May 2, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 72 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session

[Pages S2600-S2602]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                             Mueller Report

  Mr. CARDIN. Thank you, Mr. President. I rise today to discuss Special 
Counsel Robert Mueller's recent report, which is titled ``The Report on 
the Investigation into Russia's Interference in the 2016 Presidential 
Election.''
  The Mueller investigation was authorized to ensure a full and 
thorough investigation of the Russian Government's efforts to interfere 
in the 2016 Presidential election, as well as any links and/or 
coordination between the Russian Government and individuals associated 
with the campaign of Donald Trump.
  Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said, when appointing the 
special counsel:

       [T]he public interest requires me to place this 
     investigation under the authority of a person who exercises a 
     degree of independence from the normal chain of command. . . 
     . I am confident that [Special Counsel Mueller] will follow 
     the facts, apply the law, and reach a just result.

  I encourage all Americans to read the redacted version of the Mueller 
report and draw their own conclusions. The report lays out in stark 
detail Russia's attack on our country before and during our 2016 
elections.
  The special counsel rightly concluded that the Russian Government 
interfered in the 2016 Presidential election in a sweeping and 
systematic fashion.
  In January 2018, I issued a report on behalf of the Democrats on the 
Senate Foreign Relations Committee titled ``Putin's Asymmetric Assault 
on Democracy in Russia, and Europe: Its Implications on U.S. National 
Security.'' That report outlines some of the same tactics used by 
Russia and Europe that the Mueller report identifies were used in our 
2016 elections. Mr. Putin has waged war against democracy.
  The Mueller report concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 
Presidential election principally through two operations. First, a 
Russian entity carried out a social media campaign that favored 
Presidential candidate Donald J. Trump and disparaged Presidential 
candidate Hillary Clinton; second, a Russian intelligence service 
conducted computer intrusion operations against entities, employees, 
and volunteers working on the Clinton campaign and then released stolen 
documents.
  The investigation also identified numerous links between the Russian 
Government and the Trump campaign. When discussing the Mueller report, 
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein recently said: ``There was 
overwhelming evidence that Russian operatives hacked American computers 
and defrauded American citizens, and that is only the tip of the 
iceberg of a comprehensive Russian strategy to influence elections, 
promote social discord, and undermine America, just like they do in 
many other countries.''
  The Director of National Intelligence testified before the Senate in 
January that ``even as Russia faces a weakening economy, the Kremlin is 
stepping up its campaign to divide Western political and security 
institutions and undermine the post-WWII international order. We expect 
Russia will continue to wage its information war against democracies 
and to use social media to attempt to divide our societies.'' We expect 
that Russia will continue to wage its information war against 
democracies and to use social media to attempt to divide our societies.

  The special counsel fulfilled his mandate to fully investigate both 
criminal acts surrounding the 2016 elections, as well as efforts to 
obstruct this critical investigation. Let me be clear that President 
Trump has consistently taken steps to deny Russia's involvement in 
tampering in our elections, resisted efforts to hold Russia 
accountable, besmirched the reputation of the special counsel while 
trying to dismiss him or willfully impeding his investigation, and 
repeatedly attacked the integrity of our intelligence and law 
enforcement Agencies. Despite the President's egregious behavior, the 
special counsel's work has resulted in dozens of indictments and 
numerous convictions and guilty pleas.
  Several legal cases and investigations are still ongoing. Let me 
remind my colleagues that while the special counsel has delivered its 
final report, there are several ongoing Federal investigations and 
criminal trials, including those publicly known in the Southern 
District of New York and in Washington, DC.
  Congress must now fulfill its oversight obligations under the 
Constitution. In order to prevent future attacks on our country and 
stem abuses of power, we must review a complete copy of the report as 
soon as possible and hear direct testimony from Special Counsel 
Mueller.
  The Mueller report laid out numerous disturbing episodes where 
behavior by President Trump may have constituted obstruction of 
justice. The report stated:

       ``If we had confidence after a thorough investigation of 
     the facts that the President clearly did not commit 
     obstruction of justice, we would so state. Based on the facts 
     and the applicable legal standards, however, we are unable to 
     reach that judgment. The evidence we obtained about the 
     President's actions and intent presents difficult issues that 
     prevent us from conclusively determining that no criminal 
     conduct occurred.''

