House Democrats hold their weekly press briefing and urge Rep. George Santos (R-NY) to resign from office.
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00:00 Good morning.
00:01 It was a productive but somber bipartisan member briefing this morning, followed by
00:08 the Democratic caucus meeting, all of us grappling with the horrific terrorist violence unleashed
00:15 on the Israeli people.
00:18 Every hour we're learning more details of the atrocities perpetrated by the Hamas terrorists.
00:24 We mourn the loss of life, including the many American citizens who have been killed.
00:32 May the memories of all the innocent victims be a blessing.
00:36 I'm pleased this morning to be joined by the House Foreign Affairs Ranking Member Gregory
00:41 Meeks and the Vice Ranking Member of Foreign Affairs, Kathy Manning.
00:46 Our caucus is committed to the safety, security, and prosperity of the State of Israel.
00:53 This week we hope our Republican colleagues will put an end to the self-inflicted chaos
00:59 so that we can begin to govern on behalf of the American people, which includes congressional
01:04 action to support Israel in their time of need.
01:09 Leader Hakeem Jeffries has offered an enlightened vision for a bipartisan governing coalition
01:14 to pull the House back from the brink.
01:17 We can pass meaningful legislation that meets the needs of the American people by lowering
01:22 costs, creating jobs, and building safer communities while fulfilling our responsibilities at helping
01:29 our allies abroad and meeting the needs of our national security.
01:35 That's what leaders do, and that's exactly why the House Democratic Caucus unanimously
01:39 voted to nominate Hakeem Jeffries for Speaker of the House yesterday.
01:44 Now I'd like to introduce Vice Chair Ted Lieu.
01:49 Thank you, Chairman Aguilar.
01:51 I strongly condemn the brutal invasion by Hamas of Israel and the barbaric acts committed
01:57 against Israelis, American citizens, and citizens of other nations.
02:02 There are no words strong enough in the English language to describe the unspeakable evil
02:09 perpetrated by Hamas.
02:11 Last Saturday was the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the end of the Holocaust.
02:18 Let me now just state the obvious.
02:20 Hamas is not interested in peace.
02:23 Hamas is a genocidal, homicidal, religiously fanatical terrorist organization.
02:29 It has two goals – to slaughter Jews and to annihilate the State of Israel.
02:36 Its founding charter tells its members to kill Jews and to destroy Israel.
02:43 Hamas beheads babies, murders the elderly, and wipes out entire families.
02:51 The world has seen the menu of evil that Hamas uses to inflict maximum terror and maximum
02:57 suffering.
02:58 There can be no path towards peace until Hamas is dismantled.
03:04 Israel not only has a right to defend itself; Israel has a right to make sure these atrocities
03:11 never, ever happen again.
03:14 The American people have stood with Israel and will continue to stand with Israel for
03:19 as long as it takes to dismantle and destroy Hamas.
03:25 And now it's my great pleasure to introduce one of the smartest people I know in foreign
03:31 affairs, the Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Greg Meeks.
03:36 Thank you, Mr. Vice Chair, Mr. Chair.
03:42 First, let me just say that after receiving the confirmation of the killing and beheading
03:52 of children, toddlers, infants, it shows that when you talk about Hamas, they are really
04:03 ISIS.
04:04 The same kind of killing, horrendous, inhumane actions.
04:18 This attack is truly unprecedented.
04:22 When you consider the size of Israel's population, proportionally it would be like 30,000 people
04:31 dying in my home city of New York on 9/11.
04:37 The dead are women, children, the elderly, Holocaust survivors, civilians, soldiers,
04:54 and now confirmed babies were beheaded.
05:00 Women were raped.
05:03 People shot, stabbed, and blown up with grenades.
05:12 One thing that every human being on this planet must acknowledge is that Hamas exists for
05:25 one reason and one reason only-- to destroy Israel.
05:33 You can't have peace in a region if someone's existence is to say that you can't exist.
05:45 You should not exist.
05:49 We were moving and continue to move to use diplomacy to try to get other states-- this
05:57 is why the Abraham Accords are so important, because for the first time you're getting
06:03 other nations to say Israel has the right to exist and we're going to figure out how
06:11 to work together.
06:14 That's never Hamas.
06:17 I believe Hamas has seen this coming and know that their existence would be wiped out and
06:24 they caused this thinking that they can destroy Israel.
06:34 That's not going to happen.
06:36 Second, I want to acknowledge that there are innocent Palestinians in both Gaza and the
06:46 West Bank that hope to just live normal and free lives.
