[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 133 (Thursday, July 29, 2021)]
[House]
[Pages H4284-H4287]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  2000
                           ISSUES OF THE DAY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 4, 2021, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from Florida (Mr. 
Gaetz) for 30 minutes.
  Mr. GAETZ. Madam Speaker, the gentlewoman from New Mexico said that 
the border is not threatening to

[[Page H4285]]

us, that those who would cross our border illegally carry with them 
their laughter and poetry.
  Unfortunately, laughter and poetry is not the only thing they are 
bringing. On the edges of that laughter, they are carrying COVID, more 
and more of them, unable to be tested, screened, vaccinated because so 
many are being invited across our border illegally it is straining the 
flow.
  In their poetry, they are carrying the rhymes of MS-13; and in their 
bags, they are carrying too much fentanyl, too much death for our 
fellow Americans.
  I listened carefully as the gentlewoman from Washington smeared our 
CBP officers as racist, which is quite something considering how many 
of them are non-White.
  I spent time with them recently. My colleague who is with me this 
evening, Congresswoman Greene, spent time with many of our CBP officers 
recently, and they are patriotic Americans who deserve better from 
every Member of Congress than they just heard.
  The gentlewoman from Washington also talked about her visit to a 
Federal detention facility under President Trump. Imagine that. A 
Republican President, a Democrat Congresswoman, and a desire to oversee 
and inspect the operations of our government. I am glad that Ms. 
Jayapal, the gentlewoman from Washington, was afforded that 
opportunity.
  But, unfortunately, today I was not. Congresswoman Greene was not. 
Congressman Gohmert, Congressman Gosar. We were labeled trespassers by 
Federal employees of the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
  Now, there is a great deal I want to discuss about the need for 
oversight with the Federal Bureau of Prisons, specific circumstances 
regarding January 6 detainees, but before having that thorough 
discussion, I would yield to my colleague, the gentlewoman from Georgia 
(Mrs. Greene) to offer any remarks regarding the mischaracterizations 
of our brave Border Patrol officers and the crisis at our border that 
Democrats would ignore as they create a pathway for citizenship for 
people who did not come here legally. I yield to the gentlewoman.
  Mrs. GREENE of Georgia. Madam Speaker, it was very concerning to me 
to hear my colleague describe Border Patrol as treating people that are 
coming across our border illegally, differently because of their skin 
color, because that is not what I witnessed in my recent visit at the 
border of California and Mexico.
  As a matter of fact, I am very proud to report to this House and to 
the American people that the Border Patrol agents that I spoke with and 
talked to, that the detention facility that I visited is amazing, and I 
am very proud of our country.
  America is the most generous country in the world. There is no other 
country on this planet that allows hundreds of thousands of people to 
try to enter their country, cross their border against their laws, and 
then treat them so well.
  The detention center I visited in California houses 1,100 illegal 
aliens at the cost of $73 million to the American taxpayers, and that 
detention facility was immaculate.
  The people being held in this detention center have the right to talk 
to attorneys any time they want. They have an entire library filled 
with books and resources and computers so that they can educate 
themselves. They have translators of every language whenever they need 
them. They have food, they can request food any time they want to eat. 
They can go outside in the fresh air and the sunshine any time they 
want to.
  They have laundry facilities. They have a gym. They have a full-sized 
basketball court. It was beautiful. They have iPads that they can speak 
through FaceTime technology to their family members and their attorneys 
any time they need to while they await their request for amnesty or 
while they await their court date because they broke laws in our 
country.
  These are illegal aliens that are not taxpayers, that are not 
citizens, and they are treated so well. But my good colleague here from 
Florida and I, along with our other colleagues, Congressman Louie 
Gohmert, Congressman Paul Gosar, we visited a Federal prison right here 
in Washington, D.C. today where we were told in the lobby that we were 
trespassing.
  As Members of Congress, it is our duty for oversight over these types 
of facilities. We vote to fund them, and it is our duty and our right 
to go there and check on the circumstances of people and the type of 
facility and the maintenance and the order and the care that the 
inmates are receiving.
  I know this is something that is particularly of interest to you and 
some of your colleagues, but today we didn't see that. As a matter of 
fact, I would say the lobby of this prison was not in anywhere near the 
conditions as far as cleanliness and order that I saw in the detention 
center in California.
  I yield back to Mr. Gaetz to explain that further.
  Mr. GAETZ. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. We have an 
obligation here to approach issues in a bipartisan fashion when it is 
opportune.
  On the issue of prison reform, Republicans and Democrats joined 
together to pass the First Step Act. It was, in fact, the gentleman 
from New York (Mr. Jeffries) who led the Democrat effort in that 
endeavor.
  The essence of that is equality and access to information. Republican 
administrations shouldn't bar Democrats from being able to have 
reasonable observations of the ongoing workings of our government and, 
similarly, the Biden government should not have the opportunity to 
exclude Republicans.
  It begs the question why were we there. Following January 6, which 
was not a good day for our country, which included violence that all of 
us condemn, there has been an unprecedented targeting of Americans who 
have a particular viewpoint.

