On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Source,” Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) dodged questions on 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris’ dodges on the border and abortion during the Tuesday presidential debate.
Host Kaitlan Collins said, “[S]he was asked a lot of questions last night about her views and her policies. There were several she did not answer directly.”
Collins then played a montage of Harris avoiding questions on if people are better off than they were four years ago, why the Biden-Harris administration waited so long to act on the border and if she would have done things differently than President Joe Biden on the border, and whether she’d allow late-term abortion.
Collins then asked, “He did not answer the question about whether he’d veto a national abortion ban. But her views on those matters are important, the economy, immigration, abortion. Do you think that she should owe voters a direct answer on those questions?”
Booker answered, “Well, first of all, it’s not that hard. You know this, because we’ve — you’ve talked about it on your show, she’s outlined very specific plans on things like housing, in fact, something that, as a former housing advocate in New Jersey, is really exciting, about creating more housing stock, creating more affordable housing, giving Americans middle-class tax cuts, like expanding the child tax credit. There’s a very detailed plan going out there. And she has also told the story that, again, that Trump was getting wrong, like, when — at the end of the Trump administration, violent crime in this country was skyrocketing at the end of his administration. Violent crime is dramatically going down [under] hers. Jobs in his administration, we were losing manufacturing jobs, the unemployment rate was going up. Now, we have one of the lowest measured unemployment rates in our country’s history, including the lowest ever for African Americans. So, there’s a story to tell. She’s going to continue to tell it, but the idea that she’s not being specific is just wrong.”
Booker continued, “He, however, when asked a simple question, what’s your plan for health care? We know you want to take away Obamacare, but what do you want to do? He couldn’t mention one simple thing. So, I think the stark truth is, he’s the one that’s not putting details out there, except for in his Project 2025, which is one of the scariest documents, prepared by his former team members, that details, in a terrifying way, so terrifying that he realizes it doesn’t sell with the American people. So, he’s now trying to run away and distance himself from it.”
Collins followed up, “But, on immigration, she was asked, would you have done anything differently than how President Biden acted on this, not imposing a pretty severe executive order until six months before the election? She didn’t answer that question. Though, she later said, I’m not Joe Biden. Is that somewhere where you feel like she could stake out some different ground for those middle-of-the-road voters who are watching and not sure who they’re going to pick?”
Booker responded, “Yeah, again, I think she has a middle-of-the-road approach. It’s something that, again, as a United States Senator, that I got to participate [in] and watch wholescale right before me, at the end of the day, we tried to pass an immigration bill. You had a conservative, Sen. Lankford (R-OK) come together with a blue state Democrat, Sen. Murphy (D-CT), come together and put together a bill. It did not sell on parts of both sides of the aisle, there are parts of it that I really don’t like. But the truth of the matter is, that bill was there, ready to go. She endorsed it. She supported it. It would have done a lot of things that Donald Trump said he wanted, but he came out…in rank political opportunism and tanked the plan that would have supported border patrols, would have helped build more barriers down there.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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