Transcript of Pelosi, House Democrats Press Conference on Trump’s Failed Vision for America

Opening Remarks

Leader Pelosi.  Good morning everyone!  As President Trump inflicts his failed so-called vision on our country, he and the Republican Congress have not lifted a finger to create more of the good-paying jobs America needs.  The sudden ICE raids, the dangerous and unconstitutional Muslim and Refugee Ban, the weakness before Russia, the list goes on.

They are all part of the same failed so-called vision that does not honor our values and does not protect and defend our Constitution or the American people.  It is a vision that says desperate refugee children are too dangerous to set foot on American soil, but hands the National Security Council to someone that's having secret conversations with the Russians.  It is a vision the disdains hard-working, law abiding immigrants and embraces Vladimir Putin.

The disgraceful new ICE raids targeting immigrant families are deeply upsetting, cruel and designed to spread fear.  It is a vision that makes America less safe, less strong and more fearful.  Every day we see substantial evidence of the financial, personal and political grip the Russians have on President Trump and the hand of the Russian intelligence agencies in his campaign, undermining out democracy.

The Trump White House has a lot to answer for; Flynn is just a glaring reflection of the consistently dangerous and incompetent conduct of the Trump administration.  By whose authority did he have these conversations and who did he report to?  Again, it's just a glaring example of the poor judgement of the President of the United States.

Today, we will have another opportunity from our colleagues to enable us to bring up the Swalwell-Cummings bill, cosponsored by 100% of the House Democrats to call for a non-partisan, outside, independent commission to investigate the Russian connection.  In that regard, I'm very pleased to yield to the distinguished Vice Chair of our House Democratic Caucus – and commend her and the work of other Democrats on the Committee yesterday to try to get the Chairman to ask the Secretary of the Treasury for the tax returns of Donald Trump.  Perhaps seeing some truth will shed some light on the challenge that we face as we go forward.  With that I'm pleased to yield to the Distinguished Vice Chair, Congresswoman Linda Sánchez.

Closing Remarks

Leader Pelosi.  Thank you very much to our colleagues.  Just so you know, the Chair of our Congressional Hispanic Caucus spoke with such knowledge, all of them did, the depth of their commitment, the scope of their knowledge, their sense of urgency about what this means to America. We're very proud of it, well demonstrated.

[Points to Congresswoman Sánchez] – Vice chair of the caucus, former [chairwoman] of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

I did want you to know that Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard is the Ranking Member on the Subcommittee on Appropriations that deals with Homeland Security.  She brings to that position a long record in the Congress on knowledge of what makes America great in terms of honoring our immigrant community.

Congresswoman Jayapal is a new member of the Judiciary Committee.

[Points to Congresswoman Lofgren] Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren is the Ranking Member on the Immigration Committee.  She has been an immigration lawyer, she has taught immigration law, she has chaired the Immigration Committee at another time and she is now the ranking member.

So they bring great experience to this discussion and of course we're very proud of our Ranking Member Bennie Thompson, ranking member of the full Homeland Security Committee and the commitment they bring to all of this.  Any questions?

Q:  Leader Pelosi, on the same topic.  I know there is a lot you can't say about your Gang of Eight briefings, but have you ever been briefed about contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian Intelligence?  And if so, what have you been told about the nature of those…

Leader Pelosi.  You expect me to tell you what's in a briefing?  We've had our briefings, but not recently.  We have been asking for more current briefings in light of current revelations.  But, suffice to say, we've been calling on the FBI to expedite its investigation into the financial, personal and political ties of Donald Trump and the Trump Administration to the Russians.  When the President flirts with lifting the sanctions – and I'm glad that Steny Hoyer earlier today, perhaps you saw our Distinguished Whip, Mr. Hoyer introduce a bill, bipartisan bill to say: before the President can lift any sanctions on Russia, he has to confer with the Congress.  Very important legislation.

We have a President who flirts with lifting them, as I said, disdaining refugee children and embracing Vladimir Putin to talk about not supporting the New START Treaty that protects us in terms of the nuclear threat to the planet, the list goes on and on.

So, again, the public is owed the truth, deserves the truth.  We hope the FBI is pursuing the truth.  All of the evidence that you've seen come forward is a corroboration of ideas that were out there before but not corroborated.  There's enough reason for him to go forward.  I hope he understands it is of national significant interest – he said that is one of the standards, as to whether he would let us know if he was doing an investigation – if it was of national significance, national significant interest, it is.

Q:  So, it's not like you think money is really a part of this.

Leader Pelosi.  I don't know if it is money.  It could be personal, it could be political, or it could be financial.  I don't know.  And let's clear the air.  Let's get going.  Let's take a deep breath for our country.  There are suspicions that have arisen about the President of the United States.  There is behavior on his part that is very dangerous to the national security of our country, including his poor judgment in appointing Michael Flynn in the first place and his very reckless executive order on the ban which has been called by some of our friends in the diplomatic community, ‘strategically incoherent,' that has been called by many in the military, ‘not in our national security interests – in fact, makes America less safe.'  And if I just may say, from some of our other witnesses about the refugees, the Evangelical Association of America – they testified before at one of our hearings that ‘the American Refugee Resettlement Program is the crown jewel of America's humanitarianism.'  So this is like a bull in more than a china shop, what Trump is doing.

Q:  GOP leaders have said that they're going to stick with the Intel Committees to do this investigation, instead of an independent commission like you're calling for.  Knowing that, do you think that Devin Nunes, who was on the Trump transition and as Intel Chairman should step aside?  Or do you trust him to lead a fair investigation?

