CHAIRMAN JEFFRIES ON TRUMP ADMIN: “CHAOS, CRISIS, CONFUSION, CORRUPTION AND CRIMINAL ACTIVITY”
NEW YORK - In case you missed it, the Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) joined MSNBC’s All In with Chris Hayes before a live studio audience, where he exposed the president’s abuse of power and blatant disregard for the United States Constitution.
CHRIS HAYES: […] Someone said something the other day, said it's like when you shake the tree, all these crimes fall out. Like, why would you stop shaking the tree and keep the inquiry limited to the scope of Ukraine?
CHAIRMAN JEFFRIES: It is very important to shake the tree. I think that's what we're doing. What we've seen basically is that the Trump administration has been characterized by five things: chaos, crisis, confusion, corruption and criminal activity.
[Applause]
[…]
The focus will remain on the Trump Ukraine scandal as we know it because there's evidence of wrongdoing that's hiding in plain sight. And what you have is that the president pressured a foreign leader to target an American citizen for political gain and then withheld at the same time $391 million in aid to a very vulnerable country that had been authorized on a bipartisan basis. That is textbook abuse of power. It undermines our national security. And the president betrayed his oath of office
[…]
HAYES: There's also one other aspect of this which pertains to Rudy Giuliani, which is, there is now a criminal investigation out of the Southern District of New York, in which two of Rudy Giuliani's associates, men who were represented by their own lawyer as being part of President Trump's legal team, have been indicted in federal court. That's another variable in this.
JEFFRIES: That's a variable, but it's part of the same narrative in terms of the wrongdoing that has been unleashed on the country by President Trump. Now, Rudolph Giuliani, you know - what a guy.
[Laughter]
I mean, failed mayor, failed presidential candidate, failed lawyer on his way to being a convicted felon.
HAYES: Do you really mean that? In all seriousness, do you think he has criminal exposure right now?
JEFFRIES: Absolutely for the reasons that you laid out in terms of the possibility that he was illegally lobbying on behalf of the Turkish government. But here's the key. The rough transcript of the July 25th phone call makes clear that Rudolph Giuliani, certainly in the context of the Ukraine scandal, was operating at the explicit direction of Donald Trump, who made it clear to the Ukrainian president that he was to follow up with his personal lawyer, who was not a diplomat. He's not a member of the State Department, the diplomatic corps or an ambassador. He was a political thug operating on behalf of Donald Trump to solicit foreign interference in the 2020 election. That's outrageous.
[Applause]
HAYES: Yesterday, Mick Mulvaney came out and admitted it, and I think he, in his defense, I think he got confused because they alternate between we didn't do it and we did it, it's fine. And he forgot which day it was in terms of the messaging. But I saw Jim Jordan say, well, it doesn't change anything for me. I mean, do you feel like your Republican colleagues on the House side, and I saw Congressman Rooney, now a Republican saying he is open to an impeachment inquiry, is there any set of facts or is it just there is no set of facts that would sway them?
JEFFRIES: Well, there are some Members on the Republican side who are part of what I referred to as the "Cover-Up Caucus."
[Laughter]
It's unfortunate. They're not interested in upholding their oath of office. They're interested in covering up wrongdoing by Donald Trump. Hopefully there are others who take seriously the fact that we are in Congress not to put party first, but to put country first.
[Applause]
[…]
Now, one thing about the Mulvaney reveal, that was a straight up confession of what took place.
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