[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 55 (Wednesday, March 29, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H2519-H2520]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 REPEATING THE WORDS OF PRESIDENT TRUMP

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Gutierrez) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GUTIERREZ. Mr. Speaker, yesterday in the Subcommittee on 
Immigration, the chairman, the gentleman from Wisconsin, attempted to 
reprimand me by reminding me that House rules prevent Members from 
``casting aspersions on the President of the United States.'' And what 
did I say to get this reprimand? I said that the President of the 
United States had said that Mexicans were criminals and rapists.
  Well, as the sportscasters used to say, let's go to the videotape. 
Almost the first words out of Donald Trump's mouth when he descended 
the golden escalators to launch his Presidential campaign were this:

       When Mexico sends its people, they are not sending their 
     best. They are bringing drugs. They are bringing crime. They 
     are rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.

  Well, I left out that part about some, I assume, are good people.
  But the chairman of the committee said I was not following House 
rules because I was casting aspersions on the President because, 
apparently, I was saying what the President, himself, had actually 
said. And if that was offensive to the chairman, I agree. It is 
offensive. That was the point of making the speech.
  So is repeating the words of the President against House rules? And 
if so, why? Because they are hateful and ugly things to say about our 
fellow human beings?
  I don't think we should be barred from repeating the words of the 
President because they are hateful and ugly things to say about our 
fellow human beings, because he said them, and he is the President, and 
I respect the office.
  So maybe it has to be something else. Maybe we cannot say things the 
President has said because it is not appropriate to say some of the 
things he has said about people, like the dehumanizing language he uses 
when describing which body parts he can grab women by, for example.
  Now, Mr. Speaker, rather than saying, as I said earlier, let's go to 
the videotape, I think every single American has seen that videotape. 
When I have discussed the President saying these awful, hurtful things 
about where he can grab women, either here on the floor or on the 
Judiciary Committee, I

[[Page H2520]]

have actually had to clean up the language so it is safe for daytime C-
SPAN audiences.
  So what is it about repeating the words of this particular President 
in the U.S. House of Representatives that the gentleman from Wisconsin 
feels is a violation of the rule?
  Maybe it is the lies. I looked through the House rules, and I didn't 
see any section that said, Members, thou shalt not lie. No, Mr. 
Speaker, that wasn't in the House rules. But, clearly, repeating things 
that this President said means that you will be repeating lies, and it 
just goes with the territory.
  There was the original lie as President, barely a few hours in 
office, saying that his crowd was the largest crowd in the history of 
Presidential inaugurations.
  Then there was the one about the Muslim ban, which the President said 
was a Muslim ban; his key adviser, the former mayor of New York, said 
was a Muslim ban; his other key adviser, Stephen Miller, said was a 
Muslim ban; but which the White House tried to say was not, in fact, a 
Muslim ban because it didn't ban all Muslims.
  Several Federal courts have agreed with the President that what he 
ordered was a Muslim ban and disagreed with the President's lawyer 
saying that it was not a Muslim ban.
  But what about when the President said that he saw American Muslims 
celebrating in New Jersey on 9/11? We know that was a lie. Or that 3 
million illegal votes were cast on election day, causing the President 
to lose the popular vote, which he had walked back from the claim 
originally that 3 million undocumented immigrants had voted on election 
day? In either case, it was a lie.
  Then there is the illegal wiretapping ordered by the previous 
President of the United States, President Obama, on President-elect 
Trump, which certainly looks like a lie at this point.
  So, Mr. Speaker, I am starting to wonder if repeating a lie that the 
President has told the American people is against the House rules. Or 
maybe it is accusing the President of lying that is, in the words of 
the subcommittee chairman, casting aspersions.
  But let's take a look. Here is the definition of the verb ``lie'' 
from Webster's Dictionary: ``to make an untrue statement with the 
intent to deceive; to create a false or misleading impression.''
  By those definitions, I would say I am on pretty solid ground, from a 
factual standpoint, that the President of the United States has told 
lies.
  Water is wet, dogs have four legs, and President Trump tells lies. 
There may be exceptions, but basically all three are truthful 
statements.
  Unless we are outlawing the truth in Congress, I think that pointing 
out lies by our President is not only within the rules, it is our moral 
obligation and duty as elected leaders of a free nation to point them 
out.
  So then I am left to wonder, ``What is it about repeating the 
President's words that so upset the subcommittee chairman, the 
gentleman from Wisconsin?'' and I figured it out. It is upsetting to 
Republican Members of the House to hear the words of the President of 
the United States because they know they have to defend them as the 
leader of their party, and I can understand why that would make any 
human being very uncomfortable.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Yoder). The gentleman from Illinois is 
reminded to refrain from engaging in personalities toward the 
President.

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