[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 126 (Thursday, July 25, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5084-S5086]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                             Mueller Report

  Mr. MARKEY. Madam President, yesterday the American people finally 
heard at length directly from Special Counsel Robert Mueller. In his 
testimony before the House Judiciary Committee and the Intelligence 
Committee, the special counsel gave voice to his report on Russian 
interference in our 2016 Presidential election and President Trump's 
obstruction of the investigation into it.
  What the American people and I heard from Special Counsel Mueller was 
an explanation and confirmation of the deeply troubling findings and 
conclusions of his investigation and his written report. He told us 
that the Trump campaign welcomed the help of a hostile foreign power, 
Russia, to influence our 2016 election, accepted that help, lied 
repeatedly about it, and benefited from it.
  He confirmed that there was voluminous evidence that President Trump 
had obstructed justice through his efforts to interfere with and impede 
the special counsel's investigation. Most importantly, contrary to the 
President's claims, the special counsel confirmed that his 
investigation had not exonerated the President of the crime of 
obstruction of justice. When asked, Robert Mueller made this crystal 
clear,

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testifying that ``the President was not exculpated for the acts that he 
allegedly committed.''
  In his testimony yesterday, Special Counsel Mueller did not back away 
from any of his written report's findings. The American people saw and 
heard him emphatically defend them.
  Special Counsel Mueller, a decorated war hero, gave every single 
American cause for deep alarm when he called Russian interference in 
support of the Trump campaign ``among the most serious challenges'' to 
American democracy that he had ever seen.
  He agreed that it was ``unpatriotic'' and ``wrong'' to seek campaign 
help from a foreign power, and he decried President Trump's failure to 
acknowledge or respond to the systematic and sweeping Russian 
interference, warning: ``They're doing it as we sit here.''
  Yesterday, Donald Trump tried to defend himself in tweets while 
Robert Mueller defended our democracy with his testimony.
  The special counsel's testimony and events of the past few weeks have 
led to the undeniable conclusion that it is time for the House of 
Representatives to begin a formal impeachment proceeding against 
President Trump.
  I stand here today on the Senate floor, the place where an 
unprecedented trial would occur, understanding the gravity of this 
moment in our Nation's history. I stand here today because I believe we 
have reached the moment where we must stand up for the survival of our 
democracy.
  Before I came to this decision, I said that I needed to hear directly 
from Special Counsel Mueller and other witnesses, that Congress needed 
to obtain documents, and that we needed to gather all the facts and 
evidence.
  I had hoped that the House Judiciary Committee's investigation would 
get us answers to the questions about the President's obstructive 
conduct that remained after Special Counsel Mueller issued his report. 
I had hoped that the President, who continues to insist that he did 
nothing wrong, would cooperate and that the House Judiciary Committee 
would receive testimony and other evidence from the Trump campaign and 
Trump administration witnesses. That has not happened, and that is 
because of continued and deliberate Presidential obstruction.
  Just listen to the numerous roadblocks that the President has put in 
Congress's way since Special Counsel Mueller issued his report in 
March. President Trump has denied the entire Congress access to the 
full and unredacted version of the Mueller report and its underlying 
materials.
  President Trump has claimed that key witnesses, like former White 
House Counsel Donald McGahn and former White House Communications 
Director Hope Hicks, are immune from testifying or simply don't have to 
comply with congressional subpoenas.
  President Trump has opposed testimony from two of the special 
counsel's top deputies and restricted the scope of the Mueller 
testimony, and President Trump has vowed to fight any future 
congressional subpoenas.
  What we have seen from President Trump is a pattern of repeated and 
baseless defiance of the House's constitutional authority to 
investigate, especially subpoenas seeking evidence that the President 
obstructed justice and abused his power.
  The President has engaged in stonewalling that shows an unprecedented 
disregard and contempt for a coequal branch of government under our 
Constitution--disregard and contempt that would make Richard Nixon 
blush with envy.
  Taken together, Special Counsel Robert Mueller's testimony and the 
President's obstruction of the congressional investigation compel us to 
immediately begin a formal impeachment inquiry.
  I do not come to this decision lightly. An impeachment proceeding 
against the President of the United States is a matter of the highest 
constitutional magnitude, but when the evidence demonstrates that the 
President of the United States obstructed the special counsel's 
investigation and when the facts and the evidence demonstrate that the 
President of the United States is continuing to obstruct justice, 
