I'm Chris Wallace were eight days from
the first contest and the race for the
White House will Iowa be make or break
for a Peabody Judge he entered the race
a relative unknown best way to pronounce
us Buddha judge but things have changed
since our first town ball last May mayor
Pete Buddha judge he set to the top tier
of 2020 candidates the Democratic field
got a lot smaller
venez rifle started taking shots we set
this up in a way to solve the problem
without running up to 30 40 trillion
dollars the numbers that the mayor's
offered just don't add up a win in Iowa
could show mayor Pete has what it takes
to go all the way but questions remain
about his experience his electability
and support from key groups the black
voters who know me best are supporting
the stakes are high can the former mayor
from the Midwest close the deal if you
make me the next president all work
everyday to make you proud
[Music]
good evening from the River Center and
downtown Des Moines tonight it's the
site of our Fox News Town Hall with a
now former mayor of South Bend Indiana
Peabody Judge folks here have a lot of
questions they want to ask so let's get
right to it ladies and gentlemen mayor
Pete Budaj
thank you
hopefully we got a lot of questions you
got to sit down so we can actually ask
them and before and we are going to get
the good questions that were submitted
by people here but first I'm gonna ask
you a question about the terrible news
we heard today about the tragic death a
basketball great Kobe Bryant and his
daughter 13 year old daughter he was
taking her to a basketball game I'm sure
some folks here may not know this news
yet taking her to a basketball game she
they crashed a helicopter crash one of
the things we ask our leaders to do is
to make sense out of the senseless
events your thoughts about the death of
Kobe Bryant well it's it's shocking and
I think we're all still in shock about
what happened and I think it's a
reminder that our lives are often
touched by people we never even meet and
there are millions of people not just in
Los Angeles but around the world right
now mourning because they were inspired
by what he did on the field what he
meant off the field
and it's also of course such a tough
human moment to think about that he was
spending time with his daughter and her
loss is unthinkable as is that of
everybody who was on that helicopter and
I think all of America is united in
mourning and sending our love and our
thoughts and of course our prayers to
the families thank you our first
question from in the Town Hall here is
from Noah Nandor Feld and it's about
impeachment Noah with the impeachment
hearings underway in Washington the
question isn't necessarily whether
Donald Trump did hold funds from UK
Ukraine in search of political dirt on
arrival rather rather whether he should
be removed from office because of it do
you believe he should be removed from
office I do and if he's not it's going
to send a message that this Senate or at
least Senate Republicans today think
that it's okay to lie it's okay to cheat
it's okay to involve a foreign
government or pressure a foreign
government to get involved in American
elections just now we're getting more
indications about John Bolton indicating
what he knew which is one more reason
why if this is a serious trial we've got
to have the witnesses and the
evidence who can help explain what
happened I've never seen these lengths
gone to prevent witnesses and evidence
that according to the president would
show that he's innocent kind of makes
you think but let's be honest about
what's going on on the floor of the
Senate the the Senate GOP has made it
clear that it's not going to be a fair
trial and I think the effect of that on
a lot of us certainly on me is it's
exhausting you just watch this process
they're sending the message it's a
foregone conclusion doesn't matter what
the evidence is what the witnesses are
frankly what the president admitted to
doing in broad daylight on television
none of that matters and I think it's
designed to make us kind of turn it off
and walk away and the great thing about
being a voter the great thing about 2020
especially in Iowa and other early
states where voters have a so much
influence is that this is a chance to
respond nobody here has a vote on the
floor of the Senate but no matter what
they do in the Senate the last word
comes to the American people and this is
our chance to send a message that no
that's not okay and if the Senate won't
say so we will mayor our next question
comes from Scott matter he has a
question about electability and
experience Scott
Mayer peaked you'll be 39 years old we
had a year from now when you're sworn in
as president how do you think that
you're aged or will your age be a factor
when you're working with members of
Congress many of whom are several
decades older than yourself well one
thing that I got comfortable with early
as a mayor was having colleagues having
appointees and other elected officials I
had to work with who were older than I
am I think I'm the exact median age of
the United States of America right now
actually about right about 38 so half
the country's younger and half the
country's older and what I'm seeing is a
hunger to make sure that we're
delivering solutions that are oriented
toward the future you know right now we
are facing issues whose scope was not
seen a few years or decades ago just
think about what we're up against as a
country figuring out how to regulate big
tech dealing with global health security
issues climate change
leaping off the pages of scientific
papers and becoming a clear and present
danger with impacts all around us right
now different kinds of international
issues cybersecurity we're moving into
an era that I think is going to call for
a worldview that is informed by those
experiences from a younger generation
and I'm ready to bring those experiences
into the White House mayor our next
question comes from caleb lil quest who
wants to talk to you about the
polarization in our politics today mr.
