Congressmember John Katko is weighing in on issues ranging from wiretaps to town hall meetings as the Trump Administration and Congress continue their rocky start. As we’ve heard, President Trump has accused former President Obama of wiretapping phones in trump tower before the election. While Trump has offered no proof, Katko says as a former federal prosecutor, he knows it shouldn’t be too hard to find out.
“I did literally hundreds of wiretaps,” Katko said. “There’s a process, there’s always a paper trail. If there’s a wiretap involved, they can find out pretty darn quickly. It’s incumbent upon the head of the Department of Justice and the President to show us the proof if there was a wiretap.”
Katko says if the wiretaps are unfounded, the distraction by Trump is regrettable. The President Monday also released a revised executive order on immigration. Katko sits on the house homeland security committee as chair of the transportation security subcommittee. He says he was heartened that this time around, trump actually consulted with his cabinet…
“This seems to be a far more measured approach. Many people will disagree with it,” Katko said. “But I will tell you this much: After getting all the briefings I do from Homeland Security, it’s a fact that ISIS and Al Qaeda are trying to infiltrate the refugee process.”
Like they did, Katko says, in Paris and Brussels. He realizes some may perceive the executive order as just a different version of a so-called “Muslim ban.”
“I understand that concern, I understand that perception,” Katko said. “This is what the intelligence community is telling him and has told us. Is it perfect? No. Is he [Trump] trying to keep us safe? Yes. We have an obligation to keep our citizens safe.”
Katko continued to defend his decision not to hold public town hall meetings, despite pressure from activists. He says he’s regularly meeting and interacting with people both at home in the district, and when he’s in Washington.
“To go to a place and just have people shake their fists and yell at you, that’s not helpful,” Katko said. “We’ve interacted with and responded to more than 75,000 people in just two years. I have had 20 telephone town halls. I’ve had 8 open meetings. Not closed, but open, where people can hear about specific topics like heroin. And people inevitably ask me about anything else.”
Katko says constituents tell him the telephone town hall meetings are appreciated and informative.
