[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 81 (Wednesday, May 10, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2873-S2876]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          Russia Investigation

  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, this is a critical moment in our Nation's 
history--a moment when partisanship should be set to the side, politics 
should be put on hold, and every Member of this Chamber should focus on 
what they can do to ensure the integrity of our justice system and the 
integrity of our executive branch. Nothing less is at stake, and none 
of us here should forget that.
  For months, the questions surrounding President Trump's campaign's 
ties to Russia--what happened, who was involved, and why--have gone 
unanswered. The more information that comes out, the more suspicious it 
all looks. And the more that President Trump tries to douse the flame 
by firing the people looking at where the smoke is coming from, the 
more we are going to keep paying attention, because the bottom line is 
that there are so many questions--real questions, legitimate 
questions--that absolutely need to be answered.
  Many of us have pushed for these answers. We have called for an 
independent investigation. We had hoped that President Trump would 
resist the urge to slow them down or stop them or cover anything up. 
But the time for the back-and-forth is over. The time for hoping is 
behind us, and the time for all of us to come together and speak with 
one voice for truth and against any kind of coverup is now.

[[Page S2874]]

  What happened yesterday was truly shocking, and this is coming from 
someone who didn't think that was possible anymore with this President.
  But if anyone was wavering before, if anyone wanted to give this 
administration just a bit more time, I am hoping they have been paying 
attention to the events of the past 24 hours because it is hard to stay 
on the fence now.
  President Trump's firing the head of the FBI like that--in such a 
haphazard way--in the middle of an investigation into his own 
campaigning activities should be the last straw for anyone. So right 
now it could not be more clear.
  It is time for a special prosecutor who can run an independent 
investigation, far from the reach of President Trump and his 
administration, to take the case and finally get the answers the 
American public deserves.
  At the same time, our efforts here in Congress--especially the 
investigation in the Intelligence Committee--have to continue, and they 
need to continue in an independent and bipartisan way.
  As I mentioned before, this isn't about politics. It shouldn't be, 
anyway. This is about the integrity of our election, of our national 
security, of our justice system, of our Presidency, of America's 
standing in the world.
  No Member of Congress, no matter what their political affiliation, 
should stand in the way of a thorough investigation, and neither should 
the President of the United States.
  Mr. Trump may think he can bully his way to a lucrative real estate 
deal or bully the press or bully his way into the White House; that he 
can fire anyone, including the Deputy Attorney General, a U.S. 
attorney, or the FBI Director, if they dare to get in his way or 
investigate his wrongdoing, but President Trump should not--he cannot--
bully his way out of an investigation, especially not when so much is 
at stake.
  More than 100 days into his term, President Trump may have forgotten 
that he promised to be a voice for millions of people across our 
country. But I haven't forgotten whom I represent, and I stand here 
today to lift up the voices of so many people in my home State of 
Washington who are calling on us to get the answers--people who care 
about our country, who know we can do better, who hate to see us 
spiraling toward situations we have not seen since President Nixon.
  As of noon today, my office had been flooded with hundreds of calls. 
The phones are ringing off the hook. On the other end of the line are 
the people we represent. They are picking up the phone and trying to 
get through to every one of us in the Senate. They want answers, and 
they deserve them.
  So let's get to the bottom of this, once and for all, for the people 
we represent and for the integrity of our elections and our very 
democracy.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, this is a photograph taken today of our 
President Donald Trump and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. This 
photograph was taken in the Oval Office today, where President Trump 
met with Mr. Lavrov. The meeting was closed to the American press. The 
photo was released by the Kremlin in Moscow.
  The second photo is of Mr. Trump and the Russian Ambassador to the 
United States. His name is Sergey Kislyak. He was also in the Oval 
