[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 81 (Wednesday, May 10, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2868-S2870]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                         Firing of James Comey

  Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I join in the minority leader's remarks 
and his plan for moving forward, which is a bipartisan plan and a plea 
for our colleagues to work together.
  America is not like some countries where people are all of the same 
ethnic background or practice the same religion. America is an idea. 
America is an ideal. America is something that is grounded in our 
democracy.
  Way back centuries ago, our Founding Fathers were concerned about 
foreign influence on our democracy. They were concerned at the time 
about Great Britain. Well, now we have another concern, and that 
concern is Russia. It is not just the Democrats' concern. As one of our 
colleagues, Senator Rubio, has noted in the past, maybe this election 
was an attack on one political candidate in one party, but next time it 
will be the other party. That is why we must join together and handle 
this correctly and in the spirit of our democracy and our Constitution.
  I have known Director Comey for a long time. We were classmates at 
the University of Chicago Law School. He was well liked in our class, 
and he earned the respect of the agents he supervised and the law 
enforcement he worked with. I made it clear to him that I didn't agree 
with how he handled the email investigation regarding Secretary 
Clinton, but nevertheless this man is a hard worker and someone of 
integrity. Just because someone doesn't agree with how an investigation 
is handled, even if it is in a big way, doesn't mean this person should 
be fired.
  FBI Directors have 10-year terms for a reason; that is because we 
want them to be independent from political influence.
  All Americans, including those who have criticized Director Comey for 
whatever reason in the past, should be very troubled by the timing of 
this firing.
  Let's look at the past week. We started the week on Monday, when 
Former Director Clapper testified in great detail about the Russian 
threat to our democracy and the fact that the Russians feel empowered 
and that he believes they will do it again and again. We also were on 
the heels of the French cyber attack, where their elections were 
attacked and where Russia was trying to get involved in their 
elections.
  Former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates testified, and she made 
very clear that she had not just given a heads-up to the administration 
that their National Security Advisor was compromised by the Russians--
no. She had two formal meetings over at the White House. She outlined 
in detail how she had gone over to the White House and voiced her 
concerns.
  When I asked both Former Director Clapper and former Acting Attorney 
General Yates whether this was material for blackmail--when you have a 
high-ranking official saying one thing on a tape recording that the 
Russians knew he had said and then another to the Vice President of the 
United States--if that was material for blackmail, they said yes, 
definitively yes, that he had been compromised.
  Yet, as it became clear, the White House then allowed the National 
Security Advisor, General Flynn, to stay on for 18 days, including 
being part of an hour-long conversation between the President of the 
United States and Vladimir Putin. So that is what happened on Monday.
  We know what was going to happen tomorrow, Thursday, which is that 
Director Comey was going to testify in his capacity as the FBI Director 
in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee. We know questions were 
going to be asked about Russia. Of course, I commend Senators Burr and 
Warner for inviting him again next week in his capacity now as a 
private citizen.
  Yet, when you look at what has happened here--the Yates and Clapper 
testimony on Monday, the Comey testimony expected on Thursday--what is 
sandwiched in between? It is the firing of the FBI Director. By the 
way, this is the same FBI Director who had the audacity to tell the 
truth before Congress when he was asked whether President Obama had 
wiretapped the Trump Tower, as alleged by President Trump in a tweet at 
6 in the morning. The FBI Director truthfully answered, no, that it did 
not happen. That is also something that has happened in the past month.
  Today we learned that just days before he was fired, Mr. Comey asked 
senior officials at the Justice Department for more resources in order 
to carry out the Russia investigation.
  Now, what are my colleagues saying about this? I think it is very 
important to note that the two Senators who are privy to the most 
classified information--Senator McCain, as chair of the Armed Services 
Committee, and Senator Burr, as chair of the Intelligence Committee--
have both expressed serious concerns about what has happened.
  Senator McCain said he was disappointed, and Senator Burr, the 
Republican chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said:

       I am troubled by the timing and reasoning of Director 
     Comey's termination. I have found Director Comey to be a 
     public servant of the highest order, and his dismissal 
     further confuses an already difficult investigation by the 
     Committee.

  Senator Flake said:

       I have spent the last several hours trying to find an 
     acceptable rationale for the timing of Comey's firing. I just 
     can't do it.

