GOP Rep: Some Counter-Protesters Had Violent Purpose | MTP Daily

DIFFICULT HEADLINES, KATY. >> KRISTEN, THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
I'M JOINED NOW BY REPUBLICAN CONGRESSMAN LEE ZELDEN OF NEW
YORK, WHO IS ALSO A MEMBER OF THE HOUSE FOREIGN AFFAIRS
COMMITTEE. LONG MAN, ALWAYS LOVELY TO SEE
YOU. I WANT TO TALK ABOUT THE POLL
NUMBERS THAT WE JUST RAN THROUGH, THOSE NBC NEWS MARIST
POLL NUMBERS THAT SHOW HIS FAIRCHLT IN MICHIGAN,
PENNSYLVANIA AND WISCONSIN DROPPING PRETTY PRECIP TUSEL.
ARE YOU CONCERNED ABOUT THAT? >> WELL, THE PRESIDENT CERTAINLY
NEEDS TO CONTINUE TO GET THE MESSAGE OUT TO THE AMERICAN
PEOPLE ABOUT WHAT VICTO VICTORI GETS UNDER HIS BELT AND WITH
WHAT'S AHEAD IN THE WEEKS AND MONTHS FORWARD.
A LOT OF PEOPLE WHO IF YOU ASK THEM WHAT'S THE TOP ISSUE TO
YOU, THEY WANT TO SEE THE ECONOMY GROWING.
THE ECONOMY HAS BEEN. THEY WOULD LIKE TO SEE TAX
REFORM AND THEY ALSO WANT TO KNOW HOW TAX REFORM WILL BENEFIT
THEM. THEY WANT THEIR COUNTRY SAFE.
THEY WANT TO SEE US PROTECTED NOT JUST FROM ATTACKS HERE AT
HOME, OUR VETERANS BETTER TAKEN CARE OF, MORE LEGISLATION
PASSING. THE PRESIDENT HAS SIGNED DOZENS
OF BILLS INTO LAW. PEOPLE HAVE OTHER PRIORITIES
THEY'D LIKE TO SEE PASSED GOING FORWARD.
AND AS THAT HAPPENS AND AS THE ECONOMY KBROOUS AND PEOPLE ARE
SAFE, HE'LL SEE THE NUMBERS GO UP.
THAT'S NOT THE ONLY ASPECT, OBVIOUSLY, OF DOING A JOB OF
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. THERE ARE OTHER WAYS THAT HE CAN
GET HIGHER POLL NUMBERS. AND, YOU KNOW, THAT WILL COME
FROM, YOU KNOW, THE WAY HE APPROACHES HIS PRESIDENCY IN THE
WEEKS AND MONTHS AHEAD TO BROADEN HIS COALITION.
>> CONGRESSMAN, ARE YOU CONCERNED ABOUT YOUR SUPPORT AND
YOUR DISTRICT GIVEN THOSE NUMBERS OUT OF MICHIGAN,
PENNSYLVANIA AND WISCONSIN AFTER ALL THOSE ARE STATES THAT HE
FLIPPED AND YOUR DISTRICT IS AN AREA THAT VOTED FOR PRESIDENT
OBAMA BEFORE IT VOTED FOR PRESIDENT TRUMP?
>> YEAH. WELL, PRESIDENT TRUMP -- I'M NOT
FAMILIAR WITH THOSE POLLS IN THOSE OTHER STATES.
>> WE JUST PLAYED THEM. I CAN GIVE THEM TO YOU AGAIN IF
YOU'D LIKE. MICHIGAN, 64% SAY THEY'RE IMPAIR
EMBARRASS BD I THE PRESIDENT. PENNSYLVANIA 63% SAY THEY'RE
EMBARRASSED BY THE PRESIDENT, WISCONSIN, OF 4% SAY THEY'RE
EMBARRASSED BY THE PRESIDENT. >> WHEN I SAY I'M NOT FAMILIAR
WITH THOSE POLLS, I HEARD THAT.
AS FAR AS MY OWN DISTRICT, YOU KNOW, WE'VE DONE OUR POLLING
HERE IN EASTERN LONG ISLAND. THIS IS A DISTRICT THAT THE
PRESIDENT WON BY LIKE 14.5 POINTS.
THE POINTS THAT YOU'RE PROVIDING FROM THOSE OTHER STATES ARE
DEFINITELY NOT THE POLL NUMBERS COMING IN ON THE EAST END OF
LONG ISLAND. BUT THE POINT IS CERTAINLY WELL
TAKEN THAT, YOU KNOW, THIS IS A COUNTRY OF 50 DIVERSE STATES,
AND OFTEN WITHIN A STATE THERE'S A VERY DIVERSE POPULATION.
AS YOU GO FROM, YOU KNOW, MAYBE ONE REGION THAT HAS A VERY
DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT TO OTHER REGION THAT
HAS A VERY REPUBLICAN CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT.
THIS PRESIDENT REPRESENTS ALL PEOPLE.
HE JUST NEEDS TO WORK ON DELIVERING AND PEOPLE WILL BE
HAPPY WITH THAT. >> CONGRESSMAN, IT'S BEEN MORE
THAN A WEEK SINCE CHARLOTTESVILLE AND THE
PRESIDENT HAS HAD A FEW ITERATIONS OF HIS STATEMENT
REGARDING CHARLOTTESVILLE SINCE THEN BUT HE'S STILL GETTING A
LOT OF PLOW BACK EVEN FROM MEMBERS OF YOUR OWN PARTY.
WE HAD BEN SASSE THE SENATOR FROM NEBRASKA THAT HE
UNDERSTANDS THE CHARACTER OF THIS NATION.
TIM SCOTT THE PRESIDENT'S MORAL AUTHORITY IS COMPROMISE THE.
