Briefly, but hes not staying for the dinner. Jerry bernard, great to have you do for that and thank you all so much for joining us. Cnn news, node starts right now Donald Trumps pitch to black voters versus the real story thats tonight on these value good evening. Im abby phillip in new york and tonight, the former president goes home. He was right here in new york rallying a crowd of thousands, promising a new york turnaround ive seen new york through good times and bad through boom times and crime waves through Market Crashes and terrorist attacks but ive never seen it quite like this right now. You dont have public spaces. Theyre occupied by migrants, intense that happened in the bronx. What is historically the most democratic burrow in the city, and lead us to say it is an unlikely spot for a republican to Campaign Obama won by 81, 91 let the vote here in 2012, biden won nearly 84 in 2020. But trump sees an opportunity and opening with black and hispanic voters. Even as he makes a post racial appeal it doesnt matter whether youre black or brown or white, or whatever the hell color you are. It doesnt matter. We are all americans and were going to pull together as Americans Trump painted a picture of American Carnage Under Biden while telling black voters that they were better off when he was president in nearly every way everyone was better off. We had the greatest economy in history. We had the best poverty rate in terms of the positive number ever in our history for Black Americans and Hispanic Americans everybody had the best theyve ever had African American jobs were the best in history but of course, weve got a fact check it because its simply not true. Heres what the Census Bureau data says about the poverty rate among Black Americans. As you can see there in the chart, it hit a historic low in 2022 2022171, 171. 1 . That was when joe biden lets precedent, not donald trump and jobs well, were Black Americans, better off under trump thats not true either. The data, again, from the Bureau Of Labor StatisticsShows Unemployment for Black Americans hitting a record low in 2023, 2023, of course, was when joe biden was president as well tonight, we have a News Night Conversation with congressman byron donalds, a republican from florida. Hes been rumored to be a potential trump Vice President ial pick, and hes here in the studio with us congressman. Why does former President Trump keep repeating those statistics that are very easy to fact check and are not true. Well, a couple of things ill be versus good to be with you. Now let me say it is it is without question whether youre black, brown, white doesnt matter. We were all doing better under donald trump. You might want to look at rajab numbers, but a lot of those jobs are parttime jobs, not fulltime jobs, not career jobs that help people actually changing. Right . I mean, those are pretty clear but heres one thing that is critical. The when you do wages adjusted for inflation, that is down. And so you might be making more money, but youre paying significantly more for the goods and products that you use every day. Thats affecting every americans. Its hurting Black Americans and Hispanic Americans more than any other group. And thats the fundamental problem with if bidenomics. And thats why he is being rejected by, i hear what youre saying about inflation and its certainly true that inflations obviously a huge issue. But on the issue of whether or not black unemployment is higher or lower under biden or trump. It is just a fact that it is lower under biden so trump can make a case to black voters, but he shouldnt be lying about it. Well, heres the fundamental case when youre talking about economics, do you have a job thats an important thing, but are you making enough money to get ahead . Do you have more Disposable Income . Is there a pathway to Building Generational Wealth that is not possible under the joe biden economy, its been a disaster for virtually all americans except the very rich. I do want to ask you about when asked in fact of that, which is about student loans, because thats an issue that actually matters to quite a lot of black voters. The Biden Administration is pursued a policy of trying to find Student Loan Forgiveness basically, wherever they can this is something that clearly disproportionately benefits black and brown borrowers, they over an average of 25,000 more in student debt than white borrowers is that a policy that i shouldnt black voters be looking at that when theyre looking at whos going to put forward policies that benefit them . No, i dont think so. I think number one policy, especially if you have a college degree, is the economy thriving . Is it robust enough where i can use that degree to earn more money from my own benefit, from my familys benefit. But number two, and this is the most important thing. Joe biden doesnt have the authority to do this to Supreme Court has told him no, congress has told them a, told him no, but hes done it anyway, that is a violation of separation of powers. You just dont get to pick choose what money youre going to spend some place. Because twothirds of the American People, which also includes a lot of black people and a lot of hispanic people. They did not go to college. And so what youre telling those people are it didnt matter if you can get and go to college, but were going to go ahead and give a bailout to some people who did. Thats not right. Its not fair. It is not something that the