Who?
Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) — Senate Judiciary Committee; former mayor of Newark, NJ
LISTEN: Laslo & Booker
Ask a Pol asks:
What do you make of these charges President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice dropped on Congresswoman LaMonica McIver (D-NJ)?
Key Booker:
“I'm utterly outraged by them. The facts are insane, in my opinion,” Sen. Cory Booker exclusively tells Ask a Pol. “It is a deep abuse of power…
“Now, the irony of all of that is, if she had assaulted an officer, why was she then invited back in and given a whole tour of the proceedings? None of this points to a fair application of justice. In fact, it points to political prosecution, and that's unacceptable.”
“It is a deep abuse of power.”
— Sen. Cory Booker
Caught our ear:
“They arrested him unjustly. How do I know that? Because they dismissed all the charges against him and they knew they had no case,” Booker — the former mayor of Newark — tells us of current Newark Mayor Ras Baraka.
ICYMI — Charges dropped, DOJ scolded
TRANSCRIPT: Sen. Cory Booker (5-21-2025)
SCENE: Sen. Cory Booker’s rushing to a meeting after voting on the Senate floor, but he stops briefly after Ask a Pol’s Matt Laslo asks about ICE — Immigration and Customs Enforcement — arrest of New Jersey Congresswoman LaMonica McIver (D-NJ).
Matt Laslo: “What do you make of these charges against Congresswoman McIver?”
Cory Booker: “I'm utterly outraged by them.”
ML: “Yeah.”
CB: “The facts are insane, in my opinion.”
ML: “Yeah?”
CB: “And everything — after years and years of working on law enforcement, in partnership as mayor with federal agencies, it is a deep abuse of power.”
ML: “Yeah?”
CB: “Because the facts point so painfully [to] that. The mayor of the city was invited in, then asked to leave and he left. Then they charged out and arrested him anyway, escalating a situation that could have gone very badly.”
ML: “Yeah.”
CB: “And you saw the jostling of that because they arrested him unjustly. How do I know that? Because they dismissed all the charges against him and they knew they had no case. So that was wrong. The instigating effort was federal officials under orders of someone above.”
ML: “Yeah?”
CB: “Because they weren't doing that. There was a person on the phone ordering them to go out onto city property and arrest the mayor of the city — who was there because the people occupying it, the private for profit company, doesn't have a CO (Certificate of Occupancy), hasn't allowed health inspectors, fire inspectors and others onto that property.”
ML: “Huh?”
CB: “And in the midst of all that chaos and confusion, congresspeople being jostled and pushed and put at risk, like [Rep.] Bonnie Watson Coleman, they now are saying that they are going to arrest, they're now arresting or putting charges against LaMonica.”
ML: “Yeah.”
CB: “Now, the irony of all of that is, if she had assaulted an officer, why was she then invited back in and given a whole tour of the proceedings?”
ML: “Yeah?”
CB: “So this, none of this points to a fair application of justice. In fact, it points to political prosecution, and that's unacceptable.”
ML: “And they're also playing around with media, the video. Does that worry you that they’re using…?”
CB: “Yes. That really worries me. After an administration that has arrested a judge.”
ML: “Yup.”
CB: “After an administration that has defied a court, a 9-0 Supreme Court order, and now this administration is — and verbally attacked judges who decide against them — now they're arresting a congressperson on trumped up charges that show no prosecutorial discretion whatsoever in a situation that they escalated into that by wrongfully arresting a sitting mayor.”
ML: “Yup.”
Booker motions towards exit.
CB: “Let me just.”
ML: “Thanks. Preciate you, sir.”
Booker exits the Capitol and rushes down the Senate steps.
Share this post