Rep. Johnson Holds Trump Accountable at Judiciary News Conference

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Rep. Hank Johnson (GA-04) – ranking member of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet – participated in a House Judiciary Democrats news conference to release a new letter to President Donald Trump regarding his reluctance to sit with the Special Counsel for an interview, and raise other concerns related to the current culture of corruption within the Trump Administration. Below is Rep. Johnson's statement:

[Video of news conference]

"Ladies and gentlemen, our government is not a government of by and for the dictator. Our government is supposed to be Of, by and for the people. In America, no person — not even the President of the United States — is above the law.

"Yet every day, we wake up to new and more disturbing reports about President Trump and his accomplices in Congress putting their thumbs on the scale of justice to stop the Mueller investigation, or to set up a pretext that would provide them cover for firing key officials who oversee that investigation. Make no mistake about it. They are waging an all-out assault on the rule of law in America.

"We are here today, because our Republican colleagues are failing to stand up and put country over party and politics.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the integrity of our democracy is at stake.

"The way the President and his associates in Congress are behaving is unprecedented, and the implications and ramifications to our democracy are grave. That is why all members of Congress should be united in protecting the Mueller investigation to its conclusion. The President should stop obfuscating, and agree to an interview by the special counsel. Then we can expect a final report that will be transmitted to Congress and made available to the public. That is the American way. Anything other than that is an attack on our democracy and an affront to notions of fair play and Justice.

"Until this Republican led Congress starts standing up to protect the guiding principles of our democracy, this crisis is only going to get worse."

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