House Democrats Press Briefing

... Caucus is clear-eyed about what the stakes of this election are. Donald Trump cannot be allowed near the Oval Office, and his extremist allies must never be allowed to pass a national abortion ban or their dangerous Project 2025, which would erode our democracy and enable Trump's worst impulses, and we've seen firsthand what the Republican majority will do if given an opportunity to govern. Chaos and confusion are the order of the day, and the will of the American people is completely ignored. The extreme Republicans in charge have not passed a single bill to create one job, but they have voted to roll back thousands of clean energy jobs. (00:45) They have not passed legislation to combat rising prices, but they have promised to repeal a $35-a-month insulin guarantee for our seniors. They've not done a thing to address a situation at the border. In fact, they have killed the most significant border security bill in decades, while the policies of President Biden have brought border crossings down to pre-pandemic lows. The choice before the American people this November is moving forward with a stronger economy, lowering costs, and safer streets, or the chaos and extremism of Donald Trump. Together with the Biden-Harris administration, we'll continue to increase economic opportunity in every zip code and deliver for working families. (01:26) Vice Chair Lieu.

Thank you, Chair Aguilar. Donald Trump campaigned on overturning Roe v. Wade. Trump then appointed extreme MAGA justices who lied to the Senate and then proceeded to overturn Roe v. Wade, and then Trump bragged about overturning Roe v. Wade. Now Trump is trying to run away from that, but he can't. Why? Because, in fact, Roe v. Wade was overturned. That's a thing. That's a fact, and millions of women have now lost rights. We also know that with Project 2025, this creepy document written by Trump's closest advisors and confidants that they want to ban abortion nationwide. Project 2025 also wants to eliminate the Department of Education, and it wants to eliminate the National Weather Service. I mean, you're not going to get accurate weather forecasts anymore. You're just going to get stupid weather forecasts. I mean, this document is creepy. It's a takeover of the American former government, and it's a collection of extreme MAGA ideas that's going to ruin our way of life. That is what is at stake this November.

Questions. (02:37) Nicole?

Thank you so much. Congressman Cohen earlier told a couple of us outside of the DCCC that it's not even an issue of Democrats being on the same page. They're not even in the same book. So these discussions that you're having, are they constructive or destructive? And as leaders, at what point do you put your foot down and button this up? The president has been clear. He's staying in the brakes.

I think anytime we can gather together as members and House leadership can hear from the members, I think it's constructive. It always is. I learned more from my House Democratic colleagues each and every day about their values, about their districts, and that's what this has been about. This has not been an exercise to hear each other talk. This has been an exercise to genuinely listen to people and to bring a perspective to the table, but to listen to each other and to have that grace that goes along with that. So that's what this has been about. (03:46) Every conversation we have had has been helpful. Our job as leaders, the vice chair and I, and everyone in the caucus is to take this in and to help in any way we can Leader Jeffries guide this caucus. That's what our efforts have been about, and that's what our efforts will continue to be about, from whether that was discussions about vacating the chair to the debt crisis that Republicans started. Time and time again, we have been focused on listening to our members, and that's what we have done over the past week and a half. (04:26) Rebecca? No. (04:30) Martha?

Hi. This is Martha from the [inaudible 00:04:36]. You are clear that you need to go forward, but what's the strategy that you're willing to implement or the changes that you're willing to make in order to convince your own people [inaudible 00:04:46] the Americans in terms that Biden is your best candidate?

Some of that is campaign strategies and tactics. House Democratic Caucus leadership is asking their members to do our members is to talk about the importance of preventing Donald Trump from ever setting foot in the White House. I don't want Donald Trump on the public tour of the White House. Many of us served when Donald Trump was here. We know the chaos that reigns from that, and we know what we have been able to do together. The Biden-Harris administration, 15 million jobs created, getting us through the pandemic, shots in arms, money in people's pockets, bipartisan infrastructure bill. These are things that we can do together, and that's what we have been focused on while we chart this path ahead, while the politics of the day continues on to November. House Democrats are very confident in the agenda that we have been a part of for the past few years, and now it's implementing that agenda. Thank you. (05:56) Chad?

Thank you so much. You say you are clear-eyed when it comes to making sure that Donald Trump is not in the White House, and that's consistent with all the Democrats, but it doesn't seem that everyone is clear-eyed about the future of this president. Can you address and characterize what those concerns are and attribute how you do get everybody on the same page?

