[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 85 (Wednesday, May 17, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2997-S2999]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          Russia Investigation

  Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I rise today to discuss the recent 
firing of FBI Director Jim Comey and Russian interference in our 
democracy. Jim Comey was my law school classmate, and I know that in my 
State he has a lot of respect from our agents and also from law 
enforcement in general in our State.
  When we had the stabbing in the mall in St. Cloud, MN--it was just 
with our police chief from St. Cloud--it was the FBI that came in and 
helped at the crime scene and with other things, because for a smaller 
police department it is difficult to deal with something like that and 
because they also had work to do working with the community to calm 
people.
  The result was a good one because of the courageous work of an off-
duty police officer. While people were injured, no one was killed, and 
the investigation was completed.
  This is just one example of the work the FBI has done when Director 
Comey was in charge. I think we focus very much on what goes on in this 
town, but there are a lot of agents and law enforcement out there who 
have deep respect for him.
  Last week, when Director Comey was fired, I came to the floor and 
said that in the recent months foundational elements of our democracy--
including the rule of law--have been questioned, challenged, and even 
undermined. Today I return to the floor with the same concern.
  In the last 48 hours alone, we have learned that, in addition to 
sharing top secret intelligence information with Russia without 
checking about it ahead of time--and we know Presidents have the right 
to share information and declassify it, but in instances of which we 
are aware, the President checks with intelligence agencies ahead of 
time. Was this shared with an ally? No. This was shared with Russia, a 
country that 17 intelligence agencies in the United States of America 
established was trying to undermine our election; Russia, which was 
found responsible for trying to shoot down and successfully brought 
down a plane, killing innocent people in Ukraine; the same regime that 
has poisoned dissidents; the same regime that has put people to death 
for simply expressing an opinion that is different from Vladimir 
Putin's. That is the country with which the President chose to share 
this information.

  What else happened in the last 48 hours? Well, President Trump 
allegedly urged Director Comey--this news dropped in the last 48 
hours--to end the investigation into ties between Russia and General 
Flynn and to put reporters who publish classified leaks in prison. This 
was information I didn't know before. It happened in the last few 
months, of course, but it all came out in the last 48 hours.
  The American people are looking to Congress for answers in the face 
of this assault on our democracy. It is our job to give them the 
answers they deserve and to right this ship. That is why I continue to 
call for a special prosecutor. Ever since the Attorney General had to 
recuse himself because of his own meetings and ties with Russia and 
ever since this mess kept getting messier, I have been calling for a 
special prosecutor. I believe that is the way to go.
  Also, I have long called for an independent commission, and this is 
for a different purpose. As the Senate Intelligence Committee continues 
its bipartisan work, a special prosecutor and the FBI would get to the 
bottom of any criminal investigation. To me, the purpose of an 
independent commission would be to set the rules of the road so that 
this doesn't happen again and so our country can protect itself. This 
would be a panel of experts appointed by both sides. Their focus could 
well be to take these facts but to put them into a future election, as 
in, what do we do when campaigns get information that clearly is from a 
cyber attack from a foreign power?
  Our Founding Fathers have said that our elections are precious and 
that they should be protected from foreign powers. Way back then, they 
were thinking of Great Britain. Now we are thinking of Russia. Next 
time, it could be another country. We should have some rules of the 
road.
  It is not that long ago that--I remember when Presidential campaigns 
would be given some information that they weren't supposed to get from 
the opposing side, and they would actually return it to the opposing 
side. We could go back to that kind of day.
  We could also have the media have some rules of the road. Look at 
what happened with the recent French election when there was a cyber 
attack there. The media didn't put out every rumor and everything they 
got out of that cyber attack; they showed some discretion.
  Those are the kinds of things we could do with an independent 
commission in addition to factfinding.
  I will start with this special prosecutor. The stack of reasons why 
we need a special prosecutor is getting higher and higher every day. 
Aides and surrogates of the Trump administration during both the 
campaign and in the transition were in contact with officials from a 
foreign government that was actively working to tear our democracy 
apart. That is pretty much established.
  We know that the campaign chair for the Trump campaign had to step 
down because of his ties to Russia. We know that General Flynn was on 
the phone with the Russian Ambassador on the very day President Obama 
declared he wanted to expand sanctions against Russia. We also know he 
then lied to the Vice President of the United States about it. Those 
things happened during the campaign and during the transition.
  Last week, former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates and former 
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper reminded us--I was 
there in the Judiciary Committee--they reminded us that on the very day 
that President Obama imposed those sanctions, that was when General 
Flynn--the former National Security Advisor; the person charged with 
the most sensitive matters of U.S. national security--was contacted--
the Ambassador--and then he later lied to the Vice President about that 
contact.
  I actually asked them specifically that after the fact that Flynn 
knew he was on tape, that they knew that, that there was a tape of him 
saying one thing to the Russians and then another to a high-ranking 
official in America--that would be the Vice President--I asked them if 
that was material for blackmail. They both said definitively that it 
was.
  Yet, when Sally Yates went to the administration twice for two formal 
meetings with other people--this wasn't just a little heads-up at a 
cocktail party; she actually went to the White House to inform them 
that she believed the National Security Advisor had been compromised. 
What happened? They let him stay on for 18 days. And 2 days in, he was 
on an hourlong call between Vladimir Putin and the President of the 
United States of America.
  Then, of course, we have the fact that the Attorney General was 
forced to recuse himself from any involvement with the Russia 
investigation because he met with the Russian Ambassador.
  I will note that he met with the Russian Ambassador just a few days 
after President Obama and President Putin had met at an international 
meeting. At that meeting and then publicly President Obama had said: 
No, I am not pulling back these sanctions. Then what happens? Jeff 
Sessions, who was closely affiliated with the Trump campaign, a 
surrogate for the campaign, goes and meets with the Russian Ambassador.
  Because of that and some things that happened in his confirmation 
hearing, he has now recused himself from any matters regarding the 
investigation between Russia and this administration and the campaign.
  In addition to the recusal, we have seen two people resign, as I 
noted: the campaign manager, the campaign chair, and the National 
Security Advisor. The one thing they have in common is Russia and 
President Trump.