american, American People want to see the racial wealth gap in, in terms of who owes what for Higher Education do you believe that some of that is due to just longstanding disparities and what black families have generational wealth that white families were able to build up, that black families were not. And do you think that the government should play any role in it . Trying to help black borrowers catch up. Well theres a couple of things in that when you talk about generational wealth gaps. Yes, some of it is did did my mother or my grandmother have any wealth to paths pass on to me . That answer was no. The wall from building that was something that my wife and i are building with our families. Theres a lot of life families that are doing that right now. A lot of mixed families, a lot of hispanics families, thats how happening today. You cant fault people who were able to pass wealth on before what you can do is menchu their opportunity to tough fall when you talk about the wealth gap amongst races, you are talking about previous examples where other families were able to build wealth and pass it on. So thats why for a lot of black men in particular, for men in general, theyre talking about Building Generational Wealth. Thats not something that government can help you do, except for the government having a proper rules and a proper policies for the economy to grow and thrive. I want to play a little bit of what donald trump said. Not so long ago. Im sure you remember it. Take a listen. I got indicted a second time or third time and a fourth time and a lot of people said that thats why the black people like because they have been hurt so badly and discriminated against. And they actually viewed me as im being discriminated against a mug shot. Weve all seen the mug shot and you know who embraced it more than anybody else. The black population, its incredible. You see black people Walking Around with my mum good both you and trump talk about sort of moving past race and politics. But how is that not pandering . Well, first of all, theyre not event a president talked for an hour. He was being globe having a little bit of foam with the crowd talking about whats happened because look, if youre being falsely accused of so much junk that is politically motivated, you would try to find some time to have from what that as well. But that being said, what the president is focused on is an agenda thats going to put the American People first. And thats why you have voters from all demographic groups are starting to look his way, especially black men, hispanic men, et cetera, because they have seen the joe biden policies. Its been a disaster thats why i call him the master of disaster. Because everything has gone wrong and they want a president who is going to be focused on america first, get the country on track. Thats donald trump. What do you say to black and hispanic voters who not just are paying attention to the economic stuff, but also about character. Donald trumps character, in particular when he was running his real estate empire, he was sued by the doj for racial discrimination. More recently when he was president of the United States he didnt want to denounce the White Supremacists and racist In Charlottesville when people look at that record what do you say to them when they say we cant trust donald trump . No we gotta be truthful. If you go back and watch the entire clip, its a 17 minute clips still on youtube of the president talking about what happened In Charlottesville. He denounced to all of the all of the White Supremacy that was going on In Charlottesville. Ive reviewed that tape. I know you and your producers have reviewed that take multiple times. Lets not mess not take one statement out of context. Lets be factual now, you gotta be for 17 minutes. He denounced it. That is the history. People go on youtube right now. Dont listen to my words. Go on youtube right now. She, congressman the point that the point that youre making about donald trump and the history thats be clear. Okay. Five i mean, there are a lot of examples, but we can also talk about joe bidens record, but im just wondering making a pitch. How the 94 crimes you back what youve done stating two black voters joe biden did that joe biden won is all kids to be so biden does that that was his record as well. So thats another Spencer Silver donald theyll per said, i long time ago, look at his record as president of the United States. I dont record as president was one, that embed, one is one that actually wanted all americans took driving succeed. He did not choose when he was president. Do you think donald trump ought to address some of those things from his own past . No, he doesnt need to do that. Everybody knows Donald Trumps entire history. The man has been in The Public Eye for four decades, if not five decades now in the United States, what americans are looking for right now is his competency as commander in and that is why when people compare 45 versus 46, i mean, luck that the choice is clear. The 40 fifth president was significantly better than the 46. Its without without a doubt and thats obviously your opinion because your surrogate for him, i do want to get to a little bit of your own history. You have a really interesting story. When you were young man, you encountered the law and you when you were 18 years old, you were charged with a Marijuana Possession and tend to distribute charge, but you didnt go to jail for it a lot of people