[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 104 (Tuesday, June 15, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4528-S4529]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE INVESTIGATION

  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, last Friday, the New York Times reported 
that during the Trump administration, the Justice Department issued 
subpoenas involving Members of Congress, their staff, and family 
members, even a minor family member. It is highly unusual for the 
Justice Department to investigate Members of Congress. The reason it is 
unusual is clear: Our Founders created three separate branches of the 
Federal Government with a separation of powers so that each branch 
could serve as a check and balance on the other and no branch would 
have too much power.
  When the Justice Department investigates a Member of Congress, 
typically, it is for corruption charges. That is understandable, but 
that is not what happened here. This was an investigation into a leak 
of information. And the use of subpoenas to investigate Members of 
Congress is extremely strange territory.
  These concerns are heightened when the President has publicly 
attacked those same Members of Congress. That is what former President 
Trump did when he repeatedly and without any evidence accused 
Representative Adam Schiff about leaking information about Russian 
election interference.
  These reports and the reports that journalists and even Trump's own 
White House Counsel were included in the Justice Department's so-called 
leak investigation raise serious questions about the Justice Department 
and its former leaders.
  The Senate Judiciary Committee has a constitutional responsibility to 
oversee the Department of Justice on behalf of the American people, so 
yesterday our committee sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick 
Garland asking for more information. But yesterday Senator McConnell, 
the Republican minority leader in the Senate, came to the floor and 
warned us off. He warned the Judiciary Committee against exercising our 
statutory oversight responsibility because it could become ``a partisan 
circus.'' This came on the heels of Senator McConnell's personal veto 
of a bipartisan Commission to investigate the deadly January 6 mob 
attack on the U.S. Capitol. But now the minority leader is warning us 
against even looking into the targeting of Trump's perceived political 
enemies by the Justice Department. The minority leader claimed that the 
Senate does not need to look into this matter because--get this--the 
Department of Justice inspector general has already announced he would 
investigate. That is a pretty decent argument if you have no memory 
whatsoever.
  For over 13 months during the last Congress, under a Republican 
majority, the Senate Judiciary Committee conducted an extensive 
oversight investigation into the FBI's opening of the Crossfire 
Hurricane investigation even though the Department of Justice inspector 
general had already investigated it. The Department of Justice 
inspector general had already completed a 19-month investigation of so-
called Crossfire Hurricane involving over 100 witnesses and reviewing 
over a million documents.
  That wasn't good enough for the Republican majority. They persisted 
in conducting a committee investigation nevertheless even though the 
inspector general's investigation concluded that Crossfire Hurricane 
had a proper basis

[[Page S4529]]

and that anti-Trump bias did not affect the FBI's work on Crossfire 
Hurricane. Those are the very issues the Republican majority reexamined 
in their own investigation. In that instance, the Department of Justice 
inspector general satisfied all the criteria of an inspection, an 
investigation, and yet the Republicans rejected it and proceeded 
forward.
  In this case, the Republican leader in the Senate is arguing that the 
work of the inspector general should be enough--quite a difference.
  Throughout the course of that investigation, the Senate Judiciary 
Committee held extensive hearings, but it wasn't enough.
  The Republican-led Senate Judiciary Committee was so focused on 
investigating a conspiracy theory about Obama that they didn't hold a 
single hearing on the Trump administration's Department of Justice in 4 
years. If they had, maybe they would have discovered this latest 
revelation rather than the New York Times.
  Senator McConnell did not warn the Judiciary Committee that the DOJ 
inspector general's investigation was sufficient or that its 
investigation into Crossfire Hurricane would become a partisan circus. 
He saw it completely differently in those days.
  Importantly, it seems the minority leader does not speak for his 
entire caucus. Yesterday the minority whip said: ``Obviously this 
warrants further review and investigation,'' and he ``assume[s] the 
committee will work through that.'' I hope that other Republican 
Members of the Chamber join the minority whip to call for further 
investigation. Congress's place in our constitutional order is too 
important to simply look the other way.

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