Office today to meet with President Trump, and this picture was also 
released by Moscow and the Kremlin.
  Ambassador Kislyak's name is familiar to many Americans now--it is 
familiar to me--because President Trump's National Security Advisor, 
Michael Flynn, resigned because of communications he had with 
Ambassador Kislyak which he tried to keep secret and misrepresented not 
only to the American people but to the Vice President of the United 
States.
  The warm smiles and hearty handshakes President Trump gave to these 
Russian officials stand in stark contrast to the way the White House 
has treated three American Department of Justice officials: Sally 
Yates, Preet Bharara, and James Comey.
  After President Trump was elected President, he asked Ms. Yates to 
serve as Acting Attorney General, and he asked Mr. Bharara to stay on 
as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and indicated 
that Mr. Comey could stay on as Director of the FBI. But then it 
appears that each of these three Justice Department officials were in 
charge of investigations that started to become a concern in President 
Trump's White House.
  We heard on Monday from Sally Yates how she had informed the White 
House Counsel's office on January 26 this year that Michael Flynn, the 
National Security Advisor to the President of the United States, had 
been compromised and could be blackmailed by the Russians for lies he 
had told publicly. President Trump kept Michael Flynn on for 18 days 
after that express warning by the Acting Attorney General to the White 
House Counsel. He only asked for his resignation hours after the 
Washington Post reported on General Flynn's false statements about his 
Russian communications.
  The President fired Sally Yates, the Acting Attorney General, on 
January 30--4 days after she warned the White House about this 
connection between General Flynn and this Ambassador.
  Then there was Preet Bharara, whom the President invited to Trump 
Tower to tell him he wanted him to stay on as U.S. attorney for the 
Southern District of New York. Mr. Bharara's jurisdiction, of course, 
included Trump Tower. The President then, in a sudden Friday evening 
announcement on March 10, fired all the U.S. attorneys, including Mr. 
Bharara. Mr. Bharara said he was blindsided. Why was he fired? We don't 
know. But we do know that Mr. Bharara was well known as a dogged and 
independent prosecutor. News reports indicate that Mr. Bharara was 
investigating one of President Trump's Cabinet members, HHS Secretary 
Tom Price, for insider trading.
  Yesterday, President Trump fired FBI Director Comey while the 
Director was in Los Angeles giving a speech to FBI agents. The Director 
was not told directly of his firing. He thought initially it was a 
joke.
  At the time he was fired, Director Comey had confirmed that the FBI 
was conducting an investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 
election and possible connections between the Russians and individuals 
in the Trump campaign and administration. Last night, CNN reported that 
Federal prosecutors have begun a new phase of this Russian 
investigation, issuing grand jury subpoenas to associates of Michael 
Flynn's, seeking business records.
  Director Comey was supposed to testify before the Senate Intelligence 
Committee later this week.
  According to news reports, last week Director Comey went to the 
Justice Department and requested more money and resources to devote to 
the Russian investigation.
  Sally Yates, Preet Bharara, James Comey--three Justice Department 
officials who led investigations that appeared to be getting close to 
the President and his inner circle. All three were then fired by 
President Trump.
  President Trump's firing of Director Comey made history. Not since 
Watergate, on the evening of October 20, 1973--a Saturday, known 
affectionately as the Saturday Night Massacre--has a President 
dismissed the head of an investigation into his own administration. In 
its 190-year history, only one FBI Director had been fired. FBI 
Director William Sessions was dismissed for serious ethical violations, 
and the FBI at that time was not investigating the Clinton 
administration.
  I have had my disagreements with Director Comey, judgments he has 
made, statements he has made. I am not exactly his greatest fan. But I 
didn't question his competence when it came to investigating. I never 
called on him to be fired.
  There are so many questions that need to be answered: Why was 
Director Comey fired now, just as the FBI investigation of the Russian 
interference of the Presidential campaign seemed to be reaching a 
critical point?
  Today, the White House spokesperson said that the President has been 
considering firing Director Comey since the day he took office. Did the 
President or anyone else in the White House

