Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) told MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle on Monday he believes President Trump has gone further than trying to avoid oversight from Congress, but that he has "declared war" on the very idea of oversight.
Raskin is a member of the newly formed coronavirus committee Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) created to look over the federal government's response to the ongoing Wuhan coronavirus pandemic.
Ruhle asked Raskin if he believes he has "the tools you need to actually get the job done" to keep Trump's administration accountable.
"Look, this president hates oversight, has declared war on oversight. He said in the coronavirus, he’ll do his own oversight which I’m sure will be reassuring to millions of Americans," Raskin said.
"Look, we’ve got to re-establish that Congress is the law-making power. The Supreme Court has repeatedly said that a necessary requisite of our power to legislate is our power to get the information that we need. As you know, President Trump has taken the position that he will not cooperate with congressional demands for materials. He will not cooperate with congressional subpoenas," he continued. "We’re going to have to re-establish congressional power to get whatever information it is we’re asking for so that we can guarantee ethics, integrity and transparency in the coronavirus response."
Recommended
House Republicans have voiced opposition to the select committee because they say Democrats just want to find another excuse to impeach and remove the president.
"A select committee in the summer of an election year to attack the president, when we already have eight different entities doing the oversight we're all supposed to do, to look out for the taxpayer interest, the Democrats want a ninth because the ninth is political. And the ninth will be chaired by our colleague [Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC)], the biggest supporter of the Democrats' nominee for president," Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) previously said.
