Posted on 07/17/2018 4:58:54 PM PDT by yesthatjallen
Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) on Tuesday called for the American translator present during President Trump's private meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin to tell Congress what was said during the encounter.
In a letter to the leaders of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Pascrell said the panel should hear testimony from translator Marina Gross, who was the only other American in the room with Trump and Putin.
"Given the public concessions President Trump made to Russian President Vladimir Putin by siding against the U.S. intelligence community, law enforcement, and our military officials about Russia’s attack on our democracy, Congress and the American public deserve to know the details of their private conversation," Pascrell wrote.
His call echoes similar proposals made Tuesday by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass.), who both said the American translator should testify in front of Congress.
Though Putin speaks English, both Trump and Putin had translators with them at the meeting in Helsinki due to protocol.
Trump and Putin met privately for more than two hours before their joint press conference on Monday. During the press conference, Trump denied Russian interference in the 2016 election and targeted special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation for souring relations between Russia and the U.S.
Trump's remarks were met with condemnation from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. Though Trump on Tuesday insisted he supports the U.S. intelligence community's conclusion that Russia interfered in the recent election, he again said "other people" could have also been involved in election meddling.
A number of lawmakers this week have proposed ways to push back on Trump's original remarks.
Pascrell noted that translators are not typically compelled to testify before Congress. The code of ethics published by the American Translators Association says translators must "hold in confidence" any privileged information they come across.
"In general, any information that’s confidential has to remain confidential even if you’re an interpreter. For example, attorney-client confidentiality extends to interpreter," American Translators Association spokeswoman Judy Jenner said.
"But as a diplomatic interpreter, you are probably aware of how precarious things could possibly be."
"It may be unprecedented to subpoena a translator to reveal the details of a private meeting between the President and another world leader, but Trump’s actions are unprecedented in a way that harms our national security," Pascrell wrote in his letter to Reps. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) and Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the chairman and ranking member of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, respectively.
Pascrell listed evidence that members of the Trump family continue to profit from their businesses, some of which have connections to Russia.
"Over the years, the Trump family has bragged about their financial connections to Russia," Pascrell wrote, citing several quotes by Trump's sons boasting about the Trump Organization's ties to Russia.
For example, Pascrell listed a time that the president's son Eric Trump said in 2014, "We don’t rely on American banks. We have all the funding we need out of Russia."
"Given this history, the American people deserve to know if Trump used his position or this meeting with Putin to continue to pursue his own financial interests," Pascrell wrote.
"I urge you to subpoena the U.S. translator so the American people can get more insight into the dangerous, jaw-dropping performance we saw from Trump in Helsinki," he added.
It’s funny, the Democrats are out of power and they are losing their minds, staging coups, making wild treason accusations, and using the Media to pump up the citizens to engaging in armed conflict against the United States of America.
POUND SAND LIBTURDS!
Not going to happen, but even if it did we know that subpoenas can be ignored on a whim. The swamp dems have set this standard.
Just when you think the democrats could get any stupider, they rise to the challenge and do.
Idiot and lunatic liberals can’t comprehend conversations between the President and works leaders are protected by executive privilege.
Their whining is worse that a preschooler.
Boy, the DS sure misses its spies and wiretaps, doesn’t it?
World leaders too.. I hate autocorrect
It’s becoming more and more obvious the Democrats are the ones with the Russia problem. They’re so afraid of the truth coming out they’re throwing everything and the kitchen sink at the president hoping anything will stick. The more crazed they get the more people will abandon them even more!
Are any Obama translators still alive ?
Like hell!
That’s above your pay grade son.
Dems seem to be a bit worried.
These people are are “hair on fire” suicidal. They are flaming out. They are under executive privilege, How do we suffer these low IQ idiots? Who can vote for them? parasites??
No clearer case of executive privilege.
It is clear what they are doing.
Using the “Rock Soup” method, they are trying to create something from nothing then go wild in order to create a critical mass.
With the support of the media, it could get nasty.
Exactly what do these fools think that Executive Privilege is?
Something about parsing.
If was OK for Clinton but not for Trump. This is beyond ridiculous.
Now we need to find out If Trump got snookered. Really.
Typical of communists Democrats that have lost their minds.
Yes, but every day they try a different rock.
The left wants to know how much Trump knows now about their Federal Crimes.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.