DPCC Co-Chair Cicilline: Firing the Attorney General is a Slow Motion Saturday Night Massacre

WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman David Cicilline, Co-Chair of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee (DPCC), appeared on CNN Tonight with Don Lemon to discuss the chaos behind President Trump firing Attorney General Jeff Sessions in an attempt to impede, delegitimize and challenge Mueller’s Russia investigation. Below are excerpts from the interview. Click here to watch the video.

“Well, I mean, it's great to see people engaged in protecting our democracy all over the country. But, we don't need any more inspiration. Our love of America is going to require us to do that. The President has attempted to undermine this investigation from the very beginning. He's attempted in many ways to impede, to delegitimize, to challenge the investigation, tried to interfere with it in a number of different ways. And, this latest firing of Jeff Sessions, as a result of a fundamental misunderstanding of the role of the attorney general, the President keeps saying I want someone to protect me. That's not the role of the attorney general. The attorney general doesn’t take an oath to the President.”

“Yeah, I think it's a willful misunderstanding. I think he's capable of reading. He certainly has to know that is not the job of the attorney general. The attorney general takes an oath to the Constitution of the United States, represents the United States of America. He isn't the personal lawyer for the President. But, once Mr. Sessions recused himself, which he was required to do under existing law, and that infuriated the President and now he's fired him and he's replaced him with someone who clearly has already, you know, he’s clearly put there for the purpose of protecting the President. And, you know, there's a constitutional question as to whether or not he can be appointed without Senate confirmation. There's a real question about whether he should recuse himself. And, there's also a succession statute that's been violated. Rod Rosenstein would normally take over once there's no attorney general. So, this is a crisis, as Mr. Nadler says. A very serious challenge.”

“Absolutely. This is a slow motion Saturday Night Massacre.”

“Well, he can't be. I mean, it's an absurdity. Our intelligence agencies have concluded that the Russians attacked our democracy. That's the uniform conclusion of all of our intelligence agencies. Every expert has said that. So, the notion that's just not true is a lie. And, he's been an operative for the President. He is sent someone who has attempted to undermine this investigation from the beginning. He has no business supervising Mr. Mueller. And, if he were asked -- if he were to ask for an ethics opinion, I think they'd tell him he's required to recuse himself. It's not just the appearance of impropriety. It's impropriety. You have come to a conclusion about this investigation. You can't supervise or lead it. And, it's completely inappropriate. The President knows that. And, rather than having Rod Rosenstein continue the supervision of the investigation, he's put in this individual. I think for the express purpose of trying to protect him from the results. We cannot allow that to happen.”