Every president has been subject to an investigation of one kind or another, and while they hate it, they went on about the business of the office, Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin said Thursday about President Donald Trump's statement that he will no longer work with Democrats unless they drop their investigations of him.
"I think the president has declared that he is not going to be the president," the Illinois Democrat told CNN's "New Day." "He's not going to lead or work with Congress until investigations come to an end. That I think is an unreasonable request. No former president that I know of has said such a thing."
Durbin was at Wednesday's meeting at the White House that had been called to discuss infrastructure and said he believes Trump choreographed his walkout.
"It was a petulant moment, it was an awkward moment and sadly at the end of it the American people were the losers," said Durbin.
Durbin added that in a "transparent, accountable democracy" investigations never end, and complained that the Senate is not getting anything done because of political fighting.
"We're doing virtually nothing in the U.S. Senate," with the exception of approving judicial nominees, said Durbin. "That's all we've done for weeks and weeks and weeks. We don't address the basic issues the American people sent us to look at ... he has decided not to engage the Congress, (Senate Majority Leader) Mitch Mcconnell is complicit in this and we are wasting our time."
He also said he agrees with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that Trump's behavior could be considered a cover-up, based on the findings in special counsel Robert Mueller's report.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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