seeking to derail a legitimate congressional investigation into the 
lawfulness of his conduct while in office, then Congress must do its 
constitutional duty and act.
  The acts of obstruction that Special Counsel Mueller described in his 
report and in his testimony yesterday to Congress are impeachable 
offenses--a view shared by myriad constitutional scholars, attorneys, 
and prosecutors.
  The President improperly pressed then-FBI Director James Comey to 
drop the investigation of former National Security Advisor Michael 
Flynn and, subsequently, fired Comey because of the Russia 
investigation--confirmed yesterday by the special counsel's testimony.
  The President unlawfully demanded that then-Attorney General Jeff 
Sessions reverse his recusal from the Russia investigation and take 
over the investigation--confirmed yesterday by the special counsel's 
testimony.
  The President engaged in witness tampering and falsification of 
government records when he directed White House Counsel Don McGahn to 
fire Robert Mueller and later pressured McGahn to deny that it had 
happened--confirmed yesterday by the special counsel's testimony.
  The President engaged in a coverup when he sought to prevent public 
disclosure of evidence about the infamous June 9, 2016, Trump Tower 
meeting--confirmed yesterday by the special counsel's testimony.
  The President abused his constitutional authority by holding out the 
prospect of pardons in exchange for witnesses' silence--confirmed 
yesterday by the special counsel's testimony.
  That Robert Mueller found so much evidence that this President 
committed impeachable offenses might be shocking, but it should not be 
surprising. After all, look at what we have learned about this 
President during his 2\1/2\ years in office, what he is willing to say 
and what he is willing to do.
  Did an American President put family members in high-level White 
House policy positions--positions requiring security clearances that 
should never have been issued? Yes, he did.
  Did an American President repeatedly show infatuation with and 
express sympathy for authoritarian figures around the globe, most 
notably Vladimir Putin, the man who interfered with the 2016 election 
to President Trump's benefit? Yes, he did.
  Did an American President face multiple, repeated, and credible 
allegations of sexual assault by more than a dozen women--sexual 
assault that he bragged about on tape? Yes, he did.
  Did an American President become known as individual No. 1, in effect 
an unindicted coconspirator on charges of Federal campaign finance law 
violations that were brought against his lawyer, Michael Cohen, in New 
York? Yes, he did.
  Did an American President seek to divide Americans based on race, 
religion, and ethnicity, directing racist language at elected Members 
of Congress and urging others to celebrate that hate? Sadly, yes, he 
did.
  We have watched as Donald Trump has given the Constitution a stress 
test, the likes of which we haven't seen in 230 years. We have watched 
him attack judges and seek to intimidate the judiciary.
  We have watched him disregard Congress's coequal role in government 
under article I of the Constitution, whether by spending unappropriated 
money on his border wall, relying on ``acting'' government officials to 
eviscerate the Senate's advice and consent function, or ignoring 
legitimate oversight requests.
  We have watched the President sue Congress in order to block release 
of his tax returns and refuse to disclose any meaningful information 
about his business operations, especially sources of foreign investment 
and loans, raising alarming questions about violations of the 
Constitution's emoluments clause.
  This President relishes attacking the freedom of the press and has 
incited violence against journalists for exercising their First 
Amendment rights.
  Donald Trump is tearing at the fabric of our democracy, literally, 
every single day. And yesterday, the Congress and the American people 
heard the facts and evidence that Congress can and should act to hold 
him accountable.
  In the face of impeachable offenses, it is the Constitution that 
entrusts the Congress with the responsibility of deciding whether to 
remove a President of the United States from office for

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high crimes and misdemeanors. Indeed, in the face of evidence of 
serious and persistent misconduct that is harmful to the Nation, 
Congress would be abusing its constitutional discretion and setting a 
dangerous precedent if it did not begin an impeachment inquiry.
  If the evidence of obstruction of justice and other wrongdoing that 
Robert Mueller explained yesterday is not evidence of impeachable 
offenses, what is? What damage would a future President have to inflict 
in order to trigger an impeachment inquiry?
  I have no illusions about where an impeachment inquiry will lead. My 
Republican colleagues have thus far shown themselves unwilling to hold 
this President accountable. They believe that everything is ``all 
over.'' But the evidence in the Mueller report and the special 
counsel's testimony yesterday explaining it, defending it, and 
reaffirming it compel us to do what is right and what is necessary, and 
that is to exercise our authority and begin an impeachment proceeding 
against Donald Trump. Nothing less than our democracy is at stake. I 
call upon my colleagues in the House of Representatives to do so.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Tennessee.