[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 82 (Thursday, May 11, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2902-S2904]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          Russia Investigation

  Ms. HIRONO. Madam President, these are not ordinary times. It is not 
ordinary for a winning Presidential campaign to be under investigation 
for collusion with a foreign adversary to influence our 2016 election 
and undermine our democracy. It isn't ordinary for a President to fire 
the man responsible for conducting this very investigation. It isn't 
ordinary for a President whose campaign is under investigation for 
having ties to Russia to hold an Oval Office meeting with that 
country's Foreign Minister and only invite the Russian press. This 
meeting came only a day after firing the person in charge of the 
Russia-Trump investigation. Yet, here we are. The question is, What 
should we do next?
  The events of the past 48 hours have been shocking and concerning. 
Firing FBI Director James Comey in this manner, under this pretext, and 
at this time is a total disservice to the American people.
  President Trump hopes the American people will believe he fired 
Director Comey because of how he treated Hillary Clinton during the 
Presidential campaign. President Trump hopes, as his Deputy Press 
Secretary said on Tuesday night, that the American people think it is 
``time to move on.'' President Trump hopes his attempts to distract us 
from the importance of getting to the bottom of the Russia-Trump matter 
will succeed. President Trump's hopes are misplaced. If anything, 
President Trump's firing of Director Comey has resulted in an increased 
concern about the Trump team's connections to Russian interference with 
our 2016 Presidential election.
  The country is asking, Mr. President, what do you have to hide?
  We are learning practically on an hourly basis about how the 
President made this decision to fire Director Comey and why. This 
information does not square with the official line coming from the 
White House, which also changes.

  Most recently, the Washington Post reported that Deputy Attorney 
General Rod Rosenstein threatened to resign after the White House 
misrepresented his role in the decision to fire Director Comey. CNN 
reported that President Trump fired Director Comey because he would not 
provide ``assurance of personal loyalty.'' Both CNN and the Wall Street 
Journal reported that the decision to fire Director Comey came after 
the FBI's investigation was accelerating. All of this information has 
emerged in the last 48 hours or so.
  This kind of Presidential interference, through the firing of the FBI 
Director during an ongoing investigation, is unprecedented, suspicious, 
and deeply concerning. These revelations and those that are sure to 
come further argue in favor of appointing a special prosecutor to fully 
investigate the Russia-Trump matter. A special prosecutor with full 
autonomy can follow the evidence wherever it leads and prosecute as 
appropriate.
  I call upon Republicans of conscience to stand up and join the call 
for a special prosecutor.
  Over the past few days, a number of my Republican colleagues have 
spoken out against the way the President had fired James Comey. In 
particular, I would like to acknowledge Senators McCain, Sasse, Flake, 
Burr, Kennedy, Boozman, and Corker for speaking out. I hope, as more 
information about President Trump's decision to fire Director Comey 
emerges, our Republican colleagues will join in the call for a special 
prosecutor.
  Leader McConnell argued yesterday that appointing a special 
prosecutor would disrupt the ongoing work of the Senate committees that 
are conducting their own investigations. I disagree. The Senate Select 
Committee on Intelligence and the Senate Judiciary Committee have 
important oversight responsibilities regarding the Russia-Trump matter, 
but neither committee has the power to convene a grand jury or 
prosecute any crimes that may have been committed. Therefore, I 
reiterate the need for a special prosecutor with the mandate and 
authority to follow the facts wherever they lead--free of political 
considerations.
  In the coming weeks, President Trump will nominate a new Director for 
the FBI. This person must be above reproach and be someone whose 
independent judgment can earn the country's confidence. I have been 
disturbed by some of the names being floated as potential replacements, 
names like Chris Christie and Rudy Giuliani. We cannot allow President 
Trump to appoint one of his buddies to oversee the Russia-Trump 
investigation or to lead the FBI.
  The investigation into the Russia-Trump matter cannot and should not 
be a partisan issue. We should all care that a foreign government has 
sought to interfere with our elections and with our democracy. This is 
not just about the election. This is really about protecting our 
democracy.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Sasse). The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. MERKLEY. 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. MERKLEY. Mr. President, there is a Chinese curse that reads: 
``May you live in interesting times.''
  To call the times that we find ourselves in right now ``interesting'' 
would be certainly an understatement. The fact is, we find ourselves 
and our country in a moment that is profoundly testing the rule of law 
here in America, profoundly testing the strength of our democratic 
institutions. We have a President who has now engaged in a pattern of 
removing individuals from office who are executing their 
responsibilities under the law.
  First, on January 30, just 11 days into the Trump administration, it 
was Sally Yates, the Acting Attorney General, who warned the 
administration that Michael Flynn had been compromised by his 
connections to Russia--an incredibly responsible act for her to take, 
but she was fired.
  On March 10, it was Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney in New York, who 
was reportedly investigating whether Secretary Price had profited from 
his position in Congress. He had been told he would be retained by this 
administration when suddenly he was fired.
  Then this week, Tuesday, the President fired James Comey, the 
Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; James Comey, who was 
leading the FBI's investigation into the possible collusion between the 
Trump campaign and Russia in the Presidential election and who was 
scheduled to testify before the U.S. Senate this week; James Comey; who 
had just recently asked for more funding and resources in order to 
appropriately and substantially investigate Russian interference in our 
elections and possible connections to the Trump campaign; James Comey, 
whose investigation just handed down its first round of subpoenas.

