[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 99 (Thursday, June 13, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3453-S3454]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               ELECTIONS

  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, last night, President Donald Trump, in 
an interview with ABC News, said that if he were offered information 
about an opponent from a foreign source in the next election, he would 
take a look at it and might not go to the FBI.

       I think you might want to listen. There isn't anything 
     wrong with listening. If someone called from a country . . . 
     [and said] ``we have information on your opponent''--oh, I 
     think I'd want to hear it.

  That is shocking, shocking--yet, sadly, is par for the course for 
this President.
  My predecessor, Senator Moynihan, said, ``We are defining deviancy 
down.'' No President has defined deviancy down more than Donald Trump, 
and his remarks last night defined deviancy down to a new low.
  To say that it is OK for foreign countries to interfere in our 
elections, with their motives not being what are in the interests of 
the American people, is disgraceful, shocking. It is as if the 
President has learned absolutely nothing from the past 2 years of 
investigations into Russia's interference of the 2016 elections. This 
is precisely how the whole thing started. A foreign power reached out 
to establish connections with a Presidential campaign by dangling the 
promise of information about an opponent, and President Trump said he 
would welcome it. He asked Russia to interfere.
  When he wonders why people think there might be collusion, well, this 
is why. This is a President who says: Russia, come help. That doesn't 
prove collusion, but it sure proves that he doesn't mind foreign powers 
interfering with an election.
  Again, the President's comments are undemocratic, un-American, and 
disgraceful. The President's comments suggest he believes winning an 
election is more important than the integrity of an election. That idea 
is flat-out wrong. The President's idea that winning an election is 
everything and the integrity of an election is nothing is one small 
step away from dictators and autocrats, who manipulate the results of 
an election because they care more about staying in power than they 
care about democratic principles. Donald Trump seems to fall into that 
category in which winning is everything and integrity is nothing.
  It is simple. When a foreign power tries to give a campaign 
information on an opponent, that is foreign interference in our 
elections. It is exactly what the Framers worried about at the very 
founding of our Republic.
  It is up to us in Congress to protect that legacy, the wellspring of 
democracy--free and fair elections. It is up to all of us in Congress--
Democrats and Republicans. When a foreign power interferes in our 
elections, the Democrats shouldn't say ``If it helps our side, we are 
OK with it,'' and the Republicans shouldn't say ``If it helps our side, 
we are OK with it.''
  Where are the Republicans going to be with this latest step over the 
line by Donald Trump? Are they going to sit and cower and do nothing?
  We have multiple bipartisan elections security bills that are just 
languishing here in the Senate. We even

[[Page S3454]]

have a bill that has been introduced by the ranking member of the 
Intelligence Committee that would make it a campaign's legal duty to 
report to the FBI when a foreign power offers its assistance.
  It is very simple. If a foreign power comes to your campaign and 
offers assistance, you tell the FBI. This would say you are required to 
by law. It is Senator Warner's bill. Are our Republican colleagues 
going to be with us on that? We will find out shortly because later 
this afternoon, my friend Senator Warner will ask our colleagues for 
the unanimous consent to pass his bill that says: If Russia, Iran, 
North Korea, or anyone else offers campaign help, you must report it to 
the FBI ASAP.
  My Republican friends should take a few hours to decide if they 
really want to block that bill, because if they do, it would be a 
disgrace and another step in defining deviancy down in this grand 
democracy that is becoming more and more at risk.
  The Republican blockade of elections security thus far, led by Leader 
McConnell, has to come to an end. Bipartisan elections security bills 
are languishing because Leader McConnell will not bring them to the 
floor. One of his own colleagues, the chairman of the Rules and 
Administration Committee, said we are not bringing them to the floor 
because Leader McConnell doesn't want to. He stands in the way, with 
his graveyard, on an issue that is vital to American integrity, 
American democracy. Leader McConnell needs to bring these bills to the 
floor.
  Again, I ask our Republicans to think hard as Senator Warner asks for 
his unanimous consent request later this morning or this afternoon. Are 
you going to say it is OK when a foreign power goes to you or to any 
other candidate or a sitting President and says, ``We will help you win 
the election--shhh--and we will help you to be quiet about it and not 
to tell law enforcement''? I hope not.
  The embrace of our Republican colleagues of everything Donald Trump 
does, including things they know are wrong, has become stunning and 
appalling. Let's see, in this instance, if it gets even worse.

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