Cory Booker Slams Joe Biden’s ‘Awful’ and ‘Shameful’ 1994 Crime Bill

Presidential hopeful Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) slammed former vice president and 2020 presidential hopeful Joe Biden’s 1994 Crime Bill in a recent interview in Iowa, describing it as “awful,” “shameful,” and “bad.”

Booker, who has dedicated a large portion of his campaign to fight for criminal justice reform, criticized the bill based on its implementation of the “three strikes you’re out” rule, which increased instances eligible for life sentences and lengthened the list of crimes qualifying for the death penalty.

“I use this word sincerely. I love Joe Biden,” Booker stated, before attacking the bill in an interview with the HuffPost. “The incentives they put in that bill for people to raise mandatory minimums, for building prisons and jails ― from the time I was in law school to the time I was mayor of the city of Newark, we were building a new prison or jail every 10 days in America while the rest of our infrastructure crumbled ― overwhelmingly putting people in prison for nonviolent drug offenses that members of Congress and the Senate admit to breaking now. That bill was awful.”

Booker also stated that while some people “make mistakes,” we should also “hold them to that.”

“We should all agree with the force of conviction: That bill was a mistake,” Booker continued. “Good people signed on to that bill. People make mistakes. But let’s hold them to that.

He added, “That crime bill was shameful, what it did to black and brown communities like mine [and] low-income communities from Appalachia to rural Iowa. It was a bad bill.”

In a tweet Monday, President Trump criticized the 1994 Crime Bill and said “Anyone associated” with it will “not have a chance of being elected.”

Anyone associated with the 1994 Crime Bill will not have a chance of being elected. In particular, African Americans will not be able to vote for you. I, on the other hand, was responsible for Criminal Justice Reform, which had tremendous support, & helped fix the bad 1994 Bill!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 27, 2019

“Anyone associated with the 1994 Crime Bill will not have a chance of being elected,” Trump stated. “In particular, African Americans will not be able to vote for you. I, on the other hand, was responsible for Criminal Justice Reform, which had tremendous support, & helped fix the bad 1994 Bill!”