[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 120 (Tuesday, July 17, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S4978]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                     Russian Election Interference

  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I came to the floor to talk about the 
``Abolish ICE'' movement and the reasons that is a misconceived idea by 
some on the left, but first I feel compelled to respond just briefly to 
some of the comments made by our friend from New York, the Democratic 
leader.
  First of all, the Democratic leader says we need to have hearings on 
the matter of Russian interference in our elections. I would remind the 
Democratic leader that we have been doing that for a long time--ever 
since the intelligence community assessment was released at the end of 
the Obama administration documenting Russia's meddling in the election. 
That assessment was released on an unclassified basis. It is on the 
website of the Director of National Intelligence if anybody wants to 
read it.
  Also, I would submit to him the 29-page indictment that Robert 
Mueller had issued by a grand jury against 12 Russian intelligence 
officers. It lays out in minute detail what the Russians were doing to 
try to cause confusion and undermine public confidence in our 
elections. As a matter of fact, this afternoon the Senate Select 
Committee on Intelligence is hearing from some Obama administration 
officials on why they didn't do more to stop it back when President 
Obama was in office when they knew very clearly what was going on but 
did not do--well, did virtually nothing to stop it.
  So I would say to my friend from New York, the Democratic leader, 
there have been a lot of hearings, and the hearings are ongoing. 
Obviously, Special Counsel Mueller has issued this indictment. I only 
wish that it was more than a name-and-shame exercise because there is 
no chance the Russians will extradite these intelligence officers over 
here for a trial. But I think it does serve a useful educational 
purpose by pointing out in minute detail what the Russians have been up 
to. They have upped their game in a way that is surprising to many 
people, having used everything from propaganda, to social media, to 
cyber theft of information like the Clinton emails and the DNC emails 
during the course of the last election. It has gotten very 
sophisticated. We better be about fixing it and getting ready for the 
next election rather than coming to the floor and engaging in the 
favorite Washington pastime, which is the blame game.
  Senator Schumer said we need to issue sanctions against Russia. Well, 
I have in front of me about two single-spaced pages of actions that we 
have taken since the beginning of the Trump administration to support 
our allies against Russian aggression and to punish Russian misconduct, 
whether it is in the elections or otherwise. I would entertain--I 
understand the Senator from Colorado has some additional sanctions he 
thinks would be appropriate, and I think that would be something that 
would sting.
  Rather than just sending a press release or trying to message this or 
use it for partisan political purposes, let's consider additional 
sanctions that will actually discourage and hold accountable the 
Russians for their election meddling and deter them, hopefully, from 
doing it again.
  I understand the fourth thing my friend from New York said is that we 
need to stop criticizing the Comey FBI and the Department of Justice 
under the Obama administration. Well, it is pretty clear from the 
investigations that have occurred that something rotten was happening 
at the leadership of the FBI. Just to listen to Mr. Strzok--and his 
protestations that there was no bias associated with those 
investigations are patently unbelievable. It is unbelievable, not 
credible.
  So I understand that the Democratic leader wants to focus his 
attention on the President. That is his prerogative, and, indeed, he 
has been the leader of the anti-Trump resistance since President Trump 
was elected.
  Many of us do disagree with the President's assessment of the 
intelligence, as I have suggested. I firmly believe there is solid 
evidence of Russian meddling in the election. I think President Putin 
misrepresented the facts. I am not surprised by that given who he is 
and how he operates. As the Democratic leader said, as a former KGB 
colonel, he is accustomed to dissembling and distorting, manipulating 
information in a way that serves his purpose.
  I think we should be absolutely clear. We all support the men and 
women who are the professionals who make up the intelligence community 
in this country, many of whom expose themselves to great danger, and, 
indeed, many have lost their lives trying to protect this country 
against adversaries around the world. I think the findings of the 
intelligence community assessment during the end of the Obama 
administration provides a roadmap to what the Russians did, as did the 
indictment of the 12 Russian GRU intelligence officials.
  We better wake up. Rather than the blame game and pointing fingers, 
we better get ready for the next election, the midterm election in 
2018.
  I think there is a lot we can do together, but as long as this 
becomes a political, partisan, stop-Trump-at-all-costs effort, I don't 
think we are going to make much progress.
  I will conclude this part of my remarks by saying that I trust our 
intelligence community. I trust their assessment that there was Russian 
meddling in the election. But I also trust the investigation so far, 
which has shown absolutely no collusion with the Trump campaign and 
Russian intelligence activity leading up to the election. That is what 
I think has the President so spun up, because he feels as though this 
is an attack on him personally. I wish we could separate those two. 
But, indeed, our Democratic colleagues don't want to separate them 
because they realize this is the best way to keep this story going for 
as long as they can through the next election and, who knows, through 
the next Presidential election as well.