In SC, Democrats accuse Trump of sowing racism
(SOUNDBITE)(ENGLISH) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, SAYING:
"All my life I’ve been committed to advancing fairness and opportunity for the African-American community.”
Just one day after U.S. president Donald Trump accepted an award for his work on criminal justice at Benedict College, a historically black college in Columbia, South Carolina - some of his Democratic rivals took to the stage Saturday at the same place and accused him of stoking racism as they fought for the state’s black vote ahead of South Carolina’s Democratic primary in February.
Senator Corey Booker:
(SOUNDBITE)(ENGLISH) U.S. SENATOR COREY BOOKER, SAYING:
"This President has been fueling racism. He has been preaching racism from our highest office in this land, and his policies are disproportionately affecting and targeting African-Americans."
South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg called the president out on using the world “lynching” when comparing his impeachment probe to the plight of African Americans in the United States:
(SOUNDBITE)(ENGLISH) INDIANA MAYOR PETE BUTTIGIEG, SAYING:
“...And we can damn well do better than a president who compares his own impeachment, a constitutional process he brought on himself...to lynching. And claims that his supposedly unfair treatment gives him insight into the criminal justice system.”
And Senator Kamala Harris said that the trust in the justice system has been lost, partially due to those who have power in D.C.
(SOUNDBITE)(ENGLISH) SENATOR KAMALA HARRIS SAYING:
“How are people supposed to walk into courtrooms around America and have any confidence that what happens to them in a courtroom is fair, when you have the highest level elected people or appointed people in the United States in the open, in plain sight subverting justice.”
On Friday, Trump stood in front of a largely handpicked audience in South Carolina and spoke at length about his record on race and criminal justice.
(SOUNDBITE)(ENGLISH) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, SAYING:
"I will always champion the right to due process, the right to a fair trial, the right to good legal representation for every American regardless of race, background, position..."
Many of the Democrats traveled to South Carolina looking to chip away at Joe Biden’s strong lead in the polls, bolstered by the eight years he served as Barack Obama’s Vice President.
(SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN, SAYING:
"President Trump has fanned the fumes of white supremacy. After Charlottesville, he told us after that young woman was killed - those folks come out on the field carrying torches with their veins bulging literally and spewing hate, supported by the Ku Klux Klan, and white supremacy said...they asked him to comment on when that young woman was killed, tell them about both groups, 'they're very fine people on both sides.' No president including Andrew Johnson before the civil War has ever uttered words like that."
Biden leads his closest rival in South Carolina, Senator Elizabeth Warren, by nearly 20 percentage points and the state may end up being crucial to his Democratic nomination bid as he continues to lose ground in states like Iowa and New Hampshire.
