[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 85 (Wednesday, May 17, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2980-S2981]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          Russia Investigation

  Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, just last Wednesday, I spoke on the 
Senate floor about the extremely suspicious timing of the firing of FBI 
Director James Comey by President Trump.
  In the past few days, President Trump's actions, statements, and 
changing of his story on the Comey firing has only strengthened the 
case for the appointment of a special counsel to investigate ties and 
collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian Government in the 
2016 Presidential election. Congress should also establish an 
independent commission to get to the bottom of the Russian interference 
in our election. In addition, there needs to be an independent 
investigation into whether Mr. Trump abused power and played a role in 
obstruction of justice in terms of the ongoing criminal investigation 
at the Department of Justice.
  Let me start by going back to the beginning of the Trump 
administration. According to news reports, on January 27, Mr. Trump 
invited Mr. Comey to a private dinner with him at the White House. Mr. 
Trump then asked Mr. Comey for his ``loyalty,'' but Mr. Comey only 
promised to provide his ``honesty'' or his ``honest loyalty.'' Why did 
the President allegedly ask Director Comey for his loyalty?
  On March 4, President Trump tweeted without evidence that ``how low 
has President Obama gone to tap my phones during the very sacred 
election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!'' On 
March 20, Mr. Comey testified he has ``no information'' to support Mr. 
Trump's claim. Why did the President try to distract the public's 
attention by blaming President Obama for the Russia investigation?
  On April 12, in an interview, Mr. Trump said Mr. Comey ``saved 
Hillary Clinton'' during the campaign and said that ``it's not too 
late'' to remove Mr. Comey. Mr. Trump continued: ``But, you know, I 
have confidence in him. We'll see what happens, you know, it's going to 
be interesting.''
  What changed between Mr. Trump having confidence in Mr. Comey in 
April and firing him in May?
  On May 3, Mr. Comey testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee 
and said ``it makes me mildly nauseous to think that we might have had 
some impact on the election.''
  On May 8, former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates and former 
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper both testified before 
the Judiciary Committee.
  Ms. Yates testified about the warnings she gave to White House 
Counsel Don McGahn about how National Security Adviser Michael Flynn 
was compromised by the Russians and was lying to White House staff and 
the Vice President about his conversations and interactions with the 
Russians.
  On May 9, we witnessed a series of three letters, all dated that day. 
The first letter was from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to 
Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The Rosenstein letter concludes that 
the FBI's reputation and credibility had suffered ``substantial 
damage'' due to Mr. Comey's actions during the Clinton email 
investigation. Notably, Rosenstein's memo does not explicitly recommend 
Mr. Comey's removal. That same day, Attorney General Sessions, who has 
recused himself from the Russia-Trump campaign investigation, sent the 
Rosenstein letter to the White House, along with his own letter, 
concluding that ``a fresh start is needed at the leadership of the 
FBI.'' Again, on the same day that Mr. Trump fired Director Comey, the 
Trump letter includes a curious aside: ``I greatly appreciate you 
informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under 
investigation.'' Did Director Comey really give those assurances to 
President Trump when the criminal and counterintelligence 
investigations into the

[[Page S2981]]

Trump campaign and Russia connections are still active and ongoing?
  At the same time, we heard from White House Press Secretary Sean 
Spicer and we heard from the Vice President of the United States that 
the reason for the firing of Mr. Comey was the recommendation of the 
Department of Justice. That is what they said it was, only to find the 
next day President Trump saying:

       In fact, when I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I 
     said ``You know, this Russian thing with Trump and Russia is 
     a made-up story, it's an excuse by the Democrats for having 
     lost an election that they should have won.''

  Then he talked about Mr. Comey and said he had decided to fire him. 
So it was not the memos; it was what Mr. Trump had decided. So there is 
a lot of misinformation being sent out, which raises a lot of 
questions.
  Over the weekend, former Director of National Intelligence James 
Clapper stated:

       I think in many ways our institutions are under assault 
     both externally--and that's the big news here is the Russian 
     interference in our election system--and I think as well our 
     institutions are under assault internally.

