Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” 2020 presidential hopeful Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) said Democratic presidential opponent Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-MA) call break up large technology companies sounds “more like a Donald Trump thing to say.”
Partial transcript as follows:
KARL: So, I want to ask, Chris Hughes who helped co-found Facebook has now come out to say that it should be broken up. He says that it is unprecedented and un-American to have this much power in one company. Where do you stand on breaking up Facebook?
BOOKER: I don’t care if it’s Facebook, the pharma industry, even the agricultural industry. We’ve had a problem in America with corporate consolidation, that is having really ill effects.
And we should have – if I’m president of the United States, I will have a Justice Department that uses antitrust legislation to do the proper investigations and to hold industries accountable for corporate consolidation.
KARL: So, Elizabeth Warren’s already out there saying break up Facebook, break up Google …
BOOKER: But I — I don’t think that …
KARL: Break up Amazon.
BOOKER: Right, but I don’t think that a president should be running around, pointing at companies and saying breaking them up without any kind of process here.
It’s not me and my own personal opinion about going after folks. That sounds more like a Donald Trump thing to say, I’m going to break up you guys, I’m going to break – no.
We need to create systems and processes that work …
KARL: You just compared Elizabeth Warren to Donald Trump, that’s …
BOOKER: I – I – I most certainly did not, she is my friend.
KARL: Well, that’s what she’s saying. She’s the one that’s saying that.
BOOKER: Well again, she has – let her discuss and debate her positions. I’m telling you right now, we do not need a president that is going to use their own personal beliefs and tell you which companies we should break up. We need a president that’s going to enforce antitrust laws in this country, and I will be that person.
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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