Cory Booker Says Biden ‘Not Bringing People Together’ on Racial Issues: He’s Causing ‘Pain With His Words’

Sen. Cory Booker criticized 2020 opponent Joe Biden on Meet the Press Sunday, telling NBC anchor Chuck Todd the former vice president is “causing a lot of frustration and even pain with his words.”

Booker wasn’t on the NBC debate stage when Biden took fire for his record on civil rights from Sen. Kamala Harris (Booker appeared the night before), but when Todd asked him about the exchange between the two candidates, he didn’t pull punches.

The New Jersey Democrat first criticized Biden for getting defensive when questioned on his comments about race.

“Whoever the next president is going to be really needs to be someone who can talk openly and honestly about race with vulnerability because none of us are perfect, but really call this country to common ground, to reconciliation,” Booker continued. “I’m not sure if Vice President Biden is up to that task, given the way this last three weeks have played out.”

When Todd asked about Biden’s odd comments about a “kid wearing a hoodie,” Booker took aim at Biden for failing to adequately address his role in passing the 1994 Crime Bill:

“A lot of Democrats involved in the 1994 Crime Bill have spoken openly with vulnerability, talking about their mistakes. So that doesn’t disqualify you. But we have seen from the Vice President over the last month is an inability to talk candidly about the mistakes he made, about things he could’ve done better, about how some of the decisions he made at the time in difficult context actually have resulted in really bad outcomes. And this, this bad culture where you can’t admit mistakes, when you can’t speak to your vulnerabilities and your imperfections; we all have them. But when it comes to difficult issues of race, if you can’t talk openly and honestly about your own development on these issues, I think it’s very hard to lead our country forward so that we can actually deal with our past and rise to a better common cause and common future. We have one destiny in this nation and right now the Vice President to me is not doing a good job at bringing folks together. In fact, and I’ve heard this from people across the country, he’s causing a lot of frustration and even pain with his words.”

Watch above, via NBC.