Thursday at her weekly press briefing, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said the meeting between Donald Trump, Jr., Jared Kushner, then-Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and a Russian attorney meant the “collusion” between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia was a “desecration of our democracy.”
Pelosi said, “This week we saw cold hard evidence of the Trump campaign — indeed the Trump family eagerly intending to collude possibly, with Russia, — a hostile foreign power— to influence American elections. In the month again as we celebrate the courage of our founders, Republicans in Congress have become enablers of the Trump-Russia assault on our democracy. After these latest revelations, it’s becoming clear. We have suffered a desecration of our democracy not seen since Watergate. Speaker Ryan must allow a vote on an outside independent commission to get to the bottom of the Trump campaign’s role and Russia’s assault on our democracy and prevent Putin from ever doing it again, immediately.”
She continued, “It’s not just about what happened in the past, it’s to prevent it from happening again. We have an inside investigation in the Justice Department under the Special Counsel Mueller. We have an inside the Congress investigation by the Intelligence Committees. We need an outside, independent commission to investigate this. I have asked over and over again. What do the Russians have, politically, personally, or financially on Donald Trump that the American people should know? Why are the Republicans continuing to hide the truth? Instead of defending the integrity of American democracy, instead of holding the Trump White House accountable for its complicity, instead of showing Russia that there will be consequences, the House Republican majority does nothing.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN