[Keilar:] After a racist Twitter attack on Maryland Congressman Elijah Cummings, President Trump followed up by calling Cummings a racist. And now he's is expanding his attacks on Baltimore and its leaders and trying to use comments from Bernie Sanders to back up his anti- Baltimore rhetoric. He tweeted this, "Crazy Bernie Sanders recently equated the city of Baltimore to a third-world country. Based on that statement, I assume that Bernie must now be labeled a racist just as a Republican would if he used that term and standard. The fact is Baltimore can be brought back, maybe even to new heights of success and glory, but not with King Elijah and that crew. When the leaders of Baltimore want to see the city rise again, I am in a very beautiful oval-shaped office waiting for your call." Sanders making those comments back in 2015 while railing against income inequality. He likened west Baltimore to a third-world country while he toured the city following the death of Freddie Gray, a young man who died after being severely injured in police custody. Joining me now is Maryland Congressman John Sarbanes, who represents part of Baltimore. He's also on the House Oversight Committee. Sir, thanks for being with us.
[Rep. John Sarbanes:] My pleasure to be here.
[Keilar:] What was your reaction to this initial tweet this weekend when the president called Cummings' district, which neighbors yours, a disgusting rat and rodent-infested mess?
[Sarbanes:] What you've got to understand is Baltimore is a very, very proud city. The people here are wonderful. It's a great city. We're very proud of the city and also very proud of Elijah Cummings. The president's attack on the city and on Cummings was just wrong. It was mean-spirited. It doesn't accomplish anything to tear down places like Baltimore city or tear down leaders like Elijah Cummings. We should be working together at all levels to lift up cities across this country. That's what the president should always lead with instead of backing into it three days later. So, yes, people here are angry, but, you know, Baltimoreans know how to take care of themselves. They definitely know what a ballot box looks like and they'll be marching to the ballot box next November, and that's where we'll register our grievances with this president.
[Keilar:] The president is essentially saying there's no difference between what he's saying about Baltimore and what Bernie Sanders said in 2015. You were saying that you find Trump's comments mean- spirited. Is that the distinction that you're making between these two, that the president isn't, or is this more to it?
[Sarbanes:] Well, for starters, that's it. I mean the president always leads with this hard edge, again trying to tear people down. You can acknowledge that the city has challenges. We all do that. The question is, where do you go from there? Do you try to lift it up? Do you do things that are constructive? I think that's the direction Bernie Sanders would head when you look at the kind of investments he wants to make across the country. But you know what the president is doing, is he's revving up his noise machine. This is all about trying to distract people from the fact that he's just not a very good president. He hasn't delivered on his promises. He said he was going to do infrastructure. It's nowhere to be seen. He said he was going to lower prescription drug prices. Hasn't done that. In fact, he's attacking the ACA, would throw 20 million people off of their health care. He said he was going to clean up corruption in Washington. He's made it worse. And he said he would protect our country, but he's not paying any attention to election security issues, even though we know the Russians are coming next year to attack our elections again. So this is about the president not being effective, not getting the job done for people. He creates this noise to try to distract from that. That's right out of his playbook. We're not going to take the bait. We're going to focus on the issues that people care about. And then we're going to deliver a verdict next November that says we want a new president.
[Keilar:] I want to switch gears now, because you are on the Oversight Committee. You have not so far taken a position in favor of impeaching the president. Where are you now after the testimony of former Special Counsel Robert Mueller?
[Sarbanes:] Well, I thought Mueller's testimony was effective on two fronts. One is he re-energized all the investigative committees that are looking at what Trump did during the campaign and, frankly, what he did since he came into the White House. And we'll continue to shake those trees. I think our committees are doing a very good job. I think they should stick with that. The impeachment issue is tricky, because the problem is you have a corrupt jury on the Senate side. Mitch McConnell and the Republicans over there are not going to convict this president. They made that very clear. So as a prosecutor, do you want to take your case to a corrupt jury, to a kangaroo court? I would prefer, looking at it now, I would prefer to put, you know, 70, 100 million Americans in the jury box next November 3rd and have them deliver a verdict on this president. Our job in the meantime, through our investigative committees, like the one that's headed up by Jerry Nadler, Judiciary, but also Elijah Cummings on Oversight, our job is to get as much evidence as we can in front of the American public so that they're equipped to make that judgment.
[Keilar:] Congressman John Sarbanes, thank you so much for being with us.
[Sarbanes:] Thank you.
[Keilar:] So do you remember the recent hearing when Congressman Cummings defended Republican Mark Meadows from an accusation that Meadows was racist? Well, now Meadows is silent about the president's attacks on Cummings.