Congresswoman Lofgren.  Our colleague from California said he doesn't plan on doing an investigation.  So, I think, to turn to the Chairman, who has already said he didn't want to do it, is crazy.  And Leader Pelosi is correct.  The public needs something they can trust.  They need something that is independent and that is not partisan, so that we can get to the facts on this.

Leader Pelosi.  What you have just described, Zoe, is what we are – the word I would use is ‘stonewall.'  They are stonewalling this.  The Speaker is saying, ‘Oh, it's up to the Intelligence Committee.'  The Chairman of the Intelligence Committee is saying, ‘Don't look at me.  I'm not doing any of this.'  The American people deserve better.

Q:  Do you have any concerns with the FBI cooperating with the investigation that the Intelligence Committees are saving…

Leader Pelosi.  Well, I don't know of any investigation that the Intelligence Committee is doing.  The Chairman has said he is not going down that path.  I have confidence in Adam Schiff, that he will insist and, hopefully get them to a place where there will be an investigation.  But so far, what we really need is an outside commission with subpoena power that the FBI can work with in a very nonpartisan, apolitical way.

Q: What do think explains, two questions: what do you think explains the GOP opposition to have an independent…

Leader Pelosi. You just have to ask them.  I think, that's just, you just have to ask them.  But let's get back to these raids, because this has instilled so much fear, in the Amer—is that your next question?

Q: No, it's not. [inaudible] about the raids and then I'll ask.

Leader Pelosi. I mean the point is is that I can't answer for the Republicans' behavior.  But the fact is is the American people want to know.  President Lincoln, I say it every week practically: "Public sentiment is everything."  The American people have a right to know, and if you see the interest in what did happen, let's clear the air, and perhaps there's, there's something that is exculpatory in all of this.  We'll find out.  So what are they afraid of?  So my question to my Republican colleagues is, if you're not willing to take the first step to look into this, what are you afraid, will come out of it?  And I want to know, as others want to know, who gave the authority to Flynn to have these conversations and who did he report to after?  To name just one question.

But back to the raids, because that's why we're having this press conference today.  I mean we can talk every day, several times a day, about the new revelations about the U.S., the Trump administration, and the Trump campaign's ties to Russian intelligence.  How could it be that the Russians hacked our system, the highest confidence of the intelligence community says they hacked our system to disrupt our election, President Obama instituted sanctions on the successor of the KGB, which did the hacking, and the new Administration, one of the first things they did, was to lift the sanctions on the successor to the KGB.  And what is in it that, that says that when there was a talk of sanctions, when President Obama imposed the sanctions, when these conversations took place and how did that affect the Russian response to that?

Q: Do you give any credence to the rumors that the Russians have compromising material on the RNC?

Leader Pelosi. I have no idea, I have no idea.  I mean that's, again, we just want to operate from facts, and the facts are, this should be, the facts are this should be investigated.

Congresswoman Lujan Grisham. And just to the Leader's point, I mean on the ICE raids, we can't get accurate information.  So these distractions, which really hurt people.  So now you've got communities that are focused on one damaging, dangerous issue after another, and then we don't get information, we don't have movement on an independent investigation, and we can't, and how many more of these really damaging domestic distractions are we gonna have, in a debate that they're saying this is good for national security and we're saying it is not good for national security.

Don't look at us, look at the folks, including Republicans, both currently in Congress, formerly in Congress, formerly of the intelligence committee who are saying the same thing: give us the facts so that we can give you, you have access to the facts, and, and, even if the facts on the ICE raids bear some resemblance, to we really are looking at a dangerous violent criminal element, they better be prepared to talk to us about the 25% of everybody else who doesn't.

And what indications does that have to any, every other, frankly, policy where we put vulnerable populations at risk with zero due process.  We stand ready to demand that we get transparency, to demand that we get the answers that we need to do our jobs.  I want to demand that Republicans participate in that so we can all do our jobs, we can disagree about how to get there, but give us the information.  And I agree with the Leader, why? You've got it.  Why aren't you giving it to us?  That's right.  Thank you.

Leader Pelosi. One more point I want to make on this, the raids, and the rest, because, as our colleagues have pointed out, a small percentage of those who were apprehended and deported were guilty of a crime.  And the prosecutorial discretion that goes with the job is something that we respect, if somebody should be deported, they should be deported.  But if the violation that they're talking about is only a violation of status, and they're saying they broke the law, it's a violation of status, that means they're on a path to deport 8 million people, because another 3 million, just for an example, if you come in legally and you overstay that wouldn't, that falls into a different category.  So 8 million who may be in violation of status even entering or whatever, coming back to join family or whatever it is, 8 million people by this policy would be subject to deportation.  This is a very serious matter.

And let me just take it back to Russia, to Flynn and all the rest of that.  Again, I think this was a deflection on the part of the President but he didn't know what he was doing, he didn't know what he was doing and he made a big mistake, another error in judgement.  And what do we elect people for but to have judgement?  But to have judgement you have to have knowledge, and he just didn't know what he was doing.

But apart from that, apart from that I think it's really important to note that it all goes back to the National Security Council.  Who devised this ban to begin with, which then lead to the raids which are another deflection.  Is it, was it Flynn, or was it the shadow National Security Advisor, Bannon?  So beware of Bannon in all of this.  There is a connection.  Thank you all very much.