[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 26 (Friday, February 7, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H967-H972]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           ISSUES OF THE WEEK

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2019, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gohmert) is recognized 
for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
  Mr. GOHMERT. Mr. Speaker, under the new rules of this Congress, since 
the rules have been changed that only allow one Special Order per week, 
and despite for years my having encouraged members of our conference to 
sign up for Special Orders, it is our chance to get messages out that 
we feel need to be out.
  As I have said for years to our conference, you need to sign up for 
the Special Orders because you don't want my face to be the face of the 
party. And I am very encouraged, we have got more people signing up 
now.
  But under the Speaker's new rules, as of this Congress, only one per 
week per person, so I am pleased, Mr. Speaker, to be here for my one 
Special Order of the week.
  And what a week it was. Wow. The impeachment proceedings came to the 
conclusion that most everybody who had studied the situation knew that 
they would; no matter how long it got drug out, it was going to be this 
conclusion.
  The State of the Union address Tuesday night; most people, or at 
least around here, most people know the Constitution requires a State 
of the Union report or address, but it doesn't require that it be done 
orally. And originally, the very first were provided in writing.
  But it is an opportunity for us to come together, even though it has 
not been quite as homogenous a body as it has been at times when it 
comes to the State of the Union.
  It has just been interesting. You know, some call it Trump 
Derangement Syndrome, some call it PTSD, President Trump Stress 
Disorder. But apparently, he causes stress, in some cases derangement, 
so people that normally think straight just have trouble reaching the 
same wise conclusions that they used to. So that has been an 
interesting thing to observe.
  But here we are, end of the week of impeachment, end of the week 
after a State of the Union address.
  I was honored to have my friend, Nigel Farage, who has been fighting 
for about a decade, actually, to make the point that President Trump 
has been making here in America; that unless our country is strong, we 
cannot take care of other countries' disasters and problems or assaults 
on freedom around the world. We can't. We have to make sure we are 
strong first.
  And the example that has been given before of being on a jet plane, 
and the instructions, for good reason, say that the adult must put the 
mask on in the event of a loss of cabin pressure, which means there 
will be a loss of oxygen. So put your mask on first, so that you will 
be conscious and helpful to your children and others who are not able 
to put the mask on themselves.
  If we are not strong, if we don't take care of the United States of 
America, as our oath should require us to do, then we are not able to 
be that shining light on a hill. We are not able to be that hope for 
freedom.
  There are a lot of countries around the world that don't care for the 
United States. Some of it is simple jealousy.
  But some call the United States imperialist pigs, which is no 
reflection on the United States. It is a reflection on their ignorance 
of what imperialism means, as well as exactly what the history of the 
United States is.
  We have gone and fought and sacrificed our greatest treasure, 
American lives--you are hard-pressed to find any place in history where 
a country sacrificed that precious treasure, in our case, American 
lives--for other people's freedom. And we don't require that they learn 
our language; that they begin to get permission from our government 
here in order to conduct affairs in their own country.
  We are not imperialists. We are not seeking a hegemony. That is not 
the case at all. We are about freedom.

                              {time}  1300

  We have so many friends in France. We have, of course, a painting 
over here. It is the only painting in the whole Capitol full length of 
a foreigner, and here it is. It has been here in the House for so many 
decades, a friend of George Washington that is over here on my right, 
Lafayette.
  We have had great help from the French. In fact, they helped ensure 
the final victory at Yorktown with their ships and their military. The 
French military was there at the surrender, where Cornwallis cowardly 
said he was ill and couldn't come out and surrender, so he sent out a 
subordinate. We owe the French people a great deal.
  Historians have wrestled with how, after the American Revolution, we 
came about having freedom without the thousands of heads being 
separated from bodies, as occurred after the French Revolution that 
began 10 or so years after we got our Constitution. The French 
Revolution ended up ultimately resulting in an Emperor named Napoleon. 
Before Napoleon even took charge, so many people were killed, so much 
bloodshed.
  Historians have wrestled with that. How did the American Revolution 
result in freedom without the tremendous beheadings and hangings that 
occurred in other places like after the French Revolution? What made 
the difference? I believe those who point to the First Great Awakening 
around the 1730s and 1740s, a recognition of Biblical principles and of 
just who Almighty God was and is and this desire for freedom that our 
Creator has provided.
  Some say, well, if we are endowed with it, why doesn't everyone have 
freedom around the world? Well, like anything you inherit, if you are 
not willing to fight for it, there will be evil people who will take it 
from you, and you won't have it. Thank God for all of those who have 
served in our military and fought for freedom.
  Some historians say the big difference, they believe, between the 
results of the American Revolution and

