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(CNSNews.com) – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) said on MSNBC with Chris Hayes on Monday that President Donald Trump “wants, invites…appreciates Russia’s involvement in our election.”
She brough up the issue when discussing whether Congress should receive intelligence briefings on election interference this fall.
“It’s very clear that the president wants, invites, appreciated, appreciates Russia’s involvement in our election, which is not lawful, which is not lawful,” said Pelosi.
“So, when the president doesn’t want Congress briefed or the American people – by the way, this intelligence belongs to the American people. It belongs to the Congress,” she said.
“The administration is the custodian of it, and we protect sources and methods. But we do also protect our elections,” Pelosi said.
“We don’t want Vladimir Putin deciding who the next president is,” she said. “We want the American people to decide that. The president thinks otherwise.”
Here is a transcript of the part of Nancy Pelosi’s interview with Chris Hayes where she says we “don’t want Vladimir Putin deciding who the next president is:”
Chris Hayes: “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi joins me now. Let me first start, Speaker, it is great to have you with your understanding of what this decision is, why it happens and what its implications are.”
Speaker Nancy Pelosi: “Well, let’s just put it in its perspective. The National Security Act of 1947 states very clearly that the Intelligence Community must fully and currently brief Congress on intelligence matters. So, they are flying in the face of a law which established all of this procedure—we said ‘shockingly,’ but it is hard to be shocked anymore at the abuse of power of this Administration, now isn’t it?
“It’s very clear that the President wants, invites, appreciated, appreciates Russia’s involvement in our election, which is not lawful, which is not lawful. So, when the President doesn’t want Congress briefed or the American people – by the way, this intelligence belongs to the American people. It belongs to the Congress. The Administration is the custodian of it, and we protect sources and methods. But we do also protect our elections. We don’t want Vladimir Putin deciding who the next president is. We want the American people to decide that. The President thinks otherwise.”
