Rep. Jamie Raskin says "I certainly hope" this is a turning point in DHS funding standoff

[0:00] And we're back now with Maryland Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin. [0:04] Congressman, you were there last night. [0:07] Yes, indeed. [0:07] One of the guests in the ballroom. [0:09] Unfortunately, this is not your first encounter with political violence for many people in that room. [0:15] The president, Steve Scalise, who survived a shooting himself, Charlie Kirk's widow, was there. [0:21] Um, RFK Jr., as we mentioned, and you were at that Capitol on January the 6th, sheltering in fear for your life at that period of time. [0:31] How did that influence what happened last night? [0:34] What did you do? [0:36] So, um, I had just entered the room and I was talking to some reporters who approached me from the Boston Globe. [0:42] Their table was right near the perimeter as I was entering the ballroom. [0:46] Uh, Carrie Kennedy was their guest and we were in conversation when there were three loud booms, uh, heard some screams, plates, glasses, silverware hitting the ground. [0:59] And then everybody was yelling, get down. [1:01] Somebody kind of pushed me from the back and, uh, we all ended up on the floor. [1:05] Uh, when it was over, Carrie, who of course lost, uh, her father to, uh, an assassin gunman. [1:14] And her uncle, uh, President Kennedy, um, she said, I, I can't believe that schoolchildren are dealing with this all across America, um, and don't have the resources to process their trauma. [1:30] And, um, so that launched a conversation, uh, about gun violence and how, you know, somewhere between 275 and 300 people are shot every day in our country. [1:43] And we lose more than a hundred of them every day. [1:45] So even as this nightmare was unfolding at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, dozens and dozens of people had been shot and killed in our country. [1:56] And so I hope this isn't just a inside the Beltway story. [1:59] I hope we talk about the conditions for schoolchildren and people all over the country who were dealing with this. [2:06] No, it's a, it's a good point. We had, we benefited from all that security. [2:11] That's right. [2:12] Those children across the country don't have a sliver of it. [2:15] Well, that's right. And, and, and, you know, I heard, uh, President Trump talk about this demonstrating the importance of the new ballroom. [2:22] And he sent out some messages about the ballroom. [2:24] And that might help people who are visiting the White House. [2:27] But what about people who are in shopping malls and movie theaters and high schools and elementary schools across the country? [2:33] So I hope we can have a serious bipartisan national conversation about what we can do to improve public safety for everybody. [2:43] Well, to that point, I mean, we're in the 10th week of a partial shutdown of Homeland Security, which, by the way, Secret Service falls under the umbrella of Homeland Security. [2:52] So do many essential workers. This has been just tangled up in this policy standoff in Congress. [2:58] Do you think things change after last night? [3:01] I certainly hope so. I mean, we, you know, of course, we, we had, um, a unanimous vote out of the Senate, all the Republicans, all the Democrats, and then all the Democrats in the House vote to restore all of the funding except for ICE. [3:14] And of course, it was about ICE killing innocent people in Minneapolis, Alex Preddy and Renee Good, that led to this standoff over this. [3:23] So I hope we can improve public safety for everybody. [3:26] But it was in the House and Republican leadership wasn't willing to do that. [3:29] But do you think it, it changes now that Democrats and Republicans will say, let's fund everything fully? [3:34] Yeah. Again, we've got three quarters of Congress all together, uh, on moving forward, resolving the remaining issues and getting everything funded. [3:43] Fortunately, uh, you know, there's no interruption in any of ICE's funding because it was so super hyper funded originally. [3:52] So that's why, uh, it's kind of a made up controversy because they have the money that they need. [3:59] Uh, but we still have to deal with the underlying issues that led to this in the first place. [4:03] Um, it was the Democrats position to, to hold that up, um, to make the argument over changes policy-wise to ICE and CBP. [4:12] Well, right. After the killings in Minneapolis. Yes, absolutely. [4:15] The vast majority of American people agree. [4:17] No, no, what's made up is the idea that ICE somehow isn't getting its money. [4:21] Got it. [4:21] It's been getting, I mean, it's got the money for a long time because of the original, you know, big, beautiful bill. [4:28] The president, um, I want to make sure that I recognize what he said because we don't hear him speak this way very often. [4:34] He said, I asked all Americans to recommit with their hearts to resolve our difference peacefully. [4:41] And he talked about being unified with members of the press. [4:45] Yes. Yes. [4:46] Um. [4:48] Well, that certainly, that's a new message from him. [4:51] That's great. [4:51] He had called the press, of course, the enemy of the people. [4:53] And he's been engaged in a lot of lawsuits against your profession. [4:56] Well, yes. [4:58] Um, we are going into this politically charged midterm season. [5:03] There's going to be campaigning around the country with lawmakers out there. [5:06] I mean, does something change? [5:07] He said this. [5:09] Does something change? [5:10] Does democratic language need to change as well? [5:13] Well, we have said all along that we need every politician in the country, every leader in the country, [5:19] every citizen in the country, denouncing political violence across the board. [5:23] Um, regardless of where it's coming from. [5:26] Yeah. [5:26] Um, so, uh, you know, I find this a welcome change in rhetoric. [5:32] But, you know, what happened last week? [5:33] They brought a lawsuit against the Southern Poverty Law Center, whose whole purpose is to, [5:38] is to investigate violent right-wing extremism in the country. [5:43] And now they're prosecuting them for having used undercover agents, which, of course, the FBI uses [5:49] and the government uses all the time. [5:51] Well, understood. [5:51] Um, and there, there is, across party lines, some, some political violence, way too much [5:55] of it right now. [5:56] And actually, Speaker Emerita Pelosi on this program said to me recently that she thought [6:01] the threat or the concern about violence or threats to your family is what is hurting [6:06] recruitment of people to run for office, particularly mothers, particularly women. [6:12] Are you seeing that? [6:13] That people are afraid to even join public life because of this? [6:16] Sure. [6:18] Anybody who's thinking about running for office undoubtedly thinks about that. [6:22] Anybody who's thinking about running for president undoubtedly thinks about that. [6:25] And those people have the most protection with the Secret Service and other people don't have [6:31] the same kind of protection. [6:33] So, look, we've got to rediscover the great American tradition of nonviolence and Dr. King and the [6:40] civilizing movements that have always opposed violence versus the violent groups that have used [6:47] violence historically, beginning with the Ku Klux Klan, in order to terrorize other people. [6:52] Congressman Raskin, thank you for joining us, and we're glad you were able to do so. [6:56] Thank you. [7:01] Thank you. [7:09] Thank you.