[Pages H1714-H1719]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            ATTACKS AND THREATS ON DEMOCRACY AND RULE OF LAW

  (Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2025, Mr. Johnson 
of Georgia was recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the 
minority leader.


                             General Leave

  Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their 
remarks and to submit extraneous material into the Record.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Taylor). Is there objection to the 
request of the gentleman from Georgia?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, after Donald Trump and his co-
president Elon Musk took office on January 20, Democrats in Congress 
realized that we were engaged in a multifaceted struggle to protect and 
defend everyday Americans from the harm being inflicted by this 
reckless and cruel administration.
  It was an all-hands-on-deck moment with roles for Congress, the 
courts, and for we the people.
  On February 10, House Democratic Party Minority Leader Hakeem 
Jeffries formally established the Rapid Response Task Force and 
Litigation Working Group, chaired by assistant leader   Joe Neguse and 
co-chaired by Representatives Rosa DeLauro, Gerry Connolly, and Jamie 
Raskin.
  The task force itself is also a multifaceted defense of our democracy 
with its 45 Members participating in various working groups. I 
participate in the Litigation Working Group that brainstorms ideas for 
amicus briefs where Congress' perspective would be especially important 
and useful to the courts such as when the Trump administration tramples 
upon Congress' constitutional powers by ignoring the will of Congress 
as expressed by legislation that directs that a certain thing be done.
  When Congress passes legislation and that legislation is signed into 
law, then whoever is President is charged with the responsibility of 
taking care that that law is faithfully executed. The President does 
not have the power to nullify a law passed by Congress, but this 
President is willfully acting like a dictator and the Litigation 
Working Group is working to stop this President from acting unlawfully 
and unconstitutionally.
  We are seeing great success in the courts, which is why this 
President is now attacking the judiciary and attacking judges, and we 
will talk about that later during this Special Order hour, which I have 
been asked to lead.

  I also participate in a hearings working group that sets up hearings 
across the Nation to highlight how this administration's unlawful and 
unconstitutional actions are affecting everyday people. Importantly for 
tonight, I participate in the Special Order hour working group, where 
my fellow Representatives and I organize time to speak on topics of 
urgent importance so that the American public can be informed about the 
harm this administration is causing, our thoughts about it, and what we 
can do about it, both here in the Halls of Congress and in the courts 
as well as in the streets.
  Tonight, the topic I feel most urgency around is illuminating the 
ways that the Trump administration is destroying democracy through its 
attack on the rule of law.
  As a young man, I decided to become a lawyer. Actually, as a child, I 
was 4 years old when my hero, my mentor, my cousin--we called him 
Tokey, but his name was Archibald Hill--I was 4 years old when he 
graduated from law school and became a lawyer. When that happened, I 
decided at that tender age of 4 years old that I wanted to be just like 
him. I wanted to be an attorney also.
  Archibald went out to Oklahoma and set up his homebase there in 
Oklahoma City, and he hung out his shingle as a solo practitioner and 
began to practice criminal defense law, and me, being his acolyte, his 
fan, wanted to be just like him. I decided I was going to open up my 
law firm and practice criminal defense law just like him.

[[Page H1715]]

