[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 163 (Wednesday, October 16, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5806-S5808]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          Trump Administration

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I mentioned yesterday the contrast 
between our work in the Senate and what is transpiring over in the 
House.
  On this side of the Capitol, we are focused on working for the 
American people. We are overcoming the Democrats' historic delay 
tactics and obstruction to confirm more of the President's impressive 
nominees for the executive branch as well as for the judiciary. Later 
today, we will confirm a new Secretary of the Air Force and will then 
turn to several impressive nominees to district court vacancies in 
order to continue our renewal of the Federal judiciary.
  We will also keep working on the appropriations process and on 
providing the funding our Armed Forces certainly need, and we are 
discussing ways to discourage the withdrawal of U.S. forces from the 
Middle East and ensure the United States continues to provide the 
essential global leadership that has cornered ISIS and other radical 
Islamic terrorists and has kept our Nation safe.
  So what is going on over in the House?
  Those in the House are doubling down on their 3-year-old obsession of 
finding ways to nullify the decision the American people made back in 
2016. Speaker Pelosi's Democrats are blocking the USMCA, which is the 
landmark trade deal that would create 176,000 new jobs for American 
workers. They are dragging their heels on funding the government, which 
is keeping our military commanders in limbo. All of their energy is 
going into this all-consuming impeachment parade that has been rolling 
on for 3 years now--ever searching for a rationale.
  Remember, it was literally on Inauguration Day of January 2017 when 
the Washington Post ran this headline: ``The campaign to impeach 
President Trump has begun.'' Well, the Post got it right. Before 
President Trump even took office, one prominent House Democrat had 
already declared he would not be a legitimate President. Just a few 
months later, another was already promising she would not rest until 
she impeached him.
  From the very beginning of this Presidency, Washington Democrats have 
lived in a state of denial. They have seemed positive that some inside-
the-Beltway maneuver would save them from the consequences of Secretary 
Clinton's defeat. They had hoped Special Counsel Mueller's report would 
have validated their theories about the conspiracy between the Trump 
campaign and the Russians. They used their minority powers in the 
Senate to effectively try to nullify his Presidency by obstructing even 
completely uncontroversial nominees to all kinds of government posts 
simply because this President was the one who nominated them.
  There have been 3 years of this. Now, finally, Speaker Pelosi's 
efforts to hold back her leftwing caucus have officially crumbled, and 
the House has thrown itself into impeachment.
  Given the lip service the House Democrats pay in defending the norms 
and institutions of American Government, you might think they would at 
least run this so-called impeachment inquiry by the book. You might 
think the people who are trying to overrule the American voters and, 
from Washington, cancel out an election would conduct their process by 
the very highest standards of fairness and due process.
  If you thought that, you would be wrong. Our Democratic colleagues 
have had their minds made up since long before this inquiry began. 
Remember, the chairwoman of one of the committees Speaker Pelosi put in 
charge of the process said in April of 2017: ``I'm going to fight every 
day until he's impeached.'' That was back in 2017. So this is not about 
seriously discharging constitutional responsibilities. It is about the 
end result they have had in mind since day one.
  Remember when the campaign to block Justice Kavanaugh began with 
protest signs with a big, empty blank for the name? It was a fill-in-
the-blank protest before they even knew who the nominee was. Now we 
have the sequel with this fill-in-the-blank quest for impeachment. The 
Democrats' process already speaks for itself.
  For the first time ever, Speaker Pelosi has simply ordered the House 
to conduct an inquiry into impeaching a President without a full vote 
of the House. Just yesterday, the Speaker doubled down on this 
unprecedented and undemocratic process by once again refusing to hold a 
vote on an impeachment inquiry.
  Democrats have refused to give Republicans the same rights and fair 
treatment that Republicans afforded Democrats during the Clinton 
impeachment--things like equal subpoena power for the ranking members. 
Likewise, Democrats have refused to give President Trump's counsel the 
same opportunities that Republicans gave to President Clinton--rights 
such as attending all hearings, depositions, offering evidence, and 
cross-examining witnesses.
  We have already seen Chairman Schiff say in public that his committee 
had not been in touch with the whistleblower when they actually had 
been. We have seen Chairman Schiff bizarrely and brazenly fabricate 
what the President actually said to the President of Ukraine during an 
official hearing that he was chairing, only to claim that his 
fabrications were a parody--a parody--when Republicans called him out 
for it.
  The same Democrats who are running this circus turn around and claim 
with a straight face that they are solemnly following the facts and the 
Constitution wherever it leads.
  Give me a break. Give me a break. The entire country can see that 
that is not what is happening here.
  And here is what else the American people can see: The Democrats 
would rather fight with the White House than work with the Republicans 
and the administration to pass legislation.
  We need real solutions, like full-year funding for our Armed Forces 
so our men and women in uniform can receive their pay raise and our 
commanders can engage in long-term planning; real solutions like the 
USMCA, the major victory for American workers and American businesses 
that the Trump administration negotiated with Canada and Mexico but 
which Speaker Pelosi has blocked for months, with 176,000 new American 
jobs hanging in the balance.
  Opportunities are right before us. Senate Republicans have been ready 
and waiting for weeks and months to do our part and actually make law 
on these subjects for the benefit of American families. We just need 
our counterparts across the Capitol to get serious about this.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, just when you think things couldn't get 
any stranger here in Washington, DC, a few weeks ago, Speaker Pelosi 
announced that the House was officially beginning proceedings to 
impeach the President of the United States. While the left has been 
dreaming of impeachment ever since the President was first elected in 
2016, the timing of this was quite a surprise. In fact, last January 
the Speaker led the effort to table an impeachment resolution, and she 
and Chairman Nadler and Chairman Schiff and other House leaders had 
said that they recognized that this would never be successful unless it 
is bipartisan, and I think they were right then and they are wrong now.