brooder judge there's a common theme in
your messages about trying to fix a
divided nation that has become polarized
over the past years other than creating
policy that appeals to both sides of the
of the political spectrum how do you
plan to appeal to Republican voters in
order to steal them steer them away from
voting for President Trump yeah well
first of all we're doing it right now
this network is known for having a lot
of more conservative viewers but I don't
think that you have to be a Democrat to
see what is wrong with this president
and this presidency I'm meeting a lot of
what I like to call future former
Republicans who are coming to my events
and I'm not pretending that we're gonna
agree on everything I'm not trying to
trick anybody but my message is that we
can at least agree on this that if
you're having trouble looking your kids
in the eye and explaining this
presidency to them do you have a choice
but the really important thing I think
to remember not just in order to win but
in order to govern is that if there's an
American majority that can agree on what
we're against there's an even bigger
majority that agrees on what were for
remember I'm proposing things that most
Americans even in conservative states
think we ought to do raising wages
making sure that corporations pay their
fair share in taxes delivering paid
family leave doing something about gun
violence you know more than 80% of
Republicans they don't least be doing
universal background checks these are
things that most Americans want to see
happen and I believe that's important to
remember from the perspective of what
it's going to take to govern in the
future because a big issue we have right
now is that a majority in the American
people isn't necessarily being reflected
by a majority on the floor of the
American Congress so it's going to take
presidential leadership to hold senators
to account and make sure they're
responding to these ideas in these
reforms that are viewed as necessary not
just by my fellow Democrats but by
independents and an awful lot of
Republicans so we don't have to choose
between being bold and being unifying
this is my point some folks are saying
you got to pick one or the other or that
you got to measure boldness by how many
people you can turn off and turn away I
think that actually these bold ideas
about how to make American life better
are part of how we're going to unify the
country and we have got to unify this
country because it has become
dangerously divided and frightening ly
polarized this is our chance to do
something about that and it's at the
core of my campaign mayor I want to pick
up on these last two questions because
it seems to me they strike a common
theme and I think it's fair to say it's
the biggest knock against you among
voters who might be receptive to your
message and that is the question of your
lack of experience especially in areas
that are so key and so important to
being president of the United States you
were the mayor of the 350 in America
you were never elected with more than
11,000 votes in any of your successful
elections you've never run a business
the flip side you're obviously smart as
the Dickens you served in the military
but what makes you given your life
experience what makes you qualified what
makes you ready to be able to run the
largest enterprise in the world the
United States government oh anyone ought
to be humbled by the scope of the
American presidency and what it requires
and the reality is there is no job like
the presidency but I also think we got
to ask what kind of experience we're
looking for and and that's what the
American people are going to decide look
I'll admit if what you're looking for is
the most years spent in Washington you
got a clear choice and it's not going to
be me but I would also argue that the
kind of experience you have governing on
the ground in a city of any size
is the kind of experience we need a
little more of in Washington because we
don't have the luxury of alternative
facts we have to get things done we
can't shut down a city government over a
partisan disagreement there wouldn't be
any drinking water we just have to get
it solved and I think we'd be well
served if we get Washington to work a
little more like our best cities and
towns now if I were the 315 you're a
member of Congress I'm not sure that
folks would be as surprised by my
candidacy but this is exactly my point
and actually the fact that the city that
I'm from and the city that I led is not
one of America's biggest global cities
that's part of the point as well there
are so many communities in Iowa and
across America that have felt passed
over in addition to neighborhoods in
some of our biggest cities they just
feel they're being ignored by the
political process I think we need a
voice frankly I think my party needs to
provide more voices from these kinds of
communities that hold so much of the key
to the future of this country and that
need answers from a Washington that
can't seem to speak to us anymore that
isn't even paying attention we got it we
got a president saying the economy is
fantastic because the Dow Jones is
looking good and I think in a lot of our
communities that are not necessarily the
biggest cities as well as some
neighborhoods in our biggest cities
folks are saying great when is that
getting to my kitchen table it's just a
different perspective just like having
served brings a different perspective
and coming from the generation that I