  We have seen three people fired. One is Sally Yates, who was the 
Acting Attorney General of the United States. While the reasons given 
for her firing were, of course, related to the refugee order, in fact, 
she was fired on the very

[[Page S2998]]

same day she had gone to the White House to talk to them about General 
Flynn. We have Preet Bharara, who was fired after saying he could stay 
on. He was the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, in a very major position to 
investigate these kinds of issues and crimes. And then, of course, we 
have Jim Comey. The one thing they all have in common is that they were 
all investigating various facets of this.
  In fact, Director Comey, as I noted--who had gotten support and 
respect from law enforcement--was fired the same day Federal 
prosecutors issued grand jury subpoenas to Michael Flynn's associates, 
just days after Comey requested more resources, according to news 
reports, to carry out the Russia investigation, and 2 days before he 
was scheduled to testify publicly before the Senate Intelligence 
Committee, where Members of that committee were going to ask him about 
Russia.
  Think about it. The independent government officials who are charged 
with getting to the truth, no matter where it leads, were fired. And 
the President of the United States reportedly now--and this is what we 
have learned in the last 48 hours, and of course we want to get to the 
bottom of the evidence, but according to news reports, he urged the FBI 
Director to end the investigation into the ties between Russia and Mike 
Flynn.
  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. The 
President can't fire Congress. He can fire the Acting Attorney General. 
He can fire the FBI Director, although I think it is very important 
that we get to the bottom of why the FBI Director was fired and whether 
it was for the reasons that were given in the memo that was prepared by 
the Justice Department or whether it was because of what President 
Trump has said--that it was related to Russia--or whether was because 
at one point he said he wasn't doing his job, which is not what I have 
heard from agents on the street. The one group the President cannot 
fire is right here in this room. The President cannot fire the U.S. 
Senate. The President can't fire the House of Representatives. He is 
not above the law.
  This administration cannot investigate itself. We have the ongoing 
and important investigation led by bipartisan leaders, Senator Burr and 
Senator Warner. That is important and must continue. We also need a 
special prosecutor to look into the President's most recent conduct and 
all contacts between Trump campaign aides and surrogates and Russian 
officials during the campaign, the transition, and the administration. 
This prosecutor must be fair and impartial and completely unattached to 
either political party. Above all, this prosecutor must be comfortable 
speaking truth to power.
  In addition to a special prosecutor, we need an independent 
commission. When I came back from my trip with Senator McCain and 
Senator Graham to Ukraine, the Baltics, and Georgia, I made it very 
clear--I remember speaking to my colleagues about this--that what we 
saw there made me even more concerned about the finding of our 
intelligence agencies because those countries have seen this movie over 
and over again where Russia has cyber attacked them. It happened in 
Lithuania just because they had the audacity to invite members of the 
Ukrainian Parliament from Crimea, who were in exile in Kiev, for their 
25th anniversary, and they got hacked into. It happened in Estonia, 
where they moved a bronze statue out of a public square and into the 
cemetery with other statues of soldiers. But this was a Russian 
soldier. The Russians didn't like it. This was in 2007. What did they 
do? They shut down the internet for the entire country. This is not 
just a single incident involving one candidate or one political party 
or one election or even one country; this is something widespread. It 
is an attack on democracy.
  That is why, when I came back from that trip, I stood with Senator 
Cardin and House Members Adam Schiff and Elijah Cummings to stand up 
for a bill, which has a number of other sponsors, to create an 
independent, nonpartisan commission to uncover all the facts and make 
sure future elections and political campaigns are safeguarded from 
foreign interference.
  For months, U.S. intelligence agencies--17 of them--have said that 
Russia used covert cyber attacks, espionage, and harmful propaganda to 
try to undermine our democracy. Reports show it. The facts prove it. 
Some $200 million dollars was spent alone on Russian TV on our own 
election. Much of it was passed out on the internet.
  Last week, the former Director of National Intelligence, James 
Clapper, testified that Russia will continue to interfere in our 
election system. This is what he said:

       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.