[[Page S2875]]

ask or direct the Justice Department to recommend the firing of 
Director Comey? Press reports quote Trump administration aides saying 
Attorney General Jeff Sessions was charged with coming up with the 
reasons why the President should fire Comey. President Trump told my 
colleague Senator Feinstein he had asked the Justice Department to 
review Comey's performance. And Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Deputy Press 
Secretary to the President, acknowledged today that the President asked 
the Justice Department to put the recommendation in writing.
  Why was Attorney General Sessions involved in this decision at all? 
Remember, Attorney General Sessions was forced to recuse himself from 
the investigation of Russian collusion with the Trump administration 
because of his close connections with the Trump campaign and 
communications he himself had with Mr. Kislyak and other Russian 
officials.
  When they made the decision to fire Director Comey, was the White 
House aware that Director Comey had reportedly just asked the Justice 
Department for more resources for an adequate investigation?
  Perhaps the most important question of all: When will Republicans in 
Congress agree to support a special prosecutor and an independent 
commission to get to the bottom of this Russian collusion in our last 
Presidential election?
  November 8, 2016, is a day that will live in cyber infamy. It was 
that election in which the Russians set out to change the results. It 
is the first time we have seen an overt effort by a foreign power to do 
this, and many on the other side of the aisle have taken a ho-hum 
attitude--it is just another example of kids being kids. I don't think 
so. When one of our major adversaries in the world decides to try to 
impact the choice of the leader of the free world, the United States 
should stand up take notice, and fight back. Let's not forget that a 
week ago there was a hacking attack on another democratic election in 
France and that all signs point again to Russia as perpetrator.
  Russia has acted with impunity since its attack on our election, in 
part due to the administration's refusal to acknowledge Russia's 
responsibility for an act of cyber war on America and to respond 
accordingly and the majority party's refusal to take serious actions 
here in Congress.
  In these pictures, President Trump is shaking hands with Russians, 
and the Kremlin is gleefully tweeting these pictures around the world. 
The President kept out the American press, but it turns out the 
Russians got the photos they needed to send around the world.
  The American people need some answers about what is going on here. 
When will the Republicans join us in a bipartisan effort to have an 
honest investigation, to follow the facts and follow the evidence 
wherever it may lead, and to hold those accountable who may have been 
guilty of collusion with a foreign government trying to impact the 
outcome of an election?
  If we read the memo that has been prepared by Deputy Attorney General 
Rosenstein giving the reasons for the dismissal of James Comey, it 
focuses almost exclusively on Comey's treatment of Hillary Clinton in 
the last Presidential campaign. I am incredulous to think that some 10 
months after the fact, the Trump administration took such pity on the 
treatment of Hillary Clinton, they couldn't wait to fire the Director 
of the FBI. That is the so-called good reason they are giving us, but 
there is a real reason. The real reason is that it seems that James 
Comey was engaged in an investigation into the Russian collusion in the 
last election; that he was looking at members of the Trump 
administration--specifically, General Flynn in this circumstance--and 
he was also looking at whether any other individuals, involved with the 
Trump campaign or not, were engaged in this activity. He clearly needs 
more resources, and he wants to get to the bottom of it, and for that, 
he was fired last night.
  The question obviously is, What happens next? Will the American 
people sit still for this? Will they accept this kind of effort to 
