[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 86 (Thursday, May 18, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3034-S3037]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          Russia Investigation

  Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, the most important words in our 
Constitution are the first three words ``We the People,'' written in 
beautiful script and written many times larger than the rest of the 
document so that even if you are across the room, you know what this 
Constitution stands for--not a government by and for the powerful, not 
a government by and for the privileged, but as President Lincoln so 
eloquently said in his Gettysburg Address, a ``government of the 
people, by the people, and for the people.''
  As a ``we the people'' nation, we adhere to a core set of principles 
that have guided us through good times as well as in dark moments. One 
of those key principles is the rule of law, that we are a nation in 
which not only is there the rule of law but in which no one is above 
the law.
  If we walked out of this Chamber right now, proceeded through the 
double doorways, and down the steps of the Capitol, we would be staring 
at the beautiful building of the Supreme Court. The entire building 
symbolizes the role of justice in our society. As you look at that 
magnificent Supreme Court--the broad, marble steps leading up to the 
door--you see these simple words inscribed above: ``Equal justice under 
the law.'' It is right there. You can almost see it from where I am 
standing now: ``Equal justice under the law.'' That is the principle 
that is part of the ethic of every courthouse in America--from the 
smallest, most rural courthouse to the big city courthouse square. We 
see those same principles personified as Lady Justice. There she is, 
holding the scales, blindfolded so as to make sure everyone is treated 
equally.
  Yet, over the past few months, we have been in a period in which we 
have been staring into the abyss of a constitutional crisis because 
this very core principle of ``no one is above the law'' and ``equal 
justice under the law'' has been under assault.
  We have a President whose campaign team is under investigation 
because of substantial information that suggests the possibility of 
coordination and collaboration with Russia to change the outcome of the 
Presidential election--an assault on one of the most fundamental 
premises of a free society; that of free and equal elections.
  We have a President who gave code-word classified information to an 
adversary--Russia--just a few days ago. We have confidential 
information, we have secret information, we have top secret 
information, and we have code-word information at the very top. These 
are the most sensitive secrets of the American Government, and our 
President gave that information to Russia. If anyone else did that, he 
would be facing criminal charges.
  We have a President who sought to shut down an investigation into one 
of his former team members--retired LTG Michael Flynn. We know 
Lieutenant General Flynn was in contact with Russian officials, and he 
was fired for lying about it. President Trump fired the head of the FBI 
because he would not drop the investigation into General Flynn's 
Russian connections and conduct.
  We have a President, President Trump, who asked his Attorney General 
and Deputy Attorney General to develop a cover story to tell the 
American people the reason he fired the Director of the FBI, which is 
that he was upset about the Director of the FBI's treatment of his 
former Presidential opponent, Hillary Clinton.
  If anyone believes the President woke up in the middle of the night 
and

[[Page S3035]]

decided to fire the Director of the FBI because he was concerned about 
the way Hillary Clinton was treated, then you have not been paying 
attention this last year and a half.
  Now, if in the course of an investigation it is found that members of 
the Trump campaign coordinated or collaborated with the Russians to 
undermine the integrity of our elections, then that is treasonous 
conduct. If the President asked for, encouraged, or knew about such 
activity, then he would be party to such treasonous conduct. If the 
President used his office to attempt to shut down either the 
investigation of Michael Flynn or the investigation into the 
collaboration between the Trump campaign and the Russians, then that 
obstruction is potentially a serious crime of obstruction of justice, 
and it has to be fully pursued. If the President fired his former FBI 
Director in order to slow down or shut down these investigations, then 
that compiles the evidence of obstruction of justice.
  These sets of facts point to serious misconduct. We have to fully 
investigate whether there was, in fact, such misconduct. That is why, 
for more than 3 months--going back to February 15 and Michael Flynn's 
resignation--I have been calling for a special prosecutor to conduct a 
thorough, impartial investigation into these matters. Over these 3 
months, the case for why we need an independent special prosecutor has 
only grown stronger with each new event, each new story, each new piece 
of evidence.
  If there were any lingering doubt about the need for a special 
prosecutor, that doubt was washed away last week when President Trump 
fired Director Comey for pursuing the investigation into the ties 
between the Trump campaign and Russia. That is why many of my 
colleagues and countless Americans all across the country stood up and 
demanded that no nominee fill Director Comey's shoes unless a special 
prosecutor had been appointed. So I was very pleased when last night 
Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein appointed such a special prosecutor.