  Vigilance. He said that Russia felt emboldened by what happened. What 
happened in the last 48 hours? We find out that he had given high-level 
intelligence to the Russians before we gave it to any of our allies, 
before we checked it out with intelligence agencies. That actually 
emboldens them. We find out that, in fact--because Director Comey kept 
such meticulous notes, we find out that allegedly the President asked 
him to discontinue the investigation into General Flynn. What does that 
do? That emboldens Russia even more.
  What former Director Clapper was telling us was that we need 
vigilance. We need oversight. We need to send a clear message that they 
cannot continue doing this. We do not need to embolden them.
  What message does it send when the President urges the person in 
charge of the investigation into Russia's election interference to let 
it go? It is not one of vigilance in seeking the truth and fighting 
against a foreign adversary.
  An independent commission of nonpartisan experts can get to the 
bottom of this and tell us how we can prevent this from happening 
again. They can provide recommendations to help prevent future attacks 
on our democracy from being successful.
  In addition to a special prosecutor and independent commission, we 
also need our congressional committees 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 the fundamental jobs of Congress is to closely oversee the executive 
branch to ensure that the law is being properly followed and enforced. 
That means we need congressional committees to continue their 
investigation into Russian inference in our political system. We have 
subpoena power for that reason, and we need to use it. There are tapes. 
The President says there may be tapes. Of course, redact the classified 
information. We don't want to hurt anyone any further from what has 
been happening in the last few weeks. But we should see the 
transcripts. We should have the tapes. There is bipartisan support for 
turning over this material, including the memos prepared by Director 
Comey.

  (Mr. LEE assumed the Chair.)
  Today Senators Grassley, Feinstein, Graham, and Whitehouse sent a 
letter to the FBI and White House Counsel requesting these documents. 
Many of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle understand the 
importance of doing our jobs to get to the bottom of this. The ongoing 
bipartisan Intelligence Committee investigation is vital to addressing 
the covert and classified aspects of Russian interference, but we also 
need transparency because the American people deserve to know as much 
as possible about what happened and how we are going to prevent it in 
the future.
  That is why I fully support the Judiciary Committee hearings that 
Senators Graham and Whitehouse have held in the Subcommittee on Crime 
and Terrorism. I also believe, as a member of the Judiciary Committee, 
that if the Director is to testify--former Director Comey--he should 
come before the Judiciary Committee because these are matters related 
to his service as an FBI Director. They are related to the justice 
system, to the criminal justice system, and we should hear from him.
  I hope Senator Grassley has requested that he come before our 
committee. I am aware that the Intelligence Committee also would like 
him to come, but I think it is important, given the substance of what 
is at issue

[[Page S2999]]

here. Yes, he should appear before Intelligence about ongoing matters 
related to the Russian investigation, but there is also the issue of 
the fact that he was fired. We heard one thing in a memo from the 
Justice Department, we heard one thing from the White House, we heard 
another thing from the White House, and then we heard another thing 
from the President. That is all true. We need to get to the bottom of 
this.
  On Monday, Republican Senator Bob Corker said that the administration 
was in a ``downward spiral.'' He used the word ``chaos.'' That was 
before we even knew that the President may have urged the FBI Director 
to end the Russia investigation and put reporters in prison. This is an 
unprecedented time in our country's history.
  The Presiding Officer, having written a book on the Constitution, 
knows that one of our jobs is to stand by that Constitution. Yet we are 
witnessing a singular moment of constitutional and democratic unease.
  On this day in 1973, the Senate Select Committee on Presidential 
Campaign Activities began televised hearings on Watergate. One week 
later, Professor Archibald Cox was sworn in as special Watergate 
prosecutor. Like Director Comey, who was leading the investigation into 
Russian interference in our election, Archibald Cox was eventually 
fired by the President for doing his job. The night that Archibald Cox 
was fired by President Nixon for investigating Watergate, he said: 
``Whether ours shall continue to be a government of laws and not of men 
is now for Congress and ultimately the American people.'' He was right.
  The American people deserve a thorough, independent investigation 
into whether this administration obstructed justice and the extent of 
Russia's interference in the 2016 Presidential election. They need to 
know it because we are a democracy. We don't hide things like this. We 
get the facts. We get the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the 
truth. That is what our democracy is about, and that is what our 
justice system is about. But they also need to know it because our 
democracy is the basis of our freedoms. If we don't protect our 
democracy in the coming elections, then we hurt those freedoms. The 
only way we figure out how we are going to protect that democracy is 
getting to the bottom of the truth, so we can figure out how to prevent 
it from happening in the future. This is not a partisan issue; this is 
an American issue, and Americans deserve answers.
  Thank you, Mr. President.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Georgia.