Our caucus meeting today was about listening to members. There was no instruction to get on the same page. We were talking about the importance, the twin goals that we have preventing Donald Trump from ever setting foot in the White House and getting 218 votes for Hakeem Jeffries on January 3rd. That is the focus of House Democrats. You have heard us say before that unity is something that is so helpful to us. Unanimity is not the same as unity. House Democrats bring different thoughts, and ideas, and viewpoints each and every day to this House chamber. We learn from that. We accept that. We accept each member's perspective, and our focus is to be unified and we are unified that Donald Trump cannot win, and we are unified that Hakeem Jeffries needs to be speaker to help the American public.

It sounds like it's more about Trump and not so much about Biden. Isn't that the issue here? That you guys are talking consistently about former President Trump and not advocating for President Biden, saying he's the guy who has to beat Donald Trump.

Right now, President Biden is the nominee, and we support the Democratic nominee that will beat Donald Trump. That is a fact. That is where we are and preventing Donald Trump from a disastrous reign where he can level Project 2025, where he can deport kids from families, rip families apart. That's what we want to prevent here, and that is the focus in addition to ensuring that Hakeem Jeffries is a speaker.

There's a number of Democrats in the party who want President Biden to come to speak to the caucus directly to put their concerns at rest. Should President Biden come and address the caucus?

That's up to the president and his team. I can't speak to that. Our job today was to convene the House Democratic Caucus, to hear different viewpoints, different ideas, and to be unified behind that message of ensuring that we do everything we can to win this November.

The Robert Hur report, the Republicans have continually asked for the audio of this report to be released because they want to make sure that the president presented himself in a coherent manner, and Democrats have said that this was conspiracy theory because he obviously, as far as you were concerned that he did present himself in a coherent way. What are your thoughts on that now considering what you've seen with the debate and the subsequent fallout?

I'll defer to the vice chair here too, but this is very clear. Republicans campaigned and have promised to impeach Joe Biden. They were unable to impeach Joe Biden, and so now they will do anything they can to distract away from their own reckless agenda. That is who they are. That is all this effort is about, and we see that continue. We see House Republican leadership seemingly not supportive of this Luna resolution, but she may offer it because it just shows how extreme house Republicans are.

Robert Hur was appointed by Donald Trump. He is a Republican, and he has said that the written transcript is an accurate rendition of the audio transcript, so you can just read it. The transcript is fine. But you know what written transcripts are really crazy and incoherent? Look at Donald Trump's transcripts from his rallies. He says crazy stuff, all sorts of radical stuff and incoherent thoughts, incoherent messaging. He talks about sharks and being on a boat and the boat sinks and there's electric batteries on the boat. Somehow, you get electrocuted. It's bizarre stuff. You should look at Donald Trump's written transcripts from his rallies, and you'll see that Donald Trump is not fit for office.

But you don't think that the audio should be released at all whatsoever of the -

The Republican Special Counsel has said the written transcript is an accurate rendition of the audio transcript. It's not like they're making up paragraphs that weren't said or rewording paragraphs. I mean, he said this is an accurate rendition of the-

He said he didn't want to prosecute him because he said that he was essentially a feeble old man who wouldn't be able to defend himself.

Robert Hur is not a doctor, and neither are you, but you know what? Look at Donald Trump's transcripts, and then let's have a conversation about the crazy things Donald Trump says, so why don't you ever ask about that?

Michael?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Congressional Black Caucus has been unified around the president since the debate fallout. Obviously, as the chair of the caucus, you understand how influential this block is. Can you just speak about the role that the Black Caucus has played in this particular issue and, for Americans who may not be familiar with the history of the caucus, what it means to you to have that block in the caucus that you chair?

It's important for all of us. The strength and resiliency of the Congressional Black Caucus, how they advocate for their communities, how they advocate for Americans is something that I appreciated and I'm thankful for. I'm thankful historically to the work that they have done and that they have led on so many issues, but the Black Caucus is more than just one issue. Just like the Hispanic Caucus is more than just one issue. These are individuals who have built tenure in this dome, advocating for working families and advocating for the rights and the struggles of people who have been marginalized in their communities, and so when they speak, the House Democratic Caucus listens. (12:12) I listen, the vice chair listens, the leadership team listens. We listen to every member, though. And I'll tell you, we had members from every single caucus imaginable speak to us today, and each of us have had conversations with dozens and dozens of members across the political spectrum to better understand their districts, to better understand where they are, to better understand the struggles of people in their communities and what they face, and we're going to continue to do that along the way. Thank you. (12:41) Eric.

