Trump Campaign ChairPaul Manafort and to others. The Christian Science monitor posted this hourlong event. Ok, folks. Here we go. This morning is tom perez, chairman of the Democratic National committee. This is his first appearance at one of our events. D ce been meeting with chairs since larry obrien. Thank you for being here. Chairman perez is a native of buffalo. Here the bashers degree from brown university. He earned a bachelors degree from brown university. Was Deputy Assistant attorney general for civil rights and the clinton administration. He led the state of marylands labor department. In the Obama Administration he was assistant attorney general for civil rights, and secretary of labor from 2013 until 2017. We are on the record here. O live blogging or tweeting no filing of any kind while the breakfast is underway, to give ourime to listen to what guest says. There is no embargo when the session ends probably at 11 00. We will email several pictures of the session to all reporters here when the breakfast ends. As regular attendees know, if have a question no live blogging or tweeting. Until 11 00. We are sending out pictures to everybody here. As regular attendees know, if you would like to ask a question, send me a subtle nonthreatening signal. I will call on one and all the time available. Our guest will make some opening questions opening comments. Tom perez good morning to everybody. It is great to have my colleague and our chief technology officer. One of the reasons i am bullish about the hopes of the Democratic Party moving forward. When you have people like him on board, our capacity to move forward is limitless. To jump in what we are doing at the dnc, but i cannot help but reflect as someone who spent 13 years of my life at the justice department, including time is a career prosecutor under both president bush and president clinton before i transitioned later on to a noncareer position. The seriousness of what we observed yesterday cannot be overstated. We know the facts at the dnc. The facts are the russians hacked us. He did it with the intent to help donald trump elected president. What we saw yesterday was a whoty plea from a person was referred to by donald trump as a great guy. Mr. Papadopoulos. It is clear that the russians were try to traffic in the emails, and present them to the campaign, the Trump Campaign, so they could help donald trump that elected. You can see with the indictments metaphor and gates manafort and gates, the rot went to the top of the campaign. It is clear to me that the investigation will continue, and this is not the end of the criminal charges moving forward. To seeroubling to me such appalling silence from so Many Republican leaders. The silence isnt simply deafening, it is appalling. We are americans first. This was an assault not just on the dnc but our democracy. Im happy to answer any questions about that. Dnc that needed to up our game. We fell short on many levels. Am,g the sports fan that i when you play a football game, or coach a Football Team or basketball team, and you do not do well, you watch game film, you learn from your mistakes, and you build a better mousetrap, a better game plan. That is what we have done at the dnc. We didnt just look at 2016, we looked over the last eight years that resulted in the loss of over 1000 seats in state legislatures. We went from 60 seats in the senate to 48. We lost a number of trickle seats in state attorneys general and secretaries of state. We took a broad look at what went wrong, and what we have to do. Number one, we have to change our mission statement. We have done that. Partyc is not simply the that helps elect the president , we are the party that helps elect democrats up and down the boards toom school the oval office. When you are focused on every democrat, and when you do that by design, we do so by making partye build strong apparatuses, and strong partnerships with our friends and the labor movement, our friends in planned parenthood, with the emerging organizations and the democratic ecosystem. That is how we succeed. That is what we are doing. We werent organizing everywhere. Every zip code. And our new partnership with the 50 states we call it every zip code counts. Because we have to make sure were competing everywhere. We have to organize, organize, organize. Not simply mobilize in the three months up to an election. We need to organize 12 months a year. Weve taken the term off year out of the lexicon of the Democratic Party. Because we win in 2018 by organizing in 2017. And we win by making sure we have a Technology Infrastructure thats second to none. With the addition of raffi, were well poised to do just that. We win by making sure were investing in other forms of infrastructure. Our millennial engagement infrastructure, our Voter Protection and empowerment infrastructure. I met with the lawyers counsel yesterday. Were building a 50state Voter Protection operation that understands that Voter Suppression is a staple in the republican playbook. Its been that staple for a while. And we have to understand that. By building that infrastructure thats a 50state infrastructure. And we also have to make sure that were connecting with people. That we communicate and live our values day in and day out. Weve been doing that in special elections across the country this year. In oklahoma there were three special elections in state legislatures that where donald trump had done overwhelmingly well in the 2016 cycle. We won all three elections. New hampshire by way of example. There was a state senate seat that has been republican since 1984. We won that election. Florida most recently, another special election for a state senate seat that republicans won by doubledigit margins last year and we won that seat. What was the key to success in these areas . What was the key to success in iowa where we won the special election there as well . The key to success was the same. Organizing, boots on the ground. Making sure we have good candidates delivering a good message and we were able to win. And win in trump country. Because, again, the new Democratic Party is competing everywhere. Were leaving no zip code behind. And that is what were doing. Were invested right now very heavily in virginia and in new jersey. Because virginia and new jersey are the two biggest prizes of 2017. 