    [Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 33 (Wednesday, February 19, 2025)]
    [Senate]
    [Page S1028]
    From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

                              Trump Administration

      Mr. MURPHY. Mr. President, the idea that men and women citizens are
    bound by a common set of laws that are applied consistently and
    universally, regardless of one's income or political power or political
    affiliation, is a fairly modern invention because, for thousands of
    years, laws were simply what rulers used to impose and maintain power,
    to control people. Laws were applied or crimes were invented for the
    ruler's critics, and laws were ignored or waived away for those in
    favor with the regime.
      Now, early Americans had watched the British Kings apply laws
    selectively, both in Britain and in the Colonies, and our Founders
    sought to create a nation where all men were equal in the face of the
    law and that the law was applied uniformly and justly.
      That idea, equal justice--the law applies to everybody regardless of
    whom you support politically or whom you are aligned with politically--
    was in many ways the Founders' most vital check against tyranny. That
    is the difference between a democracy made of equal citizens and an
    autocracy, where the law is simply whatever the ruler decides. It is a
    foundational principle of American constitutional democracy. It is not
    something we can take for granted.
      Now, I will admit that likely every President has made a decision or
    decisions that compromised that belief in the rule of law. Often, those
    decisions were related to one of the maximalist powers that the
    President possesses; that is, the power of the pardon. I, for instance,
    did not agree with President Biden's decision to issue pardons to his
    family members. I thought that was excessive. I thought that
    compromised the rule of law. But this President's contempt for the rule
    of law--Donald Trump's contempt for the rule of law--is unprecedented.
      What we are all watching right now is Donald Trump throw away the
    idea that laws apply to everyone equally, and it is astonishing to
    watch so many of my Republican colleagues fall in line. Some of them
    may be on board for the destruction of the rule of law because they
    want the Trump family to rule forever, but many of them know that this
    is wrong, what is happening, and their silence is heartbreaking.
      Donald Trump issued a statement over the weekend:

           He who saves [the] Country does not violate any Law.

      That is a quote attributed to one of the most notorious dictators of
    the last half-millennium, Napoleon Bonaparte. It is a stunning claim
    that Trump--not the law or Congress--decides what is legal and illegal.
      If he had said that in 2017, maybe we could just write it off as
    Trump being Trump, as just bluster, trolling, but this time, he has
    actually implemented a methodical campaign to seize control of the law
    and apply it differently depending on whether you support him or oppose
    him.
      Take for example what happened on Friday night. Trump ordered the
    Department of Justice to cut a deal with the indicted mayor of New York
    City, Eric Adams. The deal was simple: If Adams pledged loyalty to
    Trump and agreed specifically to cooperate with Trump's immigration
    raids in the city, Trump would look the other way regarding Adam's
    corruption. The charges would be dropped, and Adams could keep stealing
    money as long as he was politically loyal to Trump.
      They didn't hide this deal. Adams and a high-ranking Trump official
    literally went on TV to announce that they had formed an alliance based
    upon the release of charges in exchange for political loyalty.
      But when Trump told the highest ranking Justice Department employees
    in New York City to execute the corrupt deal, they wouldn't. The top
    official resigned rather than take part in the corruption and so did
    the next in the chain of command. By the time Trump found someone who
    would implement the deal, seven DOJ lawyers and four of Adams' deputy
    mayors had resigned because what was happening in plain view was a
    fundamental challenge, a fundamental corruption to the rule of law--a
    rule of law that up until today, Republicans and Democrats had both
    revered.
      Meanwhile, other parts of Trump's team are engaging on the other side
    of the ledger, targeting and harassing--using the law--the President's
    critics, because that is what happens in a nation without the rule of
    law. Law enforcement lets loyalists like Adams off the hook and is
    overzealous in targeting critics.
      Let me give you just one example of what is happening right now as we
    speak. Last month, Trump's new FCC Chairman opened an investigation
    into a single radio station that had the audacity to simply file a news
    report about an ICE raid that was happening locally. Multiple other
    sources filed similar reports with similar footage, but only one
    investigation was opened, and--you guessed it--it was against the radio
    station that was owned by a high-profile critic of Donald Trump, George
    Soros.
      So the game is clear. Like, we can see it. They are not even hiding
    it. There is not a rule of law anymore; there is one set of law for
    people or entities who are loyal to Donald Trump, and there is one set
    of law for people who dare criticize him. That is not democracy.
      If we don't find a way--Republicans and Democrats--to come together
    to defend the rule of law, if we don't say that what is happening
    today--deals being cut with corrupt politicians in exchange for their
    pledges of loyalty to Donald Trump--if we can't speak with one voice
    about that kind of corruption, well, then our democracy is cooked.