DPCC Chair Cicilline: We Will Get The American People All of the Facts
WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman David Cicilline, Chair of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee (DPCC), appeared on Anderson Cooper 360 on CNN to discuss the importance of having Robert Mueller testify before the House Judiciary Committee. Chair Cicilline highlighted the duty of the Judiciary Committee to uncover the truth for the American people. Cicilline emphasized that House Democrats will continue to follow the facts and hold the Administration accountable while working For the People to lower health care costs, rebuild America's infrastructure and take on corruption in Washington. Below are excerpts from the interview. Click here to watch the video
"The negotiations between the Committee staff and Mr. Mueller's team are ongoing. We hope that he will come before the Committee. As you mentioned, the Attorney General has now said he has no objection. We're back to that position. So it's very important for the American people to hear directly from Special Counsel Mueller, he has the opportunity to walk the American people and Members of Congress through the findings of his report. So I hope he will be before the Committee in short order."
"But I also think Mr. Mueller made it clear that he relied on the legal counsel's memorandum that says a sitting President can't be indicted. I'd be curious and I think many people will be interested to know if he agrees with the more than 500 prosecutors and DOJ officials who say that if he weren't the President, he would be indicted. Look, he is a person that has been very quiet. His work is complete, but I think he wants to be sure, or I hope he wants to be sure, that it's not misconstrued or misrepresented to the American people. It's too important. The work was too serious. So I expect that a person of his integrity would want to be sure this information was communicated accurately and the conclusions he came to were explained carefully."
"I don't think the Attorney General should make a joke of this at all. This is with respect to the Attorney General of the United States being in contempt of the Congress of the United States, continuing an effort to stonewall the American people, to prevent Congress from gathering the facts and getting to the truth. It's not a laughing matter. I expect that there are a number of other Committees that are considering contempt citations. I think the sense is that those will go to the floor together. But we fully intend to use all the power that we have to ensure that we get the materials that we need to make informed judgments that we can compel the attendance of witnesses before the Committee to testify under oath. Because remember, if the executive branch is permitted to extinguish our right to collect evidence and bring witnesses before the Committee, it will have effectively eliminated the oversight responsibilities of Congress. That would be a disaster. So Mr. Barr should take this seriously and should understand that we are going to use all the tools at our disposal. We have a process we have to follow, but we do not intend to let up. We're going to hold the administration accountable and get the facts and the evidence we need to do our jobs."