Leader Pelosi Slams Deflector-in-Chief President Trump on Russian Investigation
In her interview, Leader Pelosi emboldened her call for Attorney General Jeff Sessions' resignation after it was revealed that he lied under oath to the American public about his conversations with Russians. She also urged Republican leaders to join the bipartisan effort, supported by 100 percent of the House Democratic Caucus, to form an independent, outside commission to investigate and unearth the financial, personal and political grip the Russians have on President Trump and his Administration.
Key moments can be found below.
On President Trump's Unfounded Wire Tap Claims:
"The President is the Deflector-in-Chief – anything to change the subject from where the heat is. As one who has been engaged in intelligence, a member of the Gang of Eight for a long time, I can tell you it's just ridiculous for President Trump to say President Obama would ever order any wiretap of an American citizen – any President – we don't do that."
"This is called the wrap-up smear – You make up something, then you have the press write about it and then you say everybody's writing about this charge. It's a tool of an authoritarian to just have you always be talking about what you want them to be talking about. Rather than Russia, we're talking about President Obama. So he certainly does not [have proof of wiretapping]. Then to take it to the Congress and say, now you investigate this when he's been not in favor of Congress investigating anything, including what do the Russians have on Donald Trump politically, financially, or personally. That's the truth that we want to know."
On Russian Hacking of Elections:
"What's important to know is that it doesn't happen again, and that people in other countries realize they are going to be susceptible to when the Russians come in to undermine their elections. This is a big picture of undermining democracies, not just in our country, although they like undermining ours and they did have a vendetta against Hillary Clinton because she spoke about democracy and democratic elections and the rest. There's no question, personally, Vladimir Putin had a vendetta."
On Lack of Progress from the White House:
"All of this that he's doing, the deflection, is to deflect from the fact he does not have a jobs bill, he does not have an infrastructure bill, he does not have any of the things he talked about. Renegotiating NAFTA – he has not made the communication with Congress and all of that. So understand this, this is the deflect where we started, Deflector-in-Chief, no jobs, no infrastructure bill, no nothing, and no major bill signed since he came to the White House."