CAUCUS CHAIRMAN JEFFRIES: HOUSE DEMOCRATS WILL “MAKE SURE THE MUELLER REPORT IS PRESENTED TO CONGRESS”
In case you missed it today, the Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) appeared on MSNBC Live with Katy Tur for a conversation about the sentencing of Trump Campaign Manager Paul Manafort, the Mueller report and focusing on the Democrats’ For the People agenda.
KATY TUR: I want to start with you on something else the president was asked about a moment ago and that is Paul Manafort. He was asked if he would pardon Paul Manafort. He says he hasn’t thought about that at this time. He also said that he feels badly for Paul Manafort and that it is a sad situation. Do you have a response?
CHAIRMAN JEFFRIES: It appears to many of us that Paul Manafort was a serial criminal who was convicted among other things of defrauding the United States of America. And so it’s not clear to me why he should feel bad for Paul Manafort.
But the broader question is just making sure that we can continue to allow Bob Mueller to complete his investigation, write a report and make sure that that report is communicated to the American people so the American people can figure out was there collusion, was there a conspiracy between the Trump campaign, Russian spies and Wikileaks in order to undermine our democracy, sell out the presidency and artificially place Donald Trump at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
TUR: How are you going to ensure the American public is going to be able to see the report or the substance that they need to see of the report? This is going to be up to the attorney general.
JEFFRIES: Two things. Tomorrow, Chairman Jerry Nadler of the Judiciary Committee, in a bipartisan way, will be leading a resolution making it clear that the perspective of the United States House of Representatives is that once this report has been completed, its contents, whether it exonerates the president or implicates the president, should be shared with the American people. We also have the ability, if appropriate and if the situation calls for it, to use our subpoena power to make sure the report is presented to Congress and then Congress can make that decision to present it to the American people.
[…]
TUR: The president is welcoming this. He is happy about it. He feels like he is being vindicated by it. We have his tweets, we can put them up on the screen. He says “I greatly appreciate Nancy Pelosi's statement against impeachment, but everyone must remember the minor fact that I never did anything wrong. The economy and unemployment are the best ever. Military and vets are great and many other successes. How do you impeach a man who is considered by many to be the president with the most successful first two years in history, especially when he has done nothing wrong and impeachment is for high crimes and misdemeanors.” Do you agree with the president's sentiment? He is happy about this.
JEFFRIES: […] We didn't run on impeachment and we are not going to govern anchored in impeachment. We're going to govern with a focus on lowering health care costs, particularly as it relates to driving down the high cost of lifesaving prescription drugs. We promised the American people we were going to work to increase pay with a focus on a real infrastructure plan. We're going to keep our focus there and of course, we are going to clean up corruption and bring our democracy to life. We already passed H.R.1, which is the most consequential electoral reform bill perhaps ever to pass the House of Representatives and we are going to keep our eye on the prize.
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