[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 120 (Tuesday, July 17, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4974-S4975]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           TRUMP-PUTIN SUMMIT

  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I am at a loss for words to describe 
what happened yesterday in Helsinki, Finland. I am disappointed, as 
well, by the stunning silence of some of my colleagues on the other 
side of the aisle in response to it.
  When each of us is elected to serve in Congress--the House and the 
Senate--we are asked to take an oath, a very serious oath. In it, we 
swear to support and defend the Constitution of the United States 
against all enemies, foreign and domestic. The President of the United 
States similarly swears to preserve, protect, and defend the 
Constitution of the United States.
  Yesterday in Helsinki, Finland, the President of the United States 
was engaged in an appalling display. What we saw at that press 
conference--standing just several feet away from Vladimir Putin, the 
leader of Russia--was the President's decision to turn his back on the 
organizations and agencies of the U.S. Government, to question their 
credibility, and to affirm, incredibly, that Mr. Putin had given a 
powerful denial to what they have found when it comes to the Russian 
interference in our last election.
  Just days after bullying our key NATO allies and failing to publicly 
accept that Russia attacked our country, attacked our democracy, this 
administration and its enablers here in Congress are failing that oath.
  President Trump refuses to accept the findings of American 
intelligence professionals, the Department of Justice, the Department 
of Defense, and virtually every agency of our government that is tasked 
with keeping us safe and instead accepts Vladimir Putin's absurd, self-
serving denials. Many of my colleagues here in Congress refuse to even 
speak up to denounce the President's actions.
  Consider what happened months before the 2016 election when our 
Nation's top intelligence officials came and told key congressional 
leaders about the Russian cyber attack on the United States. The 
administration at that time, under President Obama, was deeply 
concerned. President Obama was looking for a bipartisan response 
condemning Putin's efforts in the closing days of the elections so as 
to avoid any hint of partisanship in the public announcement and to 
present a unified deterrent.
  What was the response of Majority Leader Mitch McConnell after 
hearing this alarming revelation that Vladimir Putin was actively 
interfering in our elections and trying to undermine our democracy? 
Senator McConnell's response: No thanks. We are not going to help. And 
incredibly, neither the Senator nor his party did.
  Is there anyone in the Senate--anyone who took the oath to protect 
our Nation against enemies, foreign and domestic--who thinks any of us, 
regardless of political party, should receive help from a foreign 
adversary to get elected? I hope we all agree that country must come 
before party. So then why do so many of my Republican colleagues remain 
silent in light of President Trump's open denial of the reality of 
Russia's involvement in our election?
  Yesterday, we watched in disbelief as the President not only refused 
to even acknowledge the act of cyber war against the United States but, 
incredibly, blamed America first for our poor relationship with Russia. 
We watched our American President refuse to stand up to Vladimir Putin, 
a former KGB official, who executed one of the most breathtaking cyber 
attacks in history aimed at the United States and aimed at undermining 
the Western security alliance and our country's democracy. An American 
President stood on the world stage next to a tyrant--a tyrant who 
denies that he attacked us--and then the President of the United States 
repeatedly agreed with that adversary and dismissed criminal 
indictments of Russian Government officials responsible for the attack. 
The President closed with a rambling preening about his great election 
victory.
  We have an American President who seems to be utterly incapable of 
saying

[[Page S4975]]

the obvious to Vladimir Putin. The President should say: Don't ever 
interfere in U.S. elections again. I don't want your help, and I don't 
believe your absurd denials. He refused to say that.
  Compare his bizarre and dangerous comments in Helsinki with what 
President Ronald Reagan said before the 1988 NATO summit. Instead of 
bullying our closest allies, Ronald Reagan said:

       Our first priority is to maintain a strong and healthy 
     partnership between North America and Europe, for this is the 
     foundation on which the cause of freedom so crucially 
     depends.

  Again, Ronald Reagan said:

       Our first priority is to maintain a strong and healthy 
     partnership between North America and Europe, for this is the 
     foundation on which the cause of freedom so crucially 
     depends.

  There is at least one Republican Senator who is not silent. My friend 
and a great American patriot, John McCain, said this yesterday about 
the Helsinki press conference:

       Today's press conference in Helsinki was one of the most 
     disgraceful performances by an American President in memory. 
     The damage inflicted by President Trump's naivete, egotism, 
     false equivalence, and sympathy for autocrats is difficult to 
     calculate. . . . President Trump proved not only unable, but 
     unwilling to stand up to Putin. He and Putin seemed to be 
     speaking from the same script as the President made a 
     conscious choice to defend a tyrant against the fair 
     questions of a free press, and to grant Putin an uncontested 
     platform to spew propaganda and lies to the world.

