The congressman challenging Nancy Pelosi to be the top Democrat in the House says he plans to hurt Republicans in the midterms by forcing them to defend President-elect Trump’s potential conflicts of interest.
Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, said on CNN that if elected to lead Democrats, he would try to sow dissension in the ranks of House Republicans by holding Trump accountable, and demanding Republicans do the same.
He said reports of Trump mixing business and presidential duties in the early stages of the transition set the stage for a showdown in Congress. While House Democrats are firmly in the minority, they’ll be able to press Trump on his business dealings and force Republicans to take a side, and Ryan said that could hurt the GOP in the midterm elections.
“We will ramp up the heat and then Republicans will be faced with defending the president’s conflicts of interest,” he said.
Ryan is challenging Pelosi, a California Democrat, for the House minority leader post next week and is considered a long-shot to upset the long-tenured Pelosi.
He said it’s clear already that Trump considers himself “above the law” or thinks the rules don’t apply to him. Ryan called on Trump to immediately separate himself from his business empire in order to avoid any impropriety.
“He’s got to be very, very careful because it’s a scandal waiting to brew, even with the Republicans in control,” he said.
Ryan also said he has no idea what to expect from Trump until he submits legislative proposals to Congress.
Ryan said he’s not surprised Trump is backing off campaign promises like prosecuting former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton or immediately backing out of the Paris Agreement on climate change. Given Trump’s flip-flopping on issues during the campaign, it’s impossible to tell where he might be by the time he takes office.
“We watched him during the campaign and he had 10 different messages on issues in the course of a day, so I don’t think we should be surprised he’s moving around on some of his issues,” Ryan said. “At some point, he’s got to present a budget, he’s got to present a policy initiative he’s got to push and we’ve got to wait until we see exactly what it looks like on paper.”