  I believed in due process. I believed that if government accused you 
of a crime, you had a right to a trial by a jury of your peers and the 
prosecutor had the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt 
before the jury was authorized to convict. The government could not 
just accuse you of something without evidence, lock you up, and throw 
away the key without due process.
  I believe in the rule of law and I believe in the Constitution, which 
undergirds the rule of law. I believe in equal protection under the 
law. As a lawyer, I fought for my clients in court, ensuring they 
received due process and equal protection under the law that they were 
entitled to.
  I administered our system of justice as a magistrate court judge, 
upholding the law without fear or favor. That is the America that I 
love, one where everyone in this country feels secure enough in our 
rights to speak their mind and to live freely.
  I am deeply disturbed about the devolution that I am seeing taking 
place right now in terms of the rule of law and justice in this 
country.
  Unfortunately, this is what we are seeing under this Trump reign of 
terror. In only 100 days, there has been an onslaught of attacks on the 
judiciary and the rule of law. Trump is using the Department of Justice 
to carry out a campaign of terror, retribution, and vengeance.
  Trump is perverting his Justice Department away from administering 
justice into an outfit that is only there to prosecute his personal 
vendettas, punish his enemies, and award his friends.
  He has installed to do his bidding banana republic cronies like 
Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel, who are more 
than willing to carry out Trump's abuse of the justice system. Under 
their reign, dozens of prosecutors were targeted, identified, and fired 
simply because they had worked on the January 6 insurrection cases.
  The FBI turned over a list of 4,000 current and former FBI personnel 
who worked on the January 6 cases so that they too could be targeted 
for firing. When the pardon attorney refused to recommend restoring the 
gun rights of one of President Trump's supporters, who was also a 
convicted domestic violence perpetrator, guess what? She was fired too. 
When she was called to testify as a whistleblower about her 
termination, she was called by Democrats to Congress. Then the Friday 
night before the Monday she was to show up in Congress, armed law 
enforcement agents were directed to show up at her house on a Friday 
night, late, knocking on her door, and they tried to intimidate her out 
of testifying.
  It didn't work, I am happy to report. The DOJ is also opening 
investigations to intimidate other whistleblowers from speaking up and 
to punish those who already have. The Department of Justice has opened 
investigations into a lawyer who previously prosecuted Trump's friends. 
They are investigating a Governor who opposed Trump. They are 
investigating the New York attorney general, the New Jersey attorney 
general, and also United States Representatives and Senators who have 
spoken out against the Trump administration.

                              {time}  1815

  Trump has directed the Department of Justice to investigate Chris 
Krebs because Chris Krebs told the truth that the 2020 election was 
safe and secure.
  Just within the last week, the Attorney General issued legal 
guidelines that allowed the Justice Department to subpoena reporters' 
personal communications without notice and to criminally prosecute any 
government employees who are seen as undermining the administration's 
views.
  The message is clear: If you say anything negative about the king, 
then you are not safe. This reign of terror is what we are talking 
about tonight.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from New Mexico (Ms. 
Stansbury), who I am glad has joined me this evening.
  Ms. STANSBURY. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for convening this 
Special Order hour.
  Mr. Speaker, this week marks this administration's first 100 days in 
office. It has been 100 days of chaos, corruption, confusion, and 
absolute destruction of our Constitution and the norms that this great 
Nation was built on; 100 days of tearing apart our democracy, our 
families, our communities, the vital Federal programs that serve the 
people who make up our communities; thousands fired, agencies 
dismantled, and people's personal and private data stolen; self-dealing 
billions of dollars in Federal contracts, judges jailed, a Congress 
that refuses to act and to do its job, and the countless Americans who 
are living in fear.
  Mr. Speaker, I have just wrapped up a townhall tour across my 
district. While my colleagues across the aisle are afraid to even face 
their constituents, we are showing up every day across our communities: 
15 townhalls touching 15,000 New Mexicans across every county that we 
represent in 12 towns and communities and Tribal communities across our 
State.
  Let me say this: Our people are afraid. Everywhere we go, across the 
aisle, we saw people who are afraid they are going to lose their Social 
Security, people who are afraid they are going to lose the healthcare 
that keeps them and their family members alive, people who are afraid 
that they are not going to be able to afford to put a roof over their 
head or food on the table, people who are afraid watching as their 
family members and friends are facing the threats of deportation, 
students who are afraid to show up to school because they don't know 
what will happen to themselves or their families.
  This is the sign of an unhealthy democracy. This is the sign of an 
executive who has lost touch with the American people. This is the sign 
of an authoritarian and autocratic way of operating. This is the sign 
of a democracy that has lost its way. This is a sign that the American 
people need to continue to stand up, to speak out, to show up, to 
attend those townhalls, to call their Representatives, to continue 
marching, to continue making sure that we hold our elected officials to 
account.
  All across my district, there is not a single family who has not been 
touched over the last 100 days: People who have lost their jobs, 
teachers and firefighters, people who work for the VA and the Forest 
Service, who work for our national security programs, scientists and 
engineers, people who just started their jobs and people who have been 
there for countless decades. These are real stories, real people, real 
lives that have been impacted every single day for the last 100 days.
  What have my colleagues across the aisle done? Nothing. They have 
done nothing. They have failed to do their most basic constitutional 
duty of speaking up on behalf of the people that they represent, of 
holding the administration accountable, of saying something when they 
see something that is wrong.
  Not only do they refuse to do their most basic job, but they are here 
in this building working on a tax package behind closed doors all 
around us that will further take away the rights of the American 
people, that will decimate basic programs that help people put food on 
the table and a roof over their heads.
  All around us, our colleagues are refusing to say out loud the things 
they will say to us in private: that they, too, are frightened about 
what is happening; that they, too, have constituents and veterans and 
elderly people on Social Security and disability who are frightened for 
their lives right now.
  What is happening in this country is not normal. We refuse to 
normalize it. We refuse to allow our democracy to be hijacked. We 
refuse to allow the silence that is deafening this country right now to 
continue. We must continue to speak up.
  I say, Mr. Speaker, the time to act is now because if we do not, we 
will lose everything. We must restore accountability. We must restore 
our institutions. We must restore our norms. We must stand up. We must 
speak out. We need our colleagues across the aisle to join us before we 
lose our democracy.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for 
those very thoughtful comments. The terror that inflicts my colleagues 
on the other side of the aisle so that they find it impossible to 
muster the courage to speak out when they see something wrong and hear 
something wrong and, you know, everything going against their morals--
they know it is wrong, but yet they can't speak out--they are

