Bash presses Jeffries on whether New York will join redistricting war

CNN

CNN's Dana Bash questions House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) about whether New York and other states will join the redistricting battle between Texas and California after Texas state Republicans approved new congressional maps designed to help Republicans secure up to five more House seats in next year’s midterm elections. #CNN #News  # news #breaking #24x7

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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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