[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Pages 20233-20234]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        SPECIAL COUNSEL MUELLER

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, we have a lot of business to get to this 
week, but because the topic is so important, I would like to address 
Special Counsel Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in 
our elections and the Trump campaign's potential involvement.
  Over the past several months, the investigation and the FBI have been 
the target of a smear campaign by Republicans, in the media primarily--
in a media outlet that is hardly regarded as down the middle, in a 
media outlet that just seems to ask ``how high'' when President Trump 
says to jump.
  Now it has been joined, quite naturally, by several Republicans here 
in Congress. Their intent is not to push back on the special counsel's 
findings or to introduce exculpatory evidence on behalf of Manafort, 
Gates, Papadopoulos, or Flynn, who have been indicted or convicted. 
Their intent is not to make an argument about the substance of the 
investigation at all. Their intent is to discredit the investigator and 
the investigation itself, by falsely painting it as biased or partisan. 
That way, whatever its findings are at the end of the day, they have 
created a permission structure to dismiss them.
  When you are afraid of the result, you attack the process. When you 
are afraid of the message, you shoot the messenger. That is what is 
happening right now with the escalating rhetoric in the rightwing echo 
media chambers. The commentators at FOX News have

[[Page 20234]]

actually called Mr. Mueller's investigation a coup--an outrageous 
charge that has been repeated by a Republican Congressman on the floor 
of the House. That is how overblown this rhetoric has gotten.
  Mr. Mueller is one of the most trusted and respected public servants 
in America. He has served administrations of both parties. He was first 
appointed by a Republican and was installed as a special counsel by 
President Trump's pick for Deputy Attorney General, Republican Rod 
Rosenstein. As everyone in America knows, he is as straight a shooter 
as one comes. Impugning his motives and calling his investigation a 
witch hunt or a coup is, frankly, hysterical.
  I regret even repeating those ridiculous comments because there is 
not a shred of evidence to back them up--not a shred. If any of these 
critics had evidence, they would pursue their claims in court, but, of 
course, there is no evidence. So, instead, they wage a warped campaign 
in the press, fueled by an avalanche of trumped-up allegations and 
disinformation.
  What are they so afraid of?
  We all know why. The special counsel's investigation is an important 
one for our democracy. We have to get to the bottom of what happened in 
last year's election no matter who ends up on the short end of the 
stick when those results are announced: How was Russia able to wage a 
successful information campaign to influence our election? To what 
extent were any members of Trump's Presidential campaign coordinating 
with that foreign attack on our democracy for political benefit?
  These are vital questions that every American should know, and it is 
an outright disgrace that our Republican colleagues have not joined in 
in asking for this--so many of them--being as partisan as can be and 
putting their party over country. If Russia continues in these types of 
investigations, woe is America--woe is America.
  Rather than this concerted campaign to sully the investigation and 
the FBI, President Trump and his allies should be encouraging them to 
do their job, to do it right, and to do it thoroughly. The stakes are 
too high and the topic too serious.
  I yield the floor.

                          ____________________