignorant statement. The Smithsonian
10:01should continue to hold the line and make sure that this very painful part of American history
10:08is not erased, but is understood by everyone across this country and throughout the world.
10:15Is there anything that you can do from your perch in Congress to
10:20to protect the way that you describe the Smithsonian and how they describe history?
10:28Donald Trump does not have control of the Smithsonian as an institution. Actually,
10:34the chair of the Smithsonian board, as I understand it, is Chief Justice John Roberts. And so we're going
10:41to continue to support the Smithsonian and we're going to continue to make sure we fight back against any
10:46effort to erase our history. And as Democrats continue to make sure that at this moment in time,
10:52we are fighting hard to make life better for the American people in this country. Work hard,
10:57play by the rules, live the good life, good paying job, good housing, good health care,
11:03good education for your children and a good retirement.
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