JUST IN: Cory Booker Weighs In On Upcoming Primary Elections Ahead Of Key Midterm Election Runoffs

Added: 2026-05-25

[00:00:00]Joining us now Democratic Senator Cory Booker, who's on the ballot himself.

[00:00:03]Your primary is in a little over a week.

[00:00:04]Do you have a primary? No, I do not have an opponent. Okay, so you're going to win.

[00:00:08]God willing.

[00:00:10]So, um, let me just uh ask you a question about Iran cuz obviously we're still waiting for details. Um, so there's so much I can ask you, but it appears to include a 60-day ceasefire this memorandum of understanding with Iran, reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, and Iranian commitment to not pursue nuclear weapons. Now, the president's been very critical of the deal that Obama struck with Iran.

[00:00:30]Is this better than the deal Obama got with Iran? So, we haven't had an official briefing, but this is what I'm seeing that has me so outraged right now. Is the president said he went into this to deal with their nuclear program.

[00:00:41]This does not deal with that. Before he became president the first time, they had no highly enriched uranium. They had sent it out. Now they have it because of him. Number two is he criticized roundly that the deal that got rid of their nuclear program, uh, or at least their highly enriched program, involved getting $50 billion for Iran. Well, already the president's balance sheet is letting more than $14 billion go through that during this conflict he allowed them to sell oil. And this deal alone, easing of sanctions on Iran, allowing them to get billions of more, the same deal he criticized, he's already doing worse than. Giving Iran more money as he has said will allow them to do things like fuel their proxy terrorist proxies.

[00:01:24]That's why this war is wrong. He's got us in a situation that's worse than it was before, a more extreme regime.

[00:01:31]Strait of Hormuz now is a leveraging point for them. This weak nation has put America in a stalemate, and Donald Trump is being played as a fool that he is for getting us into this in the first place.

[00:01:41]Let's talk about some politics because obviously the Democratic National Committee, um, was kind of forced to release this autopsy report such as it was that it commissioned about the 2024 campaign.

[00:01:50]They were forced cuz CNN got a copy of it and was reporting on it, so they released it. Now, it's not a really very impressive report. It doesn't even mention President Biden's ill-fated decision to run for re-election, not to mention any of his aging issues. It didn't mention tensions in the party over Israel-Gaza.

[00:02:07]And I guess my question is, how can the Democratic Party hope to win tomorrow if it won't even honestly confront the problems of yesterday? Well, well, first of all, I've had frustrations, as you and I were talking off camera, with the Democratic Party for a long time.

[00:02:22]And the DNC has got to do a lot better if they're going to meet this moment in history. What I see when I travel around, though, is not people concerned with the Democratic Party. And my advice to the party leaders is that be less concerned about the party and far more concerned about the American people. The American people have lost trust because of all politics as usual. People are suffering, people are hurting, and they're going to support the leaders.

[00:02:47]And I'm seeing this in Talleyrand, in Ossoff, in Cooper, in in in North Carolina. That those leaders are stepping up and saying, "I don't give a damn about parties. I care about people." You You cannot lead the people if they don't trust you. And that's what's lacking right now with party apparatus. But the people running out there that I'm running around this country trying to support, they're building real trust with the American people, and that's my hope.

[00:03:10]>> So, what's the message from Leader Schumer or Leader Jeffries on helping the American people? I I mean, I I I cover this for a living, and I'm not sure there's a coherent message about elect Democrats cuz this is what we're going to do. I mean, I know you all hate Trump, but but what else?

[00:03:26]>> again, plainly what I've been saying.

[00:03:28]You are not going to win this election just by what you're against. You need to start articulating who you're for and what you're for. Have a vision that's compelling, that not only engenders trust, but makes sense for the American people.

[00:03:40]>> have faith in Schumer to be in charge of your department?

[00:03:43]>> I I am telling people left and right, we are 5 months out from election. What is going to make the Republicans gleeful is if we're talking about each other in the Democratic Party, and not talking about the realities that Americans are facing.

[00:03:55]I am tired of all this machination about party politics. We are in a crisis right now. Millions of Americans losing their health insurance, their costs skyrocketing. I talk to more and more New Jerseyans who are barely staying afloat. Enough of normal party politics.

[00:04:13]We need to focus on the people in the Democratic Party desperately needs new leadership and that's what's exciting me about this cycle. It's not only new leaders emerging, but a new vision for our party, but you can damn well be sure that I'm going to be talking about what our party needs to do to change and what our party needs to go. And the biggest issue for me, and I think what makes me frustrated with politics as usual, is the massive corruption going on in all three branches from a Supreme Court that's taking unlimited gifts from billionaires who have interest in matters before them to to Congress people trading stocks and accepting corporate cash and corporate PAC money to a president who is setting records for being the greatest grifter in chief we have ever seen. We need real change that engenders trust again in American politics, but more importantly in the people that are standing up right now and saying we need change.

[00:05:01]>> When you say you need new leadership, who who? I mean, new leadership suggests first of all that the old leadership, the current leadership is not delivering.

[00:05:09]So, you haven't said you want Schumer to go, but that's a kind of a subtext of it. Who who is Who should be leading your party?

[00:05:18]Again, this is why primaries are are are helpful and this is why people who want to lead right now need to be stepping up and putting a vision before the American people. I see that in the people I'm going to campaign for and even in New Jersey, I'm rolling out new vision. Get rid of income tax, federal income tax for for the families. Your first $75,000 should not be taxed. That would give about 10% more income to most Americans and I put out a plan to do that. An anti-corruption policy that makes literally senators not be able to trade stocks. It's why I don't take corporate PAC money. It's why I don't take issue area PAC money. We need to start talking about why billionaires and the biggest corporations, we had 88 last year pay no taxes of our biggest corporation, while firefighters or military people serving right now are paying a higher effective tax rate. This system is rigged. People feel that and they need leaders that speak to that pain and have a vision to get us out of it.

[00:06:16]All right. Um Senator Cory Booker, Democrat of New Jersey. Uh good luck in your primary running against nobody.

[00:06:21]>> just say it's Memorial Weekend and we we've lost four soldiers in this war.

[00:06:25]There are people every day >> 13 13 soldiers >> 13 soldiers, excuse me. 14, actually.

[00:06:30]>> Yeah. Um that are putting their lives on the line right now. We need to remember the 14 just recently lost, but you and I are both literally sitting here. Freedom of the press, freedom of speech, all of those things were paid for by the sacrifices of our ancestors. This is a weekend that's not a weekend off. We should actually be focused and centering their sacrifice, especially right now that we're at war and there are people in harm's way. Amen to that. Thank you so much, Senator Cory Booker. Appreciate it.