close down an investigation that might reach into the President's own 
White House? If they are willing to step back and let that happen, then 
we have surrendered an important principle.
  In 1973, President Nixon tried to make it clear that he could not be 
held accountable to the rule of law when it came to the Watergate 
break-in and coverup. He fired Archibald Cox. Others resigned because 
of that firing, and the public sentiment across America was so strong 
against President Nixon for trying to intervene in this legal process 
that ultimately he paid a heavy price for his conduct.
  I don't know whether there is any involvement by President Trump in 
this collusion. I am not going to assume that. I shouldn't. In 
fairness, there should be an investigation--a credible investigation--
by professionals. But shutting down the investigation by the FBI at 
this point closes the door to gaining valuable information so that we 
understand who was involved in this effort to undermine the American 
Presidential election.
  I am not standing here in defense of James Comey as a person. I do 
stand here in defense of this Director of the FBI who believed, as our 
intelligence agencies believed, that this was a credible threat to the 
democracy of the United States and deserves a professional prosecutor's 
investigation. For that reason, Comey's efforts should continue. But, 
having dismissed him, let's at least hope that Mr. Rosenstein will 
stand up for the integrity of the Department of Justice and do two 
things:
  First, give a public assurance that the investigation of Russian 
collusion in our last Presidential election will continue, and at the 
time, name a Department of Justice career official who will be in 
charge of it until a new Director of the FBI is found.
  Second, Mr. Rosenstein, as well as Senator Sessions--now Attorney 
General Sessions--should not be party to choosing a special prosecutor. 
Let's have career Department professionals choose someone from outside 
government, without a party label, who has demonstrated the expertise 
necessary to prosecute such challenging situations as this. Put them in 
charge, let them investigate, and let the facts lead us to a 
conclusion.
  To try to stop this or short-circuit it by dismissing Mr. Comey is 
ineffective in terms of serving justice and, sadly, is a sad reflection 
on American ideals and values.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BENNET. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. BENNET. Mr. President, as you know, last night President Trump 
fired FBI Director James Comey. He did this in the middle of an active 
FBI investigation into possible links between the Trump campaign, Trump 
associates, and the Russian Government. This action should worry every 
Member of the Senate. I know it worries the people we represent. My 
office has been flooded with calls since this decision became public. 
Americans are asking why this firing happened now, why the firing 
happened at all--and they are right to ask.
  Officially, President Trump said the FBI Director's dismissal was 
necessary to restore the ``public trust and confidence'' in the FBI. 
That is laughable. Anybody who knows Director Comey or knows the FBI 
knows that statement is completely false. I had my issues with the 
decisions that Director Comey had made over the past months. I never 
called for his removal, but I know that he did not have a negative 
effect on morale at the Justice Department or in the FBI.
  I worked for a Deputy Attorney General of the United States. I am so 
disappointed in the tone of the letter written by this Deputy Attorney 
General--we learned this afternoon--at the request of the President of 
the United States. This is not a letter that came up through the chain 
at DOJ, but a conversation--as the public reports are tonight--that 
happened at the White House, where the Deputy Attorney General and the 
President agreed mutually that it was time for Director Comey to go.
  The President, apparently, asked the Deputy Attorney General to put 
it in writing. Then he wrote a letter, the

