[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 84 (Tuesday, May 16, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2939-S2940]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



               President's Meeting With Russian Officials

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, by now we have all had the chance to read 
the report in the Washington Post that alleges stunning behavior on the 
part of the President in a meeting with the Russian Ambassador and 
Russian Foreign Minister.
  According to the report, the President revealed classified 
information about a terrorist threat to officials of a foreign 
government. The President didn't share it with just any government; the 
report states he shared it with the Russian Government, a global 
adversary that has violated the sovereignty of peaceful nations, 
propped

[[Page S2940]]

up dictators and human rights abusers, including Iran and Syria, and 
has been widely proven to have interfered in our elections and the 
elections of our allies in Europe.
  If this report is indeed true, it would mean that the President may 
have badly damaged our national security, nothing less, and in several 
ways. First, the act of a disclosure of this type could threaten the 
United States' relationships with allies that provide us with vital 
intelligence and could result in the loss of this specific intelligence 
source.
  We rely on intelligence from our allies to keep America safe. America 
can't have eyes and ears everywhere. If our allies abroad can't trust 
us to keep sensitive information close to the vest, they may no longer 
share it with us. That undermines key relationships and, even more 
importantly, makes us less safe.
  Second, if accurate, such a disclosure could damage our interests in 
the Middle East. We do not collaborate with Russia in Syria or 
elsewhere in the Middle East for the simple fact that we have diverging 
interests. Russia, for example, has worked with Iran to prop up the 
brutal Assad regime. Sharing vital intelligence with Russian officials 
could allow the Russians to pursue or even possibly eliminate the 
source or figure out how the ally conducts operations, including any 
against Russia or Russia's allies in the region.
  Third, if the report is true, the President's alleged carelessness 
with classified information will further damage the relationship 
between the White House and the intelligence community--an essential 
relationship for the security of America. The intelligence community 
needs to be able to trust the President and trust that he will treat 
classified information with caution and with care. Our intelligence 
professionals put their lives on the line every day to acquire 
information that is critical to our national security and critical to 
keeping Americans safe. They have done a very good job.
  If the reporting is accurate, in one fell swoop, the President could 
have unsettled our allies, emboldened our adversaries, endangered our 
military and intelligence officers the world over, and exposed our 
Nation to greater risk.
  Given the gravity of the matter, we need to be able to quickly assess 
whether this report is true and what exactly was said. So I am calling 
on the White House to make the transcript of the meeting with the 
Russian Foreign Minister and Ambassador available to the congressional 
Intelligence Committees as soon as possible. The White House should 
make the transcript of the meeting available immediately to the 
congressional Intelligence Committees. If the President has nothing to 
hide, he should direct that the transcript of the meeting be made 
available.
  The Members who sit on those committees have the necessary clearances 
to review the transcript and any related summary of the President's 
meeting with the Russians. I agree with the senior Senator from Maine 
that this briefing should happen immediately. Those committees would be 
able to help establish the facts before we grapple with the potential 
consequences.
  Last night, the administration issued several overlapping denials. 
Some questioned the overall veracity of the account. Some took pains to 
specifically deny certain accusations but not others. This morning, the 
President tweeted a version of events that undercut his advisers' 
carefully worded denials and seems to confirm the reports that he had 
shared the information in question.
  Following so closely after Mr. Comey's firing, which was rationalized 
to the press and the American public in several different ways over the 
course of a week, this administration now faces a crisis of 
credibility. The President has told us that we cannot take at face 
value the explanations of some of his key advisers, but the events of 
the past week have taken this to an untenable extreme. The timelines 
and rationales in the administration contradict one another. The truth, 
as it were, sits atop shifting sands in this administration.
  We need the transcripts to see exactly what the President said, given 
the conflicting reports from the people in the room. Producing the 
transcripts is the only way for this administration to categorically 
prove the reports untrue.
  Mr. President, there is a crisis of credibility in this 
administration which will hurt us in ways almost too numerous to 
elaborate. At the top of the list is an erosion of trust in the 
Presidency and trust in America by our friends and allies. The 
President owes the intelligence community, the American people, and the 
Congress a full explanation. The transcripts, in my view, are a 
necessary first step. Until the administration provides the unedited 
transcript, until the administration fully explains the facts of this 
case, the American people will rightly doubt if their President can 
handle our Nation's most closely kept secrets.

  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The majority whip.