Former Attorney General Loretta Lynch sounded off Thursday on what she thinks are scare-tactics by Republican lawmakers that are meant to suppress the vote ahead of the 2018 midterms.

MSNBC host Chris Matthews began by insisting that Republicans push things like requiring voter IDs to “screw the African American voter,” and Lynch agreed.

“Yes, yes — and it’s nothing new,” Lynch responded. “This is a historical issue. It’s a current issue. And it’s only history because it happened to somebody else, not because it could happen again. That’s what’s happening now.”

Lynch then weighed in on the gubernatorial race in Georgia, specifically praising Democrat Stacey Abrams, calling her an “exciting candidate” who has “state-wide appeal,” but as Matthews noted, her GOP opponent Secretary of State Brian Kemp currently oversees the state election.

“It has always been about power. It has always been about who gets to control the life of this country and who gets to determine how we all live our lives,” Lynch told Matthews. “That’s what it’s always been about, and so the more people you have coming into the electorate, the more you dilute the current power structure.”

“This is not just a right, it’s a birthright. This is something that every American is entitled to by virtue of being here and being a citizen,” she continued. “And frankly, the people who are in power who have taken an oath to uphold this Constitution set themselves up and try and restrict it is really disgraceful. And that’s the real problem that we’re seeing here as well. … To say that you don’t want to intimidate people is great. But look, these laws are designed to intimidate. Restricting early voting is designed to intimidate. The voter ID laws are designed to scare people away from the process.”