[[Page H1716]]

victims of this reign of terror, although I don't absolve them of 
responsibility for having no courage.
  They should have courage, just like the law firms that have been 
targeted by the Trump administration. Some of those law firms have 
protested, but others have yielded to the terror. He is threatening 
these very powerful and wealthy, corporate-representing law firms with 
investigations, with revocation of security clearances, with 
termination of government contracts or funding, with bans from 
accessing government buildings, and hiring bans.
  Some of these law firms are standing up and suing the Trump 
administration for this unlawful behavior, law firms like Perkins Coie, 
Jenner & Block, Susman Godfrey, and WilmerHale; but a raft of other law 
firms, like Paul, Weiss, Skadden, and Latham, bent the knee and laid 
down because they were too afraid of this administration destroying 
their businesses.

  I mean, here are a number of big, bad, powerful, wealthy law firms 
that can't even use the law to protect themselves, afraid to use the 
law to protect themselves. What makes their clients think that those 
law firms that bent a knee to Trump will represent their interests? I 
don't know. Only time will tell what happens to those firms that 
capitulated.
  In the first Trump administration, law firms were part of the huge 
effort by the legal community to challenge unconstitutional policies of 
the Trump administration, like the Muslim ban, but this time around the 
Trump administration is going to make sure that that doesn't happen. 
That is why they are threatening these law firms and making them heel 
and forcing them to come to the table and capitulate and roll over and 
let him rub their soft bellies. They won't be involved in protecting 
the people against Trump's excesses this time around.
  Not only that, but as part of their deal with Trump, these law firms 
promised nearly a billion dollars in pro bono work, but only for the 
causes that Trump cares about. Now, pro bono means ``for the public 
good,'' but apparently Trump and the law firms that he has punked out 
think it just means free legal work for Trump. Trump has punked these 
big, powerful, and wealthy law firms into providing free labor to help 
him negotiate trade deals, to help him revive the coal industry, and to 
help his friend Elon Musk, the billionaire, as he wields a chainsaw 
through his position as head of the Department of Government 
Efficiency.
  White House officials have said the pro bono work could be used 
toward representing Trump himself or his allies. Just last night, one 
of Trump's executive orders directed the Attorney General to use this 
private sector pro bono work that he has extracted to represent him so 
that they would defend law enforcement officers who are charged with 
offenses in the performance of their official duties.
  Let me translate that. That means--okay, you remember George Floyd, 
who was murdered by an officer who wouldn't take his knee off of George 
Floyd's neck until he suffocated. You all remember that. You all 
remember Breonna Taylor, who was shot and killed in her bed after a 
botched, no-knock drug raid; or Tyre Nichols, who was beaten to death 
after a traffic stop.
  Under the new Trump regime, the DOJ would conscript private law firms 
to, for free, represent those police officers against the families of 
the victims of police brutality. That is not the way the Department of 
Justice should work, and that is not the way that big, powerful law 
firms should work. They should choose the clients that they want to 
represent, not Donald Trump choosing their clients and causes for them.
  Mr. Speaker, I now yield to the gentleman from New York (Mr. 
Goldman), my good friend, a former prosecutor. He has some things that 
he wants to tell you.
  Mr. GOLDMAN of New York. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, Mr. 
Johnson, for organizing this incredibly important Special Order hour to 
highlight the absolutely unprecedented and devastating attacks on our 
democracy and on the rule of law.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to sound the alarm that our democratic 
values and the rule of law are under attack. We all must open our eyes 
before we find ourselves in Vladimir Putin's Russia. In just 100 days, 
President Trump has engaged in a coordinated, premeditated, deliberate 
attempt to dismantle our government.
  Let's be very clear: Donald Trump does not seek to lead us. He seeks 
to rule us, and we all must open our eyes. Since he first came into 
office, President Trump has persistently attacked the media to 
undermine the credibility of the messenger of news that he didn't like.
  Then, during Special Counsel Mueller's investigation on Russia's 
interference in the 2016 election to benefit Donald Trump's campaign, 
President Trump attacked the FBI relentlessly, trying to undermine its 
credibility.
  Rather than debate the facts or the evidence, which he knows he would 
lose, isn't it just a lot easier to simply shoot the messenger and 
claim that everything bad about you is just fake news?