  Their bank records are turned over to Federal authorities by 
financial institutions they thought they could trust. They have seen 
themselves ripped from their bed at night, pulled out of their places 
of employment, harassed, questioned.
  Many of these people were not even in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 
but maybe they forwarded the wrong e-mail or liked the wrong photo or 
shared the wrong meme.
  What is happening in America where we take these exquisite national 
security authorities and we turn them inward on our own people?
  We have two principal areas of concern. First, are the January 6 
detainees given access to evidence? We don't prejudge for a moment the 
innocence or guilt of anyone beyond the American principle that 
everyone is innocent until proven guilty.
  But access to exculpatory evidence could show interesting things. It 
could show that there was a difference between those who believed they 
were being part of a fully peaceful endeavor and those who might have 
been animating violence.
  The 14,000 hours of tape could also show us who was animating that 
violence, whether they were connected in any way, directed in any way 
by Federal agencies.
  It raises great suspicion that we are not able to get access to this 
information as Members of Congress. It raises even more suspicion that 
people deprived of their liberty right now, in the absence of any 
conviction, cannot get that very information.
  The second category of concern deals with the treatment of people in 
our Federal facilities. As Congresswoman Greene and I arrived at the 
Federal facility in Washington today, we did not prejudge whether all 
of the people in that facility were January 6 detainees or might have 
been there for some other reason.
  I often find on a congressional delegation you learn a lot maybe that 
you didn't particularly even show up to learn by virtue of having boots 
on the ground and having that real-time, effective, roll-up-your-
sleeves style of oversight.
  We have heard unconfirmed reports of beatings, of deprivation of 
access to nutrition, to religious services, to counsel. As I stand here 
today on the floor, I am embarrassed to have to admit to my 
constituents, I don't know the answers to those questions because the 
Attorney General won't answer them.
  He won't show up in the Judiciary Committee for an oversight hearing. 
He won't show up to the Oversight Committee. When we show up at the

[[Page H4286]]

Department of Justice, he won't answer our questions, and when we show 
up at the Federal Bureau of Prisons, instead of giving answers, instead 
of providing a tour, which is exactly what Republican and Democrat 
administrations have done in years past, they said we were the problem.
  It begs the question, why would people charged with misdemeanors be 
held in a Federal facility if otherwise that same Federal indexing 
would result in release with the bail system or on someone's own 
recognizance or with supervised release.
  Congresswoman Greene, here's my concern and hypothesis that I hope 
isn't true, that this Biden government wants so badly to have the 
specter of January 6 function as some sort of basis to continue 
targeting our fellow Americans that they would use people as political 
props, that they would deviate from otherwise standard practices in 
sentencing and in pretrial behavior so that they can continue this 
fiction that somehow we are under this grave national security threat 
from MAGA or white supremacy or America First or whatever the new smear 
of the day is.
  I yield to the gentlewoman from Georgia for the purpose of engaging 
in a colloquy with me.
  Congresswoman, do you have a perspective on why the Department of 
Justice and the Federal Bureau of Prisons seem so willing to deviate 
from their normal practices with these otherwise pedestrian crimes in 
the instances of people who did not engage in violence?
  Mrs. GREENE of Georgia. Mr. Gaetz, I believe that is a great 
question. My fear is that this country, our agencies--the FBI, the 
Department of Justice, and other agencies, intelligence agencies--are 
taking a two-tiered track to justice in the United States of America, 
one where Trump supporters are being targeted--these are the stories we 
are hearing over and over and over again, which is why we are asking 
questions; questions need to be asked--compared to the catch-and-
release that we have seen with antifa and BLM.
  You see, I haven't heard stories of big tech combing through antifa 
and BLM's social media pages, their friends' pages, their family's 
pages, reading text messages. I haven't heard stories, I haven't seen 
it on the news.
  I would like to see it if there are some, but I have not heard 
stories of antifa members and BLM members who rioted in the streets, 
who looted, who attacked police officers, Federal monuments, police 
precincts.

