Yahoo Finance Presents: Karine Jean-Pierre

Joe Biden Senior Advisor and Chief-of-Staff for Kamala Harris, Karine Jean-Pierre, sat down with Yahoo Finance's Sibile Marcellus to discuss a wide range of topics, including the Biden campaign's approaches to systemic racism, the economy, coronavirus, taxes, health care, the Supreme Court, and misinformation from President Trump's team.

Video Transcript

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SIBILE MARCELLUS: Welcome to "Yahoo Finance Presents." I'm Sibile Marcellus. My guest today is the chief of staff of vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris, Karine Jean-Pierre. Before becoming a senior advisor to Joe Biden's presidential campaign, she was the senior advisor and spokeswoman for the progressive advocacy group MoveOn.org. She also teaches at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. Karine, welcome.

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: Thank you so much for having me. Hello, Sibile. Nice to meet you and see you-- well, not in person, but at least see you--

SIBILE MARCELLUS: At least virtually.

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: --virtually.

SIBILE MARCELLUS: We'll definitely take it. So let's start first with the movement for social justice and the protests of recent months. Now, President Trump likes to talk a lot about law and order. But as district attorney for San Francisco, Senator Harris was the state's top cop. So what does law and order look like under a Biden-Harris administration, specifically when it comes to protests and violence?

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: So let me just say first-- is that-- you know, Joe and Kamala are both campaigning everyday for the votes of the Black community. They believe that they have to earn every vote. And they also believe that we are having multiple crises right now, right?

We're having COVID-19 pandemic that the country-- our country is dealing with. More than 210,000 people have died. More than 8 million people are affected. There is an economic crisis, right? The COVID-- the mismanagement of COVID-19 has led us into a downturn in our economy. There is a racial uprising, as we're seeing right now, and also climate-- a climate change crisis.

With the question that you just posed about the moment and law and order and all that you laid out, look, we have to meet this moment. And that's what Joe Biden and Kamala Harris believe in is meeting the moment and actually engaging the Black community and having that real conversation that's needed to be had.

Joe Biden says this all the time, you know, this is-- we're talking about systemic racism, and it affects and it permeates throughout our society, throughout-- you know, throughout everything, right? Whether it's health care, as we're seeing over and over again.

And look, so yes, we have to figure out how we deal with criminal justice reform. We also have to figure out as well how systemic racism deals with every part every way. And so a couple of things I want to talk about is Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are advocating for bold plans that will directly benefit the black community, whether it's free tuition at community colleges and free tuition at public four-year university and public or private HBO-- HBCU families for individuals making under $125,000. There's the economy that we really have to deal with as well.

SIBILE MARCELLUS: So Karine, definitely. I did want to double down on the economy. So when we're looking at the presidential race, Joe Biden is leading by double digits. But one area of the race that's neck and neck is the economy, and that's in spite of unemployment being at record highs. So why don't more Americans trust Biden with the US economy, and how is the campaign focusing on this issue in the final stretch?

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: Yeah, let me just finish what I was talking about before. You know, I really want to lean in on this because this is a really important conversation to have. It's just you think about that-- to your point, COVID, that I was talking about, tens of millions of people who are unemployed.

And you think about Jacob Blake, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor-- all remind us just how many Black Americans are subject to brutal and excessive force. And communities of color are bearing the brunt of all these crises, just as they have so many times before.

So we have to talk about systemic racism. We have to talk about the growing economic inequality, as you were just laying out, and we have to do that as a country. And so Joe Biden has laid out key steps that Congress should take up immediately when it comes to real police reform to hold all cops to high standards so many already-- so many already meet, but we need to make sure that it is across the board. He'll invest in shifting our criminal justice focus from incarceration to prevention, ending cash bail, diverting drug offenders, investing more in reentry and much more than that.

And when it comes to the economy, you know, we-- he has laid out a plan called Build Back Better. And it's incredibly important because he-- the thing that the Biden campaign has talked about is closing the racial wealth and income backs-- income gaps-- and expanding home ownership, and that's what he's going to do-- and affordable housing, which is key in our community, removing barriers to participation, expanding access to opportunity. And the way he's going to do that is we just have to continue talking to people and letting them know what our plan is.

