Dems mock Trump Jr with giant Time cover on the House floor -- and read his emails into the Congressional Record
Rep. Ruben Gallego reads aloud Donald Trump Jr.'s email chain (Screengrab / C-SPAN)
July 14, 2017
Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) and Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) on Friday read the full contents of Donald Trump Jr.’s email chain on the House Floor, accompanied by a print of TIME magazine’s most recent cover, a photo of Trump’s eldest son superimposed with the words, “Red Handed.”
"Don. Jr.'s emails are a smoking gun," Gallego told his colleagues at the House of Representatives. "They prove that the Trump campaign was not only aware of the Russian government's efforts to meddle in our elections, they were enthusiastic about accepting Russian support.”
Gallegos said the emails paint a “disturbing picture of a campaign and now an administration willing to break the law and sell out to an adversary of the United States in order to advance their own petty interests.”
Reading out Trump Jr.’s statement which accompanied the email, Gallegos noted that despite the president’s son’s assurance that he was publishing the emails in the interest of transparency, “he wasn’t even in this email.” Recent reports indicate as many as eight people were present at the June 2016 meeting, though Trump Jr. originally indicated it was only himself, former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and a Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya.
Referencing Trump Jr.’s response to finding out he would be obtaining information damaging to Hillary Clinton at the meeting, Gallegos tore into the president’s eldest son.
“Mr. Speaker: ‘I love it.’ His response was ‘I love it,’” Gallegos said. “I’ve worked in politics for a long time, I’ve never been approached with information from a foreign government. But if I was, my response would not be, ’I love it.’ My response would be, ‘this is completely inappropriate.’ My response would be, ‘don’t ever contact me again.’ My response would be, ‘I’m calling the FBI.’”
“In this email, Donald Trump Jr. showed his true colors,” he continued. "This email proves that he lacks basic integrity, and the willingness of Jared Kushner to attend that meeting proves that he, too, is no patriot.”
He and Lieu proceeded to read out the contents of the email, pausing at times to pepper the exchange with their own commentary. Noting Trump Jr.’s pledge to lock in a meeting with Veselnitskaya, Gallegos said, “that’s some eagerness that this man has for this information.”
Watch the video below, via C-SPAN:
WATCH: Rep. @tedlieu & @RepRubenGallego read the email chain of @DonaldJTrumpJr. pic.twitter.com/kIOYShO38T
— CSPAN (@cspan) July 14, 2017