[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 75 (Tuesday, May 7, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2657-S2658]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             MUELLER REPORT

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, it has now been more than 6 weeks 
since Special Counsel Bob Mueller, the former FBI Director, concluded 
his investigation into Russia's interference in our 2016 election and 
delivered his findings to the Justice Department. It has been 2 weeks 
since Attorney General William Barr made the 450-page report public. 
This investigation went on for 2 years. It is finally over.
  Many Americans were waiting to see how their elected officials would 
respond. With an exhaustive investigation complete, would the country 
finally unify to confront the real challenges before us? Would we 
finally be able to move on from partisan paralysis and breathless 
conspiracy theorizing or would we remain consumed by unhinged 
partisanship and keep dividing ourselves to the point that Putin and 
his agents would need only to stand on the sidelines and watch us as 
their job would actually be done for them? Regrettably, the answer is 
pretty obvious.
  So that is what I want to discuss this morning--Russia's interference 
in American elections, the special counsel's and the Attorney General's 
work, and how we can finally end this ``Groundhog Day'' spectacle, stop 
endlessly relitigating a 2\1/2\-year-old election result, and move 
forward for the American people.
  Now, it bears remembering what this investigation was actually 
supposed to be about--Russian interference in 2016. For many of the 
President's opponents, it quickly morphed into something else--a last 
hope that maybe they would never have to come to terms with the 
American people's choice of a President. In some corners, Special 
Counsel Mueller came to be regarded as a kind of secular saint who was 
destined to rescue the country from the inconvenient truth that the 
American people actually elected Donald Trump. For 2 years, many of the 
President's opponents seemed to be hoping the worst conspiracy theories 
would actually be true. They seemed to be hoping for a national crisis 
for the sake of their own politics.
  Look, I will say it was at least heartening to see many of my 
Democratic colleagues and the media abruptly awaken to the dangers of 
Russian aggression. Remember, not long ago, the Democrats mocked 
Republicans like John McCain and Mitt Romney for warning about the 
dangers posed by Putin's Russia.
  Remember President Obama's quip back in 2012, when then-Governor 
Romney emphasized his concerns with Russia? Here is what President 
Obama said when Mitt Romney emphasized his concerns about Russia back 
in 2012: ``The 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy 
back.'' That was President Obama in 2012. Well, I think many of us now 
see that President Obama's approach to Russia could have used some more 
of the 1980s--more Ronald Reagan and less Jimmy Carter.
  We would have been better off if the Obama administration had not 
swept Putin's invasion and occupation of Georgia under the rug or had 
not looked away as Russia forced out Western NGOs and cracked down on 
civil society; if President Obama had not let Assad trample his redline 
on Syria or had not embraced Putin's fake deal on chemical weapons; if 
the Obama administration had responded firmly to Putin's invasion and 
occupation of Ukraine in 2014, to the assassination of Boris Nemtsov in 
2015, and to Russia's intervention in Syria. Maybe stronger leadership 
would have left the Kremlin less emboldened. Maybe tampering with our 
democracy wouldn't have seemed so very tempting.
  Instead, the previous administration sent the Kremlin the signal it 
could get away with almost anything. So is it surprising that we got 
the brazen interference detailed in Special Counsel Mueller's report or 
a concerted effort to divide Americans through social media campaigns 
or the hacking into the email accounts and networks of the Clinton 
campaign and the Democratic Party?
  Thanks to the investigation, we know more about these tactics. Thanks 
to the investigation, 13 Russian nationals, 3 Russian companies, and 12 
more

[[Page S2658]]

