00:00Donald Trump promised the American people that Republicans would lower the high cost
00:06of living on day one, but costs having gone down during Donald Trump's presidency, costs
00:12have gone up.
00:14Donald Trump promised that ICE enforcement in this country would target the worst of
00:22the worst, but instead billions of taxpayer dollars are being used by ICE to brutalize
00:32and kill American citizens and violently target law-abiding immigrant families and communities,
00:43including in Maine earlier today.
00:48Donald Trump promised that he was elected not to start wars in the Middle East, but to
00:58stop them.
01:00He then turned around along with compliant Republicans and launched a reckless and costly war of choice
01:09in Iran that's ongoing and now has been taking place for more than a hundred days with over
01:20a hundred billion dollars in taxpayer money being wasted while leaving Iran in a stronger
01:27position than they were in before the war and the American people economically in a weaker
01:35position, particularly as it relates to high gas prices.
01:42Donald Trump and the Republican majority in the House and the Senate has been a complete
01:46and total failure.
01:48Life hasn't gotten better under Republicans in Washington, D.C.
01:52It's gotten much worse.
01:54And as House Democrats, we continue to be committed to doing the things that are necessary to drive
02:02down the high cost of living, fix our broken health care system, get ICE under control, end
02:08the reckless and costly war of choice in the Middle East, and clean up corruption in this
02:14town.
02:15Questions?
02:24We have advanced multiple war powers resolutions up until this point, and we will continue
02:30to use every legislative tool available to end Donald Trump and the Republican reckless
02:37and costly war of choice in Iran.
02:41Is litigation an option for House Democrats in trying to force any kind of action on the
02:46war-powered resolutions that were previously passed?
02:48What's in front of us right now relates to the legislative process and the appropriations
02:53process and the notion that Republicans are prepared as early as this Wednesday to move
03:00another budget to give the so-called Department of War more than 75 billion dollars at least to
03:14continue Operation Epic Failure in the Middle East.
03:20And I'm pretty confident that every single House Democrat will strongly oppose this effort,
03:26effort, and the same will take place in the Senate.
03:30And what we need to do is to stop this effort to use taxpayer dollars to continue this failed
03:37war in the Middle East that the American people have rejected from the beginning and have
03:45soured on even more over the last several months.
04:04I issued a statement relative to him dropping out, urging him to end his campaign immediately.
04:14That's been done, and now it's in the hands of the people of Maine to decide who will be the
04:22best Democratic nominee to flip that seat and defeat Susan Collins.
04:28At the same period of time, when it comes to our efforts in the House to flip the handful
04:36of seats that will be needed in order for us to start to end this national nightmare in the
04:43United States of America and take back control of the House.
04:47We've had incredible candidates step forward and emerge all across the country, including
04:55combat veterans, doctors, farmers, educators, smoke jumpers, firefighters, law enforcement officers,
05:09firefighters, and even a Tejano music star in South Texas.
05:16We have incredible candidates all across the country, and it's one of the many reasons
05:22why I'm confident that on that first Tuesday in November we're going to take back control
05:27of the House of Representatives.
05:29One of those flip opportunities is Michigan 7th District.
05:34The Congressional Black Caucus over the weekend put out a statement saying anyone supporting
05:37Will Lawrence, one of the left-wing candidates running, should announce their support to get
05:42hateful comments, they said.
05:43Do you agree with what the Congressional Black Caucus PAC said and what are your thoughts
05:46on that Democratic primary?
05:48I haven't had a conversation with the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus or the chair
05:52of the PAC, but those comments were brought to my attention, and they are deeply disturbing.
06:01Have you had a chance to meet with Brad Bender or any other more progressive winners in
06:07their problems?
06:08Yes, I've talked to several of them, and we'll have more to say about it in the future.
06:19The late Senator Lindsey Brant was known for his ability to work across the aisle, but
06:25then we have Schumer, we have Pelosi, Joe Biden, and John McCain, and this is like all guard
06:32politicians who were able to work within the culture where bipartisanship were possible
06:38and often necessary.
06:39So what are your views on the state of bipartisanship today in America, and how do you intend, as
06:48a leader, to guard those values going forward?
06:52Well, let me again offer my thoughts and prayers and condolences to the family of Lindsey Graham,
07:02to his friends, to his loved ones, to his Senate colleagues, and of course to his constituents.
07:09We disagreed on a whole host of issues, but he was someone who was committed to a lifetime
07:13of service, and on occasion, I think, particularly when he was closely aligned with John McCain, leaned
07:26into the importance of trying to actually get things done in a bipartisan way for the American
07:33people.
07:35In my view, House Democrats have made clear from the very beginning of this Congress that
07:40we will work with anyone, anytime, in any place, in order to solve problems on behalf of the
07:45American people.
07:45The big problem that we've confronted is that Donald Trump hasn't been interested in making
07:50life better for everyday Americans.
07:52Right now, he's just focused on trying to rig the midterm elections.
07:56This is the reason why he did not sign a bipartisan housing bill on affordability into law.
08:06That bill was bipartisan and was worked on in the House, led by Maxine Waters.
08:13She did a tremendous job in partnership with Senator Elizabeth Warren, who also did a tremendous
08:20job.
08:21And every single Democrat in the House of Representatives, from the most progressive
08:26to the most centrist and all points in between, supported that housing affordability bill, which
08:33was then sent to Donald Trump's desk, and he ignored it.
