[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 185 (Tuesday, November 19, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6636-S6638]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                 Russia

  Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, beginning with Russia's interference in our 
2016 national elections, to the recent withdrawal of U.S. troops from 
Syria, President Trump has made multiple statements and decisions that 
serve only to benefit Vladimir Putin's agenda to undermine democracy 
and expand Russia's influence around the world.
  Taken together, these actions aren't just a threat to U.S. national 
security, but they also undercut and diminish some of the core tenets 
and values of American democracy and global leadership. The U.S. 
Senate, as part of a coequal branch of government, must recognize this 
threat and act as a body to ensure our institutions at home and 
interests abroad are protected. Thus far, we have not lived up to this 
solemn responsibility.
  Let me start with a seminal news article from the Washington Post, 
just recently. White House reporter Anne Gearan, in her October 15, 
2019, article, catalogs how the Trump administration has allowed Russia 
to assert dominance globally. The headline reads: ``Trump's moves in 
Ukraine and Syria have a common denominator: Both help Russia.''
  Anne Gearan writes as follows, and I will quote in pertinent part.

       . . . President Trump has taken action that has had the 
     effect of helping the authoritarian leader of Russia.
       . . . [The President's] actions in Syria and Ukraine add to 
     the list of policy moves and public statements that have 
     boosted Russia during his presidency, whether that was their 
     central purpose or not, confounding critics who have warned 
     that he has taken too soft a stance toward a nation led by a 
     strongman hostile to the United States.

  Anne Gearan goes on to discuss how President Trump's withdrawal of 
U.S. troops from Syria has allowed Russia to assert a more dominant 
role in the region. She also discusses how the President's intimidation 
of Ukraine's recently elected President Zelensky has become the subject 
of a domestic impeachment inquiry and distracted from actual engagement 
and support to Ukraine as it continues to grapple with Russian 
aggression.
  Anne Gearan also notes:

       [President] Trump has publicly questioned the usefulness of 
     NATO--the post-World War II military alliance established as 
     a bulwark against first the Soviet Union and now Russia--as 
     well as the utility of the European Union, a political and 
     economic alliance Putin would love to weaken.

  This is all written by Anne Gearan.
  These actions have led to a growing consensus among the national 
security community that the President is not serving the national 
interest. Let me move to a second part of this.
  Sadly, President Trump's recent actions with regard to Syria and 
Ukraine are, unfortunately, not isolated. President Trump has been 
consistent in taking actions that favor Russia. As early as April of 
2016, then-candidate Donald Trump vowed to pursue closer ties to Russia 
if elected to the Presidency. Even before he took office, by way of 
Twitter and other platforms he was signaling to Vladimir Putin his 
deference to a Putin-driven U.S.-Russia dynamic.
  From there, the American people have only learned more about the 
Trump campaign's ties to Russia and Russia's interference in the 2016 
Presidential election.
  The intelligence community's unclassified report concluded:

       We assess Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an 
     influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the U.S. presidential 
     election. Russia's goals were to undermine public faith in 
     the U.S. democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and 
     harm her electability and potential presidency. We further 
     assess Putin and the Russian government developed a clear 
     preference for President-elect Trump.

  The interference with our election process by a hostile government 
was an attack on our democracy and a threat to our national security 
carried out by Russian operatives at the direction of Vladimir Putin 
himself.

  Since Special Counsel Robert Mueller's appointment as special counsel 
to investigate Russia's attack, 34 indictments have been returned in 
connection with the investigation, including indictments against 
Russian individuals and Russian companies, as well as former Trump 
campaign manager Paul Manafort and deputy campaign manager Rick Gates, 
who were charged with ``conspiracy against the United States.'' Special 
Counsel Mueller also secured guilty pleas from other campaign advisers, 
including George Papadopoulos and Michael Flynn.
  Despite this ample evidence of wrongdoing, the President attempted to 
impede the Russia probe at every step of the way. The U.S. intelligence 
community, the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Robert Mueller and 
his team of investigators have done a great service to our Nation in 
investigating the Trump campaign's ties to Russia and Russian 
interference in our election. The findings further confirm that 
President Trump not only benefitted from Russian interference but, as 
Anne Gearan wrote in the October 15 Washington Post story, President 
Trump ``has also disputed, at times, the U.S. intelligence community's 
conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to boost his 
candidacy, and he only reluctantly signed a bill imposing sanctions on 
Russia for the transgression after weeks of resisting the measure, 
which he called, `seriously flawed.'''
  Anne Gearan is referencing the Countering America's Adversaries 
Through Sanctions Act, known by the acronym CAATSA, or C-A-A-T-S-A. 
That is legislation that I supported, and it passed both Houses of 
Congress with bipartisan support to impose sanctions on U.S. 
adversaries, including Russia, for its incursions into Ukraine and 
Syria and interference in our elections.
  I believe it is likely that if CAATSA did not clearly prohibit it, 
President Trump would have removed preexisting Russia sanctions by now.
  So the evidence is clear. By interfering in our national elections 
and

