Adam Smith: “This doesn't require someone to commit a crime. It requires you to divest of your interest if you move into this…”

“This doesn't require someone to commit a crime. It requires you to divest of your interest if you move into this position, something which, by the way, all Members of Congress have to do. We are not permitted to have outside income over what we have as a Member of Congress. So if you are elected to Congress and you have another job, you have to leave that job; you have to let go of a particular business interest. That is part of public service. It does not require them to be criminalized. That is like saying having a law against taking bribes is criminalizing the elected official. Now, there is actually something you can do: Don't take the bribe, and you will be okay. As far as our ``obsession'' with the President, I couldn't help but laugh at the statement, ``instead of doing the hard work of governing.'' I am counting how many hours I have slept over the course of the last month-and-a-half as we have worked to put together a nearly 2200-page bill that fully funds the Defense Department--sorry, in my opinion, fully funds the Defense Department--and all the amendments. Let me assure you, we are capable of doing both. We are capable of doing the hard work of government and actually trying to make sure that our elected officials are at least passingly ethical so that the American public doesn't think what they already think, which is that too many people get elected simply to enrich themselves. This is not something new.…”