[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Pages 5003-5004]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           FBI INVESTIGATION

  Mr. REID. Madam President, as each day passes, the senior Senator 
from Iowa further distinguishes himself as the most political and 
partisan Judiciary Committee chairman in history. Last Friday, Senator 
Grassley took his political partisanship to a new low when he 
encouraged the FBI to join the political crusade against Secretary 
Hillary Clinton.
  The Senator from Iowa is confused about the role of the FBI. By law, 
the FBI is obligated to do its job and conduct an independent review 
for everything it has to work on free from political interference.
  It is wrong for any Senator, especially the chairman of the Judiciary 
Committee who deals with these issues day after day, to urge the 
selective leaking of any Federal investigation. The FBI is not in the 
business of disclosing information to appease political operatives, but 
according to press reports, that is just the sort of thing the 
Republican Judiciary Committee has done.
  Remember, there has been a lot of speculation that under Chairman 
Grassley's leadership the personal information of a Clinton staffer was 
leaked to the press, including payroll records and a Social Security 
number, but urging a leak of the FBI investigation for political 
purposes was not the only thing Senator Grassley said. The Senator from 
Iowa was asked what he thought was the worst change in Congress during 
his tenure. He responded that the increasing partisanship was 
disappointing to him.
  The audacity and even the hypocrisy of that statement is staggering. 
Senator Grassley decries partisanship, while he denies a hearing and a 
vote to an eminently qualified Supreme Court nominee. For what? No one 
has a good answer on that. The Senator from Iowa complains of 
partisanship, even as he uses the Judiciary Committee to wage a 
political war against Secretary Clinton and her staff.
  Under the guise of oversight, Senator Grassley has been wasting 
taxpayer dollars trying to besmirch Hillary Clinton's good name. This 
has been going on for years. The Senator's singular focus on Secretary 
Clinton borders on an obsession. Senator Grassley has written dozens of 
letters containing hundreds of requests. He has held hearings. He has 
issued press releases. What

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have he and his committee achieved? Nothing. All the chairman has done 
is waste taxpayer dollars.
  The Judiciary Committee chairman is so desperate to legitimize his 
attacks against Hillary Clinton he is willing to encourage a selective 
leak of a Federal investigation by, of all people, the FBI.
  All this in an effort to award the Presidential nomination to Donald 
Trump. I agree in one respect with Senator Grassley. Partisanship in 
this Chamber is awful. It is paralyzing the Senate and is preventing us 
from doing our constitutional duties, but much of this is the handiwork 
of the Judiciary Committee and Senator Grassley.
  I ask the Chair to announce the business of the day.

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