                              {time}  1830

  Mr. Speaker, while many, rightly, have been focusing on the arbitrary 
and devastating cuts to essential Federal programs or the disastrous 
and reckless tariffs that have increased prices and inflation and have 
tanked the economy, President Trump's first 100 days have also 
escalated this relentless assault on the checks and balances that have 
been the foundation of our great Nation.
  On day one, he pardoned more than 1,500 criminals who stormed this 
very building on January 6. Hundreds of them were convicted of 
violently assaulting law enforcement officers. It was a blatant and 
disgusting disregard for the rule of law and for our fine men and women 
in uniform.
  Next, during his first week, he fired nearly 20 inspectors general, 
the independent watchdogs in the executive branch agencies. It is their 
responsibility to ensure that those agencies follow the law.
  Then he went after the Department of Justice and the FBI. He fired 
prosecutors and special agents who investigated his criminal conduct. 
They simply did their job. He then turned to the Public Integrity 
Section, the renowned and venerable institution that was created after 
Watergate to be an independent investigative body of public officials.
  He and his administration have also been firing and forcing out 
anyone who might not share his political views, even though these jobs 
are career, nonpartisan, and apolitical jobs.
  Next, he went after lawyers and law firms who tried to hold him 
accountable to the law. He continues to do so. He has signed several 
executive orders, trying to limit the ability of law firms to represent 
their clients, one of the fundamental hallmarks of our system of law.
  He has gone after universities. These institutions form the bedrock 
foundation of the growth and innovation of our great country and 
underpin and form the foundation for the best global economy in the 
world. He is now threatening to withhold billions of dollars in Federal 
funding unless universities change their curriculum, change their 
admissions process, change their hiring process, and change other core 
parts of their mission that they, as educational institutions, decide 
in this democracy.
  He is also waging a war against nonprofit organizations, yanking 
grants away that have already been made and allocated. He is 
threatening to remove the tax-exempt status of any organization that 
may disagree with his opinions or support lawsuits that might actually 
enforce existing laws.
  Mr. Speaker, you see where this is going. The media, the FBI, 
inspectors general, the Department of Justice, law firms, universities, 
and nonprofit organizations are all institutions that enforce our laws 
and that hold those in power accountable. This is his methodical way of 
undermining all forms of accountability in this government.
  More recently, his attack on our Constitution has escalated. Before 
he even came into office in January, President Trump had completely 
submitted the Republican Conference of this body. They have abdicated 
their constitutional duty to be a check and balance on the executive 
branch.
  The judiciary, the third branch of government, still remains in his 
way. How does he deal with the judiciary? He is openly and brazenly 
criticizing

[[Page H1717]]