  The firing of James Comey has more than a passing resemblance to 
Nixon's Saturday Night Massacre, the infamous incident in October of 
1973, when President Nixon ordered the Attorney General to fire the 
special prosecutor who was investigating Watergate. Nixon wanted to 
derail that investigation. The Attorney General, Elliott Richardson, 
refused to do so and resigned. His deputy, William Ruckelshaus, refused 
to do so and resigned.
  Day by day, we have seen more connections, bits and pieces, come to 
light--conversations involving Michael Flynn, former campaign manager 
Paul Manafort, Carter Page, and Attorney General Sessions.
  The President insists there is no ``there'' there, but we have seen a 
pattern of conversations that we don't fully understand. Was there 
coordination between the Trump campaign and the Russians to interfere 
in the U.S. Presidential election? Was there collaboration? We don't 
know. We know there were a lot of conversations, but what was the 
substance of those conversations? And who instructed those meetings to 
take place? What is the full pattern of these events?
  It is important that we get to the bottom of it because what every 
American understands is, if you conspire

[[Page S2903]]

with a foreign government to undermine the integrity of the American 
elections, you are conspiring to undermine the integrity of the 
American Government itself; that this is a terrible assault, a terrible 
crime against our country.
  The President's team says this firing of Director Comey had nothing 
to do with the Russia investigation. They did so through a series of 
documents, including a letter from Attorney General Jeff Sessions to 
the President, a memo to Jeff Sessions from Rod Rosenstein, and the 
President writing a letter to James Comey saying you are fired. So the 
memo from Rosenstein to the AG, the AG's letter to the President, the 
President's letter saying you are fired, and all of this claiming the 
basis of the investigation was because they were dissatisfied with the 
way James Comey had treated Secretary Clinton.
  Now, that doesn't really fit with the history we are familiar with. 
The President told audiences at a campaign rally in October: ``I tell 
you what, what he did, he brought back his reputation.''
  He is referring to James Comey.
  ``He brought it back.''
  And then when the President talked to ``60 Minutes,'' he said: ``I 
respect him a lot,'' when he was asked about Director Comey in the 
context of the actions he had taken in regard to Secretary Hillary 
Clinton.
  We remember the chants at his rallies: ``Lock her up.''
  I don't think there is a single American--not a single Member of this 
body of 100 Senators--who believes for a moment--not for a 
microsecond--that the reasoning in this memo from the Deputy AG to the 
AG and the letter from the AG to the President and the President's memo 
to James Comey, that the arguments made here were the basis of his 
firing.
  If you believe the President woke up and said: I am so concerned 
about the way James Comey treated Hillary Clinton that he just has to 
be dismissed, then I have some oceanfront property in Arizona I would 
be happy to sell you.
  We know from the reporting of the last few days that there is quite 
another story--an accurate story--about why the President fired James 
Comey. We now know the President had become increasingly frustrated 
with Director Comey because he wouldn't go along with the story line 
the President wanted. The President wanted him to support his claim 
that the Obama administration had wiretapped Trump Tower, but Director 
Comey, caring about the integrity of his team at the FBI and the 
office, refused to do so. In fact, he clarified that there is 
absolutely no information that corroborates the President's claim that 
Trump Tower had been wiretapped by President Obama.
  We know the President was frustrated that the Director was doing his 
job to explore--that is, to investigate--Russia's actions in our 
campaign, in our Presidential campaign, and that he was frustrated that 
there was looking into potential ties between his campaign and the 
Russians. He didn't like a lot about the fact that Director Comey was 
asking for more resources to be able to do a thorough investigation.
  Well, we know the result.
  According to a report in the Washington Post this morning, President 
Trump made his final decision to fire the Director last weekend while 
he was golfing on his property in New Jersey. He then tasked the AG and 
the Deputy Attorney General to come up with a cover story.
  This is an astonishing chain of events. What we have here is the 
President making a decision based on the appropriate efforts of the FBI 
to investigate a potential crime against the United States of America. 
What we have here is a President determining he wanted to derail that 