probably dont know that about you, but one of the interesting things thats come up is that you have this bill that you support, that addresses crime in dc and it actually restricts the district from creating laws that would have leniency potentially in the sentencing for people who are younger, people who are 18 to 25 years old, you benefited from leniency, you benefited from a Diversion Program that kept you out of jail. Why shouldnt that be available to other teams right now, it doesnt is a great question. First of all, when i was 18 years old, it was possession of marijuana. I had it make no excuses for it. It was wrong is wrong at any other time . I had to deal with it then and i moved on with my life, like every man and woman show when you mess up, you make up, but you never give up. I never gave up on myself and neither did my family, neither did my friends now, to the bill that youre talking about, whats going on in the District Of Columbia is that they treat all offenders from the ages of 25 and younger as minors no other states in the country does that no other jurisdiction does that. So all we did a Nations Capital to say, youre gonna treat dc offenders are 18 and younger as minors like everybody ariel stars. Thats what we did, thats the appropriate application of the law because Juvenile Crime is up massively in dc and dc is not safe. I as a former dc resin, i lived there for many, many years. I understand whats going on in the district and the challenges that theyre facing with crime. But you were also 18 years old. You were an adult . And you. Benefited from a Diversion Program that allowed you to not actually serve time for your offense status. So i wonder i mean, why should that not be available if youre 1918 yearold or a 19yearold and the district, why shouldnt it be possible . Under certain circumstances, im not saying in blanket cases for those individuals to benefit from the same kind of leniency that you know, are we talking about having a dime bag in your pocket or im talking about if youre talking about question which is based on abby. Abby he lets be consistent let me to clarify. So i just wanted to write what im asking, but i want to be consistent are we talking about somebody having a dime bag in their pocket or are we talking about carjacking because the crimes in dc that are being tried as juveniles for people who are 22, 222324 is carjacking it is burglary, it is. I know. I understand. But your its thinking no blanket that it does because interested in actually prosecuting crime and keeping people safe in dc they went through a series of bills that they wanted to do, which mariel bows or herself vetoed, and the council overrode her. It took congress to act to throw that out. My colleague from georgia, andrew clyde lead that lead that are for last year and basically had to shame joe biden into signing that law to repeal. But the Dc City Council wanted wanted to do because they wanted to make it more progressive and not not make Public Safety number one, the bottom im trying to get out here and im trying to understand where you stand because you are unique position. You understand what it means to have a Second Chance . Yes, i do. And youre supporting a bill that basically takes that off off the table in a Blanket Fashion for a lot of people. Do you believe that there should be Second Chances for Young Offenders in certain circumstances . Ill be of course i do. So then why would you support a bill that we may not be in the dischargeable thats not what the bill does. The turn my life around and i made the most of it and i will tell it to anybody thats made a mistake, you have an opportunity to walk away from that mistake and do better going forward. And so my story is indicative of that but what we also have to do is make sure that our adults are tried as adults. I was like, oh, now be supplied to be when you were and why wasnt anyone . I love color. I just want to note that when you were 21 you faced i did more charges again, also did not go to jail in florida as well, had been home. But lets be clear. I did serve two years of probation. I went through that process. I didnt have to go and i didnt have to go and have it adjudicate and i went through that process yes. I also under florida law, went and had it sealed. I went through that process and then when all that stuff was done, i did also go get a job, become a Standing Member up in my community, served in my church, coach kids, and basketball, and i think its absolutely a family. I did all those things as well. I think its its positively and you cannot be lenient since there has to be laws on the books that whole people account. Congressman, theres no question. There was leniency available to you. That is why you have such an extraordinary story. There is leniency in a law in so many other places. But what does it . I dont say home, i dont see you cannot i was doing is not about leniency and its not about Second Chances with dc is doing is this radical progressive view of criminal justice, which is making communities less safe. Thats what i oppose. I want to ask you about another issue just recently, there was an issue of this Search Warrant for the search of former President Trumps maralago property. And it authorized the use of deadly force for the fbi agents standard boilerplate language. But you and others have described it as an Assassination Attempt on the former president. Thats just not true. Why would you Say Something like