  The reasoning the White House is using for Director Comey's firing is 
bizarre, and that is why I believe Senator Burr said that his dismissal 
further confuses an already difficult investigation.
  The memo provided by Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein cites old 
justifications. These are quotes from letters that I remember from the 
Presidential campaign, and they are used in the letter as a 
justification.
  If the administration found Director Comey's conduct during the 
election to be so problematic, why now--right, smack in the middle of 
the advancements of this Russia investigation?
  The answer, I believe, is that the justification that is provided in 
the memo is a pretext. The fact that President Trump's termination 
letter to Director Comey strangely discusses the fact that Director 
Comey informed the President that he was not under investigation in the 
context of the Russia investigation sheds light on what this is really 
about; that Director Comey was seeking the truth.
  Senator Burr said that Director Comey has been more forthcoming with 
information than any FBI Director he can recall in his tenure on the 
congressional intelligence committees. In firing Comey, President Trump 
has cast doubt about the independence and viability of any further 
investigation into the foreign interference of our democracy.
  Why was Attorney General Sessions, who had recused himself from the 
investigation on Russian interference, able to influence the firing of 
the man at the helm of the Russia investigation?
  That is one of the questions we want answered and why, by the way, we 
believe it is important to have a closed-door briefing with the Deputy 
Attorney General and his predecessor.
  Did Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein act on his own or at the 
direction of Attorney General Sessions or the White House?
  Are reports that the President had been searching for a rationale to 
fire the FBI Director for more than a week true?
  Was his firing influenced by any recent developments in the 
investigation, like the issuance of grand jury

[[Page S2869]]

subpoenas or Director Comey's recent request for more resources for the 
Russia investigation?
  Why didn't the President wait for the inspector general's 
investigation into Director Comey's handling of the Clinton email 
investigation to conclude before making his decision to fire him?
  I am a former prosecutor. I believe in facts, and I believe in 
evidence. These decisions should not have been made without these facts 
and without this evidence and while in the middle of a major 
investigation of Russian influence in our election. Answers to these 
questions are essential in getting to the truth and in ensuring that an 
independent investigation at the FBI can continue.
  For months, U.S. intelligence agencies--17 of them--have said that 
Russia used covert cyber attacks, espionage, and harmful propaganda to 
try and undermine our democracy. Reports show it. The facts prove it. 
When former Director of National Intelligence Clapper testified, he 
said Russia will continue to interfere in our election system.
  This is what he said exactly:

       I believe [Russia is] now emboldened to continue such 
     activities in the future, both here and around the world, and 
     to do so even more intensely. If there has ever been a 
     clarion call for vigilance and action against a threat to the 
     very foundation of our democratic political system, this 
     episode is it.

