[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 191 (Monday, December 2, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6783-S6784]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          Impeachment Inquiry

  Mr. President, on Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee will hold 
its first hearing as a part of the impeachment inquiry, during which 
the constitutional history of impeachment will be examined and 
discussed with legal scholars. It is another example of how the House 
impeachment inquiry is proceeding in a deliberate, studious, and sober-
minded manner, and it stands in stark contrast to some of the recent 
statements by Republicans on this side of the Capitol.
  While the House investigation continues in search of the facts, 
certain Senate Republicans have made increasingly outlandish claims, 
including the assertion that Ukraine might have been involved in 
interfering with the 2016 election.
  Let me be clear. The charge that Ukraine had something to do with 
election meddling in 2016 is a lie spread by Vladimir Putin to get 
things off his back. Putin and Russian intelligence services invented 
that lie to muddy the waters and distract from the fact that Russia, 
not Ukraine, interfered in our elections.
  Now, disgracefully, we have sitting U.S. Senators helping spread that 
Russian propaganda in an effort to defend

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the President. Republicans must stop claiming that Ukraine had anything 
to do with election interference in 2016. Repeating these claims, even 
speculating about them, is doing Putin's job for him. I urge my 
Republican colleagues--they know who they are--to stop spreading these 
lies which hurts our democracy.