[[Page S5807]]

  We know that the announcement of the Speaker came at a time when the 
only thing the public knew was about rumors of a whistleblower 
complaint about a call over which virtually no one knew any details.
  But the facts didn't really matter. This was about grabbing ahold of 
something and using this as a vehicle to do what the left has wanted to 
do since the President was inaugurated.
  Were the initial reports a reason to look into the matter further? 
Absolutely. That is what the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence 
that I have the privilege of serving on did. We had the Acting Director 
of National Intelligence come testify. We had the inspector general 
come testify about his report.
  But that is not the approach that House Democrats have taken. They 
made no honest effort to investigate before deciding to impeach.
  Prior to the Speaker's press conference, in fact, we hadn't seen the 
complaint. We hadn't seen the transcript or heard from the leaders of 
the intelligence community. But regardless of the lack of any evidence 
at the time, they jumped into impeachment feet first. It is almost as 
if they were waiting for anything--any excuse, any reason at all--to do 
what they have wanted to do since day one in opposing President Trump.
  This confirms to me that this is really not about the facts so much 
as it is a search-and-destroy mission.
  Removing a President from office is no small matter. In fact, the 
Senate has never done so in American history. You would think that with 
so much at stake, our House Democrat friends would make every effort to 
lay out a careful, logical, fact-based case for the American people.
  In fact, they said they knew they couldn't be successful unless this 
was a bipartisan effort, but they made zero effort to make it 
bipartisan by laying out the facts, by making it transparent, by 
letting the American people see exactly what was going on.
  Ordinarily, you would expect hearings on every major network, 
witnesses presenting their testimony, subject to questioning by both 
Republicans and Democrats, and detailed reports of investigations. That 
is what you would expect, but that is not what we got.
  Instead, we got secret hearings, secret witnesses, secret interviews, 
and secret meetings. But you know what goes along with that kind of 
secrecy--leaks and more leaks.
  Chairman Schiff and his cohorts in the House have drawn the cloak of 
secrecy around this entire proceeding and then proceeded to drip, drip, 
drip a narrative to the press through leaks that would seem to justify 
their arguments, but that is not fair. That is not fair to the 
President. That is not fair to the 65 million American people who voted 
for President Trump. To try to negate an election through this sort of 
inappropriate process just defies logic and sense.
  We have some idea of whom they are meeting with, but we have no idea 
as to the details they are talking about. That is because, instead of 
going through the Judiciary Committee, which would have been an open 
proceeding, ordinarily, Speaker Pelosi has grabbed this topic from 
Chairman Nadler and given it to Chairman Schiff, the chairman of the 
House Intelligence Committee, so as to have some sort of justification, 
as thin as it may seem, for doing things behind closed doors and in 
secret.
  As I said, I am on the Senate Intelligence Committee. I understand 
that if there is classified information that can't be made public, that 
is a reason to have closed-door hearings, but there should be some 
effort to separate the classified information, if there is any, from 
the nonclassified information and have a public hearing on that part of 
the information the committee is given, not just closing the door, 
locking it, and throwing away the key, and keeping it all secret. This 
is really unjustified.
  Well, we know that they have been busy. Chairman Schiff has been 
busy. We know he has been particularly busy on the TV talk shows and 
giving interviews to the media all day long, every day, and we know 
that there are bits of information being strategically leaked to the 
media, which conveniently align with their overall plan, and that is 
impeachment.

