Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass.) on Wednesday knocked President Trump for saying he misspoke during his widely criticized press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin, noting that what the president said was “a pretty big deal.”
“Every politician misspeaks, every person misspeaks, that’s fine,” Kennedy said on CNN’s “New Day.” “Would vs. wouldn’t is a pretty big deal.”
Trump on Tuesday moved to clarify his earlier statement that he didn’t know of any reason “why it would be Russia” that interfered in the 2016 election, saying that he meant to say “why it wouldn’t be Russia.”
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Kennedy took issue with Trump’s attempt to walk back the remarks.
“The rest of the tenor with that news conference with Vladimir Putin, it was pretty clear what he thought,” Kennedy said on CNN.
“This is a horrible thing to say. The president of the United State has no credibility when it comes to this issue, in front of many members of Congress, both Democrat and Republican, and the American public,” the lawmaker said.
Kennedy also called for the White House to reveal what was discussed during the private, two-hour meeting between Trump and Putin on Monday.
The lawmaker said that if the White House won’t share the information, the translator in the meeting — the only other American official attending the summit besides Trump — could be subpoenaed to discuss the meeting with Congress.
“It’s up to Congress to try and assert our role and make sure we know exactly what the president agreed to,” Kennedy said.
Other Democratic lawmakers have also called on the translator to testify.