2017 to me is shaping up a lot like 2005. In 2005 you had a very unpopular republican president , as we have now. Engulfed in a culture of corruption. As we see right now. Governing with a very unpopular republican majority in both houses. And imagine what would have happened if Social Security had been privatized right before the great recession. That would have been absolutely calamitous for the american people. In 2005, that was the last year that the Democratic Party, the democratic candidate, won the race in both new jersey and in virginia. And we are investing in new jersey, were investing in virginia. And by way of example, 0 of our investments in virginia are on television. 100 of our investment is in building, organizing capacity. Weve doubled the number of organizers on the ground shortly after the primary ended. Weve located them in areas where were not only helping Ralph Northam and Justin Fairfax and mark caring, were helping candidates for the house of delegates because we need to take 17 seats in virginia to turn over the house of delegates. Ordinarily theres only about 40 or 50 democrats running for those house seats in at least the last 10 years or so. This year theres 88 candidates running in the house of delegates. We are strategically situated so that we can help them as well. Thats the new d. N. C. Working from the school board to the senate and in the case of virginia, helping to make sure that were helping people at the house of delegates level. Because we can do work there, we can make Real Progress and we communicate our values. One of the big values in virginia is people care about health care. Whether you live down in roanoke or whether you live in northern virginia. People care about health care. They understand that Ralph Northam is fighting to make sure that people have access to health care. While ed gillaspie and donald trump are fighting to take away Peoples Health care. Those are the issues that people resonate with. This job is fundamentally at the d. N. C. , its an infrastructure building job, and its a messaging job. In virginia and new jersey, with the candidates at the top, up and down the ticket, and in these special elections that i mentioned, were playing hard in washington state, 45. Because if we take over that senate seat we flip the senate and the old d. N. C. Probably wouldnt have been active in that race. The new d. N. C. Is all in. The effort in nevada to recall three Democratic Senators who were elected last year, actually two are democrats, one is independent, who caucuses with the democrats. They won last year fair and square. What are the republicans trying to do . Theyre trying to recall them. Even though theyve done nothing wrong. Where weve made a sixfigure investment in a race as well. Because the new d. N. C. Is active everywhere. And when we elect democrats up and down the ticket, that is how we prevail and when we are invested in this infrastructure and leading with our values, that is how we succeed. Look forward to your questions and thank you for your time. Thank you. My one is just this. Do you expect the two indictments and the one guilty plea yesterday to have any major effect on your ability to regain control of congress . Or is it are local issues going to predominate and the investigations not so much . Tom i think yesterday was a somber day for america. Because we now have pretty clear evidence that there was an undeniable attack on our democracy. What we also see is that yesterday was the beginning. When you look at the history of watergate, it took way too long for all too Many Republicans to recognize that they need to put country over party. You look at the deafening silence from leader mcconnell and speaker ryan and that is unfortunate. I spent the majority of my career at the department of justice. I have Great Respect for the institution. And i have respect for director mueller and the work he is doing. So my number one goal is to make sure this never happens again. Because this was an assault on our democracy. You read the revelations today about the volume of propaganda that was put in on facebook. You couple that with the clear evidence that the Trump Campaign and the russians were colluding to affect the results of the election. And if the tables were turned and that had been president Hillary Clinton aided and abetted by the russians, youd have articles of impeachment filed probably before the inauguration by the republicans. So im concerned about our democracy. I hope that republicans and democrats alike, and there have been a few republicans who have courageously spoken about it, but i hope more do so. Because this is serious business. Were going to go to chuck from the st. Louis post. Reporter thank you for doing. This