Sen. Cory A. Booker says President Trump’s insistence in the final presidential debate that he’s done more for Black people than any president since Abraham Lincoln is a “lie.”
Mr. Booker, a Black New Jersey Democrat, said Mr. Trump has embraced policies that have hurt the Black community and said the Republican has stoked racial tensions.
“It’s very frustrating to watch him stand up there and lie, and I will tell you this, just for a matter of the record: Donald Trump has not done more for Black people than any president since Abraham Lincoln,” Mr. Booker said on MNSBC.
Mr. Trump in the debate Thursday chastised his Democratic rival Joseph R. Biden over the lead role he played in authoring the 1994 Crime Bill that far-left activists have blamed for the high rates of incarceration in minority communities.
“With the exception of Abraham Lincoln, possible exception, but the exception of Abraham Lincoln, nobody has done what I’ve done,” Mr. Trump said.
The president pointed to the bipartisan criminal justice bill, The First Step Act, which Mr. Booker played a lead role in crafting and the president signed into law in 2018.
The law pushed back on the tough-on-crime thinking that has been blamed for adding to the problem of mass incarceration.
The law reduced mandatory minimum federal prison sentences in certain circumstances and gives judges more discretion when sentencing some drug offenders.
“Obama and Joe didn’t do it,” Mr. Trump said. “I don’t even think they tried because they had no chance at doing it.”
On Friday, Mr. Booker said overall Mr. Trump has done more harm than good for the Black community.
“From environmental justice to economic justice to criminal justice he’s actually been a totality of failure, but then what’s worse is to add really gasoline to that fire of inaction by inciting such — overtly inciting such bigotry and racism in our country,” the senator said.
Mr. Booker said Mr. Biden will move the nation in a better direction.
“I have so much confidence in the leadership of Joe Biden to be one of the most progressive presidents we’ve had on criminal justice reform, on policing reform, on economic inclusion, on ending environmental racism,” he said.
Mr. Booker said Mr. Biden’s record when he was vice president proves he has the ability to follow through on his promises.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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