and attacking judicial rulings that he doesn't like--including a number 
issued by Republican-appointed judges, including his own--and is openly 
defying court orders including Supreme Court orders.
  The President and some of my Republican colleagues are threatening 
judges. They are trying to bully them into ruling in their favor and 
not ruling based on their interpretation of the law.
  With the career folks removed from our executive branch agencies, he 
has put political lackeys in charge of our criminal justice system and 
our national security apparatus. He is ordering criminal investigations 
into individuals simply because they disagree with him.
  That is the type of corruption that our country travels the world to 
root out. At its core, it is as antidemocratic as it gets. It is the 
stuff of dictators and strongmen and not of democracies.
  Even worse, he is attacking our basic and fundamental right of due 
process. That is the right to have any allegation presented before a 
neutral arbiter who makes a final decision.
  Like a king, Donald Trump thinks it is okay for him to get to decide 
what the law is. That is not how our system works. The Supreme Court 
and our judiciary decide what the law is. When a unanimous Supreme 
Court rules that he is not a king and that he must abide by our basic 
principles of due process, he then refuses.
  Kilmar Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador, even though he had 
an order on him that would prohibit him from going to El Salvador. 
Donald Trump admits the mistake and refuses to bring him back to face 
due process.
  Due process is the cornerstone of our country. It distinguishes us 
from an authoritarian dictatorship, and Donald Trump wants to destroy 
it. It is not optional, and court rulings are not simply suggestions. 
They are the backbone of American democracy. They are our final 
safeguard against the unchecked power of the executive.
  When a President ignores the courts, he is not challenging policy. He 
is declaring war on the Constitution itself. Despite this laundry list 
of attacks on trying to undermine our democracy and our rule of law, my 
Republican colleagues remain absolutely silent and, in some cases, even 
supportive.
  These alarm bells are deafening, but too many in this Chamber would 
rather enable Donald Trump's descent into dictatorship than to confront 
him. They have laid down the power of the purse, and now they are 
actively trying to forfeit their oversight authority.
  They are silent as President Trump wages an all-out assault on our 
constitutional democracy. They are silent as he goes after the media, 
launches investigations into his political adversaries, and attacks our 
basic fundamental rights.

  This is what dictators like Vladimir Putin do. They use repression, 
retaliation, and the threat of violence to consolidate their own power, 
while doling out billions of dollars to other oligarchs who will 
support them.
  Many countries have faced moments like this before, moments where the 
freedom and the openness of the democracy that they represent stand at 
a crossroads. I urge my Republican colleagues to please stand up for 
our Constitution. Stand up for our democracy. None of us want 
authoritarianism. We don't want a dictator.
  Mr. Speaker, now is the time where the rubber meets the road, and my 
friends across the aisle will make their record for history.
  Do they want a dictator or do they want a democracy?
  Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his 
very prescient comments. He spoke of a reign of terror that has been 
inflicted upon our institutions and the people of this country.
  As a lawyer, I never thought that I would ever live to see the 
Department of Justice being perverted to the point of turning its 
attention on prosecuting a State court judge for interfering with a 
deportation in her courtroom and in her courthouse. Even judges and 
courthouses in this Nation are not safe from the reign of terror of 
this President.
  In Milwaukee, Judge Dugan, a State court judge, was arrested by the 
FBI for obstructing justice by allegedly directing a migrant out of her 
courtroom through a side door, as Federal agents waited to arrest him 
in the hallway. He was there for a hearing on charges unrelated to his 
immigration status.
  Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE, did not even have a 
judicial warrant to arrest him. A judicial warrant is based on probable 
cause, is signed by a judge, and has the force of law. What the ICE 
agent had was only an administrative warrant. This type of warrant is 
just simply a piece of paper that somebody types up, saying that this 
person should be arrested. There is no probable cause, no nothing. It 
is just an administrative warrant.
  The judge told the ICE agents that if they wanted to arrest someone 
in her courtroom, they needed a judicial warrant signed by a judge. 
They needed to speak with the chief judge of Milwaukee County. The 
chief judge told the agents that they could not make arrests inside 
courtrooms or other private locations in the courthouse.
  That makes a lot of sense. If people know they will be picked up by 
ICE if they report to the courthouse, they will never show up for their 
State court proceedings. Mr. Speaker, it is impugning the ability of 
the courts of the States to administer justice according to State law.
  Judge Dugan allegedly ushered the migrant out a side door. A week 
later, FBI agents show up at her courthouse. When she pulls up to the 
parking lot, they take her out of the car and put her in handcuffs. 
They perp walked her in a public manner that was meant to send a 
message to any other judge who stood up for the rule of law.
  This was clearly designed to make not just State court judges but all 
judges, including Federal judges, afraid of taking a position out of 
step with the Trump administration. It is meant to stop judges from 
doing their jobs and standing up for the communities they are empowered 
by and against the illegal abuses of the Trump administration.
  This is even before the talk Trump has stirred up about impeaching 
Federal judges who have the temerity to rule against his administration 
when it violates the laws and the Constitution. Once again, Trump and 
his cronies are trying to bully and remove people who have the backbone 
to do their jobs and stand up for our democracy.
  Mr. Speaker, I am now joined by my colleague from the great State of 
Georgia, Representative Lucy McBath.
  Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time is remaining.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Georgia has 21 minutes 
remaining.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from 
Georgia (Mrs. McBath).