investigation, and he went to the AG and the Deputy AG to say: Help me 
do this. Help me derail this investigation. Give me a cover story I can 
sell to the American public. And Attorney General Sessions complied and 
Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein complied.
  Now, that is quite different than what happened in the Saturday Night 
Massacre. In the Saturday Night Massacre, when the President said to 
the Attorney General: Get rid of that special prosecutor so I can 
derail the investigation, the Attorney General stood up and said: No 
way, and resigned--the Deputy Attorney General resigned, but that is 
not what we have here. We have now our AG agreeing to develop a cover 
story for the President.
  Now, this memo from Attorney General Sessions reads as follows: ``As 
Attorney General, I am committed to a high level of discipline, 
integrity, and the rule of law to the Department of Justice.''
  Let me ask this question, Where is the integrity in collaborating in 
a false story in order to derail an investigation, an important 
investigation to the very heart of the integrity of our system of 
government? Where, I ask the Attorney General, is the integrity in 
developing a cover story--a false story to cover up the action of 
derailing an investigation. That is the opposite of integrity.
  To the Deputy, who also agreed to conspire in this deception of the 
American public, where is your integrity? Where was your commitment to 
justice?
  So here we have events that are deeply disturbing not only in terms 
of the President's decision to falsely mislead the American public but 
also to the Attorney General's decision to collaborate in that and the 
Deputy Attorney General's decision to support it. How is this not 
obstruction of justice?
  If anyone here thinks for a moment that the President is going to 
nominate a new head of the FBI and ask that individual to conduct a 
robust investigation of Russia's entanglement in the U.S. elections, I 
have another thought for you: It is not going to happen. The President 
has deliberately, intentionally derailed this investigation, and the 
Justice Department has no intention of making it go forward again.
  We need to hear from these top officials. We need to have these 
officials come to the U.S. Senate, to a committee of the whole, to tell 
us their story and answer these questions about what they have just 
done to violate the integrity of the Department of Justice.
  We need to have a special prosecutor. We know the head of the FBI, 
when we have one again, is not going to be able to conduct a robust 
investigation. Therefore, we need a special prosecutor to get to the 
bottom of this. The American people deserve no less. The restoration of 
integrity of the U.S. Government deserves no less.
  Lady Justice carries scales in her hands, and where is the blindfold? 
The whole point is that no one in America is above the law, no one--not 
Presidents or Vice Presidents, not AGs or Deputy AGs. Lady Justice is 
all about getting the facts, following the facts where they go, holding 
individuals accountable, when we get those facts, when we get that 
information.
  That is what we need to do now. We need to get to the bottom of this. 
We need to have that special prosecutor. We need to make sure that if 
anyone did conspire with the Russians, they are held to the full 
account of the law because conspiring with a foreign country to 
undermine the integrity of U.S. elections is treasonous conduct. This 
is not a traffic ticket. This is a question of treasonous--conspiring 
with a foreign government, undermining the U.S. Presidential election.
  I am deeply disturbed about this turn of events. I am deeply 
disturbed about the information we have. We need to get the full, full 
story, the complete story, and make sure justice is served.
  Thank you, Mr. President.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Idaho.
  Mr. RISCH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that following the 
remarks of Senator Murphy, there be 20 minutes of postcloture time 
remaining on the Lighthizer nomination, equally divided between the 
chairman and ranking member of the Finance Committee; that following 
the use or yielding back of that time, the Senate vote on the 
Lighthizer nomination; and that, if confirmed, the motion to reconsider 
be considered made and laid upon the table, and the President be 
immediately notified of the Senate's action.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. RISCH. I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut.
  Mr. MURPHY. Mr. President, I thank Senator Merkley for his remarks 
this week, as this body has been rightly focused on the firing of James 
Comey

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and the imagined rationale that the President gave.