  I haven't heard stories of them being kept in jail for long periods 
of time with no idea of when their court date is. I haven't heard 
stories of Republican Members of Congress sharing bail bond links, 
encouraging fund-raising to get these January 6 detainees out of jail.
  You see, I haven't heard those stories, and I am interested if there 
are some, but I haven't heard them. I have only heard the stories 
targeted at Trump supporters and people that committed violence here at 
the Capitol.
  Another question that I have, Mr. Gaetz, and maybe you have seen it. 
I haven't. I haven't seen or heard of one of these detainees or any of 
the arrests charged with insurrection, yet this is the term that we 
hear over and over again. But do you know, Mr. Gaetz, if there have 
been any charges of insurrection?
  Mr. GAETZ. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding back. I am unaware of 
any such charge. The charges that concern me most are the charges that 
are misdemeanor in nature that would normally result in a very quick 
pass through the criminal justice system, and then having someone go on 
with their lives.
  Those charges are resulting in enhanced confinement, conditions that 
are not observable, and civil rights that are not identifiable when we 
are inquisitive to the United States Department of Justice.
  The gentlewoman from Georgia compares, perhaps improperly, the BLM 
riots of the past summer with the circumstances of January 6. I mean, 
dozens of people died as a result of the BLM riots. This was not the 
case at the Capitol. We are not for violence of any kind.
  There are plenty of places in the world, like Cuba, where political 
violence is necessary. By the way, the very same BLM crowd that was 
burning down America, that was calling this Nation racist, they have 
totally embraced the Cuban regime. So I guess socialism runs thicker 
than politics, runs thicker than blood, for sure.
  So with the Department of Justice under, frankly, both President 
Trump and President Biden unwilling to treat the BLM terrorism for what 
it was, to then turn on people who potentially were not violent, 
charging them, holding them, depriving them of the normal array of 
civil rights that we would afford any American, it does make it harder 
to make the American case to the world.
  We have already seen global leaders suggest that whatever their human 
rights violations, hey, America's got folks from January 6 locked up, 
so Vladimir Putin can kill his enemies, so other despots can justify 
the horrendous things they do to their people.
  In the words of one of our late, great chairmen in this body, we are 
better than this. We should be better than this.
  But we did not find better today. Today we found a Federal Government 
that was arrogant and recalcitrant.

