Cory Booker Points Out 'Irony' Of Arrests At ICE Center During Scathing Tirade Against Trump Admin.

Forbes Breaking News

During a press briefing on Tuesday, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) called out the Trump Administration over the arrests of individuals protesting outside an ICE center in Newark.

Transcript

00:00And next we have the U.S. Senator from New Jersey, Cory Booker.

00:07I'm standing here at a time that should make all of us as Americans truly afraid. Injustice

00:26anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. When they come after judges, we should be afraid.

00:33When they come after people who use their First Amendment rights, we should be afraid.

00:40When they come after law firms for representing clients of their choice, we should be afraid.

00:47When they attack universities and the vital role they play in a free society, we should

00:54be afraid. But I am telling you, fear is understandable. But fear that freezes is unacceptable. We need

01:03to turn our fear into fight, understanding that the other side of fear is courage. You cannot

01:11have great courage unless you face down great fear. And that is what they're trying to do.

01:18We saw that whole episode. My congressional colleagues from New Jersey did their job. They actually

01:28are obeying the Constitution. They are standing up to give checks and balances to this administration

01:34at a time that the Republicans in control of the House and the Senate are laying down and

01:42completely abrogating their duties to check and balance and give oversight to the president.

01:49They showed up on that day. They were invited in. They were held in a room. And it wasn't

01:54until they saw officers streaming out to arrest a mayor, to arrest a mayor in America who was

02:04trying to get a private, for-profit prison to abide by health codes and fire safety like every

02:14other business, private company in Newark, New Jersey. And then in a situation that should

02:19have been de-escalated, they ramped it up, endangering everybody there and arrested a man that now they're

02:29saying they're not filing charges against. All of this incident was because of an arrest

02:36that was an unjust use of power, that was an abuse of power, and that they now have shown

02:42their cards they had no right to arrest him in the first place. So these three Congress people

02:48caught up in that crisis, stood their ground, used their voice, and did their job. And if there

02:55was such a violation of the law that went on, the irony is, after it was all done and a mayor

03:02was unjustly arrested, they invited the three of them back in and gave them a tour.

03:08I mean, the lie is laid plain right there that there was some kind of assault or aggressive

03:15action. Trust me, I used to lead law enforcement because I was the mayor of that city. You don't

03:20bring people in and give them a tour of a facility. If they had done something, you arrest them on the

03:24spot. But we know there was political reflection. We know there was political calculation. We

03:31know there was politics at play that was intending upon using law enforcement to pursue a political

03:39end. This is a part of a pattern of this administration. This is a part of a pattern of an administration

03:49that continues to abuse the fundamental rights of our nation. And so the question is, right

03:56now, is will we stand up and say no? Will we stand up and let our voices be heard? Because

04:04if we don't stand up when they come after a judge, if we don't stand up when they come after a law

04:10firm, when they don't stand up when they come after someone's due process rights, we will be

04:15next. But the line is drawn here. We stand together for our democracy. We stand together for the

04:22affirmation of our rights. We stand together for the Constitution of the United States of

04:28America. And I tell you right now, we will have justice.

04:33We stand together for the Constitution of the United States of the United States of the United States of America.

Category

Transcript

Recommended