[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 148 (Thursday, September 6, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H7873-H7874]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         HE-SAID/HE-SAID DEBATE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Gutierrez) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GUTIERREZ. Mr. Speaker, I have been thinking about all the 
criminal investigations pointing directly at the President and his 
associates and the fact that, for many Americans, this has become a he-
said/he-said debate.
  On the one hand, you have the President saying that this is all a 
witch hunt: Yes, I fired Comey and ordered to derail the investigation; 
yes, I knew about and helped conceal the Russia meeting; and, yes, I 
knew about the payments to keep people quiet.
  Then there is Robert Mueller, the former FBI Director, who really 
hasn't said a word this whole time, but his efficient, productive, and 
successful investigations keep rolling right along. I guess he lets his 
indictments do his talking.
  So in this battle of he-said/he-said, who would the oddsmakers pick? 
If you were a betting man or woman, a Vegas oddsmaker, or just an 
armchair quarterback, who would you go with?
  On the one hand, we have a conservative Republican who was the second 
longest serving FBI Director. Only Hoover served longer. On the other 
hand, we have the host of a reality TV show with no political or 
government or military or law enforcement experience whatsoever.
  Hmm, let's continue.
  On the one hand, we have a Vietnam veteran with a Purple Heart and a 
Bronze Star. Director Mueller joined the Marines as a volunteer at the 
height of the Vietnam war after his high school teammate was killed in 
action. Mueller enlisted to honor his friend and out of a sense of 
duty, honor, and obligation to put oneself behind one's country as a 
matter of honor.
  On the other hand, we have the President, who avoided military 
service by claiming he had bone spurs in his foot, despite ample 
evidence that was a lie, a complete fiction made up to serve what? His 
own personal interests above those of the Nation at time of war.
  According to what I have read, Director Mueller was a good student at 
Princeton, and after earning his bachelor's and master's and after 
serving in Vietnam with distinction, he studied law at the University 
of Virginia, where he served on the Law Review, a prestigious 
accomplishment at any law school, let alone one of the best.
  The President went to business school and inherited millions of 
dollars and started a real estate business because his dad gave him the 
money.
  Director Mueller is a courtroom expert and veteran law enforcement 
leader. Think about this: He was a private litigator, a prosecutor in 
the U.S. Attorney's Office, and started serving at the Justice 
Department under Attorney General Dick Thornburgh, who was Ronald 
Reagan's and George H.W. Bush's Attorney General.
  To be sure, the President has a great deal of courtroom experience, 
too, but that is mostly related to depositions, civil lawsuits, and 
criminal cases when he sues people or threatens to sue them.
  On a more personal note, Director Mueller's service as FBI Director, 
as you may remember, was delayed at one point because he was fighting 
prostate cancer, which he beat.
  He is a man of integrity who married his high school sweetheart in 
1966, and to the best of everyone's knowledge, it is the only marriage 
of either one of them.
  The President, well, I am running out of time, so I won't be able to 
discuss his long list of marriages and affairs, which have all become 
quite public.
  Finally, while the President characterizes the Mueller investigation 
as the most expensive witch hunt in history, I bet the oddsmakers would 
give a lot of weight to the following facts: The President's campaign 
chairman has been convicted; his National Security Advisor resigned and 
pleaded guilty; his personal attorney and long-time fixer in New York 
pleaded guilty on multiple counts; and people from inside The Trump 
Organization and inside the campaign and the White House are 
cooperating with prosecutors as we speak. And this was all despite the 
President's efforts and with the full cooperation of Republicans in 
Congress to prevent the truth from coming out.
  There are a lot of people in this body who are staking their careers 
on the

[[Page H7874]]

President and his influence over their voters in their States or their 
congressional districts. Okay. You are betting on a guy who is up 
tweeting at 3 a.m. in the morning.
  Look, I am going to bet--when I look at the main protagonist in this 
legal drama, I will put my money on the law enforcement veteran who, at 
3 a.m. in the morning, is working on who he is going to indict next.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to refrain from 
engaging in personalities toward the President of the United States.

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