                              {time}  2015

  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Georgia (Mrs. Greene) 
to perhaps opine on the conditions we think people might be suffering 
based on the attitude we encountered today.
  Mrs. GREENE of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for 
yielding.
  My concern is this, Madam Speaker: We let the jail know that we would 
be there, just like we let the Department of Justice know that we were 
coming ahead of time. We have sent letters and asked many questions.
  The questions I had today were simple questions, just questions about 
what time do they get their food? What kind of food do they get? Do 
they have access to religious materials or a clergyman or woman of 
their choice? Simple questions. When do they get to go outside? I just 
had simple questions like that.
  Of course, being in this Chamber when January 6 happened, it was a 
day that I did not like. I was very upset by it. I was scared by it. 
There have been over 500 people charged for things that they had done 
here at the Capitol. And I am very much interested in their right to 
due process, and they deserve their day in court.
  But the issue for me is this: I just couldn't believe the defiance in 
the attitude of the people that worked in the prison, because I never 
saw that attitude in any other place that I visited as a Member of 
Congress, which hasn't been long. Of course, it has only been 7 months. 
But when I visited the detention center in California, all of the 
people there were so proud of where they work and the job that they are 
doing and how they are taking care of the illegal aliens that are being 
kept at the detention center. But we didn't see that in the people that 
work there.
  As a matter of fact, we saw an attitude in front of cameras, in front 
of the press. They gave us an attitude of defiance and told us that we 
were trespassing. And then when we walked outside to speak to the 
person who we thought was a supervisor, they locked the door and would 
not let us back in. We were simply there not only to ask questions 
about the January 6 detainees, but also just about the prison overall 
because this is an important part of our job, oversight as Members of 
Congress.
  So that was really concerning to me, that they would display this 
behavior in front of the press that we had no right to be there, that 
we were trespassers and they locked us out. So that gives me great 
concern that they don't care about what anyone thinks and they give no 
authority to Members of Congress.
  Mr. GAETZ. And speaking of not caring, would the gentlewoman reflect 
on her concern about showing up at the Department of Justice and being 
deprived of access even to the lobby for a meeting with a senior 
official like the Attorney General.
  I yield to the gentlewoman from Georgia (Mrs. Greene).
  Mrs. GREENE of Georgia. Yes. That was my first time visiting the 
Department of Justice, and we had let them know ahead of time, Mr. 
Gaetz, Mr. Gohmert, Mr. Gosar, Mr. Biggs, and I, many of us had let 
them know. We have been asking questions for months.

[[Page H4287]]

We let them know about our visit, and we are standing on the sidewalk 
outside the door, and we weren't even allowed past the bike racks to 
even go near the door. And then we weren't even invited into the lobby 
while we waited to find out if there was someone we could speak to.
  Now, for me that was concerning. I have had a lot of death threats. I 
have had all kinds of threats on my life, my husband, my children, 
terrifying things. And as we were standing on the sidewalk, I could see 
many people coming down going each way. And I couldn't believe that. I 
was like why would the Department of Justice leave Members of Congress 
out here on the sidewalk in the open in the middle of a city and not 
bring us in the lobby just to wait to see if we had questions answered. 
And not only as a Member of Congress but as a woman, I just couldn't 
understand why we were left out there.
  So that was very alarming to me. And then just to be never given an 
answer; no one to come and speak to us. We just had simple questions. 
They're not difficult questions. We are just asking how this is being 
investigated. And then we want to know why are these other riots not 
being investigated, because that truly affected the American people.
  You see, January 6 affected the Capitol and Congress, but all the 
riots all year long affected the American people. It affected their 
businesses that they worked so hard in. It affected their jobs. It 
affected their communities. It burned their communities. It cost them 
so much money. There are many people that died. There are officers that 
have injuries that they will never recover from and billions and 
billions of dollars in damage. So I am very concerned about that two-
tier track justice system that should not exist in our country because, 
Mr. Gaetz, this is the type of stuff we see in Communist China, 
Communist Cuba, and I have great concern and fear of that in the United 
States of America.
  Mr. GAETZ: It certainly is something, having listened to our 
Democratic colleagues for years suggest that President Trump was this 
grave danger to our institutions, that our institutions would fall 
under a time of rising economic activity and a rising sense of 
patriotism, and more productive sectors of our economy growing. But it 
seems to me that the Biden administration is doing far more damage to 
our institutions by concealing their actions, by deviating from normal 
standards of justice and process, and by having an approach that is 
more indicative of regimes that don't really respect checks and 
balances and balance of power and institutional development and growth.
  I note that we are joined by the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gohmert.) 
Judge Gohmert has spent time on the bench, and is now a senior member 
of the House Judiciary Committee. As a judge he has toured a number of 
corrections facilities. As a senior member of the Judiciary Committee 
he has been involved in drafting legislation that deal with our Federal 
prison system. And he joined Congresswoman Greene and I both at the 
Department of Justice and at the Federal Bureau of Prisons facility 
today and received precisely the same treatment we did.