senator mccaskill was on the meet the press on sunday and was asked about the Democratic Party and leadership in the party and she said, quote, im one of the few senators thats left thats not afraid to call myself a moderate. And then she was asked, well, why is the democratic land so toxic in missouri . She talked about President Trump being able to connect on social issues in ways that democrats havent done in many years. Chris matthews made sort of the same point today, hawking his book Bobby Kennedy and inferred that Bobby Kennedy wouldnt be welcome in todays Democratic Party of the because of the stress on social issues over economic issues. Can you address that point . Is that a fair criticism . Tom im reading chris book right now. Its on my bed stand. I think Bobby Kennedy and all of these remarkable democrats would be very welcome. Because Bobby Kennedys book is about moral leadership. Moral leadership means that there are no such things as alternative facts. Moral leadership means youre the president of the entire united states. Youre supposed to be out there trying to help everyone. And so the moral leadership of Bobby Kennedy, i think, is absolutely the heart and soul what have the Democratic Party is. Im a huge fan of Claire Mccaskills and were going to we already are working hard to make sure she gets reelected. Because what she has been doing is something that the Democratic Party needs to do more of. She has been all over the state, in every zip code. We didnt pay enough attention to certain parts of all too many states. And we have to do that. And again, by way of example, in virginia, we have a presence everywhere. We are out there talking to people because, frankly, the message that health care is a right for all and not a privilege for a few, it resonates in roanoke and it resonates up in fairfax. It resonates in Rural Missouri and it resonates in st. Louis and kansas city. People want to make sure that they have retirement security. They want to make sure they have a good job that pays a decent wage. They want to make sure that the Democratic Party and their leaders have their back. And thats why Claire Mccaskill continues to get elected and thats what we have to do as a Democratic Party. Demonstrating through our actions that we have peoples backs. Reporter along those same lines, there are even other democrats that worry that the party will become the mirror image of the republicans, just as extreme and intolerant of internal dissent. Where do you stand on welcoming Democratic Candidates who might not be for abortion rights . Like in that mayoral race in omaha. It seemed like you were using a litmus test. Tom when i think of a litmus test right now, i think of the republican party. Jeff flake voted with donald trump 91 of the time and that apparently wasnt enough. The Democratic Party, i mean, the best example i can think of to illustrate what i see as an emerging unity in the party is what happened in virginia. When Tom Perriello got in the race, frankly the media with hindsight wrote the exact wrong story. They wrote the story of the bernie sandersHillary Clinton redo. And if you look at the arc of all the stories leading up to that primary election, because senator sanders and senator warren had endorsed tom, and tim kaine and mark warner and others had endorsed Ralph Northam, that was, again, another example of how the Democratic Party forms a circular firing squad. We know what happened. You have two really qualified candidates who agree on just about everything. Their emphasis might be different. They ran a spirited, high road campaign. When tom didnt make it over the top he immediately pivoted and endorsed ralph wholeheartedly. Ive campaigned with Tom Perriello and Ralph Northam. And they came out of their Campaign United as opposed to the republican primary where they came out of that campaign divided. Unity doesnt mean unanimity. It doesnt mean we agree on every issue as a party. Unity doesnt mean that you have to be a rubber stamp for the party. And we have areas where people may not agree. But at the same time what unites us far exceeds what our differences are. And that is why i think the Democratic Party is well poised moving ahead to win both next week in the races ive described, and to win moving forward. Because reporter just a quick followup. Is it smart for democrats to focus on impeachment . Tom again, were focused on making sure that Robert Mueller can do the job he needs to do to figure out if there was an attack on our democracy. We know from we know that we were hacked by the russians at d. N. C. We now know from yesterday that the Trump Campaign and the russians were in regular contact. They werent getting together to trade vodka recipes. They were getting together to affect the outcome of the race in 2016. And so our focus is on this attack on our democracy and making sure we hold accountable who was involved and then equally importantly making sure we never let it happen again. Richard pollock from the daily caller. Reporter thank you for joining us. Youve now had a week to investigate the d. N. C. s relationship with fusion g. P. S. And i would like to know, first of all, if you would confirm how much money the d. N. C. Paid the law firm to pay fusion g. P. S. Second, who authorized it within the d. N. C. . And third, who were the people within the d. N. C. Who actually got the information and interacted with fusion g. P. S. . Tom as you know, i wasnt working at the d. N. C. At the time of this contract. When you do Opposition Research on an