Democrat Mike Quigley: ‘There is No Deep State’

Appearing Monday on CNN’s New Day, Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL) accused President Donald Trump of wanting a “team of sycophants” advising him and said there is no such thing as the “deep state.”

A partial transcript is as follows: 

ALISYN CAMEROTA: What are voters and our viewers to make of this report that not only the president in the White House, but also the State Department, Defense, Homeland Security, getting rid of people whoever expressed dissent — or trying to — and stocking it with President Trump’s loyalists.

REP. MIKE QUIGLEY: I think the public should read it this way: The president wants a team of sycophants instead of a team of rivals and that should be scary. Retired Navy Admiral, just this weekend, McRaven, talked about how if people like [former acting Director of National Intelligence] Joe Maguire can’t speak the truth, we should all be afraid. It’s understandable that no president likes to be given information or intelligence that doesn’t comport with their policy.

Well, a president’s policy, any policy may work or it may not work, but if it doesn’t comport to reality and the facts, it cannot work. If we’re dealing with something that isn’t the truth, we are less safe. While the president seem to believe in a deep state, Mr. president, there is no deep state, you are the state and you need to hear the truth.