                              {time}  1845

  Mrs. McBATH. Mr. Speaker, I thank my delegation colleague, 
Representative Johnson, for being the managing Member and for yielding 
to me this evening. I thank him for these moments tonight as we are in 
a very critical time, as my friend has been expressing before I came.
  I thank Mr. Johnson's staff, as well, for taking the time and effort 
to put this together tonight and the Litigation Task Force for 
convening on the floor tonight.
  I am proud to join my Democratic colleagues here to raise the alarm 
that this administration's actions are rapidly undermining our 
democracy and our justice system. However, Democrats continue to stand 
as the party of truth, the party of democracy, and the party of the 
American people.
  While the Trump administration is emboldened to tear down 
foundational programs that keep Americans safe and gut the Department 
of Justice and our law enforcement, Democrats in Congress are holding 
this administration accountable and fighting so that our government 
works for every family, not just the richest in the world or the close 
friends and colleagues of the President.
  I am here today not just as a public servant but as a mother who 
knows what it feels like to lose everything to gun violence, and I know 
this: Every family in America deserves the right to be safe at school, 
at the grocery store, and at home.
  The Trump administration is making this much harder. This White House 
has worked to unwind the very protections that are designed to keep us 
safe. They have cut critical funding for gun

[[Page H1718]]

violence prevention programs at the Department of Justice and have 
weakened the ATF, making it easier for guns to fall into the wrong 
hands and for gun crimes to go unsolved. They even disbanded key 
initiatives that tracked domestic terrorism and hate crimes tied to gun 
violence.
  These decisions are not just reckless. They are deadly, making it 
easier for violence to spread, for lives to be shattered, and for 
communities to keep on living in fear.
  As a mother who lost her son to gun violence, let me be perfectly 
clear: The American people are crying out for the basic right to live 
safe from unnecessary gun violence. Americans want to send their 
children to school or to the mall without wondering if they will ever 
come home.
  These egregious Trump administration cuts are a slap in the face to 
every family and every survivor of gun violence. In many cases, these 
rollbacks also make it more difficult for law enforcement to keep our 
communities safe.
  Unfortunately, of all the disputes local officers are called to 
address, domestic violence incidents involving a gun are some of the 
most dangerous. The emotion and volatility during these incidents mean 
they can quickly turn deadly if a lethal weapon is present.
  Instead of strengthening background checks and red flag laws to 
provide tools to our law enforcement, the Trump administration has 
weakened those crisis response tools that law enforcement depends on 
and drastically cut funding to police departments, putting our officers 
at risk.
  I came to Congress to make our laws safer after I witnessed firsthand 
how fragile our justice system can be, and now I am determined, as we 
all should be, to protect our justice system so that perpetrators of 
crime and violence are actually held accountable.
  There have been recent attacks on judges, as has been expressed by my 
colleague, Mr. Johnson. These attacks on our judges and the courts by 
the Trump administration should alarm every American. It will now 
become harder for families to seek accountability for crimes that are 
committed against them and for survivors to get the justice that they 
deserve.
  Every American, no matter their background or the State that they 
live in, deserves to trust that when they walk into a courtroom, the 
law is fighting on their side. When our elected leaders belittle 
public-serving judges and bend the Department of Justice to serve their 
own interests, then they shatter that trust.
  Families looking for answers, for protection, and for justice cannot 
afford to wait. Trust me, Mr. Speaker, I know. I have been one of those 
families. I know the stakes of receiving justice for a loved one, and 
they are just far too high.
  I thank my colleagues for standing up. I thank Representative Johnson 
for standing up for the integrity of our democracy on behalf of those 
who rely upon it every single day.
  Mr. Speaker, for those who are watching at home, I say this to them: 
You are simply not alone. House Democrats are fighting for you, and we 
will not let this administration undermine the very ideals of America 
and the fabric of our democracy.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for her 
passion, for her courage, and for her tenacity in representing the 
interests of those who have been adversely impacted by crime and who 
need the justice system to hold accountable those who would violate our 
laws. She stands for justice for all. I appreciate her comments.
  It is not just big law firms and judges who are being targeted but 
also Department of Justice officials, FBI officials, government 
employees, and whistleblowers. The Department of Justice is now going 
after none other than ActBlue. What is ActBlue?
  Trump has asked the Department of Justice to cut off funding to 
anyone who opposes him, and recently, he directed the Department of 
Justice, the DOJ, to target ActBlue.
  What is ActBlue? It is a Democratic fundraising site that collects 
small-dollar donations from people across the country who fuel the 
Democratic Party's fundraising. ActBlue is a vehicle for everyday 
Americans to make small-dollar donations to the campaigns of people who 
are standing up to Donald Trump and fighting back against this 
administration. As a result of that, Donald Trump and his department of 
so-called justice are trying to shut them down.
  There is zero evidence of any wrongdoing by ActBlue, unlike this 
President's own shady crypto businesses and his taking of 
unconstitutional emoluments during his first term, but because ActBlue 
provides a way or mechanism for small donors to fund those who oppose 
Trump, Trump is using his power over the Department of Justice to shut 
down ActBlue like the authoritarian dictator that he is trying to be.