Is the door now closed for swapping Biden at the top of the ticket? Has that conversation ended?

I've told you that I'm supporting the Democratic ticket. The Biden-Harris administration has been phenomenal to work with. For those of us who have been privileged enough to serve under multiple presidencies, the work that they have done and continue to do to put working families first above special interests has been amazing, and we look forward to continuing that work. Go ahead.

Thank you, Congressman. In President Biden's letter to your caucus on Monday, he wrote that Democrats would be the ones to bring real Supreme Court reform if they win in November. Now, any reforms to the court would have to go through Congress. What reforms will Democrats bring to the Supreme Court if they win in November? Secondly, on Project 2025, if Trump wins, do you think that the Biden administration is doing enough to protect progressive regulations from being overdone by a Trump administration according to Project 2025's plans, as you've said, and if not, what do they need to be doing?

Well, we hope Donald Trump never gets close to the White House again so that when it comes to plans and getting in place, our plan is to win and to prevent Donald Trump from ever setting foot in the White House to carry on Project 2025, which would mean a national abortion ban, and defunding the FBI, and ending marriage equality. The list goes on and on. With respect to your first question, it is incredibly clear that this is a runaway Supreme Court that does not feel that they have a check. They want an imperial presidency under Donald Trump. They're not guided by the ethics standards that other judges are. I think we can start there. That has been a discussion among both sides of the Capitol Dome. Let's start there, and if there are other reforms that are worthy of consideration, we should debate them as we debate a variety of issues when it comes keeping government safe and ensuring that we have a functioning democracy.

The first thing that's going to happen when we flip the House and hold the Senate is we're going to send a bill to codify Roe v. Wade to President Biden. He's going to sign it. That's the difference. That's what's at stake this election. Donald Trump would veto such a bill because Donald Trump caused Roe v. Wade to be overturned. We're also going to fix what the Supreme Court did when they ruled precedent for no good reason in what was known as Chevron case. The Supreme Court has now essentially said that, Hey, judges are better than the techno experts at agencies in looking at congressional statutes. (15:32) Well, guess what? Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote an entire opinion where you confused laughing gas with another kind of gas. No, judges are not better than techno experts at federal agencies. Who do these justices think they are? Do they really know biology, and science, and chemistry, and all the things that experts need to know? No, they do not. This was a power grab for the conservative Supreme Court, and we're going to fix that if we flip the house, hold the Senate, and we keep Donald Trump out of the White House.

You support disbanding the court?

Scott?

Thank you, Mr. Aguilar. What do constituents in your district say? What have you heard in phone calls to your office, emails, personal conversations, people in San Bernardino and Redlands, and those communities that you represent? What have you heard? Do they want President Biden to stay on the ticket? Do they want somebody else?

Thanks for name-checking the hometowns. Always appreciate it. Look, I mean, I think by and large what you have heard me communicate is not only as a leadership member within the caucus but as someone from those communities, from San Bernardino County. We also have the benefit, the vice chair and I, of being from California. California is no friend of Donald Trump when it comes to politics and ideas. I benefit from having independents, we call them Decline to State voters in California who register. It's the fastest-growing political party in the state, is Decline to State, and I've got a lot of those folks who are supporters and friends and overwhelmingly they want to prevent Donald Trump from being in the White House, and so that's what I hear. We hear other things too. We hear theories and cases, and of course that's fine, but when it comes back to it, and I remind people that my focus as a leader here is to ensure that Hakeem Jeffries becomes speaker. (17:36) Overwhelmingly, people say, Oh yeah, of course. We have to do that. The region, the state, the country will be better with Democrats holding gavels. I'm just convinced of that. I'm convinced of the work product that we are able to do together because of our proven track record when we are guiding these committees, what we can do, the bills that we can put in front of the president, how we can help people, that's overwhelmingly what we hear. Of course, we hear different theories and different ideas about the top of the ticket, but overwhelmingly, that's where people come down to.