Russian intelligence officers have been indicted. These are the people 
who really did seek to undermine our democracy. Yet, curiously, many of 
our Democratic colleagues and most of the news media don't seem to care 
about that. New insight into defending America? Russian nationals being 
indicted? These don't seem to interest my colleagues across the aisle--
no interest--just like there has been little interest in the steps this 
administration has taken to make Russia pay for its interference and 
strengthen America's hand.
  Election interference was just one part of Russia's strategy to 
undercut the United States, and this administration has taken the 
problem head-on. We have a new, coherent national security strategy and 
national defense strategy that actually take the threat seriously.
  We have new sanctions. We have provided Georgia and Ukraine with 
weapons to better defend themselves--capabilities the previous 
administration denied our partners--now listen to this--out of fear of 
provoking Russia. We have worked against pipeline projects like Nord 
Stream 2 that would further expand Putin's influence. We have 
strengthened and reformed NATO so the alliance can present a united 
front. We proved Russia's noncompliance with the INF and walked away 
from a treaty that Moscow had turned into a sham. Over Russian 
objections, the Trump administration has also twice enforced President 
Obama's redline in Syria after Assad's use of chemical weapons.
  With respect to election security, Congress appropriated hundreds of 
millions of dollars to State governments to shore up their systems. The 
administration increased information sharing from the Department of 
Homeland Security in cooperation with the States. According to press 
reports, the Department of Defense has expanded its capabilities and 
authorities to thwart cyber threats to our democracy. No longer will we 
just hope Moscow respects our sovereignty--we will now defend it. These 
are just a few examples, and there is already evidence they are having 
an effect.
  We just had the 2018 midterm elections. Thanks to this 
administration's leadership, all 50 States and more than 1,400 local 
election jurisdictions focused on election security like never before. 
The DHS provided resources to localities for better cybersecurity, and 
private social media companies monitored their own platforms for 
foreign interference. Thanks to efforts across the Federal Government 
in 2018, we were ready. Clearly, that is progress. The Mueller report 
will help us as will the upcoming report from the Select Committee on 
Intelligence. These threats and challenges are real. Our responsibility 
to strengthen America is serious, and it requires serious work.
  Speaking of serious, seriousness is not what we have seen from the 
Democratic Party in recent days. What we have seen is a meltdown--an 
absolute meltdown. We have seen an inability to accept the bottom-line 
conclusion on Russian interference from the special counsel's report, 
which read that the investigation did not establish that members of the 
Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian Government in 
its election interference activities. That was the conclusion--2 years 
of exhaustive investigation and nothing to establish the fanciful 
conspiracy theory that the Democratic politicians and TV talking heads 
had treated like a forgone conclusion. They told everyone there had 
been a conspiracy between Russia and the Trump campaign. Yet, on this 
central question, the special counsel's finding is clear--case closed.
  This ought to be good news for everyone, but my Democratic colleagues 
seem to be publicly working through the five stages of grief. The first 
stage is denial. Remember what happened when the Attorney General 
released his preliminary letter that described the special counsel's 
bottom-line legal conclusion? Denial. Immediately, there was totally 
baseless speculation that perhaps Attorney General Barr had not quoted 
the report properly.
  Then comes stage No. 2--anger. Welcome to Washington in recent days. 
The Democrats are angry--angry that the facts have disappointed them, 
angry that our legal system will not magically undo the 2016 election 
for them. They have opted to channel all of their partisan anger onto 
the Attorney General. They seem to be angrier at Bill Barr for doing 
his job than they are at Vladimir Putin. This is a distinguished public 
servant whose career stretches back almost 50 years. He is widely 
respected. Nobody claims he has any prior personal allegiance to this 
particular President.

  Why are they angry? Why are they angry? Did the Attorney General fire 
the special counsel or force him to wind down prematurely? No. Did he 
sit on the Mueller report and keep it secret? No. He quickly reported 
out his bottom-line legal conclusions and then released as much as 
possible for the world to see. Did he use redactions? Did he use 
redactions to mislead the public? No. Working with the special 
counsel's team, he released as much as possible within standard--
standard--safeguards. So it is hard to see the source of the anger.
  Maybe our Democratic colleagues are thinking of some strange new kind 
of ``coverup'' where you take the entire thing you are supposedly 
covering up and post it on the internet. The claims get more and more 
utterly absurd. There are baseless accusations of perjury and laughable 
threats of impeachment.
  We all know what is going on here. This is the whole angry barrage 
that Democrats had prepared to unleash on President Trump--except the 
facts let them down. The facts let them down. So the left has swung all 
these cannons around and fired them at the Attorney General. It is not 
for any legitimate reason but just because he is a convenient target.
  There is this ``outrage industrial complex'' that spans from Capitol 
press conferences to cable news. They are grieving--grieving--that the 
national crisis they spent 2 years wishing for did not materialize. But 
for the rest of the country, this is good news. It is bad news for the 
``outrage industrial complex'' but good news for the country. So now 
they are slandering a distinguished public servant because the real 
world has disappointed them.
  Instead of taking a deep breath and coming back to reality, our 
colleagues across the aisle want to shoot the messenger and keep the 
perpetual outrage machine right on going, even undermining the 
institution of the Attorney General itself in the process.
  Remember, Russia set out to sow discord, to create chaos in American 
politics, and to undermine confidence in our democracy. But on that 
front, given the left's total fixation on delegitimizing the President 
Americans chose and shooting any messenger who tells them inconvenient 
truths, I am afraid the Russians hardly need to lift a finger--hardly 
need to lift a finger.
  The last stage of grievance is acceptance. For the country's sake, I 
hope my Democratic friends get there sometime soon. There are serious 
issues the American people need us to tackle. There is more progress 
for middle-class families we need to deliver.
  For 2 years, the Democratic Party held out hope that the legal system 
would undo their loss in 2016. They refused to make peace with the 
American people's choice. But the American people elected this 
President. They did. The American people voted for change. The American 
people sent us here to deliver results for their families. That is what 
Republicans have been doing for the past 2 years and counting. That is 
what Republicans will continue to do. Whenever our Democratic friends 
can regain their composure and come back to reality, we look forward to 
their help.

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