[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 77 (Thursday, May 9, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H3661-H3663]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THE MUELLER REPORT
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 3, 2019, the gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. Schakowsky) is
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Madam Speaker, the report on the investigation into
Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, more commonly
known as the Mueller report, outlines efforts by the Russian Government
to manipulate the United States election
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system and directly attack American democracy. It outlines alleged
coordination between individuals associated with one camp and Russia to
influence our election.
It also documents multiple instances of potential obstruction of
justice.
The report has been mischaracterized and spun in inappropriate ways
in the Halls of Congress and within the media.
In reality, the report documents widespread activities undertaken by
many in positions of power that were at best unethical and at worst
illegal.
But you don't have to take my word for it. Instead, listen to the
following examples taken directly from the report and judge for
yourself.
I am going to begin with a quote from the Mueller report and then
invite my colleagues to also simply read from the document, which the
American people should know can be downloaded for free from the
Department of Justice website.
``The evidence we obtained about the President's actions and intent
present difficult issues that would need to be resolved if we were
making a traditional prosecutorial judgment. At the same time, if we
had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the
President clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so
state. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, we are
unable to reach that judgment. Accordingly, while this report does not
conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not
exonerate him.'' Volume II, page 8.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to refrain from
engaging in personalities toward the President.
Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from
California (Mrs. Davis) to quote from the Mueller report.
Mrs. DAVIS of California. ``On Saturday, June 17, 2017, the President
called McGahn and directed him to have the special counsel removed . .
. In interviews with the Special Counsel's Office, McGahn recalled that
the President called him at home twice and on both occasions directed
him to call Rosenstein and say that Mueller had conflicts that
precluded him from serving as special counsel. On the first call,
McGahn recalled that the President said something like, `You gotta do
this. You gotta call Rod.' '' Volume II, page 85.
Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from
California (Ms. Lee).
Ms. LEE of California. ``Substantial evidence indicates that the
catalyst for the President's decision to fire Comey was Comey's
unwillingness to publicly state that the President was not personally
under investigation, despite the President's repeated requests that
Comey make such an announcement. Other evidence, however, indicates
that the President wanted to protect himself from an investigation into
his campaign.'' Volume II, pages 75 and 76.
Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Illinois
(Mr. Casten).
Mr. CASTEN of Illinois. Madam Speaker, this is in response to the
attorney general's claim that the President has constitutional immunity
from prosecution. Mr. Mueller writes: ``We were not persuaded by the
argument that the President has blanket constitutional immunity to
engage in acts that would corruptly obstruct justice through the
exercise of otherwise valid Article II powers.''
He goes on at some length to talk about what that standard is, but I
want to read the footnote in that section.
``A possible remedy through impeachment for abuses of power would not
substitute for potential criminal liability after a President leaves
office. Impeachment would remove a President from office, but would not
address the underlying culpability of the conduct or serve the usual
purposes of the criminal law. . . .
``Impeachment is also a drastic and rarely invoked remedy, and
Congress is not restricted to relying only on impeachment, rather than
making criminal law applicable to a former President . . . ''
That is from Volume II, page 178.
Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from
Michigan (Mrs. Lawrence).
Mrs. LAWRENCE. ``On Saturday, June 17, 2017, the President called
McGahn and directed him to have the special counsel removed . . . In
interviews with the special counsel's office, McGahn recalled that the
President called him at home twice and on both occasions directed him
to call Rosenstein and say that Mueller had conflicts that precluded
him from serving as special counsel. On the first call, McGahn recalled
that the President said something like, `You gotta do this. You gotta
call Rod.' '' This is from Volume II, page 85.
Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Ohio
(Mrs. Beatty).
Mrs. BEATTY. Reading from Volume II, page 8: ``Congress has authority
to prohibit a President's corrupt use of his authority in order to
protect the integrity of the administration of justice.''
``Article II of the Constitution does not categorically and
permanently immunize the President from potential liability for the
conduct that we investigated. Rather, our analysis led us to conclude
that the obstruction-of-justice statutes can validly prohibit a
President's corrupt efforts to use his official powers to curtail, end,
or interfere with an investigation.''
``The conclusion that Congress may apply the obstruction laws to the
President's corrupt exercise of the powers of office accords with our
constitutional system of checks and balances and the principle that
no person is above the law.''
Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from
Minnesota (Ms. Omar).
Ms. OMAR. Reading from Volume II, page 157: The ``investigation found
multiple acts by the President that were capable of exerting undue
influence over law enforcement investigations, including the Russian-
interference and obstruction investigations. The incidents were often
carried out through one-on-one meetings in which the President sought
to use his official power outside of usual channels. These actions
ranged from efforts to remove the special counsel and to reverse the
effect of the attorney general's recusal; to the attempted use of
official power to limit the scope of the investigation; to direct and
indirect contacts with witnesses with the potential to influence their
testimony. Viewing the acts collectively can help to illuminate their
significance.'' Volume II, page 157.
Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New York
(Mr. Morelle).
Mr. MORELLE. ``After it was reported that Cohen intended to cooperate
with the government, however, the President accused Cohen of `making up
stories in order to get himself out of an unrelated jam (taxicabs
maybe?),' called Cohen a `rat,' and on multiple occasions publicly
suggested that Cohen's family members had committed crimes. The
evidence concerning this sequence of events could support an inference
that the President used inducements in the form of positive messages in
an effort to get Cohen not to cooperate, and then turned to attacks and
intimidation to deter the provision of information or undermine Cohen's
credibility once Cohen began cooperating.'' Volume II, page 154.
Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from
California (Mr. Lowenthal).
Mr. LOWENTHAL. ``The President launched public attacks on the
investigation and individuals involved in it who could possess evidence
adverse to the President, while in private, the President engaged in a
series of targeted efforts to control the investigation. For instance,
the President attempted to remove the special counsel; he sought to
have Attorney General Sessions unrecuse himself and limit the
investigation; he sought to prevent public disclosure of information
about the June 9, 2016, meeting between Russians and campaign
officials; and he used public forums to attack potential witnesses who
might offer adverse information and to praise witnesses who declined to
cooperate with the government.'' Volume II, page 157.
{time} 1945
Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from
California (Ms. Lee).
Ms. LEE of California. ``In early 2018, the press reported that the
President had directed McGahn to have the special counsel removed in
June 2017 and
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that McGahn had threatened to resign rather than carry out the order.
The President reacted to the news stories by directing White House
officials to tell McGahn to dispute the story and create a record
stating he had not been ordered to have the special counsel removed.
McGahn told those officials that the media reports were accurate in
stating that the President had directed McGahn to have the special
counsel removed.''
Volume II, pages 5 and 6.
Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New York
(Mr. Morelle).
Mr. MORELLE. ``Congress can permissibly criminalize certain
obstructive conduct by the President, such as suborning perjury,
intimidating witnesses, or fabricating evidence, because those
prohibitions raise no separation of powers questions. . . . The
Constitution does not authorize the President to engage in such
conduct, and those actions would transgress the President's duty to
`take care that the laws be faithfully executed.' ''
Volume II, page 170.
Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Ohio
(Mrs. Beatty).
Mrs. BEATTY. ``On October 7, 2016, the media released video of
candidate Trump speaking in graphic terms about women years earlier,
which was considered damaging to his candidacy. Less than an hour
later, WikiLeaks made its second release: thousands of John Podesta's
emails that had been stolen by the GRU in late March 2016. The FBI and
other U.S. Government institutions were at the time continuing their
investigation of suspected Russian Government efforts to interfere in
the Presidential election.
``That same day, October 7, the Department of Homeland Security and
the Office of the Director of National Intelligence issued a joint
public statement `that the Russian Government directed the recent
compromises of emails from U.S. persons and institutions, including
from U.S. political organizations.' Those `thefts' and the
`disclosures' of the hacked materials through online platforms such as
WikiLeaks, the statement continued, `are intended to interfere with the
U.S. election process.' ''
Volume I, page 7.
Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from
Connecticut (Mrs. Hayes).
Mrs. HAYES. ``Further, the Office learned that some of the
individuals we interviewed or whose conduct we investigated--including
some associated with the Trump campaign--deleted relevant
communications or communicated during the relevant period using
applications that feature encryption or that do not provide for long-
term retention of data or communications records. In such cases, the
Office was not able to corroborate witness statements through
comparison to contemporaneous communications or fully question
witnesses about statements that appeared inconsistent with other known
facts.''
Volume I, page 10.
Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from
Michigan (Mrs. Lawrence).
Mrs. LAWRENCE. ``Cohen also recalled speaking with the President's
personal counsel about pardons after the searches of his home and
office had occurred, at a time when the media had reported that pardon
discussions were occurring at the White House. . . . Cohen understood,
based on this conversation and previous conversations about pardons
with the President's personal counsel, that as long as he stayed on
message, he would be taken care of by the President, either through a
pardon or through the investigation being shut down.''
Volume II, page 147.
Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from
California (Ms. Lee).
Ms. LEE of California. ``The investigation established that several
individuals affiliated with the Trump campaign lied to the Office, and
to Congress, about their interactions with Russian-affiliated
individuals and related matters. Those lies materially impaired the
investigation of Russian election interference. The Office charged some
of those lies as violations of the Federal false statements statute.''
Volume I, page 9.
Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from
Connecticut (Mrs. Hayes).
Mrs. HAYES. ``The President and his personal counsel made repeated
statements suggesting that a pardon was a possibility for Manafort,
while also making it clear that the President did not want Manafort to
`flip' and cooperate with the government.''
Volume II, page 131.
Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Ohio
(Mrs. Beatty).
Mrs. BEATTY. ``Immediately after the November 8 election, Russian
Government officials and prominent Russian businessmen began trying to
make inroads into the new administration. The most senior levels of
Russian Government encouraged these efforts. The Russian Embassy made
contact hours after the election to congratulate the President-elect
and to arrange a call with President Putin. Several Russian businessmen
picked up the effort from there.''
Volume I, page 7.
Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. ``The President engaged in a second phase of conduct,
involving public attacks of the investigation, nonpublic efforts to
control it, and efforts in both public and private to encourage
witnesses not to cooperate with the investigation.''
Volume II, page 7.
``The President's position as the head of the executive branch
provided him with unique and powerful means of influencing official
proceedings, subordinate officers, and potential witnesses.''
Volume II, page 7.
``Substantial evidence indicates that the President's effort to have
Sessions limit the scope of the special counsel's investigation to
future election interference was intended to prevent further
investigative scrutiny of the President's and his campaign's conduct.''
Volume II, page 97.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee).
Ms. LEE of California. ``Two days after the President directed McGahn
to have the special counsel removed, the President made another attempt
to affect the course of the Russia investigation. On June 19, 2017, the
President met one-on-one with Corey Lewandowski in the Oval Office and
dictated a message to be delivered to Attorney General Sessions that
would have had the effect of limiting the Russia investigation to
future election interference only.''
Volume II, page 90.
Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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