[[Page H968]]

the French Revolution was that the American Revolution was about 
liberty, and the French Revolution was about revenge. As long as this 
country has been about liberty, it has soared, and people have done 
well.
  Of course, in the second century of our country, there was another 
great awakening in the decades before the Civil War, and some would 
indicate actually the second great awakening, an awakening of something 
Daniel Webster, John Quincy Adams, of course, Frederick Douglass knew 
better than anybody. But how can you be a Christian and follow the 
teachings of Jesus and at the same time put brothers and sisters in 
chains and bondage? They are inconsistent. They are incongruent. You 
can't have those two things working together. Sure, slavery is talked 
about in the Bible, and it has always been around, and it grieves me 
greatly.
  We heard a year ago, at the National Prayer Breakfast, there are now 
more slaves in the world than there have ever been at any time in the 
world's history. Tragic. Some say, well, that points to our own 
disgusting history here in the United States, like Columbus coming over 
and establishing slavery. Again, a lot of people don't know their 
history, but there were Indian tribes that had captured and enslaved 
other Indian tribes. I used to say Native Americans, but we have had so 
many Native Americans testify before our committee, and they normally 
say I am an Indian from the such and such Indian Tribe, so that has 
been a revelation.
  Nonetheless, slavery has existed since the fall of man. It is an evil 
that exists in this world, and I am glad we were rid of it in the 
United States. It is tragic that it took a Civil War and the loss of a 
half-million lives, but, again, it took a second great awakening. And 
that was about liberty; it wasn't about revenge.
  We get to the 20th century, helped in two world wars. We haven't had 
a great awakening in over 100 years. I think it shows in the activity 
here in this body, and I think it shows in activities across the 
country. I think it is something that would serve us well and help 
refine the country if we were to have a third great awakening. Instead, 
we see tremendous partisanship.
  I really appreciated the majority leader explaining for our Speaker 
what she really meant by things she had said. Of course, she had said 
that the State of the Union Address had no connection with reality. She 
said the speech was a pack of lies. She said the President was selling 
a bill of goods, like a snake oil salesman. And I appreciated our 
minority whip, my friend   Steve Scalise, asking about that. It 
certainly appears there were a lot of truthful things.
  Just to highlight some of the President's guests, this should have 
been a feel-good event across the aisle. And I wasn't a personal fan of 
President Obama, but when he would tell a story that touched the heart, 
as there were so many of those stories in the State of the Union, how 
could you not be moved? How could you not applaud and stand and cheer 
for some of those heroic situations? So I thought it was like a good 
movie. You laugh, you cry, you cheer. And there were those events.
  I have run into this myself. One lady told me she was so sensitive to 
the Holy Spirit after she finished saying some really nasty things 
about me. She said, when you came up, the Holy Spirit left, and I 
realized she was completely consumed with hate. So, yes, you can't be 
consumed with that kind of hate and still feel the presence, as you say 
you have, of the Holy Spirit. If you can set those kinds of feelings of 
hate aside long enough, then it is easier to find areas of mutual 
agreement.
  Stephanie and Janiyah Davis from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she was 
the fourth grade student who loves art and math. For too long, she has 
been assigned to low-performing schools. Her mom, Stephanie, is a 
hardworking, single mom who tried to apply for a tax credit 
scholarship. But since the Governor had vetoed the school choice 
legislation, Janiyah remained among the estimated 50,000 students on a 
wait list.
  As was announced here in this body--I was sitting right up there--she 
was getting a scholarship. How could we not all cheer this child with 
so much promise having the chance to pursue her dreams and get the best 
education, just like children of Presidents of both parties have here 
in Washington as they send their child or children to private schools? 
Why not give a poor minority a chance that the President's children 
have?