  I could not agree more. It is obvious. We, all of us, Democrats and 
Republicans, should agree with what John McCain said.
  Despite President Trump's shameful denials of Russian interference at 
yesterday's farce of a press conference, the evidence is clear: Russia 
did interfere in the 2016 election. Our intelligence agencies and the 
bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee have concluded that not only 
did Russia interfere in our elections through cyber attacks, but they 
did so to harm Hillary Clinton, help elect Donald Trump, and undermine 
our democratic process.
  When Donald Trump hears those words, it sends him into a rage. He 
denies any Russian interference for fear that it might reflect on his 
victory in the election. There is no evidence that has been produced to 
date that shows that Russian interference changed the outcome of that 
election. I am not questioning whether Donald Trump won the Electoral 
College and became President, but I don't think he should question 
whether the Russians were trying to undermine that process.
  During his ongoing investigation into Russian meddling, Special 
Counsel Mueller has so far indicted 32 individuals and 3 companies on a 
total of 191 criminal charges. This includes the February indictment of 
13 Russian trolls who engaged in a multiyear effort to influence our 
election, to support the election of Donald Trump by sowing discord and 
inflaming social tensions online.
  The Mueller investigation includes 12 members of the Russian military 
intelligence, specifically named, who were indicted last Friday for 
engaging in a sustained operation to hack into the emails, accounts, 
and computer networks of the Democratic National Committee, the 
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and Hillary Clinton's 
Presidential campaign.
  These Russians also created online personas and worked with WikiLeaks 
to publish the stolen documents. To cover their tracks, they committed 
identity theft, engaged in money laundering, and at one point leased a 
computer in my home State of Illinois to store and move the stolen 
documents through encrypted channels.
  Additionally, the Russians hacked into the computer networks of 
election officials and vendors in order to steal voter data and other 
information. The indictment, produced by Special Counsel Mueller, 
mentions that the Russians ``hacked the website of a state board of 
elections . . . and stole information related to approximately 500,000 
voters, including names, addresses, partial social security numbers, 
dates of birth, and driver's license numbers.'' This was, presumably, 
in reference to the Illinois State Board of Elections, which we already 
knew was one of the first victims of a successful Russian cyber 
attack--a Russian cyber attack that President Donald Trump refuses to 
believe ever happened.

  We know that Russia meddled in the 2016 election, and we know that we 
should be gearing up for Russia to interfere with the 2018 midterm 
election as well. Just this past weekend, Director of National 
Intelligence Dan Coats, my former Republican Senate colleague from the 
State of Indiana and a man for whom I voted for this position and whom 
I respect very much, reiterated the ongoing threat that Russia 
presents, saying: ``In regard to state actions, Russia has been the 
most aggressive foreign actor--no question--and they continue their 
efforts to undermine our democracy.''
  What a departure from what President Trump said in Helsinki 
yesterday. His own Director of National Intelligence has refuted the 
statement he made to the world yesterday, agreeing with the ``powerful 
statement'' of Vladimir Putin's that he had nothing to do with an 
attack on our election. Our President is cozying up to Vladimir Putin 
at the expense of the credibility of his own Director of National 
Intelligence. Why is this happening?
  Instead of condemning President Trump and supporting the Special 
Counsel's efforts of getting to the bottom of this, sadly, the vast 
majority of congressional Republicans are actively working to undermine 
the investigation.
  Just last week, Senate Republicans confirmed the nomination of Brian 
Benczkowski to serve as Assistant Attorney General in charge of the 
Criminal Division of the Department of Justice. They voted for Mr. 
Benczkowski to be in charge of 600 Federal prosecutors despite the fact 
that Mr. Benczkowski, as a lawyer, has never been in a trial--never. He 
has never been in a courtroom and has never been in a trial. He was 
named by President Trump to head up the Criminal Division of the 
Department of Justice. That may not be the worst part.
  Mr. Benczkowski, in his private law practice in Washington, also 
chose to represent a Russian bank, the Alfa-Bank, which has deep ties 
to Vladimir Putin. This is despite the fact that when he was called on 
it, he said he would not commit to recusing himself from this Russia 
investigation.
  Furthermore, this vote occurred as President Trump and House 
Republicans had been looking for an excuse to fire Deputy Attorney 
General Rosenstein, who is overseeing the Mueller investigation. Should 
Rosenstein be fired, Mr. Benczkowski could be easily tasked by the 
President to oversee the Russia investigation. That would be an 
unmitigated legal disaster.
  Enough is enough. Today is the day that, I hope, my colleagues--
Democrat and Republican alike--will step forward and speak up.
  The world is still reeling from the comments that were made yesterday 
in Helsinki by the President of the United States of America. There are 
serious questions from our longtime NATO allies--those who count on the 
United States for the safety and security of their republics. There are 
serious questions in their minds about who we are, what we stand for, 
the relationship between this President and Vladimir Putin--a 
relationship which is absolutely inexplicable in that President Trump 
would refuse to concede the obvious--that Vladimir Putin is setting out 
to undermine our values in the world.
  President Trump should stand with the brave men and women of law 
enforcement, intelligence, and the Department of Defense who have 
warned him about Vladimir Putin, and he should not be so easily swept 
away with these meetings he has.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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