[[Page S6637]]

elevating Donald Trump's prospects for success as a candidate, Vladimir 
Putin was assuring that a personal ally would be installed in the White 
House and that that particular ally would clear the way for Putin to 
advance his foreign policy goals around the world.
  Let me move to a second--or, I should say, a third--part of this. If 
it isn't bad enough that the President is himself undermining our 
intelligence community's findings, he has deployed Attorney General 
William Barr to try and discredit those findings--those findings by our 
intelligence community with regard to interactions with allies.
  William Barr has been traveling the world chasing conspiracy theories 
and investigating President Trump's complaints about the origins of the 
government's investigation into Russian election interference. 
Specifically, the Attorney General is examining whether U.S. 
intelligence and law enforcement agencies acted properly when they 
examined possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, which 
ultimately led to Special Counsel Mueller's investigation. We have 
learned that this probe is now a criminal investigation, suggesting 
that it is focused on the unfounded allegations pushed by the 
President's allies about how the Russia probe was started.
  Considering that Special Counsel Mueller, the intelligence community, 
and the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee all confirmed in great 
detail that Russia interfered in the 2016 election, it is entirely 
unclear what legal or factual predicate Attorney General Barr is even 
relying on to justify this criminal investigation into the origins of 
the government's investigation into Russia's election interference.
  Attorney General Barr is pursuing these efforts, despite the fact 
that Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte stated that Italy's 
intelligence services played no role in the Russian investigation. It 
appears that Attorney General Barr is using the Justice Department to 
chase unsubstantiated conspiracy theories that could benefit the 
President politically and also undermine Special Counsel Robert 
Mueller's Russia investigation.
  The Attorney General has also demonstrated eagerness to prejudge his 
own investigation by already telling lawmakers in April that he 
believed that ``spying did occur'' by the FBI on the Trump campaign. So 
the President has dispatched a top U.S. law enforcement official around 
the world to pursue a biased investigation into an effort to undermine 
our intelligence agencies and to undermine the work of a special 
counsel who was appointed by the very same Justice Department that 
Attorney General Barr leads, with the primary goal--the primary goal--
being to clear Vladimir Putin's government of wrongdoing. It is hard to 
comprehend or adequately articulate how disturbing that is.