come from brings a different perspective
and I believe look I've heard some folks
saying this is no time to take a risk
and I agree but I think the biggest risk
that we could take right now would be to
try to go up against this president with
the same old playbook that we've been
relying on that helps explain how we got
here in the first place I think it's
time for something completely different
we have
we have a different question this one
comes from Stephanie a former
elementary school teacher she has a
question about your standing in the
african-american community Stephanie
first of all I'd like to thank you for
your service as a vet and as a public
servant thank you very much so there
seems to be a lack of enthusiasm for you
in the black community I believe that no
one is perfect and that we can all learn
from our mistakes I also believe that we
should surrender or surround ourselves
with people who can support us and help
us be successful so can you tell me a
little bit about your Police Department
in South Bend the lessons that you've
learned and how you plan to overcome the
concerns of your voters absolutely you
know one of the most painful issues of
racial justice in particular affecting
black families in our country is this
wall of mistrust between communities of
color and police departments and we have
experienced that in my city we had a
police shooting that took the life of
one of our residents Erik Logan last
year that caused a tremendous anguish in
our city and we've been working on
issues related to justice and policing
for the entire time that I was mayor I
can tell you all of the things that we
were able to do working side-by-side to
deliver improvements to bring more
residents into the process to add
transparency to what was happening with
the use of force you know what once we
started publishing data in great detail
about use of force online for all to see
use of force went down in our city but
other things were a tremendous struggle
and we were not able to reach the point
that I wanted us to including recruiting
and retaining more officers of color
when you're a mayor you don't get to
just comment on these things or or
debate them or legislate over them we're
on the ground every day trying to get
this done and in response to some of the
tragedies we experienced as a community
we called the community in to be part of
the solution creating opportunities to
sit together side-by-side and craft
different kinds of policies on
everything from the way body cameras
were used to how training works in our
department
there are a lot of lessons we learned
the hard way that I think about every
day when I'm looking at what we could do
with the powers of the presidency to
deal not only with the problems of
racial justice in policing but more
broadly the problem is systemic racism
in this country and the reality is the
racial inequality that we see around us
is often getting worse and it's not
gonna get better on its own you can't
just rub out a racist policy and replace
it with a neutral one and expect
everything to get better mayor I want to
just pick up on this and we need to wrap
up this segment because we got a lot
more questions in our first Town Hall
last May I asked you about this question
of your lack of support in the
african-american community which was
then less than 1% and here's what you
said then take a look I think that's
particularly true of black and brown
voters who are just skeptical of people
who come along seemingly out of nowhere
and so it's why we've worked so hard to
make sure that as we go into this summer
in our outreach and in our substance
that we're speaking to voters who were
concerned with what the next president
can do to deal with for example the
glaring racial inequities that we see in
our society now that was eight months
ago and for all of your outreach in
these eight months your last national
poll you're a two percent support among
African Americans I guess the question
is is it just possible that that the
African Americans we've been talking him
all over around the country especially
in South Carolina which obviously has
one of the early primaries that they
have heard you that they have learned
about your record and they just think
there would be another Democratic
candidate who would represent them
better well tell you this having eight
months to introduce yourself is of
course not the same as having twenty or
thirty or forty years but I'll also say
they bunch from now we're gonna have the
election that's right and when I'm
engaging first of all I should note that
the support that I have that is the
strongest among African American voters
is in my own community where people know
me best and yes we have work to do to
make sure that that extends in
particular into the south but when we
were for example the other day in
south carolina to black owned business
engaging in a conversation about
economic empowerment one of the biggest
things i heard about was just the
determination to make sure we get a
candidate who can win and I'm mindful
that that's one of the things you've got
a show not just tell and of course Iowa
is the first opportunity we'll get on
the calendar to demonstrate that we can
do just that
there we have a lot more questions for
you coming up after a quick break folks
here want to ask you about your plans
for Medicare and foreign policy and
other issues you would face as president
that's next as we come to you live from
the River Center here in Des Moines Iowa