[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 22 (Monday, February 5, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H740-H741]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    REPORT DEVASTATING TO DEMOCRACY

  (Mr. SMITH of Texas asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, a House Intelligence Committee 
report has found shocking abuses of surveillance by the FBI. The 
implications of the report are devastating to a democracy.
  The premier law enforcement agency of the Federal Government wrongly 
took sides in a Presidential campaign. The report confirms that FBI 
officials sought to influence the 2016 election. Unsubstantiated 
opposition research paid for by the Clinton campaign was wrongly used 
as a basis to wiretap a Trump campaign official.
  Justice Department and FBI employees were trying to influence the 
outcome of the Presidential election. To borrow a phrase from 
Intelligence Committee Chairman Nunes, this ``happens in banana 
republics,'' but it should never happen in a democracy.
  It would be understandable if the President and Attorney General 
wanted to clean house and ask everyone to resign who used a political 
file compiled by the Clinton campaign as a

[[Page H741]]

basis to spy on an innocent American citizen who was with the Trump 
campaign.

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