06:53 They want nothing to do with Hamas.
06:58 Hamas is their enemy too, because what the cowardly people of Hamas does is use them
07:06 as human shields to try to hide the weapons, the strategy, and the things that they are
07:18 doing.
07:21 So I just want to make sure that we cannot lose sight of this and we must keep these
07:29 Palestinian people and their safety and livelihoods in mind as we crush Hamas.
07:40 And finally, one of my deepest concerns is that there's a chance that this war can expand
07:49 beyond its current scope.
07:52 And I know that our administration and our allies are working around the clock to send
07:57 messages and warnings to Iran and Hezbollah to stay out.
08:04 I hope also that until we know more, we are all cautious about how we speak about Iran's
08:13 role in public.
08:17 We don't want a widening conflict.
08:19 We are living in a very dangerous time.
08:24 We want to get the facts and we want to act accordingly, staying by our true values.
08:36 But there's one thing that I think is absolutely clear.
08:42 It was clear in the classified session.
08:47 It's clear in our democratic caucus.
08:52 We're going to stand by Israel and make sure that we defend and give them what they need
09:00 to defend themselves.
09:04 So this is one.
09:05 And the last thing, I'll just say this, because in the spirit of what Leader Jeffries has
09:09 talked about, trying to govern in a bipartisan way, in that same spirit, I reached out and
09:17 worked and talked to Chairman McCaul.
09:23 And we've come up with a -- we came out with a joint statement and we worked out a joint
09:28 resolution.
09:31 The problem is the dysfunctioning on that side of the aisle, that we cannot do anything
09:36 until they decide what they're going to do with reference to a speaker.
09:43 But I think it's significant and important.
09:46 And we're working collectively together to try to make sure that whenever that dysfunction
09:51 ends and they can come up with a speaker, that one of the first things that can be voted
09:58 on is a joint resolution from Congress saying that we stand with our friend, our ally, Israel.
10:09 Now it's my pleasure to call up the vice ranking member of our distinguished committee, Kathy
10:17 Manning.
10:18 Thank you, Ranking Member Meeks.
10:21 Thank you, my colleagues.
10:24 I'm Kathy Manning.
10:26 I'm the vice ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
10:31 This has been a shocking and horrifying time for our democratic ally Israel and for the
10:39 American Jewish community.
10:42 None of us could have imagined the horrific barbarism of the Hamas terrorists who invaded
10:53 a sovereign nation, a democracy, and literally went door to door slaughtering families in
11:01 their homes, beheading babies, committing a massacre of young people at an outdoor concert,
11:11 taking civilians hostage, babies, the elderly, all ages in between.
11:20 Now they have stated that they will execute these hostages one by one on video and share
11:29 these gruesome videos with the world.
11:33 I want to thank President Biden for his strong statement yesterday and his unequivocal support
11:41 of Israel.
11:43 We in the U.S. Congress will do everything in our power to stand with Israel and make
11:50 sure they have everything they need to win this war against the Hamas terrorists.
11:57 And let me remind the press that this is not a time for false moral equivalencies.
12:05 Hamas terrorists are just that.
12:08 They are not militants.
12:10 They are not freedom fighters.
12:12 They are terrorists, just as ISIS fighters and al-Qaida fighters are terrorists.
12:19 Hamas terrorizes and misuses its own people, the people it is supposed to govern in Gaza.
12:27 And we have seen the true face of Hamas and their horrific acts toward everyday people,
12:35 Israelis, Americans, and other nationalities last Saturday.
12:41 I urge patience as Israel does what it must to dismantle the Hamas terrorist entity, to
12:50 stop the aggressions of Hezbollah in Lebanon, and to protect the Israeli people.
12:58 Israel will win this war, and the United States will stand by Israel's side in this fight
13:04 for democracy and humanity.
13:07 Thank you.
13:08 Thank you, Cathy.
13:14 Both the Vice Chair and I echo what the Chair and the Vice – what the Ranking Member and
13:20 the Vice Ranking Member, former Chair, soon-to-be Chair, Greg Meeks, on these issues, and appreciate
13:26 his leadership in the classified briefing.
13:28 We can't talk about the contents of it, but I can tell you our members asked incredibly
13:34 thoughtful questions, and they were guided by Ranking Member Meeks throughout the briefing.
13:40 Questions?
13:41 Alan.
13:42 I take your point, how you started by saying that the Republicans – the lack of speaker
13:46 is self-inflicted.