  I was in that hearing and asked questions of Clapper when he said 
this: ``Vigilance.'' That is what he said--vigilance.
  How can we call it vigilance, when the FBI Director, who is 
conducting the investigation, has been fired? What message does that 
send to Russia? Does that make them think we are serious about this 
investigation; that we want to get to the bottom of it and that we do 
not want it to happen again? No. It sends the opposite message.
  Aides and surrogates of the Trump administration, during the campaign 
and the transition, were in contact with officials from a foreign 
government that was actively working to tear our democracy apart. We 
need to know why and when and how. In the first question, that is what 
I really want to know--the ``why.''
  This week, former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates, as I 
mentioned, and Director Clapper reminded us that on the very day 
President Obama imposed sanctions on Russia for its unprecedented 
attacks on our democracy, a member of the Trump transition team spoke 
to a senior Russian official regarding those sanctions. Michael Flynn, 
the National Security Advisor--the person charged with the most 
sensitive matters of U.S. national security--was not truthful with the 
Vice President. He lied to the Vice President about contact with 
Russian officials. In turn, the American people were misled.
  After the Department of Justice warned the administration that the 
National Security Advisor had lied and may be vulnerable to blackmail 
by the Russian Government, what did the administration do? It continued 
to allow General Flynn to handle top secret information for 18 more 
days. They let him participate in an hour-long phone call between 
President Trump and Vladimir Putin. In fact, decisive action was not 
taken until the Washington Post revealed what was happening.
  We have now seen two people resign--Trump's campaign manager and his 
National Security Advisor. The one thing they have in common is Russia 
and the President. We have also seen three people fired--Sally Yates, 
the Acting Attorney General of the United States, who was simply doing 
her job; Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney in New York City; and Jim 
Comey, the FBI Director. The one thing they have in common is that they 
were all investigating links, and they were doing their jobs.
  Think about that. Let that sink in. The independent government 
officials who were or could have been charged with getting to the 
truth, no matter where it led, were fired.
  We owe it to the American people to get to the bottom of what is 
going on here. It is our job to get to the bottom of this because the 
President of the United States--President Trump--cannot fire Congress. 
We need to know the full extent of the Trump campaign's contact with 
the Russian Government during the campaign and transition, including 
what was said and what was done and who knew about it.
  That is why, on January 4, I stood with Senator Cardin and with Adam 
Schiff and Elijah Cummings, of the House of Representatives, and called 
for an independent commission. Now, this is different than the special 
prosecutor whom we need to handle the criminal investigation. This is 
also different than the good work that is being done by the Senate 
Intelligence Committee under the leadership of Senators Burr and 
Warner.
  To me, an independent commission would help us because it could get 
to the bottom of what has happened, with the intent of making sure it 
does not happen again, in order to protect our democracy. It could have 
recommendations, just like the 9/11 Commission had, on how we could 
improve our laws. It could have recommendations on what we could do if 
the media gets hold of information that is the result of a cyber attack 
from a foreign government. It could have recommendations of what 
political parties and campaigns could do--perhaps even in agreement--
when they get access to information that is a result of a cyber attack 
against the opposite party.
  It was not that long ago when campaigns would come upon debate 
information and other things and would simply put it in an envelope and 
send it back to the other side. We can do this, but that is not going 
to come out of some simple piece of legislation or from the work that 
the Intelligence Committee is doing.
  That is why I believe we need this independent commission as well as 
a special prosecutor to look into all contacts between Trump aides and 
surrogates and Russian officials during the campaign, transition, and 
administration. This prosecutor must be fair and impartial and 
completely unattached to either political party.
  In addition to the independent commission, we also need our 
congressional committees, as I mentioned, to continue to exercise their 
oversight authority.
  Since the election, we have heard a lot about the three branches of 
government and our system of checks and balances. One of Congress's 
fundamental jobs, as I told a group of students in my office today, is 
to closely oversee the executive branch in order to ensure that the law 
is being properly followed and enforced. This shouldn't just be things 
that students learn from their Senators when they come in during school 
trips or be what they learn from a textbook. This is actually our job.
  This means that in addition to this independent, 9/11-style 
Commission, we must make sure our congressional committees continue to 
investigate Russian interference in our political system. We have 
subpoena power. We need to use it.
  Some of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle understand the 
importance of doing our jobs in order to get to the bottom of this. As 
I mentioned, we have the Intelligence Committee investigation, but we 
also have the Judiciary subcommittee, on which I serve, led by Senators 
Graham and Whitehouse. They are the ones who held the hearing with 
Sally Yates and Director Clapper this week.
  This is an unprecedented time in our country's history. We are 
witnessing a singular moment of constitutional and democratic unease. 
In recent months, foundational elements of our democracy, including the 
rule of law, have been questioned, challenged, and even undermined.
  Several of my colleagues have compared the President's action to 
President Richard Nixon's firing of special prosecutor Archibald Cox, 
who was investigating Watergate. Even then, Mr. Cox was replaced by a 
new special prosecutor. Today, we have no special prosecutor to 
determine whether the President's campaign colluded with a hostile 
foreign power. Some in Congress are continuing to resist any serious 
investigation. For that reason, our democracy may be in even greater 
peril. The night he was fired, Mr. Cox defended his decision to conduct 
the Watergate investigation as he saw fit rather than to yield to the 
President's order that he limit his request for tape recordings.
  Cox said: ``Whether ours shall continue to be a government of laws 
and not of men is now for Congress and, ultimately, the American 
people.''

[[Page S2870]]

  He is right. The American people deserve a thorough, independent 
investigation into the extent of Russia's interference in the 2016 
Presidential election.
  This is not a partisan issue. Americans deserve answers now. And 
where should they get those answers? They should get those answers from 
this Chamber, because we, as Members of the Senate, cannot be fired.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Toomey). The Senator from Texas.