John Legend and Chrissy Teigen blast Trump at House Democratic Caucus retreat
"Chrissy was ahead of the curve making fun of Donald Trump," Legend said.
LEESBURG, Virginia -- Celebrity couple John Legend and Chrissy Teigen blasted President Trump during a moderated panel at the House Democratic Caucus retreat Wednesday evening, an annual event aimed at honing the party’s legislative agenda, 100 days after Democrats swept into the new majority.
The three-day retreat kicked off on Wednesday with an annual conference at the Lansdowne Resort and Spa in Leesburg, Virginia. This year’s theme - "100 Days In: Fighting For the People" - focuses on top policy priorities including climate change, gun safety and regulation and economic issues.
Legend, an R&B singer and Grammy winner, has been a vocal critic of Trump and has been involved in launching #FreeAmerica - a campaign advocating for America's criminal justice system. Other notable figures attending the retreat include Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, Comedian Jordan Klepper and others.
Legend and Teigen delivered a pep talk to House Democrats and the risk that comes with speaking against Trump.
"Chrissy was ahead of the curve making fun of Donald Trump," Legend said. "She knew before a lot of America did that he was a joke and a clown."
Asked about the fight over immigration policies, Legend said: “I don’t think either of us are policy experts.”
“Speak for yourself,” Teigen shot back.
Legend said the country is better because of immigrants and the guiding principle for America should be "big, bold and open," adding that if people want to come here, Congress should create a "straight forward way to do it."
“America should be open to business when it comes to that,” Legend said.
Legend said he has recognized the risks in speaking out against President Trump but has been “willing to take risks.”
“We hear from them,” he said of fans who turn against him and say they won’t buy his record. “I’m willing to sacrifice that.”
Teigen said it’s “hard to find the funny when there’s so much sad.”
“I’m not the same person that I was before the election,” she said, conceding she goes to therapy.
Legend concluded by singing a few bars of his song, “Preach.”
The Democrats were originally scheduled to hold their retreat in February but it was postponed due to the 35-day government shutdown.
While Democrats are training their attention on their agenda as they kick off their retreat at the Lansdowne resort, Pelosi scolded Attorney General William Barr for testifying Wednesday that there was “spying occurring” on the Trump campaign.
“Let me just say how very, very dismaying and disappointing that the chief law enforcement officer of our country is going off the rails yesterday and today,” Pelosi, D-Calif., said. “He is the Attorney General of the United States of America, not the Attorney General of Donald Trump.”
House Democrats kicked off their issues conference in Leesburg, holding a news conference with reporters to outline the agenda of their policy retreat.
But the focus was still fallout from the Russia investigation. Pelosi said she still wants to see the Mueller report, but indicated she believes the foundation of the counterintelligence investigation of the President's campaign was sound.
“There was an assault on the integrity of our elections in our country, the basis for our democracy, there is no doubt about that,” Pelosi said, pointing at Russia. “There is a high confidence consensus among all of our intelligence agencies that such an assault took place.”
Pelosi added she is not confident that the attorney general will conduct his investigation of the investigation in an appropriate manner.
“No,” she said in a one-word answer.
On the continuing turnover at the Department of Homeland Security, Pelosi said it is “very dismaying” as officials are leaving, adding “it's all damaging to our country.”“If you want to work in the Trump administration, know your blood type, because it is a very dangerous place to be thrown under the bus, sooner or later,” she said.
“What is happening on our border is something that is so contrary to the values of our country,” Pelosi added. “So undermining of our commitment to family values, and that this administration just is in a downward spiral of indecency.”
Pelosi called on Republicans to work with Democrats in a bipartisan manner to adopt comprehensive immigration reform despite disapproval from President Trump of prior congressional attempts to address the issue.
“So we just have to just restore order on the border, or in the White House, so that we can address who we are as a nation,” Pelosi said.
On a lighter note, as Pelosi excitedly praised House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, the Baltimore native mistakenly remarked how great it was to be “in this great state of Maryland,” before quickly catching herself and accepting a moment of shame after the gaffe.
“Oh no, we’re in Virginia!” Pelosi said. “Oh my gosh.”
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