[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 176 (Tuesday, October 31, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6889-S6890]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          Russia Investigation

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, yesterday morning we learned that two 
members of the Trump campaign--Mr. Manafort, his one-time campaign 
chairman, and Mr. Gates, a close associate of Manafort's--were indicted 
on a dozen charges as part of Special Counsel Mueller's investigation, 
including

[[Page S6890]]

money laundering, conspiracy to commit fraud, and conspiracy against 
the United States.
  The fact that the activity in question took place partially before 
the Trump campaign offered Mr. Manafort the role of chairman in no way 
diminishes the gravity of the situation. If anything, it suggests that 
the Trump campaign was negligent in hiring as its chairman a man who 
was an unregistered foreign agent working for a pro-Russian proxy party 
in Ukraine. That man is now alleged to have been laundering large sums 
of money and concealing his identity as a foreign agent from the FBI 
and the Department of Justice, including during his time during the 
Trump campaign. Imagine having such poor vetting and poor judgment to 
hire such a person as your campaign manager.
  We also learned that a Trump campaign adviser met with a Kremlin 
contact to discuss ``dirt'' they possessed on Secretary Clinton and had 
several email exchanges with other Trump officials about his outreach 
to the Russians. This disclosure should put an end to the idea that 
there was no communication or possible connection between the Trump 
campaign and Russia.
  It is not fake news, Mr. President. It is not fake news. There was a 
connection between the Trump campaign and Russia. Who was involved, how 
much, and what happened are yet to be determined, but there was a 
connection, even though the President has denied that connection for 
months.
  The President can assert whatever he wants on Twitter, but the facts 
are the facts. There were official members of the Trump campaign who 
were receptive to working with a hostile foreign power to obtain 
damaging information about their political opponent. These revelations 
should concern every Member of this body--Democrat, Republican, 
Independent, liberal, moderate, and conservative.
  I understand the strength of the centrifugal forces in our politics 
that warp everything into a partisan battle between two sides. There 
are two sides to every argument, but no one is above the law, no matter 
what side of the argument one is on. The rule of law and American 
democracy are indisputable as our bedrock. We cannot abandon it for 
political expediency.
  Special Counsel Mueller, who served both Republican and Democratic 
administrations--a lifetime public servant and a man of unimpeachable 
integrity--was appointed by President Trump's Deputy Attorney General. 
Mr. Mueller was a career prosecutor and is as straight of a shooter as 
they come. He must be allowed to finish the work he started without any 
interference. If he had nothing to fear, as he claims, President Trump 
would encourage Special Counsel Mueller to follow every lead and pledge 
his full cooperation. Instead, President Trump is again trying to 
divert our attention by making spurious allegations and trying to knock 
down anyone or anything in his way, playing right into the partisan, 
two-sides instinct of Washington. But this goes beyond partisanship. It 
goes right to the rule of law.

  The President has a tendency to call anyone who disagrees with him 
and anyone who has facts that he doesn't like a liar, dishonest, and 
this, that, or the other thing. This has demeaned and degraded our 
Presidency and even our country. There are places where it must stop, 
and it should stop at the rule of law. I say that to President Trump, 
who may never listen, but I say that to my Republican colleagues here 
in this Chamber.
  The Founders of the Republic put at the center of our civic life no 
religion, dogma, or sovereign, but rather the rule of law. It is what 
separated the American experiment from the hereditary monarchies of the 
era and outdated ideas like the divine rights of Kings.
  The rule of law holds in check our people, including our President. 
Donald Trump is President, not King. He cannot decree things to go away 
or say that facts are not facts. He is as subject as anyone else to the 
rule of law. That is what makes our democracy so grand. No one--no 
one--is below the rule of law's protection, and no one is above its 
reproach, including the President of the United States. It safeguards 
our democracy from the usurpations of demagogues and would-be 
dictators. It is why this noble experiment--the American experiment--
continues, and Donald Trump is shaking the foundation of that when he 
tries to get out from Special Counsel Mueller's due process.
  What Special Counsel Mueller represents is the rule of law at work in 
21st century American democracy. Intentionally and spuriously impugning 
his integrity or smearing his efforts as partisan is not only 
inaccurate, it is not only false, it is not only fake, but it is 
damaging to a core ideal in our country, the independent and impartial 
rule of law that no man--even the President of the United States, even 
Donald Trump, think what he may--is above the rule of law.
  Special Counsel Mueller's investigation must be allowed to proceed 
unimpeded, and my friends on the other side of the aisle must help 
dispel the notion that his investigation is in any way partisan. To 
their great credit, many of my colleagues have done just that in the 
last 24 hours, and I salute them.
  The American people must have faith that when the very foundations of 
our democracy are shaken by a hostile foreign power, our independent 
judicial system built on the rule of law will not be degraded by 
partisan politics. We must loudly reject forces and actors that will 
try to make it so--on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. Our leaders--
our Republican leaders in the House and Senate--have an obligation to 
tell Donald Trump to lay off Mueller's investigation. Let it proceed 
where it goes. That is what our democracy is all about, and that is 
what leadership is all about.