Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) slammed the Republican Party in an interview on “Rising” that aired Wednesday, comparing it to a cult following President Trump.
“The whole Republican Party now is almost like a religious cult that is surrounding an organized crime family, that’s the mentality,” Raskin, who serves on the House Oversight Committee, told Hill.TV’s Buck Sexton and Juanita Tolliver.
Raskin said that Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen seems like “refugee” from a “crime organization.” He cited a tweet about Cohen sent by GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz (Fla.) the night before Cohen’s congressional testimony as a prime example.
“He received the threats and the intimidation, which is why we had to reschedule the hearing originally,” Raskin told Hill.TV. “But even on the eve of the this most recent testimony, a member of Congress tweeted out some threats based apparently on false information the night before and then had to apologize for it.”
The Florida Bar opened an investigation into Gaetz after he appeared to send a threatening tweet to Cohen on the eve of his testimony before the House Oversight and Reform Committee.
“Hey @MichaelCohen212 – Do your wife & father-in-law know about your girlfriends?” the congressman tweeted. “Maybe tonight would be a good time for that chat. I wonder if she’ll remain faithful when you’re in prison. She’s about to learn a lot…”
The Florida lawmaker, who is a staunch ally of the president, initially defended his comments but later deleted the tweet and issued an apology.
Cohen offered a damning portrait of Trump, accusing him of criminal, racist and corrupt activities, but said he knew of no direct evident that the president colluded with Russia.
GOP lawmakers criticized Cohen’s testimony and repeatedly called his credibility into question. Cohen pleaded guilty to several federal crimes last year, including lying to Congress about plans to build a Trump Tower in Moscow during the 2016 campaign.
Raskin said during the hearing that Republicans were only mad because Cohen had stopped carrying water for Trump.
“Our colleagues are not upset because you lied to Congress for the president, they’re upset because you stopped lying to Congress for the president,” he said at the time.
Raskin told Hill.TV that Democrats have an “independent” and “constitutional” responsibility to conduct oversight over the executive branch of government and they play to carry out those duties just as Republicans did during the Obama administration.
“We’ve got an independent, constitutional responsibility to conduct oversight over the executive branch of government,” he said. “The Republicans have done that vigorously and incessantly when President Obama was president and you’re going to see that we’re going to conduct our oversight duties with equal vigor and passion.”
Cohen, meanwhile, headed back to Capitol Hill on Wednesday for a new closed-door hearing with House lawmakers. He is just the first of several witnesses the House Intelligence panel is expected to call as part of renewed investigations into Russia’s 2016 interference.
—Tess Bonn
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