13:47 Of course, Israel is what has changed the dynamic here.
13:48 Has it changed the conversations that you've been having with your members about the possibility
13:54 of – if the Republican frenzy continues on for a while – is there a possibility
14:00 of putting McHenry in an officialized pro tempore role just so that you can do the resolutions
14:07 that you're talking about?
14:08 Has it changed the calculus at all?
14:10 Two, I think that there have been more conversations among colleagues across the aisle as a result
14:18 of the events this weekend.
14:20 But Leader Jeffrey's set the tone before October 7th.
14:26 Leader Jeffrey set the tone that we want a bipartisan path forward.
14:30 He wrote the op-ed, how we have talked about this issue.
14:33 But just a reminder again, we're here – and this is Republican self-inflicted chaos – because
14:40 Kevin McCarthy had to negotiate with the most extreme members of his conference, and he
14:45 lowered the threshold for a motion to vacate.
14:48 That started it – a leadership member, when we were in charge, offering it to 50 members,
14:54 to 25 members, to 15 members, to five, to a single member.
14:58 That's why we're here.
15:01 He negotiated this.
15:03 He set this up.
15:05 And he felt the consequences of that.
15:07 As a result, we have to govern.
15:10 What we spent our morning talking about was Israel and policy, friendship, alliance, strength,
15:19 national security.
15:20 That's what the Democratic caucus talked about this morning.
15:23 In classified and in unclassified versions.
15:25 What the Republican conference is talking about are rule changes and who's in charge.
15:33 So a dramatic difference.
15:35 It could not be more stark in the differences between the two parties.
15:39 But I can tell you we stand ready and willing to have a governing coalition, a bipartisan
15:45 path forward.
15:46 That's what we want.
15:48 That's what we hope happens.
15:50 It's going to take our Republican colleagues stepping up and deciding that they also want
15:56 that path.
15:57 Can I just ask a quick follow-up?
15:58 Because you said that there's been increased conversation across the aisle.
15:59 Can you talk about some of the outreach that you or your members have been getting from
16:04 Republicans then?
16:05 We just heard from members having healthy conversations about where we are.
16:10 Behind the referees?
16:11 All I'll say is, at the non-leadership level, I think that members have been having conversations
16:18 and they were having conversations before as well.
16:22 We stand ready and willing to work with our colleagues to find a path.
16:26 But they're going to have to stand up to members in their conference and to say that that's
16:31 what they want.
16:32 I assume that that's not going to be easy for them, but we hope that they find a way.
16:36 I yield to the vice chair.
16:40 I just wanted to reiterate what Chairman Algares said.
16:43 While the Democrats today were talking about Israel and how we help the American people
16:48 and our national security, the Republicans were talking about themselves.
16:52 If you'll indulge me with two.
16:55 First is, you just spoke about unity within your conference.
17:00 You had a, you, the resolution that you put forward has roughly 400, when I checked this
17:08 morning, names.
17:09 How important is it that you have unity within your caucus on that resolution, or are you
17:14 okay with ones who do not sign onto it?
17:16 And secondly, I'm going to change topics a little bit on you.
17:19 There's been a resolution put forward by New York Republicans to expel George Santos from
17:24 Congress on these new superseding indictments.
17:27 Congress has only expelled two members in recent history, both after they were convicted.
17:30 Obviously, an expulsion needs two-thirds to happen, which means they would need votes
17:35 from you.
17:36 Are you willing to provide those?
17:38 I'll ask both the vice chair and ranking member Meeks to speak on both of these issues.
17:45 One, because it's his resolution, but also as a member of the New York delegation.
17:50 What I'll say, to your first point, Leader Jeffries has said, and we've said this throughout
17:56 the last 10 months, unity does not mean unanimity.
18:00 The Democratic caucus can be unified behind our values, behind our purpose, behind the
18:06 policy that we support, but that doesn't always mean we have unanimity.
18:10 I expect if this resolution comes to a vote, which I hope it does soon, if Republicans
18:17 set the chaos aside and we have someone to preside, I would assume it's going to have
18:22 an extremely strong bipartisan vote that sends a message to one of our most important allies
18:28 in Israel.
18:30 That's the story.
18:31 That's what we hope is discussed.
18:36 We will let our members make their own decisions.
18:40 Second point, serial fraudster George Santos is only in Congress because House Republicans
18:46 protected him in May.
18:48 When resolutions came up, they voted to table it.
18:53 They have to live with that.
