DPCC Co-Chair Jeffries: We Must Restore Our Democracy For the People
WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Hakeem Jeffries (NY-08), Co-Chair of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee (DPCC), appeared on The Beat with Ari Melber on MSNBC to discuss how Democrats are working to clean up corruption in Washington. Jeffries called on Republicans in Congress to stop acting as a "cover-up Caucus" and instead work with Democrats to address the cloud of illegitimacy hanging over 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Below are excerpts from the interview and click here to watch the video.
"[Michael Cohen] absolutely pled guilty to a crime and during his allocution in open court, made clear the President of the United States, then a candidate, was an active participant in that criminal activity. Let's just take a step back and look at the totality of the situation. There is clearly a cloud of illegitimacy hanging over 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue that's growing bigger by the day."
"You've got Michael Flynn, guilty. George Papadopoulos, guilty. Paul Manafort, guilty. You've got Michael Cohen, of course, guilty. These are individuals who were incredibly close to the President of the United States of America, and we've got to get an answer to the question: What did the President know? When did he know it? When this crime spree was taking place all around him. We've got to clean up corruption with this Administration and in Washington, D.C. [and] restore our democracy for the people."
"This is not really a Democratic issue or Republican issue, it's an American issue. But unfortunately what we've seen from my colleagues on the House Judiciary Committee on the Republican side and throughout the Republican conference is that they've engaged, not as Americans, but as part of the cover up caucus."
"Basically, to hide and to cover up the things that Donald Trump has done relative to crimes that may have been committed at his direction, or through his underlings, possibly connected to collusion with Russia to sell out our democracy."
"And instead of trying to get to the bottom of what has occurred, they basically are taking orders from Donald Trump to cover it all up. And that's shameful, that's irresponsible and that's a dereliction of duty relative to who we are as a separate and co-equal branch of government."
"House Democrats, we're going to remain focused on our For the People agenda, which means pocketbook issues: we're going to drive down the costs of health care that are spiraling out of control because of Republican recklessness; we're going to increase the pay of the American worker – we've got wage stagnation, underemployment challenges throughout America - and we're going to focus on cleaning up corruption."
"Now, we fought for the recusal of Jeff Sessions. He recused himself. We fought for the appointment of a special counsel, Bob Mueller was appointed. So now we just have to let Mueller be Mueller, do his work, finish the investigation. Report to the American people, report to Congress, report to the Department of Justice. And then at that point, we'll let the chips fall where they may."