When the South Carolina congressman travelled to Wisconsin in 2024 to visit with poll workers and not candidates, no one seemed curious about the intent. When South Carolina had the opportunity to redistrict that same congressman, the professional republicans in the palmetto state protected him.
Now the organizer of the AME Church network of poll workers appears on NBC to say at the first available opportunity the Democrats should pack the court with another four leftist judges to ensure all of the constitutional restraints are removed from the judiciary. Yep, that’s James Clyburn.
Clyburn begins his remarks in this segment by decrying Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas for not adhering to the manipulative racial expectations of his position. Clyburn then advocates for adding as many justices as needed in order to advance his agenda. WATCH:
[Transcript] – KRISTEN WELKER: Welcome back. Joining me now is Democratic Congressman James Clyburn of South Carolina. Congressman Clyburn, welcome back to Meet the Press.
REP. JAMES CLYBURN: Well, thank you very much for having me back.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Well, thank you so much for being here. I do want to start with what we just heard from Senator Cruz. We were talking about, of course, Justice Clarence Thomas. In 1991, you actually testified in favor of Clarence Thomas’s confirmation to the Supreme Court. I want to play a little bit of that video.
[BEGIN TAPE]
REP. JAMES CLYBURN:
It’s a pleasure for me to be here today to present testimony in favor of my good friend, Clarence Thomas. I have known Clarence for ten years and I consider him to be a personal and professional friend, in spite of the fact that he shares a conservative Republican philosophy.
[END TAPE]
KRISTEN WELKER:
Do you stand by your decision to make the case for Clarence Thomas’s confirmation?
REP. JAMES CLYBURN:
Absolutely not. You know, I have made mistakes in my life, and that’s one that I made. And I will own up to that mistake. The fact of the matter is I had faith and confidence in the fact that his background and experiences would instruct him in his professionalism, especially sitting on the bench. We had worked together when he was chair of the Equal Opportunity Commission. And of course, I was running the state agency here in South Carolina. We had differences over how that agency should run. But I also thought that he believed in precedents of the law. And I felt sure that he would be there upholding those precedents set down in 1954 in the Broad v. Board of Education decision. I thought that he would follow those court decisions that upheld the Voting Rights Act, the Civil Rights Act. I had no idea that Clarence Thomas would rebel the way he has against his own background and experiences. He was raised by his grandfather and he has shown very little sensitivity to the environment his grandfather grew up, down in Pin Point, Georgia, just south of where I now sit. And so yes, that was a mistake on my part and I own up to it.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Okay, well, since we are on the topic of the court, let’s speak more broadly about it. Former Vice President Kamala Harris shares some of your criticisms, clearly. She’s called for expanding the Supreme Court from nine justices to 13. Do you support adding four more seats to the Supreme Court, Congressman?
REP. JAMES CLYBURN:
Yes, I do. I think that we are in a position now that calls from some significant actions taken by the Congress, and we ought to expand — and 13 is a pretty good number. A baker’s dozen would be a good number to have on the court. And I would hope we would get people on the court who will follow the constitutional underpinnings of this great nation of ours. The 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments have been interpreted different ways over the years. And we had in the Warren Court an interpretation of those amendments that I thought would be set for the future of the country. We have now a Supreme Court that has decided to reverse course, and take this country back, I say, to those rulings of Justice Taney, that said that no Black man has any rights that the white man must respect. That was the Supreme Court that made that decision. I had hoped that Clarence Thomas would follow the mordant underpinnings of that constitution of ours, but he has not done so. In fact, he’s decided to go all the way from an angry leftist to a very angry rightist.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Okay. Let’s talk about the midterms and let’s talk about your state of South Carolina. Senator Darline Graham, as you know, the sister of the late Senator Lindsey Graham, did win her primary. She’s going to be facing off against Dr. Annie Andrews, the Democrat running in that Senate race. Do you believe Dr. Andrews can win given that no Democrat has won that Senate seat since the 1990s, Congressman?
REP. JAMES CLYBURN:
I do believe Dr. Andrews can win, and I do believe that she will win. The only thing that would stop her from winning this race is for us to not do our part to turn out the vote. I have said before, and people seem to misrepresent this: we have to do a better job of turning our base voters out. When the other side is turning out 71% and we are turning out 59%, we need to take stock of why that is happening. But that did happen in the last election. I take some responsibility for that. I’ve been working on that very vigilantly. I spent yesterday and the day before, and I’ll be spending time this afternoon working on the turn out the vote effort –
KRISTEN WELKER:
Alright.
REP. JAMES CLYBURN:
– that I think will update what we’ve been doing in the last few years, and make for a much better turnout. And if that were to happen, I think that Dr. Andrews will do well in this election.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Congressman Clyburn, I had the opportunity to interview Leader Hakeem Jeffries and he has not ruled out impeaching President Trump should Democrats take back control of the House. But some Democrats have said to me privately that that would just be a distraction, to impeach President Trump for a third time. Do you believe Democrats should impeach President Trump if they take back the House?
REP. JAMES CLYBURN:
If the Democrats were to take back the House, and I feel confident that we will, our first order of business ought to be developing an accessible and affordable campaign effort that will yield what I will call making this country, its greatness, accessible and affordable for all of its citizens –
KRISTEN WELKER:
Do you rule out impeachment?
REP. JAMES CLYBURN:
I don’t want to forget about the American people.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Do you rule out supporting impeachment?
REP. JAMES CLYBURN:
I don’t rule it out, but I don’t rule it in. No, I don’t. But I don’t think that should be our priority if we get into office. Our priority ought to be making housing, education, energy, healthcare affordable and accessible for all of our citizens. Impeaching the president will not do that. We need to focus on what is necessary to make education available for our children, making healthcare affordable for our children, making housing affordable, making energy affordable. That’s where the focus ought to be.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Okay. Congress —
REP. JAMES CLYBURN:
And we can walk and chew gum at the same time, and maybe do both.
KRISTEN WELKER:
All right. A few more questions for you, and we’re almost out of time. I have to ask you about what’s happening in Michigan, the Senate race there. Dr. Abdul El-Sayed has apologized to Jewish Democrats for comments he made after the attack on a synagogue in March when he said, quote, “Hurt people hurt people.” That comes as he’s also faced scrutiny over his association with Hasan Piker, who some Democrats this week denounced for what they called antisemitic remarks from Piker. Do you believe that this divide within the Democratic Party over Israel and antisemitism is becoming a political liability that could hurt Democrats in November?
REP. JAMES CLYBURN:
I don’t think will hurt Democrats at all. Some Democrats who get painted with that brush will have to defend the things that they’ve said. I have spoken with the good doctor. He’s our nominee. I support his election. I take him at his word. He has apologized. He says he’s — he will not campaign with Piker anymore. I think that it’s worth taking him at his word. All of us deserve second chances.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Very quickly, Rob Sand, the Democratic candidate for governor in Iowa, says former Vice President Kamala Harris should not run again in 2028. When you look to 2028, Congressman, do you think Kamala Harris should run for President again?
REP. JAMES CLYBURN:
Now, that’s up to Kamala Harris. I supported her when she ran the last time. I would consider her among all the others if she were to run again. But whether or not she should run is a very personal family decision that I will leave up to her and her family.
KRISTEN WELKER:
All right.
REP. JAMES CLYBURN:
And when they make that decision, whatever it is, I will then make determinations as to what my actions would be going forward.
KRISTEN WELKER:
All right. Congressman Jim Clyburn, thank you so very much for being here. We really appreciate it.
REP. JAMES CLYBURN:
Thank you very much for having me.
Clyburn with 100,000 AME Ballots!
