Appearing as a panel member on Thursday's CNN Newsroom with Brooke Baldwin, liberal CNN political commentator Van Jones slammed former President Bill Clinton from the left for confronting Black Lives Matter protesters over the 1994 crime bill that increased prison sentences for illegal drug convictions.
As Jones praised Hillary Clinton for coming out for changing the 1994 law her husband signed, the liberal commentator then got colorful in referring to the former President as "the big dog" as he asserted that Bill Clinton "made a mess on the carpet" by defending the law.
At 3:06 p.m. ET, CNN host Brooke Baldwin brought up the issue, reminding viewers that Jones is supportive of releasing many convicted criminals as he is "so passionate about mass incarceration," and asked how Hillary Clinton should respond to questions about the 1994 crime bill in the upcoming debate. Jones began his response:
Well, look, I mean, I think she has gotten it right more than wrong. I mean, she has said, you know, at that time, people felt a certain way, but she, her very first speech, as you pointed out many times, was saying, "Hey, we overshot the runway. We went too far." And now she has put forward ideas about how to fix it.
He then took aim at Bill Clinton as he added:
I think the problem is that Bill Clinton came back out, and the big dog kind of made a mess on the carpet, and so now you've got to go back and re-litigate it. I got to say, the most important voice on this debate is not on that stage. It's those young Black Lives Matter people who have raised this issue and are saying, "I know you guys maybe thought you were doing the right thing in the '90s, though Reverend Jackson said no, you thought you were doing it right in the '90s, but you have destroyed our neighborhoods with this, and you've got to stop.
CNN correspondent Gloria Borger then chimed in:
But, you know, Bill Clinton clearly made a huge mistake. Huge.And then the -- because he was defending his own administration, right? -- and then the next day, he came back and apologized.
After Jones jumped in to inject, "No, he almost kind of apologized," Borger continued:
Well, but it was clear to me that he got a lot of guff at home from the Clinton campaign which said, "Wait a minute, we have been spending our lives during the campaign trying to walk that back." And then he went out there, and so it becomes yet another issue.
Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Thursday, April 14, CNN Newsroom with Brooke Baldwin:
BROOKE BALDWIN: Let me pivot because Charles (Blow) brought it up -- and I'm looking at you because you're so passionate about mass incarceration and everything. And with the '94 crime bill kind of coming back up and percolating, and we know that Senator Sanders at the time, he supported it as well. Both of them have said perhaps it went a little too far at the time. He addressed it at the National Action Network at the noon event. It's going to come up tonight. What does she say?
VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, look, I mean, I think she has gotten it right more than wrong. I mean, she has said, you know, at that time, people felt a certain way, but she, her very first speech, as you pointed out many times, was saying, "Hey, we overshot the runway. We went too far." And now she has put forward ideas about how to fix it.
I think the problem is that Bill Clinton came back out, and the big dog kind of made a mess on the carpet, and so now you've got to go back and re-litigate it. I got to say, the most important voice on this debate is not on that stage. It's those young Black Lives Matter people who have raised this issue and are saying, "I know you guys maybe thought you were doing the right thing in the '90s, though Reverend Jackson said no, you thought you were doing it right in the '90s, but you have destroyed our neighborhoods with this, and you've got to stop.
GLORIA BORGER: But, you know, Bill Clinton clearly made a huge mistake.
JONES: Huge.
BORGER: And then the -- because he was defending his own administration, right? -- and then the next day, he came back and apologized.
JONES: No, he almost kind of apologized.
BORGER: Well, but it was clear to me that he got a lot of guff at home from the Clinton campaign which said, "Wait a minute, we have been spending our lives during the campaign trying to walk that back." And then he went out there, and so it becomes yet another issue.
CHARLES BLOW, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: This is also a social media generation, right? Not only is it, you know, we over shot the runway, but people are looking back at: What were you saying at the time? And Bernie Sanders has a passionate floor speech where he's saying this is going to be a problem. And Hillary is during the same period of time is saying, you know, these super predators and using that sort of language, and so now people can look back at that and juxtapose that and it does not come off well for her. Forget about whether or not you understood it will be the unintended consequences, what were you saying in the heat of battle?
But the problem for Bernie Sanders is you can't have it both ways, you can't say, on the one hand, I, you know, Violence Against Woman Act was part of this, and so therefore I voted for it even though I kind of swallowed something, but then say, on the bailouts, that I'm going to let Detroit go belly up because I didn't like the banks. You're going to have these conflicts all the time. You're going to have to pick and choose. And you were willing to say -- I know this, he said it out of his own mouth in the moment -- "I know this is going to have disastrous effects on the black community, and I'm still going to vote for it." So you can't have it both ways.
