[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 7]
[House]
[Pages 9159-9160]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




    THE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE HAS OVERSIGHT OF THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Gutierrez) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GUTIERREZ. Mr. Speaker, the saga continues, and there seems to be 
no end in sight for the Trump administration's growing legal and 
ethical problems. Every day another shoe drops, or at least another 
foot is inserted into the administration's mouth.
  The testimony of James Comey before the Senate Intelligence Committee 
last week showed us that this is no longer just a matter of foreign 
intelligence and the Russian meddling in American elections. While that 
is very important and we need to address the foreign intelligence and 
security aspects of that matter, the very important question of how we 
keep Russia from hacking our elections in the future, what is clear is 
that the investigations into the Trump administration are now matters 
for the Judiciary Committee.
  The gentlewoman from California, Senator Feinstein, and I were on CNN 
this weekend, and we made the point that the Judiciary Committee has 
the oversight responsibility for the Justice Department, therefore, it 
is time for the committee to do its job.
  That was the theme of my speech here last week, and nothing has 
happened. It is also the reason I wrote to Judiciary Chairman Bob 
Goodlatte last week to request that he take action, hold hearings, 
begin preparations for the hearings that will come--and they will 
come--because the silence of the Judiciary Committee has been deafening 
so far.
  As soon as President Trump said on Friday he was willing to testify 
under oath 100 percent, I wrote Judiciary Chairman Goodlatte to say the 
committee should schedule a hearing and take the President at his word.
  Now, I don't think the chairman will invite the President, a man he 
campaigned for, because the role of the House Judiciary Committee right 
now is to protect the President at all costs, shielding the President 
from tough questions instead of representing the people's interest.
  In doing so, Judiciary Republicans and House Republicans in general 
are getting deeper and deeper into bed with this President. You see, 
they have a whole agenda, and they are counting on this President to 
help them cut

[[Page 9160]]

taxes for people with trust funds while cutting healthcare, education, 
child care, civil rights and voting rights for people who work for a 
living.
  Mr. Speaker, the House Judiciary Committee ought to be in the middle 
of congressional examinations of the Trump administration, and so far 
they have been on the sidelines.
  Is it no longer the practice of the House of Representatives to hold 
oversight hearings? Is it no longer the practice of this body to hold 
the executive branch and the White House accountable?
  I have never seen an administration more in need of congressional 
oversight than this one, yet the Congress does not dare do anything 
that might cause the President to call someone out in one of his dawn 
Twitter rants.
  We know that the administration has a policy now--this 
administration--of not cooperating with congressional oversight, 
instructing agencies not to comply with inquiries from members of 
Congress unless they are a committee chairman, all of whom happen to be 
Republican.
  Mr. Speaker, I am sorry, but the President and his administration are 
accountable to over 320 million Americans, all 435 Members of this body 
and 100 Senators as well, regardless of their party affiliation.
  At least one senior senator called this policy opposing congressional 
oversight nonsense. To his credit, the Republican chairman of the 
Judiciary Committee in the Senate, Mr. Grassley of Iowa, is not 
impacted by the Trump administration policy because he is a chairman, 
but he spoke out forcefully against the Presidential obstruction. See, 
my friends, that is how you do it, the way Mr. Grassley did it. Follow 
his example.
  And then there is our old friend, the former Speaker and an adviser 
to the President, Mr. Gingrich, who is now advising the President to 
terminate Mr. Mueller, the former FBI Director investigating the 
President and his subordinates, including the family members of the 
President. Mr. Gingrich said Mueller was a superb choice with an 
impeccable reputation for fairness just a couple of weeks ago, but now 
he says there is no way Mueller can be fair. He wants the President to 
fire Mueller and he wants a political fight against the very idea of 
special prosecutors.
  Now, Mr. Gingrich has been joined in this chorus by a Trump 
confidante and golf buddy, the president of Newsmax, who says the 
President is contemplating firing Mueller.
  Mr. Speaker, if you want to see the President on a fast track to 
impeachment, then he should take this advice and fire Mueller. If you 
want to see this President in the express lane to impeachment, no ifs, 
ands, or buts, then go for it. We dare you.
  Even the Judiciary Committee, which has shown no interest in doing 
anything other than rubber stamping this administration's agenda, would 
be forced to take action.

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