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Transcript of Pelosi Interview on CNN Newsroom with Brooke Baldwin

June 10, 2020
Contact: Speaker's Press Office,
202-226-7616
Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi joined Brooke Baldwin on CNN Newsroom to discuss the Congressional response to the killing of George Floyd, including Democrats' newly unveiled bill, the Justice in Policing Act of 2020, and other news of the day. Below are the Speaker's remarks:
Brooke Baldwin. So, to Washington we go, to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Speaker Pelosi, welcome.
Speaker Pelosi. Thank you, my pleasure to be with you.
Brooke Baldwin. First, before we get to legislation, just on the family; when you watched Philonise Floyd testify this morning, when he is sitting there saying enough is enough and that, you know, George's name means something and that you, Members of Congress, have the opportunity here to make your names mean something, Speaker Pelosi, what is your message to him?
Speaker Pelosi. Well, it was quite an emotional experience for us to sit there and listen to what you just heard him say.
But before we went into the auditorium where he testified, he said to me, ‘I have a question. Is this going to happen? Is there going to be a bill that is passed, and why do you think so?' And I said, ‘I think so. I know so because the people have spoken.'
President Lincoln said, ‘Public sentiment is everything. With it you could accomplish almost anything. Without it, practically nothing.' But for sentiment to prevail, people have to know. And people do. And people have spoken. They have been seen. They have been heard. And they've done so, day in and day out, for weeks.
So, the injustice of it all is readily apparent. The need to make the change is clear, and the proposals to do so have been in the hopper for a while. That is why I'm so proud of our Congressional Black Caucus, Karen Bass, our Judiciary Committee and Chairman Nadler for being ready when this sad time came, at a time when the public was more ready to weigh in.
Brooke Baldwin. And, as you say you know so, and this has been in the works for a minute. You also know, though, as a deal-maker, just how difficult it is to bring about change in Washington. And I know your colleagues have tried. I think of Congressman Hakeem Jeffries introducing, five years ago, the anti-choke hold legislation in the wake of Eric Garner's death and, yet, here we are today.
So, with that robust bill you are proposing, what are your three must-haves?
Speaker Pelosi. Well there are three categories. One, in terms of the stopping the use of violence and recording it. That is to say, no choke holds and, again, issues that relate to no warrantless – breaking into people's homes and that – and, again, recording it by having body cams, car cams and the rest, and keeping the data.
But, also, very important to it all is the qualified immunity doctrine that really protects police from being prosecuted for their actions. This is very, very important. And, again, whether it is how they are prosecuted and how – what vulnerability, what exposure the police have for some actions, A. B: keeping a record of what it is and, also, the data on actions taken by police that are against the law, that are unjust. And then, of course, choke hold, racial profiling, issues like that, that have to stop.
Brooke Baldwin. So, are you speaking with Senator Scott about this? Are you speaking to the White House about this? How are you, as Speaker of the House, working to cross this across the finish line?
Speaker Pelosi. Well, my trust is in the Congressional Black Caucus, which has been working on this for decades, for decades, and the Judiciary Committee.
I have had my conversations, yes, but they're taking the lead on this. And we are very proud of the response they've received: over 200 co-sponsors in the House. They command great respect on both sides of the aisle, both sides of the Capitol and, hopefully, down Pennsylvania Avenue.
So, my role is to give them options. But, again, to respect their judgment an how we go forward.
Brooke Baldwin. Speaking of Pennsylvania Avenue, the White House today signaled that they are working on some form of an Executive Order on police reform. We don't know what is in it. We know President Trump travels to Dallas tomorrow for this roundtable with law enforcement and faith leaders and the like, but, when you look at his tweets from this week promoting this false conspiracy theory involving that Buffalo protester, Martin Gugino, and he just tweeted about keeping these military bases named after Confederate leaders, it runs counter to all of the efforts.
So, Madam Speaker, do you have faith that the White House is taking police reform seriously?
Speaker Pelosi. Well, I have hope that they will because I think it is very important for us to work in a bipartisan way, to the extent possible. Certainly I'm hopeful that that is possible in the Congress of the United States. And I hope that, if that happens, that the President will be receptive to it.
I wouldn't be distracted by any of the President's tweets or other comments. What we should focus on is the merit of the legislation, the difference that it will make, the hope that it gives people that things can and will change. And, again, we must strive for as much bipartisanship, and I'm hopeful that that could be the case.
We, again, as you mentioned earlier, are, right now, in the process of having the hearing of many authorities on the subject of justice in policing, in the Capitol of the United States. That record is going to be very important as to why and how we can go forward. But let us, at least, try to be bipartisan or non-partisan as we deal with this. The American people deserve that, and we should strive for it.
But, if we cannot – reaching across the aisle, trying to find our common ground – if we cannot, we must go forward with the strongest possible legislation to make the biggest possible difference because we must make change.