  Let me move to another part of the evidence with regard to how the 
President deals with President Putin and his government--the Helsinki 
summit. President Trump's dangerous deference to Vladimir Putin was 
most evident at the July 2018 summit in Helsinki. Putin and President 
Trump had a 2-hour one-on-one meeting, followed by an unprecedented 
press conference.
  President Trump appears to overwhelmingly favor one-on-one, closed-
door, direct communications with Putin on a regular basis. I have to 
ask at least two questions, among many we could ask. Question No. 1 is, 
What is he hiding? No. 2 is, Why not have experienced U.S. personnel 
present at such bilateral meetings?
  Even more disturbing were the President's statements following the 
Trump-Putin meeting. Here is a brief summary of what happened at that 
meeting:
  President Trump praised Putin and his leadership.
  No. 2, he repeatedly sided with Putin over our intelligence 
community, asserting that Russia did not, in fact, interfere in the 
2016 elections. The President repeatedly siding with Putin over our 
intelligence community was a grave offense by the President that made 
our Nation less safe--in my judgment, for sure less safe. It was one of 
the worst moments in any American Presidency.
  No. 3 in my brief summary of that public meeting in Helsinki is that 
Mr. Putin was silent the whole time when this was happening.
  President Trump's rambling comments over several minutes reflect not 
only the President's disturbing desire to flatter and to show support 
for Putin but also his complete failure--in that instance, his complete 
failure--to advance U.S. interests.
  Let me move to the impeachment that is underway regarding Ukraine.
  The transcript of the now-infamous July 25 phone call with Ukrainian 
President Volodymyr Zelensky that is the subject of the current 
impeachment inquiry also reflects the President's failure to prioritize 
U.S. national security interests when it comes to Russia.
  Going back to Anne Gearan and the Washington Post story of October 15 
of this year, she wrote: ``During that call, Trump did not mention 
longstanding U.S. policy goals for Ukraine, including standing up to 
Russian pressure, and he may have tarred and weakened Zelensky and his 
winning anti-corruption platform by dragging him into domestic U.S. 
politics.''
  Such major omissions send a clear signal to Putin that he could 
expand his aggression in Ukraine beyond Crimea and to the Ukrainian 
people and also the message to the Ukrainian people that Zelensky is 
not going to be the strong leader with U.S. backing that Ukraine needs 
at this time.
  We have already seen the impact of President Trump's abandonment of 
Ukraine amid this impeachment scandal. In early October, President 
Zelensky was effectively backed into a corner to sign Ukraine on to the 
so-called Steinmeier Formula, which sets the path toward elections in 
the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine and eventual negotiations with 
Russia over the future of Russian-occupied territories. He did this 
without achieving previously imposed preconditions of Russian troop 
withdrawal and security for the elections.
  Zelensky was effectively shamed into pursuing this Steinmeier Formula 
after President Trump urged him to negotiate with Putin--with Putin--
several times on camera during the United Nations General Assembly 
meetings in September. As Anne Gearan puts it, ``The result: A country 
that was looking for strong U.S. backing, amid worries that Russia 
could seek to move its aggression beyond the annexation of Crimea, has 
been left to wonder about the Trump administration's commitment to its 
national interests.''
  Let me move to Syria. President Trump's latest moves in Syria only 
further amplify the alarm over this President's affinity for Vladimir 
Putin.
  In early October, President Trump announced the abrupt withdrawal of 
U.S. troops from Syria, clearing the way for Turkey to pursue a 
military operation against Kurdish allies of the United States in 
northern Syria. Following an initial U.S.-brokered ceasefire, Turkish 
and Russian authorities have agreed to a more permanent status, sharing 
control of Syria's northern border.
  Turkish and Russian forces are not only occupying Kurdish-held areas 
but also further expanding Russia's role in Syria and committing war 
crimes against Kurdish civilians, according to the United Nations.
  Russia has already occupied U.S. military camps in the region, and 
Turkish President Erdogan's deepening relationship with Vladimir 
Putin--as evidenced by Turkey's purchase of the Russian S-400 missile 
system--only undercuts U.S. influence in Syria, all but guaranteeing 
that U.S. interests will not be represented in a future Syrian 
political settlement.
  President Trump's decision serves to benefit Vladimir Putin. Prior to 
withdrawal, the United States was Russia's only military equal in 
Syria, but Russia is now the primary and, according to some analysts, 
the sole power broker in Syria.
  In the vacuum left by the United States, Putin will be able to return 
control of the country to Bashar al-Assad, exercise increased control 
over Turkey--a NATO ally--and return to Russia's Cold War-era dominance 
in the Middle East.
  As Georgetown University Russia specialist Andrew Bennett put it, 
``[W]hat is clear is that Russia and the [Bashar al-] Assad regime that 
it backs have been the big winners in Trump's abrupt retreat. . . . 
Now, suddenly

[[Page S6638]]

Putin is back in the driver's seat in Syria, with leverage over all 
sides.''

  Mr. President, it is even worse than that. Let me recount some recent 
news with regard to actions by Vladimir Putin.
  President Trump's transgression goes beyond simply allowing Russia to 
fill a vacuum. On October 13, just 2 days before Anne Gearan's 
Washington Post story, the New York Times reported that ``the Russian 
Air Force has repeatedly bombed hospitals in Syria in order to crush 
the last pockets of resistance to President Bashar al-Assad.''
  The Times published evidence in that story that the Russians bombed 
four Syrian hospitals in a 12-hour period in May of this year. During 
the assault, the Kafr Nabl Surgical Hospital in Idlib Province was 
struck four times in 30 minutes. Let me say that again. A hospital was 
struck four times in 30 minutes. Dozens of hospitals and clinics in 
Idlib Province have been struck since, and Syrian medical workers live 
in constant fear of the next strike.
  Russia continues to act with impunity. Not only did it bomb another 
hospital in Idlib last week, Russia is using its sway at the United 
Nations Security Council--where U.S. leadership has diminished 
significantly under this administration--to limit the scope and the 
impact of a U.N. inquiry into these bombings.
  Such atrocities go beyond the pale of violating the Geneva 
Conventions and the laws of war; they demonstrate just how ruthless 
Putin and his regime are and the lengths they are willing to go to 
assert Russia's influence in the Middle East. The tragedy is, this 
administration is allowing it to happen. Under this administration, we 
have seen U.S. leadership erode and multilateral institutions 
deteriorate to the point where the U.N. is powerless to hold Russia 
accountable for these atrocities.
  I cannot emphasize enough that this administration is not only 
failing the American people with regard to our relationship with Russia 
and national security interests, but it is also making us less safe by 
allowing unspeakable atrocities to occur against innocent civilians--
all on our watch.