  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gohmert) to 
reflect on those experiences.
  Mr. GOHMERT. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend from Florida for 
yielding. I was quite shocked at the treatment we received. When people 
who have oversight and are responsible for voting to fund or not fund 
Federal facilities like the one we visited, I am not used to having 
somebody make such an overt effort to hide everything they are doing to 
the extent that they would lure us outside so they could lock the door. 
And there were lawyers, there were defendants, there were people going 
through the main entrance we did, yet because we are Members of 
Congress, they locked the door after accusing us of being trespassers, 
which is a crime. And so, we may want to look at who it is that was 
calling us trespassers. Obviously they have got some serious training 
that they need to go through.
  But this is nothing new and this has nothing to do with January 6, 
other than we have been alerted that there are people that are being 
mistreated.
  I have been alerted to people being mistreated before and took action 
to see if that was true. I don't care what their political leanings 
are. If they are being mistreated, then something needs to be done.
  Back when President George W. Bush was in office and there were 
abuses by the Justice Department, I was completely on the side of the 
Democrats. There is no place for that kind of thing, abusing people's 
civil rights. And we have been belittled here on the House floor, all 
of us here, and accused of trying to belittle what occurred on January 
6. No, there were some atrocious things that happened, and there needs 
to be punishment for that. But there is and has been concern that there 
were people that didn't even know they were doing anything wrong, and 
in some cases were not doing anything wrong have had their homes 
invaded and had their door busted open.
  One constituent last week called my office here in Washington to say 
that she was in east Texas on January 5, 6, and 7, all relevant times. 
She had no thought of coming to Washington. She did have a picture of 
Trump on Facebook. Her nephew texted her: Hey, I saw this picture. The 
FBI is asking who it is, and I wondered if maybe she looked familiar.
  And apparently, it looked very similar to this woman, and he thought 
his aunt would get a kick out of that, so he sends the text with this 
picture. And she says: Gee, it does look like me. LOL. Don't turn me 
in.
  Days later she has a visit from two FBI agents who demand to know 
where she was January 6.
  Well, now as I understand it, the only contact she had with the 
events of January 6 was her nephew sending her that text message. And 
then FBI agents show up. She was not that woman, and you could see the 
difference. But somebody had to have been monitoring those text 
messages.
  That was something that got me bent out of shape back in the second 
term of President Bush. You can't just go spying on American citizens. 
It is not right. And I guess it is possible that they got a FISA 
warrant to spy on an American citizen, but I would have hoped that the 
FISA judges would be a little more circumspect after we found out how 
abusive those FISA judges have been with just signing off on anything 
the DOJ wants in the way of warrants.
  The Constitution requires specificity, particularity. You have got to 
describe the thing to be searched, the thing to be seized. And we had 
seen from one that WikiLeaks let go on Verizon, they said: Yeah, we 
just want everything Verizon has.
  And the judge said: Oh, they want everything Verizon has on its 
customers; okay. Signs the warrant.
  We cannot keep a republic with judges that have that much disdain or 
inconsideration of the Constitution they are sworn to follow. And the 
fact that no FISA judge got bent out of shape after being lied to by 
DOJ and the FBI is another indication we have got a tremendous amount 
of cleaning up to do to save our republic.
  I appreciate my friend for the time, and I appreciate you having this 
Special Order and allowing me to participate.


                             General Leave

  Mr. GAETZ. Madam Speaker, at this time I seek unanimous consent that 
all Members participating in this Special Order may have 5 legislative 
days to revise and extend their remarks and submit extraneous material.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Florida?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. GAETZ. Madam Speaker, I believe this brings us to the conclusion 
of our Special Order time. I thank my colleagues for participating. I 
vow that we will continue to press these questions and to demand 
accountability and transparency from an administration that seems out 
of control.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________