18:55 Now I understand that some of them might want a redo, just like the former speaker might
19:01 want a redo.
19:03 That's not where we are.
19:04 And so we will see what the floor activity is on an expulsion resolution.
19:12 Obviously, it has a high threshold, but we firmly believe, the House Democratic caucus
19:18 firmly believes, that that individual, George Santos, does not meet the standards of someone
19:23 who should serve under this dome.
19:25 We've been very clear about that.
19:27 It's only our Republican colleagues who have protected him, namely because they need the
19:33 vote.
19:35 Anytime we see something, and George Santos has been the deciding vote on items of policy
19:41 over the last few months, they need his vote.
19:44 That's why they protect him.
19:45 That's why he's still here.
19:46 He'll be the vice chair and then ranking member Meeks.
19:52 The comment purportedly known as George Santos should resign.
19:56 Multiple Democratic members of Congress and Republican members of Congress have called
20:00 on him to resign.
20:01 I believe a motion to expel was put on the floor.
20:04 It would pass.
20:05 He can save himself that embarrassment by simply resigning.
20:09 The leader is exactly right as to the resolution.
20:19 Everyone's considering it in the Democratic caucus, but members will make their own choice.
20:25 We've now up to over 400 members that have signed on.
20:31 Some are reading and looking and going through it, which is their right to do.
20:36 But I can tell you one thing that every member has said in every statement is the viciousness
20:44 of Hamas and their actions.
20:49 I don't think that there's not one member has not acknowledged the criminal acts and
20:59 the inhumane actions of Hamas.
21:04 I'll let the members read as they do with every other piece of legislation and make
21:10 determinations on whether they sign on or not.
21:17 That is their right.
21:18 They're not going to get into the dysfunctions as the way that the Republicans are.
21:23 As to George Santos and the motion to expel him, the vice chair's got it right.
21:31 He should have been gone a long time ago.
21:34 And if they were serious about it, those four New Yorkers, they would have insisted upon
21:40 it and put it up before.
21:42 Now I hope, I don't know, we'll see what happens.
21:45 They're not just playing politics with this because they know that their seats are on
21:51 the line.
21:52 And I suggest to you, look at most of their votes.
21:58 I would suggest to you that their votes are very similar to Mr. Santos'.
22:05 They are enablers.
22:08 And now trying to hide because they will be called to task about how strong they were
22:19 and their positions.
22:22 And I don't think New Yorkers are sleeping.
22:27 They're watching.
22:29 They're looking.
22:30 They'll see the votes that Santos has taken and the votes that they have taken.
22:36 They'll look at the dysfunction of the Republican caucus that they are all complicit in.
22:51 They can run, but they can't hide from the dysfunction of the Republican Party preventing
23:01 us from moving on.
23:04 They should take the lead of Leader Jeffries if they're serious and say we need to function
23:11 in a bipartisan way so that we can govern and do the best that we can as we do our jobs
23:21 as members of the United States House of Representatives.
23:22 Thanks.
23:23 Question for you as the appropriator.
23:24 The administration is signaling they want Ukraine aid and Israel aid to go together.
23:25 There are others in the House of Republicans side of the aisle who are saying they don't
23:26 want to do that.
23:27 What is the path forward for that aid?
23:28 Well, the first step is for the administration to offer it, to send it up here for ranking
23:47 members and chairs to go through the document.
23:51 But I would also say it's probably Israel and Ukraine, but also could include Taiwan.
23:57 So there could be other assistance and aid that is in there.
24:02 The administration also had $4 billion for a migration-related supplemental that wasn't
24:10 acted on in Congress.
24:11 So that could also be included.
24:13 I'm not going to presume what the administration sends us their needs are.
24:17 And they also need to decide what timeline.
24:20 Is this aid for a number of months or is this through the end of the fiscal year?
24:26 Those are things that we're going to need to work with them on.
24:29 But when we have those documents and that clarity, I think you can expect our ranking
24:34 members and our members to comment and to help the administration.
24:39 The bottom line is we feel that aid to Israel will be important in the near future, and
24:46 we know that aid to Ukraine is going to be incredibly important.
24:53 This is, as Vice Ranking Member Manning mentioned, the commonality between this is also a fight
25:00 against democracy, democratic norms, and the assault on those values that we share.
25:08 We need to make sure that we continue to outline that for the American public.
25:12 I know you said you didn't talk about rules changes and procedures in caucus today, but
25:19 I'm curious if you have had a discussion as a caucus about raising the threshold for motion
25:25 to vacate.