  Now, he will be coming to this Chamber to speak with us in a short 
period of time, later this afternoon. But whatever else transpired, 
stepping up and appointing that special prosecutor was the right thing 
to do. He announced the appointment of former FBI Director Robert 
Mueller as special counsel--the words ``special counsel'' and ``special 
prosecutor'' are largely interchangeable--with wide-ranging authority 
to conduct a thorough and independent investigation into ``any links 
and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals 
associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump; and, any 
matters that arose or may arise from the investigation; and, any other 
matters within the scope of the investigation.''
  Last night's announcement was a tremendous victory for justice--the 
principle of justice. It was a tremendous victory for a country with 
the rule of law. It was a tremendous victory for the principle that no 
individual is above the law in the United States of America.
  We need to have confidence that there will be a robust investigation 
to get to the truth, no matter where that leads us. Certainly, our 
confidence has been improved by the appointment of the special 
prosecutor last night--and not just any individual, but an individual 
qualified and respected to lead such an investigation.
  For 12 years, from just before the September 11, 2001, attacks and 
right through 2013, this man, Robert Mueller, led the FBI. He led it 
for the second longest period in U.S. history. He led it for 2 years 
more than the standard term for the head of the FBI. He is known as a 
thorough, by-the-book prosecutor who can't be influenced or 
intimidated, and I have every faith that he will conduct a 
professional, robust, and thorough investigation and give the American 
people the answers to all of these issues.
  But as we applaud this strong movement toward justice, to truth, and 
to accountability, this strong stride in support of our ``we the 
people'' democratic Republic, we cannot rest. We need to make sure that 
Mr. Mueller, as a special prosecutor, gets every resource he needs to 
aggressively pursue justice and the complete independence he needs to 
undertake this incredibly important task.
  At the same time, we have to keep pressing here in the Senate, 
encouraging our Intelligence Committee, as well as the House 
Intelligence Committee, to aggressively pursue information. We cannot 
cede our obligation to represent and fight for the best interests of 
the American people or for our ``we the people'' Nation, and that 
includes speaking truth to power and holding our leaders accountable 
for their actions.
  Mr. Mueller will have, as I noted, wide-ranging authority to conduct 
his investigation. His investigation and the investigation here in the 
Senate by the Senate Intelligence Committee will be looking at a number 
of connections that have occurred over the course of this last year and 
a half.
  Now, we know a lot about what the Russians did to hack the American 
Presidential election. The intelligence community told us in a report 
this past January that, with ``high confidence'' Russian President 
Vladimir Putin ``ordered and influenced the campaign in 2016 aimed at 
the U.S. presidential election'' and that he did so in order to 
``undermine public faith in the U.S. democratic process, denigrate 
[Hillary] Clinton, and harm her electability and potential 
presidency.''
  The report goes on to say that the Russian Government ``aspired to 
help President-elect Trump's election chances when possible by 
discrediting Secretary Clinton and publicly contrasting her unfavorably 
to him.''
  We know many of the elements of this aggressive Russian campaign. 
They used the resource ``Russia Today'' to spread fake news stories, to 
develop those stories, and to publicize those stories. They hired 
thousands of internet trolls to comment in social media on the affairs 
in America, as if they were Americans weighing in. They proceeded to 
hack the DNC, or the Democratic National Committee, files and the 
Clinton campaign files, and they released damaging documents from those 
hacks. They used bots; that is, remote computers instructed by code 
that was placed onto those computers to weigh in on social media as if 
they were people weighing in. So we had thousands of machines weighing 
in with comments as if they were individuals weighing in. Why did they 
do that? To take the fake news story and proceed to amplify it with 
comments from thousands of trolls and, probably, tens of thousands of 
bots, in order to get those issues trending so they would appear in the 
everyday news that Americans see. We are talking about a massive 
campaign of interference in the Presidential election.
  What we need to know is whether anyone on the Trump campaign was 
connected, in any possible way, to these activities. To find that out, 
we have to investigate the growing web of connections between members 
of the Trump campaign and Russia.
  Just consider some of the connections that have been explored already 
in the press. One individual is Carter Page, who served as President 
Trump's foreign policy adviser on the campaign trail. Mr. Page lived in 
Russia for 3 years while working for Merrill Lynch. He participated in 
several deals during his time there with Gazprom, the Kremlin-owned 
energy giant whose chairman was Vladimir Putin's deputy while Prime 
Minister.
  He became friendly and emailed back and forth for months with Victor 
Podobnyy, a Russian spy who was recorded on tape saying he was trying 
to recruit Page.
  Last year, while employed as a member of the Trump campaign, Mr. Page 
traveled to Moscow to deliver a speech bashing U.S. policy toward 
Russia, saying: ``Washington and other Western powers have impeded 
potential progress through their often hypocritical focus on ideas such 
as democratization, inequality, corruption and regime change.''
  Then there is Paul Manafort, the former chairman of the President's 
campaign. He was hired to manage the Republican Convention and to 
wrangle delegates, but he was promoted to campaign chairman and chief 
strategist, until he resigned because of his questionable foreign 
dealings.
  From 2004 until 2014, Manafort worked as an adviser to the Ukrainian 
President, Viktor Yanukovych, a pro-Russian strongman who, over the 
years, adopted policies that moved his country away from the European