  Juan Guaido from Caracas, Venezuela, of course, he was the interim 
President of Venezuela. I thought it was inspirational to have him here 
and allow us to pay tribute to whom many of us believe is the actual, 
legitimate Venezuelan President. But as the President pointed out, the 
U.S. is supporting the Venezuelan people in their struggle for freedom 
and democracy.
  Kelli and Gage Hake from Stillwater, Oklahoma, Kelli was at home with 
her 1-year-old son, Gage, when she learned that her husband, Army Staff 
Sergeant Christopher, had been killed while serving his second tour of 
duty in Iraq. He was killed by the explosive devices designed and 
produced under the auspices of a guy named Soleimani, whom President 
Trump had ordered taken out. Such an irony, too, he was killed.
  It shouldn't have been a partisan thing over someone being killed by 
a drone strike because I am not aware of any of my friends across the 
aisle who expressed any concern when President Obama had a father and 
son, two American citizens, killed without arrest or trial with a drone 
strike. I don't remember anybody on the other side of the aisle being 
upset or expressing that outrage that President Obama had father and 
son killed--the son, apparently, a minor--had them both taken out by a 
drone strike. But I could understand why President Obama would do that. 
This al-Awlaki, he was an American citizen.
  As I pointed out before, it is a flaw that has occurred in our 
citizenship system, where there was no act of Congress. We can't find 
that there was even an executive order. But somewhere along the way, 
despite the language during debate of the 14th Amendment that made 
clear, no, they were not anticipating that if you were--and they didn't 
say alien. They said foreigner or a diplomat here. Well, of course, 
your children are not going to be American citizens, and they weren't 
for years. But somewhere, in the decades following the adoption, the 
ratification of the 14th Amendment--and like I say, I can't even find 
an executive order--some bureaucrats apparently in the State 
Department, I guess, just decided it would be easier to start bestowing 
citizenship on children of people who were here illegally, or as the 
ratifiers of the 14th Amendment called them, foreigners. They didn't 
even care if they were legally here or illegally here. They certainly 
did not anticipate that children of foreigners here would be American 
citizens.
  Like I say, I have been trying to find out who made that decision to 
start giving citizenship to people who are born here. Our friend Judge 
Andrew Napolitano, I have heard him say on FOX News before that, 
basically, people need to get over it. It doesn't matter who you are. 
If you are born here, you are an American citizen.
  But he was just ignorant of the fact that if you are a diplomat's 
child born here, you are not an American citizen. So those were the two 
areas. If you are a foreigner's child, a diplomat's child, you weren't 
to be an American citizen.

                              {time}  1315

  But it would be very interesting if we could ever find out who made 
that call and how do we go about curing it now.
  But I think the President is right. If that was done by just some 
bureaucrat's decision, no act of Congress, no executive order, just 
somebody just started giving out American citizenship to people who 
were born here to foreigners, then you should be able to retract it 
with a President's executive order overruling whatever desk jockey or 
bureaucrat decided it was too difficult to assess whether somebody was 
here legally or not, and so just start giving out American citizenship.
  But the name al-Awlaki, he is one of many people that we know--at one 
point, I only knew a couple. I wasn't willing to give those names out 
because they were given to me in a personal request not to give them 
out until others were known so that that person's identity wasn't in 
jeopardy of being learned.
  But al-Awlaki, his parents came over on a student visa. He was born 
here.

[[Page H969]]

