DPCC Chair Cicilline: Democrats Will Do What's Right to Protect our Democracy
WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Cicilline, Chair of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee (DPCC), appeared on The Last Word With Lawrence O'Donnell on MSNBC to discuss how Democrats are working to protect our democracy and advance our For the People agenda: lowering health care costs, raising incomes and cleaning up corruption in Washington. Congressman Cicilline reiterated that no one, not even the President of the United States, is above the law. Below are excerpts from the interview. Click here to watch the video
"There's tremendous consensus within the Caucus. The Speaker has made it very clear publicly and again on this call that the House will not shirk its responsibilities and will hold this President accountable and will defend our democracy.
"But there was a recognition that this report is breathtaking in its scope. It speaks of a sophisticated campaign by the Russians, a foreign adversary, to attack our election and the willingness of the Trump campaign and officials of the Trump campaign to openly embrace that assistance for their electoral benefit. And then it went on to talk about ten instances of obstruction of justice and found the President engaged in acts which would constitute obstruction but essentially concluded because the President can't be charged because of a DOJ memorandum that there was no point in doing further analysis.
"I said on the call tonight I thought it was very important that we approach this very judicially in a sober way. This is a very grave moment for the country. That we have the responsibility to uphold it the rule of law and to show that no one is above the law including the President of the United States. That we had to continue to make sure we got the full report and the unredacted versions. But I said emphatically that the report evidences obstruction of justice by the President."