[[Page S3036]]

Union and closer to Russia. Manafort is regularly credited with helping 
Yanukovych win the Presidency in 2010.
  In 2014, a revolution rose up against Yanukovych, and he was ousted 
from power. He now lives in exile in Russia. But Mr. Manafort continued 
working in Ukraine, helping rebrand the former President's Party of 
Regions as an opposition party, mostly from eastern Ukraine, which 
advocates for stronger relations with Russia.
  Then, we have Roger Stone, President Trump's longtime ally, friend, 
and adviser since they first met back in 1979. That is three-plus 
decades. Ironically, it was Mr. Stone who introduced Donald Trump to 
former President Richard Nixon back in the 1980s, and there are stories 
in the media that Mr. Stone pressured the President to fire Director 
Comey.
  Over the years, Mr. Stone has appeared many times in Russia Today, 
the Kremlin's English language news network that developed and 
publicized fake news stories during last year's Presidential election.
  In his appearances, Mr. Stone regularly criticized the U.S. 
intelligence community, he attacked our media, he attacked our free 
press, he praised Russia and its policies, and he even praised 
WikiLeaks--the organization responsible for releasing massive amounts 
of confidential and damaging documents about our Nation's intelligence 
services and capabilities.
  More than that, Mr. Stone has bragged about his communications with 
hackers--hackers like Guccifer 2.0. And who is Guccifer 2.0? The 
individual responsible for hacking the DNC and releasing emails during 
the campaign.
  Another person whose connections to both the Trump campaign and 
Russia will be looked at is our former colleague and now our Attorney 
General. During the course of his confirmation hearings, Mr. Sessions 
misled fellow Senators about his interactions with Russian officials. 
When asked what he would do as Attorney General if he learned that 
anyone connected with the Trump campaign had communicated with the 
Russian Government, he said:

       I'm not aware of any of those activities . . . I have been 
     called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and I 
     did not have communications with the Russians.

  But he did have communications, meeting with Russian Ambassador 
Kislyak on two separate occasions last year.
  Then, we have Michael Flynn, a very major part of the connections 
between the Trump campaign and Russia--a retired lieutenant general and 
appointed to be National Security Advisor by President Trump. He was 
intimately involved in the series of events that led us to yesterday, 
with the appointment of a special prosecutor.
  Beginning in February 2016, General Flynn served as an adviser to the 
Trump campaign, and he was even considered as a potential running mate 
for President Trump. As we know, he followed President Trump into the 
White House as National Security Advisor. But as I noted before, that 
role was short-lived, as his Russian connections came to light.
  Back in 2015, he was paid to attend a 10th anniversary gala for 
Russian TV and sat at a table with Mr. Putin. He didn't disclose this 
on his security forms.
  During the Trump administration's transition, he talked with 
Ambassador Kislyak by phone, including one call on the very day that 
President Obama ordered sanctions against Russia as punishment. 
Punishment for what? Punishment for interfering with the American 
election.
  When that information was discovered, the White House contended that 
General Flynn's conversations with the Russian Ambassador were nothing 
more than ironing out logistics for an eventual call between the 
President and Vladimir Putin.
  Even Vice President Pence went on the record defending Flynn, telling 
CBS News that the two ``did not discuss anything having to do with the 
United States' decision to expel diplomats or impose censure against 
Russia.''
  But General Flynn's conversation with the Ambassador was picked up 
during routine surveillance of the Russian Ambassador. And what were 
they discussing? They were discussing the sanctions President Obama was 
placing on Russia. Why did he place those sanctions? Because of Russian 
interference in the election.
  Acting Attorney General Sally Yates made it known that she warned the 
White House that Flynn was lying to the Vice President and that he was 
compromised. She met twice with Dan McGahn, the White House Counsel, to 
warn him about Flynn. But in exchange for making sure the White House 
knew about the fact that the National Security Advisor was compromised 
and then lied to the Vice President, she was fired--fired by the 
President.
  Eighteen days after Sally Yates' warning, Michael Flynn resigned, 
after the Washington Post revealed that he had, in fact, discussed 
sanctions with Ambassador Kislyak.
  Now, according to his lawyer, ``General Flynn certainly has a story 
to tell, and he very much wants to tell it.''
  Well, I hope, as the Senate Intelligence Committee and as the special 
prosecutor pursue the investigations, that he will have every chance to 
tell it and will tell it with a fullness and an accuracy that will be 
complete.
  That is the web of visible connections we already know about, and 
they suggest the possibility of coordination, consultation, and 
collaboration with the Russians to influence the American elections. We 
have to get to the bottom of whether, in fact, that is the case. Did it 
go beyond a series of conversations to actual coordination, 
consultation, and collaboration? This is what we need to know.