08:38Through a temper tantrum and was uninterested in actually signing it because Donald Trump has
08:44made clear he doesn't give a damn about making life more affordable for the American people as House
08:50Democrats.
08:51We do.
08:52And Exhibit A is the housing affordability bill led by House and Senate Democrats in partnership
09:01with French Hill to get something important done for the American people.
09:09As far as it has been dark for a month now, has there been any discussions regarding that,
09:16anything happening behind the scenes, forgetting that daylights back on that?
09:21There have been no direct conversations between the Trump administration and members of House
09:24Democratic leadership over the last several weeks in connection with surveillance authority.
09:29opposition has remained clear.
09:32It is irresponsible to expect the American people to trust Donald Trump, Cash Patel, and
09:40Bill Pulte with the privacy of the American people.
09:44And under no circumstances is that in any way a logical thing to expect House or Senate Democrats
09:53to sign off on given the repeated abuses by the Trump administration in terms of weaponizing the
10:03authority that they have within the Department of Justice, but not limited to the Department of Justice.
10:11The Trump administration at this point is just not serious about solving problems for the American
10:20people.
10:20They continue to want to jam extreme individuals and their extreme ideology down the throats of
10:28the American people.
10:29And from the perspective of House Democrats, we're just not going to go along with it.
10:34And that has been the case.
10:36We've battled them as it relates to their efforts to destroy health care in America.
10:45We've battled them as it relates to ICE brutality, and we'll continue to do so.
10:53We're battling them as it relates to their reckless and costly war of choice, which has been a disaster
10:59for the American people, and we're going to continue to battle them with respect to their
11:04efforts to overreach when it comes to surveillance authority and a FISA extension.
11:12Thank you, Mr. Leader. I wanted to get your reaction to the Supreme Court's term now that it's
11:17completely wrapped up. After the CalA decision, you called it illegitimate, you called it the Trump
11:21court. But in this term, the court has ruled against Trump on issues like corporate citizenship,
11:27like tariffs. Given those rulings, is it fair to call the Supreme Court the Trump court and illegitimate?
11:32I said that the majority, as constructed, had severe credibility problems. Let me put it politely
11:42in that fashion. And anyone paying attention to the court, the gutting of the Voting Rights Act
11:51and unleashing Jim Crow-like tactics on black Americans, particularly in the Deep South, would understand
12:01the illegitimacy of that decision. It didn't lack any credible basis in law or in fact. And the Supreme Court
12:11then doubled down on the fact that they're completely and totally out of control in this area when a three
12:18-judge
12:19panel, all appointed by Republican presidents in Alabama, two of whom appointed by Donald Trump and
12:29one of whom was appointed by Ronald Reagan, decided in a unanimous decision after CalA that the map that
12:38Alabama Republicans wanted to use was racially discriminatory against black folks in the state of
12:45Alabama. Three-judge panel, two Trump-appointed judges, made that declaration. And the Supreme Court overturned it.
12:56So they have no credibility. Zip zero in this area. They also lack credibility as it relates to the fact
13:08that this
13:09unbridled corruption that's being unleashed on the American people. And the reason why House Democrats are committed
13:15to cleaning up corruption in the United States of America is because if you've got people in power like
13:22Donald Trump and his Republican sycophants who do nothing but bend the knee to him within the administration and here
13:30in Congress, if you've got people in power who are so focused on enriching themselves, their family members, their friends,
13:38and their donors, that they are so focused on enriching themselves, their
13:39then they're not focused on solving problems for the American people. So we have a big problem with that on
13:45behalf of everyday Americans, which is why as part of our affordability agenda and solving problems for the American people,
13:53we're committed to cleaning up corruption in this town.
13:58If one were to say, why are we facing such unbridled corruption by Donald Trump? In fact, the $1.8
14:07billion slush fund for violent January 6 insurrectionists earlier today declared illegitimate by a federal judge.
14:22The whole lawsuit brought brought by Donald Trump was a complete and total sham and was designed to bring about
14:30a situation where they could fake a settlement, enrich people who brutally beat police officers on January 6th, and then
14:41give blanket immunity to tax investigations from the IRS for Donald Trump and his family.
14:50The whole thing. The whole thing is a Ponzi scheme that has now been unraveled by a federal court.
15:00But what unleashed all of this corruption, too numerous for me to mention, I would be here all day and
15:06all night and throughout the rest of the week detailing the corruption that has been unleashed on the American people.
15:12For example, it was the Supreme Court in 2024 in the Trump v. United States decision where six right-wing
15:25conservative justices on this court gave Donald Trump as president blanket immunity to unleash a crime wave on the American
15:40people and enrich himself.
15:43That all traces back to that Supreme Court decision in Trump v. United States.
15:49So, yes, in my view, there is zero credibility in that decision as well.
15:55And look at what it has unleashed on the American people.
16:01As we're getting closer to August recess and crime campaign season, are you going to rule out as House Democrats
16:08like an H.R. 1 for the new Congress, not necessarily a contract with America, but something like that?
16:13I mean, I know obviously substantively you're talking about anti-corruption, affordability, et cetera, but is there going to be
16:17like a bill that you all are going to say this is going to be ambition won?
16:21Well, the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee under the leadership of Debbie Dingell has done a great job of engaging
16:29with people all across the ideological spectrum within the House Democratic Caucus family.
16:35And it's my expectation that they will present to the caucus at some point in the next few weeks in
16:42advance of the August district work period about, you know, continuing to articulate an affirmative vision related to our plans
16:53as House Democrats to make life better for the American people.
16:57Thank you, everyone.
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