Brooke Baldwin. Speaking of change, you know, I was just thinking of the election in November. I was just speaking with Keisha Lance Bottoms, the Mayor of Atlanta. I was asking her about what happened with the election in Georgia yesterday and all of the issues with voting, and this is what the Mayor just told me.
Mayor Lance Bottoms. It is absolutely ridiculous. Coming out of 2016, specifically when there were so many questions about the integrity of our election, to be here, again, in 2020, under these circumstances, really it is unacceptable. I think the layers of the voter suppression and the break down in our election system in Georgia run very deep.
Brooke Baldwin. My question to you, Speaker Pelosi, is, you know, do you have any concerns how things may go in November just given what folks experienced in Georgia late last night?
Speaker Pelosi. Well, I completely agree with what the distinguished Mayor had to say, and she has first-hand experience into the voter suppression that exist. And it, suppression, takes many forms, including not being ready for an election that you know what your responsibilities are.
Let me say that in The Heroes Act, which we hope will be passed – which supports our first responders, our health care workers, our heroes in all of this fight, our teachers and the rest in the fight against the coronavirus, and helps state and localities do their job – we also have in there considerable resources for voting by mail. This is not only a democracy issue of helping people vote at home and, therefore, making it easier for them, it is a health issue in the time of the coronavirus.
To see what happened in Georgia where in certain neighborhoods that are more affluent and more white, it took you twenty minutes to vote. But it took hours in other neighborhoods. That – one would be suspicious that that could be by design.
So, again, in the bill we have $3.6 billion –
Brooke Baldwin. May I jump in? When you say – forgive me, Madam Speaker – when you say it could be suspicious, it could be by design, what do you mean by that?
Speaker Pelosi. Yeah. By design. Well, because –
Brooke Baldwin. Who'd be designing?
Speaker Pelosi. Well, those who are responsible. That would be the secretaries of state and those who are responsible in different states. It is largely secretaries of state. But you have to make a decision to remove obstacles to participation in voting. That is your responsibility. If you send out machines prematurely where there isn't adequate training and personnel to deal with the voting, you're asking for trouble. And you don't seem to mind when it cost other peoples – people hours to vote.
So, let's just assume that – hope for the best, always hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. And what we have to do is make sure that we have the legal strength that we need to fight all of this, that we have the proper preparation of people to help other people at the polls, that we hold those responsible for sending out the vote by mail accountable.
There is no surprise here. It happened. Now, let's make sure it doesn't happen again. This is about the essence of who we are as a democracy, the sacred right to vote. And that they would trample on that or ignore their responsibilities to it is something that we must address. And as the Mayor referenced, there was intervention in the elections in 2016. There is no surprise in any of this.
But I will tell you if you saw the Republican playbook on voter suppression, you would see that there is a plan here that says: we're afraid of the vote, we're going to do everything we can to limit it. Limit it in terms of geography, locations and limit in in terms of timing as to how late or in advance polls are open and limit it in terms of the mechanics of the election, when it comes to voting by mail.
But you know what, we don't agonize, we organize. We're going to be ready for all of this, because that is what we owe our Constitution. That is what we owe our democracy. That is what we owe our children and all of the American people.
Brooke Baldwin. Sure. I imagine what is happening in Atlanta will be looked into, but I know that that Georgia Secretary of State is essentially saying it was not his fault. We'll have other conversations on that.
I want to end with this, Speaker Pelosi, because I know you have strong Baltimore roots. And I wanted to ask about someone who I know you've referred to as your ‘brother in Baltimore,' a Congressman and a civil rights champion, Elijah Cummings, who is no longer with us. But I was re-reading your words you'd written about him after he passed, and I just want to remind everyone what you had said as it pertains to just the state of America we are in.
You wrote: ‘The people of Baltimore, the Congress and the United States ‘lost a voice of unsurpassed moral clarity and truth: our beloved – ' excuse me, ‘…our beloved Chairman, Elijah E. Cummings.
‘In the House, Elijah was our North Star. He was a leader of towering character and integrity, who pushed the Congress and country always to rise to a higher purpose, reminding us why we are here. As he said whenever he saw that we were not living up to, our Founders' vision for America and meeting needs of our children for the future: ‘we are better than this.''
And Speaker Pelosi, I just wanted to end with those words, ‘We are better than this.' And what do you think your dear friend, your North Star, would say about where we are in America right now?
Speaker Pelosi. Well, one other thing that he did say is he said, ‘When we are dancing with the angels –' little did we know that that would be imminent for him. But, ‘When we are dancing with the angels, we need to be responsible for what we did to make things better.'
And he would be saying right now, what are each – what is each of us doing to make things better? Make, assume – take responsibility, take responsibility for our democracy?
And he said of the children, he said, ‘Our children are messengers to the future, a future we will never see.' So this responsibility is to our democracy and to our children.
Brooke Baldwin. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, thank you.
Speaker Pelosi. Thank you.
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