Cory Booker Shrugs Off McCaskill Concern Over Possible Russia Support for Kanye West

Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) on Wednesday downplayed the possibility that Russia might seek to support rapper Kanye West in the 2020 election in response to MSNBC contributor and former Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill (D) asking whether he shared her concerns on the issue.

Referring to the Trump campaign and 2016 Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein, McCaskill said, “They wanted Russia to help out building up Jill Stein’s numbers — in my opinion, that’s what happened. Do you fear they’re going to do the same thing with Kanye in those states where he might make the ballot, particularly some place like Wisconsin?”

Booker said he did not believe voters would support a candidate who was “not a serious person.”

“Look, the insidiousness or dark forces that work in this election that are counter to the values, I think, this nation aspires to, the idea that we can only win this election if we somehow restrict access to the polls, tear down the post office, pull out polling places, or if we try to gin up someone like Kanye West, it’s really unfortunate,” Booker replied. “I’m sorry  that is just not going to work in this election. I really think it’s insulting to the intelligence of African Americans, for example, to think that we’re going to somehow be swayed away and vote for someone who is not a serious person in this election.”

The billionaire West — who has generally been supportive of Donald Trump’s presidency — is on the ballot in swing states including Wisconsin, Ohio, and Colorado. He failed to file in time to appear on the ballot in enough states to win the 270 electoral votes required to win the presidency, but Democrats fear he may pull enough votes away from former Vice President Joe Biden in close states to throw the election to Trump.

Watch above via MSNBC.