[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 49 (Wednesday, March 21, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1880-S1881]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             SIMPLE TRUTHS

  Mr. SASSE. Mr. President, yesterday at the White House, two terrible 
things happened, and it shouldn't be difficult to condemn both of these 
things at once.
  First, at the podium in the White House press room, it was suggested 
that the U.S. Government is unsure if Putin's reelection was perhaps 
legitimate, free, and fair or that perhaps the United States is morally 
indifferent to the question of whether Putin's reelection was fair, 
free, and legitimate.
  It was not fair or free or legitimate, and it matters.
  The second horrible thing that happened yesterday is that the 
President's confidential briefing materials for his call with Vladimir 
Putin were anonymously leaked to the public. That should not happen. 
The President's congratulatory call was terribly ill-advised, but that 
doesn't change the fact that the leaking of the confidential briefing 
materials for his call was also wrong.
  It shouldn't be difficult to say both of these things. They are both 
true. So we should be able to say both of them at once.
  Our people are very divided right now. They are unclear about who we 
are and how we conceive of ourselves on the global stage. Our tribalism 
has run amok. If you listen to some of our cable news today--I 
haven't--I suspect that what you would find is that on certain networks 
there is only discussion of the leaking and no discussion of what a 
terrible abandonment of American foreign policy yesterday's failure to 
condemn Putin's phony sham reelection was. And on the other networks, I 
imagine you are going to get exactly the opposite story, where the only 
thing that matters is how stupid this call was to Vladimir Putin, and 
nothing about the leaks. That isn't helpful for building a nation of 
320 million people who know what we stand for together.
  Here is what is true. A President's staff shouldn't leak. In cases of 
principle, you may need to resign. So resign. Do the right and 
honorable thing if you believe your conscience is compelled to do so, 
and resign your position and go out and publicly make a case for why a 
certain policy is failing. But that is a different thing than 
anonymously leaking the information that a President has--not just this 
President, but that any President has--to make his or her decisions, to 
deliberate with their staff, to plot their actions.
  Leaks like this weaken us both at home, in terms of public trust in 
our institutions and our public servants, and they weaken us abroad, in 
terms of whether or not we have any coherence to who we are as a people 
and how we make our decisions.
  Now, as to this decision to fail to condemn Putin's sham reelection, 
it is very foolhardy. Vladimir Putin is not a friend. Vladimir Putin is 
a despot. The President of the United States was wrong to congratulate 
him, and the White House Press Secretary was wrong to duck a simple 
question about whether or not Putin's reelection was free and fair.
  It was not. The American people know that, the Russian people know 
that, and the world knows that. Yesterday, when the White House refused 
to speak directly and clearly about this matter, we were weakened as a 
nation, and a tyrant was strengthened.
  Around the world, there are two great symbols of America from this 
city. The first is the dome of the Capitol, in which we stand. This 
building testifies to the strength of our self-government and to our 
belief in inherent human dignity, but the other symbol that comes from 
this city that is known around the world is the podium in the White 
House press room. Tucked into a small room and surrounded by members of 
a free press, it is simply the free world's biggest megaphone. It 
symbolizes Americans commitment to the universal dignity not just of 
320 million people--the citizens of this country--but to 7.6 billion 
men, women, and children across the globe.
  Speaking clearly about tyrants is one of the things that we do. It is 
not seeking monsters to destroy. For more than 200 years, the American 
people have clearly understood this. For more than 200 years, 
administrations of both parties have clearly understood this.
  At times in the past, previous administrations have made mistakes. 
They have split hairs. They have smoothed edges. They have dodged. They 
have hedged. But what happened yesterday at the podium at the White 
House--the dodge on Putin--broke with the basic

[[Page S1881]]

American moral tradition. It broke faith with our core values, and it 
broke trust with freedom seekers across the globe.
  This very day there are dissidents all over the globe struggling 
against totalitarian regimes in darkness. To them, America has always 
said and America still says: We see you. We stand with you. We may make 
long and deliberate decisions about how we engage in the world and 
about what particular commitments are prudent to exercise at different 
times with different allies, but we have always spoken unequivocally 
about the universal dignity of 7.6 billion people. To those who 
struggle, we have always said: We see you, and we stand with you.
  These simple truths matter. The moral responsibilities of the Office 
of the Presidency matter. When we don't affirm these basic truths, it 
is a failure to who we are, and it is a failure to do what we do. It is 
a betrayal not just to the millions of people who were denied free and 
fair elections in Russia this week, but it is a failure to people all 
across the globe who are struggling in darkness against tyrants.
  Each and every Member of this Senate--all 100 of us--was elected in 
the kind of free and fair election that Vladimir Putin fears--the kind 
of election that he would not win. Vladimir Putin is a coward. Vladimir 
Putin is a despot.
  Just this month, Vladimir Putin tried to assassinate a political 
dissident and his daughter on NATO soil in the UK. Given that we have 
taken an oath in this body, after our free and fair elections, to 
uphold and defend the Constitution--given that--we ought not, in this 
body, find it difficult to say basic true things, like that we condemn 
leaks by the President's staff against him. We also condemn Vladimir 
Putin's sham election. We condemn a Russian despot who aims to make 
Soviet tyranny great again.

  I yield back.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I rise to speak in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is recognized.

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