25:26 This is something that there's some disagreement about on the Republican side.
25:29 Who knows if this comes up for a floor vote?
25:33 But do you think that members of your caucus would be willing to support those Republicans
25:38 who want to raise that threshold?
25:40 We opposed the Republican rules package on the first opportunity that it was offered.
25:49 And so we have concerns about the rules that Republicans put in place, including the motion
25:56 to vacate.
25:57 Now it is within those rules.
25:59 If Republicans want to work with us to change those rules, well, first I would submit they
26:05 could change these rules on their own.
26:07 They could have a majority vote on the House and change the rules package and change it
26:11 themselves.
26:12 My feeling is that they probably don't have the votes for that.
26:15 Absent that, they can work with us.
26:17 But they seem to be allergic to want to work with us on governing.
26:22 And that's unfortunate.
26:23 Our hope and what I said before still stands.
26:26 We hope that we find this path forward that could include discussions about this, but
26:31 that would mean that they have to include us on these conversations.
26:35 Next.
26:36 I have a comment on legislation that Representative Torres introduced earlier this year.
26:42 He re-applicated this morning called the Santos Act that would amend the FEC Act to require
26:47 congressional candidates to provide more information about the military service or other aspects
26:51 of the military service.
26:55 Do you have any comments on that?
26:58 I'll ask Ranking Member Meeks if he wants to comment on it.
27:00 I don't have any comment on it other than to say that the Democratic Caucus supports
27:05 increased transparency.
27:06 But to the Vice Chair's comments, look, George Santos should just resign.
27:14 And if he had any pride, he would.
27:17 But I don't think he does.
27:19 And so it could potentially be a vote that this body takes or an action that the Department
27:26 of Justice takes.
27:27 Either way, he is not fit to serve here.
27:31 Now from a transparency and looking forward perspective, if we need to make additional
27:35 changes, the FEC doesn't always have the best governance structure right now on enforcement
27:41 either.
27:42 So that may not be the best path forward.
27:45 But we're always willing to consider those through the committees of jurisdiction.
27:50 I'll just say that the people in his district, Santos' district, are not receiving any services.
28:05 His constituencies coming to me asking for services.
28:12 When we're dealing with this crisis, they know not to go to him.
28:19 So he should resign.
28:22 But the people in the 4th Congressional District in New York see what is taking place.
28:31 He should resign.
28:32 If the Republican Party didn't want to play politics, they would put something forward
28:41 and vote for it.
28:42 Not something that's a gimmick, knowing they don't have the votes to get rid of him.
28:48 But I can assure you that we're focused.
28:51 And either through the body, through the courts, or through the elections, Santos won't be
29:01 here.
29:02 Last question.
29:03 Okay.
29:04 Between Escalise and Jordan, do Democrats see one being a better negotiating partner
29:12 over the other?
29:18 It's up to Republicans to pick their leader.
29:23 I can tell you that I think some of us have friendly conversations with Steve Escalise
29:30 occasionally.
29:31 I think he's viewed as a more affable member that we can have conversations with.
29:37 I personally think, from my perspective as a member of the January 6th Committee, that
29:42 Jim Jordan is dangerous to our democracy.
29:45 I've said that before.
29:47 His inability to answer questions related to a lawful subpoena poses, I think, institutional
29:55 concerns.
29:57 But this is something that Republicans will have to worry about.
30:00 One thing I am confident is that Hakeem Jeffries will have the votes of the Democratic Caucus
30:07 when we are asked to nominate the next speaker.
30:11 Thank you so much.
30:12 Can I say one last thing on that?
30:15 You know, when we look at what the Republicans are doing with reference to Speaker of the
30:20 House, the world is looking at it.
30:31 We're supposed to be the examples of democracy.
30:32 And democracy is at stake all over the planet.
30:35 That's what Ukraine is about.
30:38 That's part of what Israel is about.
30:42 The standing up with countries, our friends and allies, because of the values that we
30:47 share.
30:50 And when you show the dysfunctioning Republican Party, the world is wondering what's happening
30:58 in the United States.
31:00 That's why Xi Jinping says that democracy is failed.
31:09 So I would hope that the Republicans listen and take the lead of Leader Jeffries, and
31:16 we can show the world if they would just come and work with us what democracy is really
31:23 all about.
31:24 And we can continue our global leadership to show that democracy can be messy, but it's
31:35 the best thing that's on this planet.
31:37 Thank you.