Name: Cory Booker says Trump is achieving ‘none’ of his Iran war objectives: Full interview
Uploaded: 2026-03-29T23:03:07.000Z
Duration: 12 min 21 s
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And joining me now is Democratic Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey.

Senator Booker, welcome back to Meet the Press.

Let's dive in and start talking about the war with Iran.

The US has reportedly sent Iran a 15-point plan addressing its ballistic and nuclear weapons program,

and some analysts have already drawn some comparisons to the talks under the Obama administration, the deal that was struck during the Obama era.

Do you support the Trump administration's efforts to try to negotiate a deal with Iran to bring this war to an end?

Um, I don't support this administration, period.

They've gotten us into what will be looked at as one of the greatest blunders, presidential blunders of our time.

Remember, this president had stated objectives, none of which he is achieving right now, from the nuclear program all the way to, frankly, uh, regime change.

Uh, they've shown an asymmetric ability to choke up the Straits of Hormuz.

This has caused a global oil shock, and for Americans at home, our costs continue to rise.

This is after the president has cut people's health care and nutrition programs.

And now, with over $25 billion to that has been spent on the war, over 300 people injured, 13 Americans who've lost their lives, uh, this president is pushing us further and further into a conflict with no foreseeable off-ramp and thousands of more troops moving into that region,

and he still has not come to Congress for any kind of authorization for what is clearly not just a war, but

the biggest military engagement we've had since the war in Afghanistan.

This president is off the chain, and we are in a global crisis of his causing.

You talk about the regime being more extreme.

I wonder at least 40 senior Iranian officials have been killed, as you know, the son of the late Ayatollah Khomeini, now reportedly in power, although, as you know, there are questions even about that as well.

Do you think it would be responsible for the United States to walk away with hardliners still in power?

Do you want to see the US stay and try to affect regime change?

Well, well, so this is the quagmire that he's gotten us into.

He has stated an objective of regime change and now put us in a position where we have a more extreme regime.

Uh, my colleague and my friend Langford talked about, "Hey, we went in here to stop terrorist attacks on Americans." Well, we're seeing Iranian proxies from Iran to now the Houthis in Yemen causing more attacks,

and we're in a situation now where we have degraded their near-term military combat capabilities.

But remember, what we learned from Ukraine is we are now in a state of war where, in garages, in basements, people could be putting down putting together drones for just a mere thousands of dollars.

That could cause serious harm, as we've seen just yet another attack on our base where Americans were severely wounded.

This has been the problem from the start.

He did not come and make his case to us or the American people or strategic allies in the region.

This is a president that is failing this moment and making matters worse for Americans.

He's a man of chaos and corruption, and we're seeing that now on a global scale.

Let's talk about the funding fight over the Department of Homeland Security.

As I was just discussing with Senator Langford, there was a bill that passed the House that would have funded DHS but not ICE and not CBP.

Democrats are demanding changes to the way ICE operates, requiring judicial warrants before immigration officers enter homes, banning their use of face masks, just to name a few.

Those measures were not a part of the Senate deal, Senator.

Will this shutdown have been a failure if Democrats cannot secure those changes to ICE policies?

Well, again, I just want to continue to emphasize that we are seeing a colossal failure in presidential leadership because this president has said again, "I have the power to pay TSA agents,

and I'm going to do that." Why didn't he do this weeks ago when we started seeing the suffering of folks at the airports?

And remember, this fight has never been about TSA.

But what about what Democrats are asking for, Senator?

So far, it's not a part of any of the legislation that's being considered in either chamber.

We've had a unanimous agreement to do what Democrats were saying from the beginning: pay TSA and not let ICE have another dollar when they're reckless and out of control in our neighborhoods around the country.

We unanimously passed that out of the Senate, and the Republicans rejected it.

So yeah, I don't want ICE, mass people jumping out of unmarked cars, slamming Americans to the pavement, barreling into their homes without sufficient warrants.

I do not want ICE running into and around our churches, our schools, our hospitals, our courthouses.

And yes, I don't want ICE showing up at our polling places, doing the kind of things we've seen video after video of them doing.

I'm not going to vote for another dollar.

And we finally, finally out of the Senate, got them to come to their senses and say, "Don't hold TSA hostage.

Pay them." We got that out of the Senate,

and now the House Republicans saying, "No, we want to continue this chaos at our airports until you come around and just give us more money for this out-of-control reckless TSA excuse me, reckless ICE agency that's in our neighborhoods and our communities." Senator, this has been the longest partial government shutdown now in US history.

Come on, on the heels of the longest shutdown in US history.

Is there still a path for Democrats to secure those key demands that you are asking for in this round of negotiations, or do you not see that as realistic given this standoff?

Well, again, we know that presidents can bring parties together and solve problems.

This is the president who's bragged about being the great dealmaker, but he is not focused on Americans.

He's not focused on the pain at the pump.

He's not focused on the problems that he is causing.

He's involved in a war of monumental proportions that's shocking the globe.

and we are seeing the chaos of this president visit the world and visit Americans' lives.

Look at what's happening to our airports.

This is presidential failure that is actually growing because we in America are seeing the real costs of a president like this: American soldiers dying abroad and Americans at home paying more and more from their health care costs to their fuel costs.

This president needs to be brought to account.

And the problem is Republicans in Congress are refusing, on any of these issues, to provide meaningful checks and balances.

They're not providing the oversight that is needed at this crisis in our country.

I'm going to read a little portion for everyone.

You write, "We cannot cancel everyone who fails a purity test.

We cannot exile those who don't ally with our every belief, however passionately we hold it.

Coalitions that are only composed of the already converted cannot change the country.

If everyone in your coalition agrees with you on everything, your coalition is too small, too small to make big change and too small for what our democracy demands." Do you believe Democrats are making the mistake of shrinking their coalition with what you describe as purity tests, Senator?

Look, I'm proud of so many things that my Democratic colleagues are doing,

but as a whole, our party has failed this moment.

It's why I've called for new leadership in America.

I've called for a generational renewal because this left-right divide is killing our country,

They come onto our social media and try to whip up hate in America.

It is time for a new vision of our country that's far more uniting, that brings people together, doesn't deepen divides.

I really believe this is a time where we need new leadership, new moral imagination to pull our country together because the challenges on the horizon aren't just this current crisis that Trump has caused.

He shouldn't be the main character of our narrative right now.

We have real challenges from new technologies like AI and robotics, new challenges that we need more unity in our country and a reminder that we are not each other's enemies.

In fact, our ability to find common ground has always been our greatest hope.

Senator, I do have to ask you about your own political future.