They take him back to Yemen. They teach him to hate America.
  Apparently, there may have been people in the Bush administration; 
certainly there were in the Obama administration. They apparently 
thought he was being a double agent and helping the U.S., when, 
actually, he was fomenting violence against Americans here and abroad.
  So it is understandable that President Obama or people in his 
administration who had tried to work with al-Awlaki, they wouldn't want 
him coming back and having a big trial where he revealed the different 
people he had worked with in different administrations, so the answer 
is take him out with a drone strike. Never mind his minor son is in 
there. We don't know if he was guilty of fomenting violence or not, but 
he was a juvenile, as I understand it.
  We hear all these allegations about President Trump but not so much 
about the murders ordered by President Obama, whether we call them 
murders or killings. I don't think they actually meet the criminal 
requirements of being murder because they were people normally that he 
took out by order of a strike. They were enemy combatants who were 
killing Americans.
  So I didn't have a problem with him protecting American interests in 
doing what President Obama did, nor do I have a problem with President 
Trump protecting our country doing the same thing.
  Again, I appreciate the majority leader saying: No. No. When the 
Speaker was talking about all the lies, just the whole speech was a 
pack of lies. He was selling a bill of goods like a snake oil salesman. 
The whole speech had no connection with reality.
  He was explaining that she actually wasn't talking about all these 
people who were introduced. I look forward to the Speaker pointing that 
out.
  Jody Jones from Farmersville, California: On December 17, 2018, 
Jody's brother, Rocky Jones, was shot and killed by an illegal 
immigrant in California. The criminal alien who had committed this 
brutal murder was previously arrested for violent crimes and twice 
deported.
  The criminal alien was arrested in December 2018 for the sixth time, 
but because of California's sanctuary State policy, he was released 
from jail. A few days later, he went on a 24-hour reign of terror, 
injuring several people, robbing a gas station, leading law enforcement 
on a high-speed chase, and killing 51-year-old Rocky, who was known as 
a kind and gentle soul. He left behind a precious daughter and four 
brothers.
  I don't see anything in any of these that should have been considered 
lies. These are touching stories.
  I realize we have a disagreement here, as many do across the country. 
I think there is a bill proposed with a new way forward where we even 
provide airfare to people who have been deported to bring them to the 
United States.
  I think the Trump administration is doing a good job getting rid of 
people who are criminal threats to this country, and I applaud those 
efforts. I think it is part of our keeping our oath to our Constitution 
that we take here.
  Our devotion is not to citizens of the world. It is like President 
Trump has pointed out: We can't help the world if we are not strong as 
a nation.
  That is what Nigel Farage has been successful in promoting, a removal 
of the U.K. from the European Union. You have got some bureaucrats 
making decisions who are not residents of England, and yet they are 
making decisions that have adversely affected the lives of the British 
people, and I can understand them being upset.
  Yes, there are those who say, if we had a one-world government, then 
there is no need for war, the same argument that was made for the 
European Union: Look, if we are all one country, then we can't have 
another world war started between Germany and France or anybody else 
because we are all one government.
  Orwell would probably acknowledge that as a great basis for creating 
Big Brother that watched over everybody, which seems to be where we 
continue to move in this country, into a great socialist, communist, 
progressive society.
  As Whittaker Chambers quoted Dostoevsky:

       The problem with communism is not economic. The problem 
     with communism is atheism.

  I will never forget, before the fall of the Soviet Union, going into 
the only authorized seminary, Christian seminary in the whole Soviet 
Union at a place called Zagorsk. As you turned in the gate, there was a 
big building there, and the building had a picture of Lenin's face, and 
it said, in Russian: ``Lenin is with us.''
  The message was clear: You may be going into this Christian seminary, 
but just understand, this is a communist country--or a socialist 
country, as they called themselves--and here, it isn't Christianity 
that is good. It is important you know Lenin is the one who is with us.
  It was interesting visiting Lenin's tomb in those days. The rumor was 
that his ear had deteriorated to the point that they replaced it with a 
rubber one. I never knew if that was true or not, but his ear didn't 
really look real.

  But, nonetheless, that was their message: This dead Lenin is with us 
and not some God you Christians think you should worship.
  But we are moving toward a time in this country, unless it is 
interrupted--and I think the election of President Trump helped 
interrupt it--where Christians are really the only identifiable group 
in America where it is politically correct to condemn them, to belittle 
them, to persecute them. And we are still seeing that grow.
  It is interesting that it grows at a time when anti-Semitism 
continues to grow here, as in Europe.
  We had, from Scottsdale, Arizona, Iain Lanphier. I didn't realize his 
great-grandfather was going to be right there and that he was a 100-
year-old Tuskegee Airman, one of those heroic airmen who were 
segregated but had incredible courage, incredible ability, and they 
flew missions that were just incredible. They showed such courage in 
helping protect freedom even though they were fighting segregation, or 
had to deal with it back then. What a heroic group.
  This young man is the great-grandson of Tuskegee Airman Charles 
McGee. Of course, Iain wanted to be, and still wants to be, a member of 
the United States Space Force.
  Those were all inspirational.
  Now, I know, and I think the majority leader referred to it, they 
disagreed with Rush Limbaugh being recognized.
  He is an incredible man, an extraordinary man. I recall back when I 
was on the bench as a judge in Texas seeing that the Republican 
majority elected in November of 1994 recognized Rush as an honorary 
member of their class. They paid tribute. Without him, they didn't 
think Republicans, for the first time in 40 years, would have gotten 
the majority back.
  Of course, Newt Gingrich was leading that charge from a congressional 
standpoint.
  But he is an amazing guy. Even when I get really frustrated and 
depressed about some of the things going on here, I can listen to Rush, 
and he has such an amazing sense of humor. So it has been interesting.
  As his producer--Bo Snerdley is his radio name--can verify, as he has 
to me many times--I love the guy--he can personally testify that Rush 
Limbaugh is not a racist. James can verify that, has verified that.
  Anyway, I know Rush. I just think the world of Rush and what he has 
tried to do. I thought now that he has been diagnosed with stage IV 
cancer, it was a great tribute.
  We see it here in this body. We have people in this body who have 
made arguments staunchly against the things we really believe in, and 
we find out they have got cancer. In our Thursday morning Prayer 
Breakfast, we pray for each other. It doesn't matter about party.
  Sometimes in that Prayer Breakfast you hear testimonials from people 
and you had no idea the things they have gone through, but we set aside 
the political things to pray for each other and care about each other.
  So I have been a bit burdened to see people so angry about Rush 
Limbaugh's recognition for the things that he has been amazing and 
done. I think the slurs about him being a racist, they are absolutely 
absurd. Talk to James.
  Rush did not hire James because he was Black. He hired him because he 
is

[[Page H970]]

an amazing guy, and he has been helpful to Rush. But, like I say, I 
love James. He is just great guy.
  I am so pleased the President recognized Rush. I got up to the 
gallery up there, Rush was there, and it meant a lot to me to hug Rush 
Limbaugh and encourage him, and I will continue to pray for him as 
well.
  I am just sorry that people can't take a step back when somebody is 
going through what Rush is and at least drop some of the outrageous 
slander.
  We also had retired Brigadier General Charles McGee. He is the great-
grandfather of Iain Lanphier.
  I know comments were made that the whole speech was a pack of lies, 
but these were extraordinary people. As their stories were told, there 
was cheering. There were tears. It was just a feel-good time.
  It should have been for all Americans, when we could see the things 
that brought us together and made us strong, and yet there were people 
who were not about to stand up and acknowledge and applaud some of 
these folks.

                              {time}  1330

  That is really tragic. And it wasn't just Rush Limbaugh.
  Paul Morrow, a United States Army veteran, but he started a 
successful contracting business. Today he is building a new concrete 
plant in an opportunity zone in Montgomery.
  Carl and Marsha Mueller from Prescott, Arizona, as far as I know, no 
relationship to Bob who cost us $30 million or so when he knew 
immediately that his investigation was a sham. There was no collusion 
or conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia, even though there 
are people who continue, after 2 years and 30 or so million dollars, 
establishing no conspiracy or collusion between the Trump campaign and 
Russia, people still keep wanting to bring up that as if the lie is 
truth.
  But Bob Mueller--I regret the damage that he has done to the name 
``Mueller.'' These folks were wonderful.
  Kayla was a devoted humanitarian aid worker. I knew the story. My 
heart broke for these people. It is just horrendous to think about what 
al-Baghdadi did to their daughter, a loving, caring, dedicated person 
of faith trying to help others, and al-Baghdadi repeatedly raped her. 
It is more than a parent should ever have to deal with to think about.
  But we also heard those stories about Boko Haram after they attacked 
a Christian school. I was invited over there. We didn't have people 
from the Obama administration that appeared to want to help initially, 
even though there was a hashtag, #bringbackourgirls. That didn't bring 
back anybody.
  But then I secretly met with dozens of the mothers of girls who were 
kidnapped and were enslaved and being raped, that was a very emotional 
evening. But I asked their pastor privately, I said: ``Where are all of 
the fathers?''
  And he said: ``That is part of all of this tragedy. The fathers know 
their daughters are being raped daily. They don't feel like they should 
be sleeping in a bed comfortable when they were not able to protect 
their daughters.'' So they have gone to the bush, jungle, rainforest, 
whatever you want to call it, and they are living out there and many 
have already died out there.
  There was a quote from a Catholic bishop and I was told when I was 
over there: ``Yeah, the Obama administration is saying that if you want 
some real help with Boko Haram''--not just a hashtag--``but you want 
some real help that will make a difference and stop Boko Haram, you 
have got to do a couple of things. You have got to legalize same-sex 
marriage, and you have got to start funding abortions, and then we will 
be able to be of more help to you.''
  Of course, that kind of reminds you of asking Ukraine to help with 
the investigations into corruption.
  But, anyway, President Obama obviously wasn't impeached and nor did 
anybody that I am aware of think we should have tried to impeach him 
because he wasn't helping these Christian girls the way we could have 
by helping take out Boko Haram, even with drone strikes, or more.
  I understand there was some intelligence provided to the Nigerians, 
but according to the people I met with, they weren't getting the help 
because they weren't going to change their laws to adopt same-sex 
marriage or legalize abortion.
  But what a tragedy. And I don't know, maybe people, some of the ones 
that didn't stand and applaud for that couple that has endured so much, 
maybe it was that they didn't want to applaud because al-Baghdadi was 
killed, even though he was responsible for the killing of so many 
Americans, so many Christians, so many Jews, and actually, Muslims as 
well.
  Maybe they did not approve of a terrorist thug like al-Baghdadi being 
killed. And I know President Obama had said that ISIS is not true 
Islam. Well, it was a radical form of Islam. Al-Baghdadi had a Ph.D. in 
Islam, so I always kind of felt like he at least knew something about 
Islam, perhaps more than people who did not have a Ph.D. in Islamic 
studies.
  I was very grateful that President Trump took the actions he did to 
eliminate the person who could do the kind of things that he did to 
Carl and Marsha Mueller's daughter. But, again, I would have thought 
that we could have celebrated the taking out of just a thug, an enemy 
combatant, a person who wanted to see America destroyed, that we might 
have had more community, or camaraderie in relieving the world of 
somebody that did so much damage to people in it.
  We had Deputy Chief Raul Ortiz. I mean, the guy is a hero. I have met 
him before. It was good to see him here. He is with the U.S. Border 
Patrol. He joined them in 1991. He had served in the United States 
Army, and he has got a lot of responsibility down on the border trying 
to protect our country, because there are people trying to come in with 
drugs, that are killing Americans, they are enslaving Americans, or 
people who don't like us.
  Fortunately, the majority of people coming in, they do like America 
and want to live here, but we can't know who wants to help and who 
wants to hurt unless we have a secure border and can control who comes 
in.
  Tony Rankins from Cincinnati, Ohio, had suffered from PTSD, post-
traumatic stress disorder. He had become addicted to drugs. Anyway, 
Tony's story kind of reminded me of a friend from Texas, Curtis Brown, 
who is a Christian and who has been able to conquer some of these same 
demons, is doing great in helping others.
  So I have great appreciation for Tony Rankins and what he has 
overcome. And now the company he started, R Investments, today he is 
working in an opportunity zone in Cincinnati, but the new job has 
helped him overcome his drug addiction.
  But there is more that has to be done to keep someone from falling 
back into drugs. It is a daily battle, and people should be applauded 
for being able to do that. I regret that we didn't have more 
stimulating applause and recognition.
  Robin and Ellie Schneider--Ellie was the one born at 21 weeks and 6 
days, one of the youngest babies to survive in America at the time. It 
is an amazing story. How could you not applaud that little child in her 
mother's arms. It was very touching, very moving.

  It wasn't a lie. These weren't lies. These were real American stories 
that, again, should have made us all laugh, all cry, and all cheer over 
the good things.
  Ivan Simonovis from Caracas, Venezuela, he was the chief of police 
there in Venezuela's capital city. He was esteemed as the nation's top 
cop. But he was imprisoned in 2004 for protecting protesters. He was 
held in captivity for nearly 15 years by Chavez and the Maduro regimes, 
but he escaped in 2019, got to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and was 
welcomed in the United States.
  That ought to be a story we could all cheer for on both sides of the 
aisle. That is a good thing.
  I regret we were not even more laudatory for a guy who had overcome 
all of that. I guess for some people, if you applaud his escaping 
Venezuela in the Chavez and Maduro era, maybe it was thought that 
applauding that might be some recognition of just how brutal socialism, 
progressivism, and communism becomes.
  Natan Sharansky, it was my privilege to have a long conversation with 
him and Sheldon and Miriam Adelson years ago. The guy is brilliant. He 
served 12 years, though, in a Russian

[[Page H971]]

gulag because he wanted freedom of speech.
  As Natan points out, you have fear societies and you have free 
societies, and you can test which you are in. Are you free to say 
absolutely anything you want to in the town square without fear of harm 
or arrest? If you are able to do that, you are in a free society.
  And, unfortunately, for Natan, he was in a fear society. And that is 
where communist systems go. They don't feel they can allow widespread 
Christianity. They suppress. They keep people in fear.
  It is amazing, too, as I have traveled around the United States, it 
seems like some of our best citizens who understand the threats against 
America, they are from the former Soviet bloc countries, and they say: 
We are hearing all of this great stuff about socialism. We heard all of 
that before, and we know that it leads to a loss of freedom. It leads 
to our lives being dictated by people above. It leads to the loss of 
parental rights because the government is going to tell you what you 
are allowed to talk to your children about.
  I was shocked to find out years ago that in the Soviet Union, they 
made very clear--I heard the presentation--that these children do not 
belong to the parents. The parents are temporary caretakers. And if 
they ever found out that a parent has ever said anything negative about 
the Soviet Union, the Soviet Government, those children will be removed 
and they will be put in the hands of other temporary caretakers who the 
government likes and who will not say anything negative about their 
government.
  That is, as Sharansky would say, a fear society. And I fear we have 
moved in that direction dramatically.
  Joshua Smith from Paducah, Kentucky was up here. His 16-year-old 
brother, Channing, committed suicide last September in Tennessee. He 
had suffered from cyber assault on social media by students in his high 
school. Joshua described Channing as ``the sweetest kid on Earth'' who 
loved playing musical instruments. But he was bullied, cyberbullied.
  The Williams family from Fort Bragg, that was so touching. And I was 
surprised. How could you not cheer this father coming back into the 
lives of his wife and two children? I mean, most of us were moved to 
tears. Some were not. I don't really understand how everybody was not 
totally moved by what went on there.
  Anyway, I was pleased that the majority leader clarified the 
Speaker's comments about those being, as she said, no connection with 
reality, a pack of lies, selling a bill of goods like a snake oil 
salesman.
  I was glad he clarified that she wasn't really talking about all of 
those human-interest stories, and things that should have brought us 
together. But unfortunately, they didn't, as they should have.

                              {time}  1345

  For those who love justice, I am hopeful that now that this 3-year 
pursuit of impeachment is behind us, now we are told: Oh, that is just 
the beginning. We are not stopping impeachment. We are going to keep 
going forward.
  A court was told: Oh, yeah, we are going to keep going forward with 
impeachment. We are not done. We are going to keep trying to find 
something.
  Really, this kind of sounds like basically, since it has been made 
very clear as of this week the Senate is not going to buy into some 
bogus group of allegations that are not impeachable offenses, which 
makes clear, then, you are pursuing it, apparently using taxpayer 
dollars, to try to besmirch a candidate for November 2020, to try to 
defeat him by using taxpayer dollars to make all kinds of allegations 
that you know will not result in removal from office but you are hoping 
will result in his defeat in November.
  It is amazing the effect President Trump has on people. You can call 
it Trump derangement syndrome or whatever, but for so long as we have 
had deep state people, they felt like, as unelected bureaucrats, they 
were supposed to be in charge. It appeared pretty clear to me 
Lieutenant Colonel Vindman was offended. You could tell by his body 
language and the things he said. He was really bothered that President 
Trump didn't do exactly what he told him to do in his talking points.
  How dare the elected President of the United States who embodies 
foreign policy--President Obama, agree or disagree, when he was 
President, as he had said before, elections have consequences. So many 
of us disagreed with his foreign policy. He was President. He could 
have whatever foreign policy he cared to pursue.
  But you have people like Lieutenant Colonel Vindman who didn't think 
that President Trump should do what he felt appropriate. He felt he 
should do what Lieutenant Colonel Vindman thought was appropriate. 
After all, he saw himself as the be-all and end-all resource on all 
things to do with Ukraine. From the things we found out he said to the 
Ukrainian leaders, it struck me from his testimony, my gosh, he is 
being more loyal to Ukraine and the Ukrainian President than he is to 
his own oath of office and his own Commander in Chief. He is advising 
them not to listen to his Commander in Chief, which is totally 
consistent with his activity in Moscow, apparently, when he was 
overheard belittling America and doing so to Russians.
  Anyway, hopefully, he won't be there much longer. But just think 
about it: If we hadn't gone through impeachment, then we wouldn't have 
known about all these people who are unelected bureaucrats who thought 
they ought to be in charge of everything.
  So looking for a silver lining, I think there is a great silver 
lining because these people have now raised their heads and made 
themselves known that they think, as bureaucrats, they should run 
everything, and they will do everything they can to undermine the 
President of the United States. Now we know who they are so we can 
start getting rid of those people. That will be a good thing for the 
country.
  We had Christopher Wray, the Director of the FBI, before our 
Judiciary Committee this week. I was hoping when he was appointed 
Director of the FBI that he would come in and would clean house here in 
Washington, and he would help restore the FBI's sterling reputation 
that it had built over time. It seemed that he had a habit, though, if 
you pointed out problems in the Washington FBI office, he would defend 
by saying: You are basically casting aspersions on these 37,000 fine 
employees of the FBI.
  That is why I had to make clear to him this week that we are not 
casting any aspersions on anybody around the country who are part of 
the FBI because I have known too many FBI agents. I still do. I know, 
as a felony judge, they would never have come and lied to me in seeking 
a warrant. They would never have created an untruthful document by 
changing information, like we are told Clinesmith did. I still have 
some concern they may make him the one fall guy.
  In my opinion, if you seek to get a warrant to spy on a Presidential 
campaign that you don't want to win, Mr. Speaker, and you take 
information that says that Carter Page was an agent for our 
intelligence sources and spying on Russia, and you change that to say 
he was not so it helps you get a warrant to spy on a campaign you don't 
like, to me, he ought to be in jail for committing a fraud upon the 
FISA court. I think he ought to be in jail for any other crimes that 
were committed in the process of seeking to provide false information 
to violate American citizens' civil rights. I hope Carter Page is very 
successful in his legal efforts.
  Instead, we find out, the one guy I thought, oh, well, they will make 
him the fall guy, when there are a lot of people who probably should be 
going to jail.
  But under Christopher Wray's leadership, what have they done to Mr. 
Clinesmith? They let him resign, retire early, go get employment 
elsewhere, and make a good living somewhere else. Really?
  As I said to Christopher Wray: You are in law enforcement. You have 
to know how important deterrence is, and when somebody does acts like 
he did, in essence, there is no punishment.
  It is just one of many things that seems to indicate to me that 
Christopher Wray thinks the way to get the FBI's reputation back is to 
cover up much of the problem, not punish people. They need to be 
punished publicly so that it is a deterrence to any other FBI agents 
who might be tempted to act similarly as Clinesmith or Comey

[[Page H972]]

or McCabe or Strzok. These are people who ought to be required to 
answer for their wrongdoing.
  Yes, I still have significant problems with Inspector General 
Horowitz. He did a lot of investigation, but it is very clear that 
Strzok and Page had tremendous bias.
  His original report, in effect, said there is no indication that it 
affected the outcomes. How about the fact that every outcome was 
consistent with their bias? Not one single outcome was inconsistent 
with their bias for Hillary Clinton and their hatred for Donald Trump. 
When it is 100 percent consistent, then it means it is time to do 
something. Christopher Wray needs to go, too.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________