So, like Chairman Aguilar said, we hear a lot from our constituents on different issues, but something I've heard that doesn't seem to be covered are the Epstein files. These files were released, and Donald Trump's sort of all over this, right? There are pictures of him with Jeffrey Epstein. He's taken multiple plane flights with Epstein with young girls on board. He is on call logs with Epstein. One of the highest-trending hashtags on Twitter right now is about Trump and Epstein. I'm not going to repeat the hashtag as we're in a dignified setting, but yeah, y'all might want to look at that because that's highly disturbing, and again, it shows that Donald Trump is unfit for office. And by the way, he was convicted in a civilian court for sexual assault, convicted in a separate court of 34 felonies. Donald Trump should drop out of the race.

Nicole with Rolling Stone. Chairman, you've spoken at length about the need to not only flip the House but secure this leadership for Representative Jeffries. What do you say to candidates in vulnerable districts in close races who are concerned that these issues with Biden's health, with his ability to withstand the rigors of the campaign may depress voter turnout and not only harm the general election but Democrat's ability to maintain control in the Senate and flip the House?

Yeah, I'm not going to get into campaign tactics and all the private conversations I have with candidates running, what I can tell you that I relate is running. Vice chair and I both got elected in 2014. I flipped a Republican-held seat in a really rough year in 2014. I share with them my story. I share with them what was happening at the top of the ticket, what was happening in the country at the time, and I try to encourage them to just continue to press ahead and that this is incredibly important and that what they are doing, the job they're doing, campaigning, sacrificing for their families, giving up things, those are things that aren't lost on any of us, and it will make it, when they win, it will make it sweeter. It will make it better because of the work that we're going to do together because day one, we can pass a bill to codify Roe, because we can help address the runaway Supreme Court, because we can help working families. Those are the things that matter to the candidates that I've been talking to. (20:40) Last one.

I was going to ask with eight Democrats who have either publicly called him a president, have done through the race, or said so as much to their colleagues, two who are openly saying that Trump will win the election and scores I can guarantee you every reporter in this room has had a conversation with a Democrat who is publicly supporting the president but privately extremely concerned. Is he doing enough to assuage concerns among the caucus about his ability to win against Trump in November?

I think this is, the president has said himself that he's going to be out there, right? This is about campaigning and hustling. My answer is, we'll see. Let's see the press conference, let's see the campaign stops. Let's see all of this, because all of it is going to be necessary. The president knows that he did not have a good debate performance. He knows that he has to be out there in people's districts, out in the communities, out in these tough states. He knows that, and that's what we'll see in the days and weeks ahead. Thank you so much.

Thank you. (21:43) Thank you. (21:43) Thank you. (21:43) [inaudible 00:22:05]

And the Senate Democrats have failed our country, and I'm confident the American people will right this ship in less than four months.

Well, I think I'll continue the weekly tradition. (22:27) [inaudible 00:22:29].

Senator, when you were gone, the Supreme Court ruled in the immunity case. Do you agree with the decision granting immunity to the former president for actions he took while in office?

What the Supreme Court actually did was lay out the parameters but not apply them to this particular case. They sent it down to the lower courts to find facts rather than making up facts that we're not actually before the court yet. So yes, I'm completely comfortable with it.

McConnell, our adversaries are watching the videos of the president just like we are. They see the same thing we do. Do we have a situation today where leaders like Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong Un are becoming more aggressive, testing the boundaries more closely because of the weakness they see in this administration and the condition of the president?

Well, with regard to the administration, that's a good question to ask the next group. Before recent times, it was pretty obvious to any observers that we had big power competition from China and Russia, a great ally for them in Iran, and Iran funding the proxies. I mean, this is clearly the most dangerous period since right before World War II. So completely unrelated to who happens to be in the White House at the moment, we need to step up, and a good time to emphasize that is while NATO is celebrating its 75th anniversary right here in Washington. We need to make it clear that we're behind NATO. There are allies in the Indo-Pacific who are here as well. (24:30) Every democratic country in the world is together against this coterie of authoritarians, and what a great time to emphasize that we're all together. I had a similar conversation yesterday with the president of Latvia. I mean, they're right up next to the Russians. And then the majority leader, and I, and some others met with the Canadian Prime Minister. With all due respect to our Canadian friends, they're a long way from hitting the 2% mark, but a whole lot of the rest of the NATO members have. We only had three countries hitting the 2% mark a few years ago; now we have 23. So I think everybody who elects their government realizes we're all in this together.

[inaudible 00:25:21].