[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 152 (Wednesday, September 12, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S6151]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       ATTORNEY GENERAL SESSIONS

  Mr. FLAKE. Mr. President, in the annals of ``President's Say the 
Darndest Things,'' last week's Twitter outburst will stand out, at 
least for me, because the President attacked the Attorney General of 
the United States for simply doing the job he swore an oath to do.
  Of course, it wasn't the first time the President has so diminished 
himself, but this particular slander was leveled at the Attorney 
General for having the temerity to prosecute public corruption by 
Members of Congress who also happen to belong to the President's 
political party.
  That is right. The President attacked Mr. Sessions by name for 
refusing to cover up allegations of Republican misconduct. The 
President's concern was not for justice but for the political fortunes 
of the accused, because their congressional seats might now be at risk 
of falling to Democrats. In doing this, the President is projecting a 
vision onto the system of American justice that is both bizarre and, 
more importantly, destructive.
  Of course, the only truly shocking thing about this statement from 
the President is that, given what all of us have become accustomed to 
during this Presidency--or, even worse, have become numb to--this 
Twitter eruption was not at all surprising. This numb acceptance is an 
appalling statement on the very real threat to our democratic 
institutions.
  At this point, it might be too late for tutorials on the American 
justice system, but it certainly bears repeating that in order for 
justice to truly be served, justice must be based in empirical truth 
and must be absolutely carried out independent of politics, period.
  No President--any President--administers the justice system in 
America, any more than he or she decrees what is objective truth. In 
this country, justice and truth operate quite independent of the 
dictates of even the most powerful of offices.
  The reasons for this point are obvious to most, but we know by now 
that this particular President seems to have a profound unease with 
both justice and truth and so has been at unrelenting war with both, 
virtually since the moment he swore the oath--not because there is any 
deficiency in justice or truth that requires his intervention, mind 
you, but for other less noble reasons. The President seems to think 
that the office confers on him the ability to decide who and what gets 
investigated in the United States and who and what does not.
  Weekly, it seems, this President has been threatening to ``get 
involved'' in the function of the Justice Department--sometimes 
intimidating, sometimes plainly threatening to corrupt the independence 
of justice in America.
  He has overtly expressed a desire for his political opponents to be 
investigated, and almost 2 years into his Presidency, he presides over 
boisterous rallies where the last election is relitigated and chants of 
``lock her up'' fill the halls.
  None of this is normal or acceptable, but his is not mere 
recklessness. It seems to be a deliberate program, by which he intends 
to weaken the institution of American justice, threaten its 
independence, and perhaps set the stage for some future assault on it--
the firing of the attorney general, the deputy attorney general, and 
perhaps even the special counsel.
  It has been said that the President deserves to have an attorney 
general of his choice, a top lawyer with whom he is compatible. This is 
true. The President's appointment powers are clear, and all of his 
appointees serve at the pleasure of the President. But what no 
President deserves is a top lawyer who is simply there to do his 
bidding. The Attorney General is not the President's personal lawyer, 
and his job is not to protect the President from damaging facts or to 
turn the power of American justice onto the President's enemies or to 
direct Justice Department investigations in any particular way that is 
either politically motivated or presupposes guilt or innocence or 
favors any outcome whatsoever, other than that which is supported by 
the evidence and truth. The Attorney General's job description, as 
tweeted last week by the President, bears scant resemblance to the 
Attorney General's job in a constitutional democracy.
  So I rise today because the Founders gave us the article I branch of 
this government that they conceived and the responsibility to curb such 
reckless behavior.
  Thus far, I believe we have all been so incredulous at the daily 
excess and ever hopeful--hopeful beyond any reason--that this President 
would at last begin to inhabit the office in a more responsible fashion 
that we have been somewhat uncertain what to do.
  First and foremost, we must speak out. We cannot be quiet when the 
moment requires us to defend the democratic norms under which this 
system functions, and without which our system ceases to function. The 
President has repeatedly and over time heedlessly breached these norms. 
If we say nothing, then, we become accomplices in the destruction of 
these democratic norms.
  The Senate is not the place to come for deniability. We must do what 
we can to curb the destructive impulses of this White House. We must 
encourage the administration of justice. That means voicing our support 
for Mr. Mueller and his team. We have passed bipartisan legislation out 
of the Senate Judiciary Committee--legislation to protect the special 
counsel. I call on the majority leader to bring this legislation to the 
Senate floor.
  We must also say in no uncertain terms that to call this 
investigation a ``witch hunt'' is wrong. To call Mr. Mueller's team 
``thugs'' is wrong. Relentlessly slandering the Attorney General of the 
United States is wrong. It is a travesty, and it is unbecoming of the 
Office of the Presidency.
  I would say to the Attorney General: Stand firm. You spent your life 
in public service, in the service of your country. At the risk of being 
presumptuous, I will say that these days of your service, right now, 
during this crucial period in which we have a President who in a malign 
fashion is actively testing the limits of his power and the 
independence of American justice, your determination to safeguard the 
independence of the Justice Department at the same time that you have 
been under assault by the President has verged on heroic. In your long 
career, you will render no more consequential service to your country. 
Stand firm, Attorney General Sessions.
  I appeal to the leadership of this body to speak out. You don't have 
to speak out at every Twitter outburst, but when the President so 
blatantly calls for the Department of Justice to act as an arm of the 
Republican Party, then, the leaders of the Republican Party in this 
body need to stand and say that the President is out of bounds.
  We all have our pulls to conscience. Most recently for me, I hear the 
whisper so well described a few weeks ago--the whisper over my shoulder 
that says: We are better than this. America is better than this. In a 
time of rank tribalism, we need to remember that we are all Americans. 
That is our only tribe. It is to the rule of law and the ideals of our 
founding that we owe our allegiance.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arizona.

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