Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., argued Wednesday that two new emerging Democratic scandals are just a “distraction” from the attempt by Democrats to fight President Trump.
Reports broke Tuesday that Democrats and Hillary Clinton’s campaign paid for research into the so-called Trump dossier, even after Democrats insisted they weren’t behind what many have said is a flawed and inaccurate document on Trump.
Republicans on Tuesday also announced they would investigate the Obama administration’s decision to let Russia buy access to one-fifth of North America’s uranium supply, after the company going up for sale contributed to the Clinton Foundation, and after Russia paid Bill Clinton to deliver a speech.
But on MSNBC, Cummings, the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said this is all a “distraction.”
“Certainly all of this concerns me, but I think the American people need to understand the whole role that Russia is now playing in our elections and will continue to play,” he said. “And they need to keep in mind that our highest ranking law enforcement person in our country… Attorney General Sessions, that there is no real investigation from his office.”
“We’ve got a lot of distracting going on here, and I warn the American people, and I’m saying it very clearly. They need to listen to Corker, they need to listen to Flake,” he said of the two Republican senators who have been most critical of Trump.
When pressed again on the sale of the uranium company, Cummings, said that’s something that could be investigated, but again stressed that the more important issue is Trumps’ relationship to Russia.
“It’s no problem in looking into it, but again, I emphasize, ladies and gentleman, you know, I mean … it’s coming over like a bulletin,” he said. “Please understand, our electoral system is under attack. And now we’re going back … we’re going to back to Hillary Clinton. Again, I believe that this is a distraction.”
“It’s fine to look into things, but at the same time, I think you have to prioritize what you look into,” he said when asked why Congress couldn’t also look into these Democratic scandals. “The fact is … with the area of interference with our election, basically we’re doing nothing. So it’s not two things at one time.”