[[Page S2876]]

type of which I have never seen come from the Deputy Attorney General's 
office. I worked on reports that we made with the Office of 
Professional Responsibility at the Department of Justice. I never saw a 
report like this before. But what I really find amazing about this 
decision--and I don't know why the decision was made; I am the first to 
say that I don't know--is that, having been in the Senate, having 
worked in the Deputy Attorney General's office at the Department of 
Justice, that nobody at the White House said to the President: Maybe 
the best thing to do is not to fire the FBI Director when he is in the 
middle of an investigation about ties of your campaign to Russia, 
because maybe that will undermine Americans' confidence in the rule of 
law, and maybe that will undermine Americans' confidence in this 
administration and worry people that the FBI isn't treating this 
fairly. The idea that not a single member of the administration was 
successful in making that case to the President is really worrisome to 
me tonight, and it is one of the reasons why people think the answer to 
why this firing occurred is simply not credible.
  President Trump, unlike some, has repeatedly praised Director Comey 
over the past months. He said he had guts. He said: ``I respect him a 
lot.'' Now, overnight, based on a completely nonroutine letter written 
at the request of the President, he has turned 180 degrees.
  The American people deserve an explanation for this unprecedented 
action. They deserve an explanation tonight. They deserved one this 
afternoon. They know this isn't how our government is supposed to work. 
I think the reason why people in Colorado and in other parts of the 
country, I am sure, are concerned is that this dismissal is not the 
first action the President has taken that raised concerns about his 
commitment to the rule of law or his commitment to the independent 
judiciary or to the freedom of the press under the First Amendment when 
he doesn't like the scrutiny he or his administration are getting from 
a free press. He does not have a fundamental appreciation for the basic 
institutions and traditions of this country.
  It is a great irony, I think, at this moment in our politics, that 
the President represents a radical view of American history and 
American traditions. It is my hope that this Senate--Republicans and 
Democrats working together--can express together a conservative view of 
those traditions, a view that says: We need to preserve the sanctity of 
the rule of law. We need to preserve and elevate the idea that the 
judicial branch is an independent judiciary, separate from the 
legislative branch, separate from the executive branch.
  The Founders knew that when they wrote the Constitution. One of their 
biggest concerns was that somehow the judiciary and the executive 
branch might reach some sort of unholy alliance that would all of a 
sudden call the rule of law into question.
  I think that is why people are worried. They are worried because they 
remember this President slandered a judge because of his ethnicity and 
said that he wouldn't be able to decide a case fairly because of where 
his parents came from. They remember his attacks on the free press, as 
well, when he doesn't like their reporting, and his resorting to 
talking about fake news when he doesn't like the reporting.
  I have had to talk with so many high school students and middle 
school students in Colorado over the last 4 or 5 months about this 
whole question of fake news and what the importance of edited content 
is to our society and, again, to our commitment to the rule of law--the 
importance that middle school students and high school students place 
on edited content and on curated content; their ability to distinguish 
between something that is science or something that is real, something 
that is edited versus somebody shooting their mouth off on the 
internet.
  The President has a hard time making that distinction, as well. He 
has shown little regard for the traditions and norms that our Founders 
established when they created this separation of powers.
  So I say to my colleagues tonight, the Senate must stand firm and 
speak with one voice--Democrats and Republicans. We now have a vacancy 
in the FBI Director, and we need to make sure that whoever that is, 
whoever replaces James Comey, pledges to continue the ongoing 
investigation and reinforce the FBI's independence from undue influence 
from the White House. That needs to be nonnegotiable. In my view, that 
is the least that must happen.
  In order for the American people to learn the full truth, the Deputy 
Attorney General must immediately appoint an independent special 
prosecutor to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election, 
which, by the way, everybody I know up here believes happened. But the 
President continues to say: Maybe it was the Chinese; maybe it wasn't 
the Russians. No intelligence agency in America believes that. No 
Senator believes that.
  The President, who has access to all of that intelligence, is saying: 
It might not have been the Russians; it might be the Chinese.
  We need to know. I am not prejudging the result, but we need to know 
what these links were, if there were links, between the Trump campaign 
and the Russian Government. These are serious questions that need 
answers. I worry a lot about what the President has said about our 
allies in Europe, what the President has said about NATO, what the 
President has said about the European Union--none of which serves the 
national security interests of the United States but is an invitation 
to the Russians to continue to meddle in elections, not just here but 
in Western Europe and in Eastern Europe as well. It is hard for me to 
see how that is in anybody's national security interest, except for the 
Russians or President Putin.
  Our intelligence agencies have been crystal clear to the Members of 
Congress that the Russian Government tried to influence the 2016 
election in President Trump's favor. The American people deserve to 
know what the truth is. What is the extent of these relationships? It 
goes to the core of our security. It goes to the heart of our 
democracy. That is why preserving this investigation's integrity is so 
vital.
  I can tell you that the American people are not going to relent. I 
understand there will be some time here when people want to collect 
their thoughts and gather their thoughts. The American people are not 
going to relent. They are going to want an independent investigation 
here. For all Americans and, I would say, most of the time, but 
certainly at moments like this--this is a moment in the course of our 
politics when they say to us: Partisanship needs to give way to 
patriotism. This is one of those moments.

  I urge every Member of this body, every Member of Congress, to rise 
above the pressure of the moment and see this not as just another 
skirmish in our endless and often pathetic feuding but as a test of the 
resilience of these institutions and of our Republic, a test of whether 
we as Congress stand for something more than winning praise from our 
base in a cable news cycle or in the next election or whether we take 
seriously our oaths to put our institutions, our security, and our 
country first.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.

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