  So we have the former Director of National Intelligence, Mr. Clapper, 
saying we have some problems internally.
  The only way we are going to get to the bottom of this, the only way 
we are going to find out what this loyalty oath is all about or how Mr. 
Trump came to the conclusion to fire Mr. Comey or, more recently, where 
we hear Mr. Comey has memos of a meeting in which the President asked 
him to go easy on an investigation, which could rise to obstruction of 
justice--the only way we are going to get to the bottom of all this is 
by having an independent special counsel prosecutor appointed by the 
Department of Justice. That is what needs to be done. The facts need to 
go where they take us, but we also have to have an investigation that 
has the credibility that it will not be interfered with by the 
President of the United States. The only way to do that is by having 
special counsel appointed by the Department of Justice. It is the only 
way to restore the reputation of the Department of Justice.
  I might say that we also need to understand exactly what Russia was 
doing here in the United States. There are so many examples of Russia 
being aggressive in our campaign. We know they wanted to discredit the 
American campaign. We know they took sides in favor of Mr. Trump over 
Mrs. Clinton. We know they hacked information. We know they used 
misinformation. We know they used cyber and social media in order to 
further their advancements. We also know they met with representatives 
of the Trump campaign. The American people have a right to understand 
exactly what those contacts were all about. That is why I filed the 
resolution, which is supported by many of my colleagues, to set up a 9/
11 independent commission in order to get to the bottom of what is 
happening. That can be done simultaneously with the work being done by 
the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is important work for us to 
do, but we also need to have an independent commission in order to 
determine exactly what Russia was doing so we can take the necessary 
steps to prevent this from occurring in the future.
  There are a lot of unanswered questions. People say: Well, how can 
you call for action if you don't know all the facts? I am calling for 
us to know all the facts. I am calling for us to understand exactly why 
on one day the White House sends out one story that the Department of 
Justice recommended the firing of Mr. Comey, and then on the next day 
the President said: No, I decided that before I met with the Attorney 
General and the Deputy Attorney General.
  We need to understand why there was a conversation in which Mr. Comey 
has notes that indicate Mr. Trump wanted him to go easy in an 
investigation. That is a pretty serious charge. We need to understand 
this information. That is why it is impossible for the Department of 
Justice to do an independent investigation. It will always be suspect 
as to whether that investigation of the President of the United States 
or the White House will have impact as to how that investigation is 
being done because there is already evidence that they tried to do that 
previously in this investigation.
  The law is clear; the law is clear as to how special prosecutors and 
counsel are appointed where conflicts exist. The Department of Justice 
has this authority. We know that Attorney General Sessions has recused 
himself from the Russia investigation. Deputy Attorney General 
Rosenstein now has the authority to make that decision. He should 
clearly make that decision, not because it is the right thing to do--
which it is, which it is--and we have the obligation to make sure the 
American people get all the facts as to what happened here, but it is 
also the reputation of the Department of Justice that is at stake.
  I urge my colleagues to continue. I know we will have a chance 
tomorrow in our meeting with Mr. Rosenstein, but I would urge us to 
listen to what the American people are saying and recognize that we are 
an independent branch of government, and one of our principal 
responsibilities is oversight--and oversight of the executive branch of 
government. I urge us to carry out that responsibility by 
collectively--it shouldn't be partisan--collectively telling the 
Department of Justice: Get all the facts, do it in an independent way, 
appoint an independent prosecutor, let the facts lead us where they are 
going to lead us, and let's not prejudge. But this is a serious, 
serious matter.
  In order to protect ourselves from an aggressive enemy--and that is 
Russia, which is trying to bring down our democratic government, which 
has now been acknowledged not just by the intelligence community over 
and over again, but their ability to try to compromise our system is 
now much better understood--we need to have that independent commission 
devoted to giving us the recommendations to keep America safe.
  I urge my colleagues to exercise that independent function and to set 
up an independent commission.
  Madam President, 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. DONNELLY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Cruz). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.