Van Jones Praises Trump/Biden Fight on Criminal Justice Reform: ‘This Is Historic’

‘For my entire adult life the parties have been racing who can put the most in prison’

EXCERPT:

KEILAR: "Presidential politics now. Former Vice President Joe Biden is getting hit from the right and the left over a law that he helped right 23 years ago, the 1994 Crime Bill. In a tweet President Trump said Biden was heavily involved in passing the bill, and he calls it a dark period in American history. He says anyone associated with the 1994 Crime Bill will not have a chance of being elected. In particular, African-Americans will not be able to vote for you. Joining me now we have CNN political commentator Van Jones with us from New York. Van, you're instrumental along with Jared Kushner in pushing  the criminal justice reform bill that President Trump signed late last year. The president, it must be said when we talk about this topic, has a checkered past when it comes to race and justice. This back and forth and his targeting of Joe Biden, and -- and what is really a vulnerability, what do you think about this?"
JONES: "Well, look, I mean, politicians play politics and that’s interesting, but for me, let’s just take a step back. This is historic. We now have the president of the United States and the Democratic front-runner competing on who can be the best on criminal justice reform. For my entire adult life the parties have been racing who can put the most in prison, who can be the toughest on crime and now you have them arguing and debating, no, I’ll be better at reform. So as silly as some of this stuff, is Trump can’t say to, you know, Biden, well, because of your past, nobody can vote for you. You can go back and forth on that, but fundamentally what you’ve got is a historic watershed that is now showing up in the presidential election. Both party trying to move in the direction of reform.”

Video files
Full
Compact
Audio files
Full
Compact