Look, what we've seen in the last four years is a downturn. We have not seen our community lifted up at all in this economy that has been under Donald Trump. So we have to continue to lean in and talk about the plans that I just laid out, and we're doing that. I think the-- Biden and Kamala Harris are out there in key battleground states, in key communities having those conversations and explaining their economy plan. And that's what we have to just keep doing and making sure that that resonates with people.

SIBILE MARCELLUS: And the vice president has been clear that he would listen to scientists when it comes to considering whether another economic shutdown is needed. But given what we're seeing right now in the country with the rise in cases, based on conversations happening inside the campaign, is that more likely now?

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: Look, I-- you know, I can say this, we are-- Joe Biden, as you just said, is going to listen to the scientists. He's going to listen to the experts. And he's been doing that since March. He has a key group of people that he talks to regularly that lays out what's going on right now with COVID-19 and the pandemic and the lives that are being taken and affected by this deadly virus.

And so he's going to do that. When we win in 14 days, he's going to make sure he has the experts around him. He's going to have those conversations. When he gets inaugurated in January of 2021, he'll do that, right?

And so he has put a plan forward, right? He's talked about making sure there's PPE, making sure that there's a real-- there's a path to getting a vaccine and not use the vaccine as a political tool, use it because we need to save lives, all of Americans' lives, talking about how we're going to reopen schools safely. I have a six-year-old, so I feel it. And I know so many others in this country feel-- and so you have to have a plan.

And right now, Donald Trump doesn't have a plan. He has mismanaged this. And what this country needs-- and you see this over and over. We hear it on the road, you see it in polling, people want real leadership. And I think that's what Joe Biden is going to bring-- real leadership, someone who cares about science and puts an actual plan together so we can move this country out of this pandemic that we're in.

SIBILE MARCELLUS: And people definitely care about their tax bills. So Joe Biden has said that he wouldn't raise taxes on Americans earning less than $400,000 a year, but he wants to get rid of President Trump's tax cuts. Is there a scenario where Biden would need to get rid of some of the tax cuts on the middle class or raise the corporate rate back up to 35%, given what he wants to accomplish and the deficit record?

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: Look, I think Joe Biden has been really clear. He's going to not raise anyone's taxes that makes less than $400,000 a year. He's made that commitment. He's going to get rid of that-- that big tax cut that Donald Trump gave that's helping millionaires and billionaires and hurting everyone else. And so we have to deal with that.

And I know that Donald Trump constantly says that, you know, Joe Biden is going to raise your taxes, raise-- which is not true. He has no proof. There is-- it is not true. What we want to do is build economic wealth for working people. That is what-- his plan he's put forth. This is Joe Biden's plan on Build Back Better that came out a couple of months ago is, how do we create jobs, and how do we do it with a racial equity lens so that everybody gets lifted up? And that is what Joe Biden is going to do.

SIBILE MARCELLUS: And on the issue of Affordable Care Act, so during the vice presidential debate, Senator Harris, she said that if you have a pre-existing condition, they're coming for you. Now, President Trump has signed an executive order that he says protects Americans with pre-existing conditions. Now, who, specifically, was Kamala Harris referring to when she said, they're coming for you?

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: Donald Trump.

SIBILE MARCELLUS: Can you just simplify the Republican measures that she was referring to?

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: Donald Trump and his Trump administration. Right now-- they're in the courts right now. The Trump administration is in the courts wanting to dismantle, take away ACA, which is-- that would take away health care from 20 million people. And they're lying to people about it, Donald Trump. I mean, what he's talking about, there-- it's just lies, that-- there is no proof in the pudding. The proof is that he wants to dismantle Obamacare. He wants to dismantle ACA. So if you have a pre-existing condition, your life now, you have to worry about what this president is going to do.

And let's be clear, the Republicans, Sibile, had 10 years. They wanted to get rid of ACA. They voted more than 70 times to do that. This is Republicans in the House and Senate. And they never put a plan to replace it-- never, in 10 years.

And now you have this administration, in the middle of a pandemic, when we should be expanding health care, when we should be giving people more options, when we should be lowering costs, which is what Joe Biden has said he's going to do, he wants to get rid of health care? He wants to get rid of Obamacare? He wants to get rid of health care for tens of millions of people? And that's what she was talking about. They are coming for you. They are. They're coming for you, and they're going through the courts to do it.

