DPCC Co-Chair Jeffries: There is a Cloud of Corruption Over 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

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WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, Co-Chair of the House Democratic Policy & Communications Committee (DPCC), appeared on CNN's "OutFront" with Erin Burnett to discuss the FBI's latest investigation into Jared Kushner and his possible ties to the Russian probe. Below are excerpts from the interview. Click here to watch the video.

"Well there is a cloud of corruption that continues to hang over 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and the more we learn the worse it gets for the President and for his administration. Clearly there was something that was not right in terms of Russia's interference with our election, that was an established fact, and the possibility of collusion between high level members of the Trump campaign and the Russians. The question really is was there cooperation and what was exchanged as a result of that cooperation. Russia clearly interfered with the election by hacking into the DNC, hacking into the Clinton campaign, releasing those emails, timing those releases to a moment to maximize their impact, hurt the campaign [and] help Donald Trump get elected….was there a quid pro quo? Was there an exchange after the fact? And did the Kushner meetings fall into that category?"

"There's an ongoing criminal investigation and clearly there is a lot of smoke here. The FBI's gone through the process of determining whether there is fire, but there is no one who is closer to the President, other than Ivanka and Jared Kushner, a Senior Advisor. This is part of a pattern, Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, the Attorney General Jeff Sessions, [and] the former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. All of these individuals are extremely close to the President, but in that group no one closer than Jared Kushner. The fact that he is a focus of the FBI and perhaps the special prosecutor's investigation is incredibly significant."

"It does appear that things have been intensifying and perhaps that's one of the reasons why the President has grown increasingly frustrated with the investigation and that may have even led to his abrupt inappropriate un-democratic and un-American dismissal of James Comey, because he is feeling the pressure. This will only intensify it further and the hope is that we won't see evidence of abuse of Presidential authority and obstruction of justice, as there is reason to believe that may have already occurred with the termination James Comey and others."

"I do think the President is generally clueless, but he is the President of the United States of America with experts all round him, he [has] a White House counsel, he [has] people to advise him. It would be shocking for him not to conclude that terminating the FBI director who was leading the investigation into his campaign, [that] had taken on a criminal nature and was publicly disclosed to the American people would not be inappropriate. It was clearly an erratic action, but it may be an indication of the actions of a desperate man. It may also indicate that there are law enforcement sources who are concerned that there may be an active effort to obstruct the investigation, to block it, [and] to limit the ability to learn the facts. And that is why they are providing this information to the fourth estate, to journalists who will communicate that information to the American people."