[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 92 (Tuesday, June 5, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S2974]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          Russia Investigation

  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, over the past few weeks, we have all 
endured the increasingly novel legal theories dreamt up by the 
President and his lawyers regarding the special counsel's investigation 
into the Russian interference in the 2016 election.
  Over the weekend, we learned the President's lawyers wrote a memo 
that asserted unfettered authority over all Federal investigations. 
Rudy Giuliani actually suggested that the President could have ``shot 
James Comey'' and not been indicted or prosecuted because, according to 
him, ``in no case can [the President] be subpoenaed or indicted.'' Is 
that incredible?
  The President himself tweeted yesterday that he had the absolute 
right to pardon himself and that the appointment of the special counsel 
was unconstitutional, despite the fact that he regularly called for a 
special counsel to look into Hillary Clinton during the 2016 campaign. 
The two-facedness, the hypocrisy of saying Hillary should have it but, 
no, it is unconstitutional now that it applies to him--how can the 
American people tolerate that kind of thinking in a President? This 
morning, again, President Trump faulted Attorney General Sessions for 
recusing himself from the probe instead of helping to end it.
  The President's tweet regarding Attorney General Sessions this 
morning is part of a pattern where the President admits out loud and 
shamelessly that he was trying to take steps to end the Russia probe. 
First, in a television interview, the President admitted that stopping 
the Russia probe was his motivation for firing Director Comey. Now he 
says he would never have hired Sessions if he had known he was going to 
recuse himself, even though recusal was required by Department of 
Justice rules.
  This latest stunning admission is just more evidence that the 
President may have something to hide. If he did nothing wrong, 
President Trump should welcome a thorough investigation to exonerate 
him.
  Each of the claims that I have mentioned has the same theme: That the 
President believes he is above the law. Of course, we know the idea 
that anyone in America is above the law is antithetical to the very 
idea of America, antithetical to the very idea of democracy, and 
antithetical to what millions of Americans have fought for and hundreds 
of thousands--millions--have died for in the course of our history. We 
don't have a King. We have a President, bound by the same Constitution 
and the same laws that govern the average American citizen.
  The Founding Fathers didn't set out to create a monarchy; they set 
out to construct a system of government entirely distinct from the 
monarchies of their time. That is why they installed checks and 
balances and devolved power between three branches to ensure the 
liberty of the people and guard against the encroachment of tyranny. 
That was their great gift to us, and their ideas have kept American 
democracy alive for two and one-half centuries and the admiration of 
the world for an equal period of time. Trump is besmirching all of that 
with his recent activities.
  So despite what the President and his allies may feel about his 
authority or his absolution from legal repercussions, the Constitution 
and the founding principles of our country tell us he is dead wrong. 
President Trump: We are not a monarchy. You are not a King. We are a 
constitutional democracy, so act like it.