  There have been no real and credible details about what has happened 
behind those closed-door meetings, and I would suggest that every 
American should be concerned. This is entirely contrary to our basic 
concepts of fairness and due process--to have secret witnesses, secret 
interviews, secret hearings, and then use that information to take one 
of the most dramatic actions that the Constitution provides for, and 
that is the removal of a President.
  This is contrary to any concept of fair play and due process, as 
guaranteed by the Bill of Rights and our Constitution. You could be 
charged with a traffic offense and get more transparency and more due 
process than what the House Democrats are providing to President Trump, 
because that is what the Constitution requires.
  Because the Speaker made a decision to impeach President Trump based 
at the time solely on rumors and secondhand information, I am left with 
very little optimism for the way this impeachment inquiry so far has 
been handled.
  Now, there have been some silly hearings in the House of 
Representatives this year, but the American people should have the 
benefit of being able to watch these proceedings and draw their own 
conclusions. They don't have to believe what the press tells them based 
on strategic leaks. They don't have to believe what Chairman Schiff and 
Speaker Pelosi say. They can judge the facts for themselves.
  When it comes to impeachment, arguably one of the most serious 
responsibilities under our Constitution for Congress, House Democrats 
have simply drawn the cloak of secrecy around their investigation. Of 
course, you know what the logical questions are to this sort of bizarre 
proceeding--questions like this: What are they hiding? What are they 
afraid of? What is it that they don't want the American people to see?
  Of course, as I said, there are going to be some sensitivities and, 
perhaps, even some classified information, particularly when you are 
talking about foreign policy.
  But the President has already made the key documents public. He has 
declassified the conversation he had with President Zelensky, and we 
have seen the report of the inspector general.
  This secrecy veil seems to be more of a necessary tool to cloak 
information that doesn't align with their narrative. They simply don't 
want people to hear all sides of the story.
  I have no doubt that if the facts were on their side, they would 
allow this process to be in the open. If they actually thought that 
transparency would benefit them, they would throw the doors wide open 
and do it out in public and let the American people judge it for 
themselves, and if facts were on their side, they would then hold a 
vote on the floor of the House of Representatives authorizing this 
impeachment inquiry, which has been done each time in the past. But 
from what we read, Speaker Pelosi is trying to protect her vulnerable 
House Members from being held accountable for their vote, particularly 
those in swing districts that won in 2018. So this is more another part 
of the political calculation at work here.
  Instead, what they are doing is constructing this narrative behind 
closed doors and handpicking which information to leak and which to 
keep secret.
  A true and honest investigation means following the facts where they 
may lead, gathering evidence, and giving the American people access to 
that information at every step, but that is a far cry from what is 
happening today.
  While House Democrats are freely leaking the details of the 
impeachment process to the media, they are being unfair to the American 
people, particularly the 65 million people who voted for President 
Trump in the first place--but not just them. We all understand that in 
elections you win some and you lose some. Even the people who didn't 
vote for President Trump, I believe, would be committed to a fair 
process, particularly when going through something as serious as the 
potential impeachment and removal of a duly elected President of the 
United States.
  What they want to do is to undo the 2016 election, but they should at 
least have the courage to do it out in the open.

[[Page S5808]]

  We know what is happening as a result of the Democrats devoting 100 
percent of their time and energy to reversing the results of the 2016 
election by impeaching President Trump. Their constituents sitting at 
home are wondering what it is they are actually going to be able to 
accomplish.
  When we have elections, ordinarily candidates run for office and say: 
If you elect me, I will do this, this, and this. The House Democrats 
have given up on that. Forget their campaign promises. Forget what they 
told their voters in the 2018 election. They are all in on the 
impeachment and removal of the President. The rest of that stuff is 
just talk--at least that is how it appears.
  There are a lot of important things we can and should be doing in 
Washington as opposed to this political side show. We have had many 
productive hearings and efforts on such important items as trying to 
reduce mass violence, which is something we are all concerned about, 
how to bring down costs and increase choice when it comes to our 
healthcare system, how to improve trade so we can sell the things we 
grow and make in America to markets around the world, and how we can 
continue this incredible trend line when it comes to our economy, where 
unemployment is at historically low levels and particularly African-
American and Hispanic unemployment is at historically the lowest level 
in recorded history. Forget all of that. House Democrats are full steam 
ahead on impeachment, which will make it virtually impossible for us to 
pass productive, bipartisan legislation. It will make it virtually 
impossible for them to keep the promises they themselves made to their 
constituents when they ran for election in 2018, and that is a crying 
shame.
  This is the final point I want to make. We are 13 months--13 months--
from a general election. President Trump will be on the ballot. These 
folks, who apparently have never gotten over their loss in 2016, will 
have a chance to cast their votes again. So will the American people. 
We will be able to take a look at the Democratic nominee, along with 
President Trump, the Republican nominee, and we will be able to vote 13 
months from now. But, to me, it says the Democrats are not particularly 
optimistic about the outcome of the 2020 election, given that choice, 
because they are not going to wait for the election to occur; they want 
to divide the country, they want to paralyze Congress, and they want to 
impeach President Trump 13 months before the election.
  I hope cooler heads will prevail. Democrats should work with us to 
pass bipartisan legislation that will actually make our country better 
off rather than pursuing this purely political agenda of impeachment.
  I think it is disgraceful the way the House Democrats have chosen to 
pursue this clandestine impeachment process rather than focus on what 
is best for the American people. Let the voters cast their ballots 13 
months from now rather than put our country through this divisive and 
ultimately futile effort to impeach and remove President Trump.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Missouri.