SUSAN COLLINS, IT'S TOO DIFFICULT TO SAY IF HE'LL BE THE
NOMINEE IN 2020. SPECIFICALLY SUSAN COLLINS
SAYING TODAY THAT SHE'S NOT SURE IF HE'S GOING TO BE RUNNING OR
HE'LL BE THE NOMINEE OR WHETHER HE'LL BE PRIMARIED IN 2020.
WHAT'S YOUR REACTION TO THAT? >> WELL, I THINK PRESIDENT TRUMP
AND SENATOR COLLINS ARE IN MANY RESPECTS THEY HAVE BEEN ON THE
OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE POLITICAL SPECTRUM --
>> WHAT ABOUT BOB CORKER. >> THAT'S NOT THE FIRST TIME
SENATOR CORKER HAS MADE A STATEMENT LIKE THAT --
>> IT'S THE FIRST TIME HE'S GONE THAT FAR CERTAINLYEL WHEN HE
SAYS HE'S NOT SURE THE PRESIDENT DEMONSTRATES WHO THIS COUNTRY
IS. I MEAN, THAT'S FARTHER THAN HE'S
GONE EVER. >> YEAH.
THAT'S TRUE. SENATOR CORKER MADE A STATEMENT
A FEW MONTHS. HE SAID THE WHITE HOUSE WAS IN A
DOWNWARD SPIRAL. YOU KNOW, FOR THE PRESIDENT AS
WE LOOK AT THE STATE OF OUR NATION RIGHT NOW IN
CHARLOTTESVILLE SPECIFICALLY LAST WEEKEND, ANY OPPORTUNITY
THAT HE HA HE HAS TO CONDEMN IN STRONGEST POSSIBLE TERMS THE KKK
AND NAZISM AND ALL THEIR EVIL AND BIT ON THERY AND HATRED
WHICH IS UNWELCOME, UNAMERICAN AND WRONG, HE NEEDS TO DO SO.
THERE IS NO MORAL EQUIVALENT LANES BETWEEN THOSE WHO
ASSOCIATES WITH THOSE GROUPS AND THOSE WHO DON'T.
THAT HAS TO BE CLEAR. WE DON'T WANT, WHETHER IT'S THE
-- GO AHEAD. >> I'M SORRY TO INTERRUPT.
REGARDING THERE'S NO MORAL EQUIVALENCY.
YOU HAD A FACEBOOK STATEMENT LAST WEEK WHICH SOME SAID
COMMITTED JUST THAT, A MORAL EQUIVALENCY.
YOU SAID ANTIFA BUZZED IN CRIMINALS WITH BATS AND PEPPER
SPRAY FOR THE PURPOSE OF COMMITTING ACTS OF VIOLENCE
TARGETING ANYONE WHO WAS PART OF THE PROTEST AGAINST
CHARLOTTESVILLE BRINGING DOWN THE STATUE OF ROBERT E. LEE,
WHETHER ASSOCIATED WITH THE KKK OR NAZISM WERE NEITHER.
THERE IS AN ELEMENT OF OUR COUNTRY THAT HAS PLEDGED TO
RESIST AND OPPOSE AND OBSTRUCT THIS PRESIDENT ON ENTIRELY ON
ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING. THAT THEY WON'T CRITICIZE AS
LONG AS HE IS IN THE OFFICE. HE WAS TO SERVE IN LAST
NOVEMBER. THE PROTESTS IN CHARLOTTESVILLE
WASN'T ABOUT THE PRESIDENT. IT WAS THE STATUE OF ROBERT E.
LEE. SO THE PROTESTORS THAT WERE
THERE TO PROTEST WERE THERE TO PROTEST THE HATE GROUPS THAT
CAME OUT TO PRETEST THE PREMOOUFL OF THAT STATUE.
AM I WRONG. >> WELL, FIRST OFF, I'LL REIRLT
ATE THERE IS NO -- >> SO DO YOU NOT STAND BY THAT
STATEMENT ANY MORE, CONGRESSMAN. >> NO.
I COMPLETELY DO. AND THERE WERE PEOPLE WHO SHOWED
UP WHO HAD -- WHO SHOWED UP WITH BASEBALL BATS AND PEPPER SPRAY
AND YOU HAVE REPORTERS, YOU KNOW, WHETHER IT'S "THE NEW YORK
TIMES" REPORTER WHO TWEETED ABOUT HOW WHAT SHE SAID THE HARD
LEFT SHOWED UP TO BE JUST ASS VIOLENT ASSIST THE ALT-RIGHT.
THOSE ARE HER WORDS, NOT MINE. THE RICH MANNED DAILY -- THE
DISPATCH REPORTER WHO TWEETED ABOUT BEING PUNCHED BY ONE OF
THE ANTIFA PROTESTORS. I'M SORRY, IN THE USE OF PEPPER
SPRAY AND, YOU KNOW, AND HAVING BATS TO BE VIOLENT.
I MEAN, THIS IS -- I'M JUST TALKING ABOUT WHAT REPORTERS
WERE PUTTING OUT. I WASN'T THERE.
SO TO SAY THAT THERE WERE PEOPLE WHO SHOWED UP TO COUNTERPROTEST
AND ALL OF THEM HAD PEACEFUL PURPOSES, BUT AGAIN, I DON'T
WANT THAT TO BE TAKEN IN ANY WAY, SHAPE OR FORM AS SUGGESTING
THAT THERE'S A MORAL EQUIVALENCY.
THERE ISN'T. BUT THERE WERE PEOPLE WHO SHOWED
UP TO COUNTERPROTEST WHO DID SHOW UP FOR THE PURPOSE OF BEING
VIOLENT AND THAT'S NOT

GOP Rep: Some Counter-Protesters Had Violent Purpose | MTP Daily | MSNBC

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