  Now, the President says that there is no ``there,'' there. That is 
why we need an investigation, in order to find out. The President has 
called this a witch hunt. An investigation, I would convey to President 
Trump, is not a witch hunt. An investigation is pursuit of the truth. 
An investigation is in the highest tradition of equal justice for all.
  A very large development, as we all now know, occurred last week with 
the firing of FBI Director James Comey, who was leading the Bureau's 
investigation into these matters. Director Comey confirmed while 
testifying in the House on March 20 that the FBI was, in fact, 
conducting an investigation into Trump's campaign--something we now 
know really bothered the President. But at the outset, the President's 
White House claimed that Comey's firing was about the Director's 
handling of the Clinton email investigations, not because of the Russia 
investigation. That story on its face caused eyebrows to raise across 
the country. Did people really believe the President woke up and was 
determined to right a wrong because the FBI Director had unfairly 
treated Hillary Clinton? Yet he asked his team to develop this story to 
share it with the American people. He asked his team--his Attorney 
General and his Deputy Attorney General--to essentially put out a story 
to mislead the American people. That in itself deeply damages the 
integrity of the White House.
  This cover story also claimed that Comey was fired because he lost 
the trust of the rank-and-file FBI agents. Acting FBI Director Andrew 
McCabe came to the Hill to testify before the Intelligence Committee 
last week, and he conveyed that this is simply not true.
  The cover story also involved Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein 
being the instigator of the firing by preparing this memo on his own 
and recommending it to the President. That also turned out to be a part 
of the deception, and the President himself made that clear, taking 
responsibility that it was his decision to fire, not a decision based 
on a recommendation that came from Rosenstein.
  In an NBC News interview with Lester Holt, President Trump admitted 
that he ``was going to fire regardless of recommendation'' and that he 
was thinking of ``this Russia thing,'' as he called it--``this Russia 
thing''--when he finally decided to fire the Director. He also told 
Lester Holt that he had asked Director Comey three times whether he 
himself was under investigation. The President admitted on camera to 
the American people that he fired the man in charge of the 
investigation against his campaign because he was frustrated that the 
investigation was still going on.
  The American people received reports subsequently that the President

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had asked Director Comey to pledge his loyalty to the President. This 
is news report of the memo that Director Comey wrote after meeting with 
the President. We find that the FBI Director is not going to be loyal 
to anyone but Lady Justice.
  The President had the audacity to publicly threaten Director Comey 
after firing him. ``James Comey,'' said the President, ``better hope 
there are no `tapes' of our conversations before he starts leaking to 
the press!''
  Attempting to intimidate future statements and possible statements in 
an investigation after a person has been fired is another factor that 
is totally inappropriate. Everyone with any shred of common sense knows 
such intimidation is inappropriate, but in the context of a criminal 
investigation, it may be more than inappropriate.
  We don't know if there actually were tapes. Our Intelligence 
Committee has requested the memos Director Comey wrote on his various 
conversations with the President. Remember, this is an experienced, 
seasoned FBI agent-turned-Director who has spent his life documenting 
conversations. It is considered to be a high level of integrity when 
such information is recorded in this fashion. Those memos carry a lot 
of weight. Some are classified, some are unclassified. They need to be 
provided immediately to the Senate Intelligence Committee, and if they 
aren't provided, then the Intelligence Committee needs to subpoena them 
and needs to subpoena the tapes. If they exist, they need to be 
delivered. If they are not tapes but they are transcripts, they need to 
be delivered. If they are not tapes but a thumb drive or they exist on 
a piece of hardware, they need to be delivered, and our special 
prosecutor, Mr. Mueller, needs to have them as well.
  I think that as one steps back from this incredible amount of 
information--the information about how Russia hacked the campaign, not 
just hacking into the DNC and Hillary Clinton's campaign but then 
releasing that information in strategic moments; hiring a thousand 
individuals to comment in social media as if they were American 
citizens; establishing a botnet of computers to weigh in as if they 
were people to amplify this false social media, to get it trending and 
to get it into the mainstream news--when we consider all of this, we 
know how terribly wrong it was, and we have to learn every piece about 
what went on in order to make sure we are in the best prepared way to 
stop it from ever happening again.
  We need to make sure we are in the best possible place to ensure that 
we can assist other democratic republics in making sure they are not 
victims of the Russians. We need to make sure that if any American, no 
matter who he or she is, collaborated or coordinated with the Russians 
in this effort to hack our campaigns, that they are prosecuted to the 
full extent of the law.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio.