[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 139 (Wednesday, August 5, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4893-S4895]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           ELECTION SECURITY

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, history has a way of repeating itself. 
If we don't learn from the mistakes of the past, we are apt to repeat 
them. As the November election draws near and as foreign adversaries 
again seek to meddle in our democracy, let's review our history so we 
can better identify and prevent future threats.
  In late July 2016, Obama's FBI opened an investigation into the Trump 
campaign that ended up spiraling out of control for years--4 years. The 
investigation was ultimately based, in large part, on what is known as 
the Steele dossier, which was a bunch of unverified claims from Russian 
Government sources. It happens that that dossier was paid for by the 
Democratic National Committee and by the Clinton campaign.
  We know that its author, Christopher Steele, simultaneously pitched 
those same unverified claims to U.S. media outlets, which then reported 
on them without even testing their veracity. That is not responsible 
journalism.
  We know that Members of this Senate publicly seized on those 
unverified media reports to attack their political rivals. They even 
made references to the ``secret FBI investigations'' to give the 
unverified, foreign-sourced claims a veneer of credibility. We know 
that those unverified claims became part of the focus of a sweeping and 
unnecessary multiyear investigation by some of the Justice Department's 
most aggressive prosecutors.
  In the end, they found no crime by the campaign or President Trump, 
despite the dossier's allegations. Also, that shameful and damaging 
episode was propelled by selective leaks from government officials and 
breathless broadcasting by the press and the opposing political view.

[[Page S4894]]

  Of course, now it is undergoing a postmortem. What we are finding out 
isn't very pretty, and the people behind it ought to be ashamed--ought 
to be very ashamed.
  We have learned that some of those now-debunked claims of collusion 
with a foreign adversary were actually sourced to that same foreign 
adversary. In other words, those claims were assessed to be Russian 
disinformation. Democrats got duped into falsely accusing their 
political rivals of doing the very thing they were actually complicit 
in.
  We have learned that senior FBI officials had such disdain for 
President Trump that they pushed the unverified information despite 
repeated warnings of its flaws. They wanted to believe so badly in the 
politically convenient narrative that they failed to do their jobs. 
They lied to a court to spy on the campaign. They leaked memos to 
launch a special counsel investigation. They even doctored the 
paperwork--all to advance an investigation rooted in lies, innuendo, 
and foreign disinformation.
  I could go on about the harmful consequences from the hysteria that 
consumed the last few years, but the lesson from it all is very simple: 
Our adversaries will do anything to hijack our political differences to 
sow discord and distrust. Our adversaries want us at each other's 
throat. So long as we are fighting amongst ourselves, they win.
  Why do I bring this up now? Because exactly 4 years later, we are 
watching the same group run the same play today. If we aren't careful, 
they will win again. Just like in 2016, foreign sources are pushing 
unverified material about political candidates; just like in 2016, that 
material has reportedly found its way into the U.S. intelligence 
reviews; and just like in 2016, political rivals in Congress and the 
press are using the unverified foreign sources and their claims to 
suggest collusion between Republicans and foreign adversaries. Just 
remember what I said--just like in 2016.
  In the last few weeks, Democrats have falsely accused me and Senator 
Johnson of receiving packets of information, including tapes, from a 
Ukrainian. That is false reporting based on leaks from a letter written 
by Senators Schumer, Warner, Speaker Pelosi, and Representative Schiff, 
which is itself based on cherry-picked innuendo from classified 
documents.
  This Ukrainian claims that he also sent the information to several 
Democrats. These Democrats have also denied receiving anything. Again, 
what is this all about? The goal is to sow as much confusion as 
possible. The claims are baseless. Neither I nor anyone on my staff had 
anything to do with him. We never reached out to him or received 
anything from him. We never received or reviewed anything like what was 
described in the Democrats' leaked documents.
  Here is the rub. But that didn't stop the press from reporting the 
story anyway. Remember, 2016, 2017, and 2018? It didn't stop the press 
from reaching out to this Ukrainian to present him with the apparently 
leaked classified information from the Democrats' letter.
  Let me be clear. My investigation with Senator Johnson is based on 
how the Obama administration formulated its Ukraine policy, which then-
Vice President Biden oversaw while his son was on the board of a 
corrupt Ukrainian natural gas company that was under investigation.
  Did the corrupt firm get special access or special treatment because 
of its ties to the Vice President's son? We should know that. Did the 
Obama administration appropriately address any conflicts of interest? 
We should know that. In fact, the American people should know that.
  In pursuit of those facts--now, following the leads where they take 
you, so I say, in pursuit of the facts, we have requested records from 
the State Department, National Archives, Department of Justice, some 
other Federal agencies, and the U.S. consulting firm Blue Star 
Strategies. We have also talked with current and former U.S. Government 
officials.
  Isn't this odd? Apparently, Obama administration records and speaking 
with Obama administration officials is, to our Democratic friends, 
foreign or Russian disinformation. Isn't that odd?
  As Senator Johnson and I noted to our Democratic colleagues in a 
letter when we answered their letter--if it is, then that means the 
Obama administration routinely peddled in it as well.
  Democrats have suggested that the cause of their concern is Andrii 
Telizhenko. In March 2020, the Homeland Security and Governmental 
Affairs Committee sought to subpoena him only for records from his 
yearlong employment with Blue Star Strategies--a Democratic consulting 
firm that lobbied the U.S. Government on behalf of the Biden-connected 
Ukrainian energy firm. Blue Star also had contracts at the highest 
levels of President Obama's administration. Notably, Mr. Telizhenko had 
working relationships with Obama administration officials
  I don't recall ever any Democrat raising concerns about Mr. 
Telizhenko being a national security threat while he was meeting with 
the Obama administration, but, apparently, he suddenly becomes one when 
Republicans ask for records involving his time at a Democratic lobby 
shop.
  Truth be told, the Democrats should know a thing or two about Russian 
disinformation. Investigative work by me and Senator Johnson has 
revealed now declassified intelligence reporting that parts of the 
Steele dossier were parts of the Russian disinformation campaign.
  I am not aware of the Democrats commenting publicly on this very 
disturbing revelation. Where is their outrage about concerns of actual 
Russian disinformation contained in the Steele dossier and at the same 
time Russian disinformation paid for by the Democratic National 
Committee and Hillary Clinton?
  The Steele dossier is the very, very definition of election 
interference, and yet we hear no objection from Democrats. Did the 
Democrats and the Clinton campaign know that the dossier was filled 
with Russian disinformation and run with it, anyway, knowing it would 
cause damage to Trump, his campaign, and administration?
  Is Russian disinformation synonymous with Democratic National 
Committee disinformation? Maybe the Democrats don't want to look under 
the hood of the fake Russia investigation because--because they would 
be front and center.
  I would like to remind my Democratic colleagues that I ordered my 
staff to interview Donald Trump, Jr., and Republican officials during 
my time as chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and we did so. At the 
same time, ask yourself if I ever requested an interview with Hunter 
Biden. If I did that, how would the Democrats react?
  My fellow Americans, this is where we are at now. The Democrats live 
by the motto ``Do as I say, not as I do.'' Yet they accuse me and my 
colleague, Senator Johnson, of playing politics and engaging in a 
disinformation campaign.
  The hard truth is, it is the Democrats who are engaged in a 
disinformation campaign all because the facts don't fit into their 
political narrative. Their silence regarding the Steele dossier and 
fake Russia investigation, yet complaints about my legitimate oversight 
investigation, is proof of that.
  In conclusion, these recent media reports hinge on the leak of 
Democrats' classified documents, which they hadn't shared with their 
Republican colleagues. Only after the stories were published--I want to 
emphasize, only after the stories were published--were I and my staff 
able to review the Democrats' documents.
  Their letter is full of cherry-picked lines designed to shoehorn 
Republicans into warnings of a very real threat that faces all of us. 
Their letter attempts to cast Republicans as unwitting pawns in foreign 
disinformation, but it appears that the Democrats are playing the role 
as a useful idiot for foreign adversaries.
  The leaks only further distort the content of their letter. In no 
conceivable way do the facts support the Democrats' and the media's 
preposterous narrative.
  Here is what really bothers me the most. My Democratic colleagues 
have known me for a very long time. They know who I am. They know where 
to find me. And they know that if they were so concerned about what I 
was allegedly up to, they should have just raised all of those issues 
with me. This nonsense of orchestrated leaks to plant stories and 
falsely accusing me of dealing in disinformation based on actual

[[Page S4895]]

disinformation that I wasn't even privy to serves only the interest of 
our shared adversaries. This happens to be the behavior of cowards. 
And, of course, it should stop. As I started out my remarks today, we 
have seen this movie before. It didn't end well for those who relied on 
a disinformation dossier in 2016.

  Finally, the truth is slowly starting to come out and the FBI, the 
media, and the Members of Congress who touted the disinformation look 
pretty bad today. I started out by saying we need to learn from 
history--I believe it was George Santayana who said something like that 
maybe 100 years ago--or you are going to repeat the mistakes of the 
past. Let's not repeat this history. Instead, we ought to be learning 
from it.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Romney). The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  (Mr. ROUNDS assumed the chair.)
  Mr. BLUNT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Perdue). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

                          ____________________