LEESBURG, Va. – Grammy-winning R&B musician John Legend urged congressional Democrats to "hold the president to account" as he lamented the Trump administration's anti-immigration policies on the southern border.

"A lot of what's going on is distressing for a lot of people," said Legend, speaking Wednesday night to a ballroom full of Democratic House members including Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other leaders attending a party retreat.

"It's important to hold the president to account and not to get in a Twitter war with him," Legend said as his wife, model-turned-political-activist Chrissy Teigen, sat next to him on a stage in front of the audience. Instead, "say you can't be corrupt in office. We're going to be paying attention to your taxes. We're going to look at your interactions with foreign governments that might be spending money (in ways) that might affect the way you make policy."

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Legend and Teigen are lending star power to the House Democrats' retreat that began Wednesday and runs through Friday at Lansdowne Resort and Spa, a tony getaway nestled in the Virginia suburbs about an hour from the U.S. Capitol.

Other speakers include Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell, best-selling author Arlie Hochschild, comedian Jordan Klepper, former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (who spoke before Legend and Teigen) and technology journalist Kara Swisher, co-founder of Recode.

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Democrats are using the retreat to mark 100 days since they were sworn in to office in January and to strategize about moving their agenda forward.

At one point, Teigen blasted Trump and his family for the administration's much-criticized practice of separating migrant families at the border with Mexico – a practice the president said Tuesday he has no plans to reinstate.

"It's a painful thing to see such a complete lack of empathy when it comes from people like Ivanka (Trump) that can post all day pictures of her children that are just in her home – 'And my daughter's having trouble in her crib,and my daughter's doing this and my daughter's doing that'," she said. "Honestly, I cannot fathom for a second how scared our children would be if our children were without us."

Led by Pelosi, House Democrats have passed bills to reform government, strengthen gun background checks and close the pay gap between men and women. But none of those measures are expected to go any further given that Republicans control the Senate and President Donald Trump sits in the Oval office.

"House Democrats continue to advance an agenda focused on strengthening our health care system, rebuilding America’s infrastructure and other kitchen table, pocketbook issues," according to a release from the House Democratic Caucus.

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