SIBILE MARCELLUS: Well, speaking of the courts, so I want to talk about Republicans' push to get Judge Barrett on the Supreme Court, confirmed by early next week. Now, does she worry you, in terms of sustaining the progress we've seen when it comes to LGBTQ+ rights? And is same-sex marriage a reason why Biden and Harris might consider adding more justices the Supreme Court?

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: Look, I think Joe Biden has been pretty clear about this, and so has Kamala Harris, is like, you know, we have to let the people decide. We have 14 days, and that's who should be deciding who gets to pick the next Supreme Court justice is the next-- whoever wins this presidency, who's going to be the next president. So Joe Biden has been clear where he stands on the future of the Supreme Court.

This nomination should not proceed. It should not proceed before election, you know? And right now, I feel like we're engaging in hypotheticals that President Trump and Senate Republicans are pushing to distract from the fact that they are trying to ram a nomination through while the election is underway right now. I mean, they are going against their own protocols that they had put forth. And so look, millions-- millions, tens of millions-- of people are already voting right now. So the American people should have their say, and let the next president make the nomination.

Look, I think, you know, to your point, everything is on the ballot, Sibile, everything. Justice is on the ballot your health care is on the ballot. Your life is on the ballot. The economy is on the ballot. Everything is on the ballot in just 14 days, and people are voting right now. They're early voting, absentee ballot voting.

And this is what is at stake. This is the most consequential election of our lifetime, period. And that is not, you know, hyperbole. It is just the truth. And I think when you think about Amy Coney Barrett, that is proof of that, that everything is on the line.

So folks have to get out. They have to vote, and they have to make a plan. Please go to IWillVote.com. Make a plan. Get out there and vote.

SIBILE MARCELLUS: And how does your team handle the misinformation that President Trump and his team puts out there?

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: Yeah. So we-- so here's the thing. You have-- Donald Trump has tried to do this, when you think about misinformation campaign, since Joe Biden jumped into the race. And I mean, if you think about it, that's one of the reasons Donald Trump was impeached by the House, because he was trying to cheat. He was so afraid of Joe Biden, he was trying to cheat, and he got caught. And he was impeached by the House.

So he has had this fear of Joe Biden for a very long time. And so everything that he has said-- all of the ugly misinformation, all of the lies that he has put about Joe Biden-- hasn't worked. And you see that in the polls. It doesn't work. It has not stuck. And so he's coming back with it now, but it didn't-- it hasn't-- and it's not sticking now. And he tried to do that with Kamala Harris, and guess what? It's not sticking.

So this is an old playbook that Donald Trump is bringing back. And look, what we can do-- the thing that we try to do is cut through the lies-- cut through the lies, cut through the noise, talk directly to the American people. That's how we're getting to the other side of it. And it's-- and honestly, like I said, it is-- it has not worked on Joe Biden. It's just desperation, and it's distraction coming from Donald Trump.

SIBILE MARCELLUS: On the allegations against the vice president's son, big tech, Facebook, Twitter, were they right in blocking the "New York Post" Biden expose on their platforms? And is that the role of social media?

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: Well, the role of social media is to make sure that there-- that lies and conspiracy theories and things that are incredibly harmful to all Americans should not-- you know, should not be out there because it's misinformation, and it could be incredibly dangerous. And so that is-- I think that's where we stand on that. We cannot have, you know, conspiracy theories, we cannot have lies out there, especially if it's coming from, you know, sources that are incredibly damaging and have proved to be damaging to our democracy.

And so that's-- you know, that is key. We have to be responsible. The media has to be responsible. Social media platforms has to be responsible.

We cannot have this misinformation creep into our democracy, and that is what is important. And I think that's what we're seeing this time around that we, you know, didn't get to see four years ago. We're seeing more of that this time around.

SIBILE MARCELLUS: Well, we'll definitely keep our eye looking closely at misinformation. Karine Jean-Pierre--

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: Thank you, Sibile.

SIBILE MARCELLUS: --the chief of staff of vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris, thanks so much.

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: Thank you so much, Sibile. Have a great day.