  Under rulings by the Supreme Court, it is big dark money donors who 
now dominate elections, and they donate heavily in favor of 
Republicans. Instead of putting some restrictions on those dark money 
donors, he wants to make them the only ones who are in place to be able 
to fund elections of Representatives.
  In other words, he is persecuting and prosecuting, trying to 
prosecute a small-dollar donor network for the Democrats so that only 
the big dark money donors who participate in electing him and his MAGA 
cronies are the ones who are playing the game.
  We cannot allow that to stand. Trump is actually going full MAGA out 
here with this, and his purpose is to Make America Great Again again. 
He wants to turn the country back to a time when the only people who 
had the right to vote were the White male property owners.
  In line with that, he is trying to destroy the Civil Rights Division 
at the Department of Justice. Under Trump, Pam Bondi and the Department 
of Justice are degrading the ability of civil rights lawyers to do 
their jobs on behalf of the American people. The Department of Justice 
has a storied Civil Rights Division, which was established by the 
enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1957, which focused on fighting 
racial discrimination. The division has since been tasked with 
upholding the rights of all persons in the United States, particularly 
the most vulnerable.
  When Trump took office, there were almost 400 attorneys in the 
division. Based on unofficial estimates, approximately 70 percent of 
the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division is expected to accept 
the second resignation offer, leaving fewer than 150 attorneys, as 
Trump has twisted the division into something unrecognizable, a unit 
that is bent on dismantling diversity, equity, and inclusion 
initiatives, reversing policies on transgender rights, rooting out so-
called woke ideology, and other such nefarious goals.
  Vanita Gupta, a former associate attorney general under President 
Biden, has said that the division has been turned on its head and that 
now it is being used as a weapon against the very communities it was 
established to protect.
  Cases have been halted, and top managers from the voting rights 
section have been reassigned.
  As devastating as this is now, it also means that that knowledge is 
being lost. If we have an election in 2028, which is not guaranteed 
with this President who is already selling merchandise proclaiming 
Trump 2028, but if we do have an election in 2028 and get a new 
President, we cannot snap our fingers instantly and rebuild an entire 
division that was demolished by this administration.
  Major damage is being done to our institutions, and all my brothers 
and sisters can do on the other side of the aisle is cower in favor of 
what they know is wrong and unjust.
  This is abuse of authority, and we cannot let it go unchecked. As 
much as Trump and his Department of Justice try to silence us, we must 
all speak up and speak out. Democracy is a fragile and precious thing. 
It lasts as long as we fight for it. That is because each time we let 
ourselves be cowed and each time we yield to fear, our rights narrow.
  I have before me the Preamble of the Constitution. It says, ``We the 
People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, 
establish justice''--it is right up there at the top. This is why we 
wanted to ``form a more perfect Union.'' It was to ``establish justice, 
ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote 
the general welfare.''

[[Page H1719]]

  It was to establish justice. That premised everything else. Justice 
and the system of justice in this country are worth protecting, and we 
shall do so. We shall continue to do so.
  I promise that I will be in the trenches fighting with you, We the 
People.
  As John Lewis used to say, let's go make some good trouble.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to refrain from 
engaging in personalities toward the President.

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