  Indeed, the report stated that ``the President's efforts to influence 
the investigation were mostly unsuccessful, but that is largely because 
the persons who surrounded the President declined to carry out orders 
or accede to his requests.''
  Congress should therefore closely examine the President's behavior, 
keeping in mind the President's obligations to fully execute the laws 
and preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution. Members of Congress 
took an oath as well to support the Constitution before taking office. 
The American public now deserves to hear directly from Special Counsel 
Robert Mueller through the relevant House and Senate committees.
  Congress still has the ability to make a judgment on the obstruction 
of justice. Congress must now fulfill its oversight function under the 
Constitution and do all we can to prevent future attacks on our country 
and to stem abuses of power and corruption.
  Congress has an obligation to understand the report fully and respond 
in such a way to prevent such attacks from happening in the future. 
This should involve prompt and thorough hearings in both the House and 
Senate.
  Here are some areas where the Senate should consider legislative 
action.
  First, if an American is approached by a foreign entity about 
involvement in an American election, that American should have certain 
responsibilities to immediately notify appropriate law enforcement 
agencies. I think many of us thought that was probably already the law.
  Second, legislation should be considered to protect our elections 
from foreign interference by imposing appropriate responsibility on 
social media platforms and amending our election

[[Page S2601]]

laws in regard to attribution on advertisements, including through 
social media.
  Third, the Senate should consider additional sanctions on Russia for 
its documented attacks against our 2016 elections.
  Congress must continue to take the lead in defending U.S. national 
security against continuing Russian aggression against democratic 
institutions at home and abroad.
  Earlier this year, I joined other Senators in introducing the 
Defending American Security from Kremlin Aggression Act of 2019. This 
comprehensive legislation seeks to increase economic, political, and 
diplomatic pressure on the Russian Federation in response to Russia's 
interference in democratic processes abroad, malign influence in Syria, 
and aggression against Ukraine.
  I am pleased to work with my colleagues on a comprehensive, 
bipartisan effort to counter Russia's pervasive attacks on our 
electoral systems and cyber infrastructure. I introduced the Election 
Systems Integrity Act to better America's election systems so that we 
are aware when a foreign national or interest seeks to obtain ownership 
or control of election service providers or related infrastructure.
  The American people have every reason to be disappointed and alarmed 
at the lack of preparedness to defend this Nation. News reports just 
last week suggested that former Homeland Security Secretary Nielsen 
unsuccessfully tried to elevate the U.S. Government response to the 
cyber security threat to the 2020 elections, apparently because 
President Trump was not interested in the issue and did not want to 
call into further question the legitimacy of his 2016 election victory, 
with Russian assistance.
  Recently, Jared Kushner inconceivably tried to argue that Russia's 
interference amounted to ``a couple of Facebook ads'' and that 
congressional and special counsel investigations were ``more harmful'' 
to the United States than the actual Russian interference.
  Congress needs to look very carefully and independently at the 10 
episodes that could constitute obstruction of justice by Trump, where 
Attorney General Barr ``disagreed with some of the Special Counsel's 
legal theories, and felt some of the episodes examined did not amount 
to obstruction as a matter of law.''
  Remember that President Trump tried to label Special Counsel Muller's 
probe as a witch hunt, but Special Counsel Mueller, a well-respected 
former FBI Director under both Presidents Bush and Obama, who was 
unanimously confirmed by the Senate for the position on two separate 
occasions, kept his head down and did his work without fear or favor.
  The special counsel's investigation has resulted in, so far, 199 
criminal counts, 37 people and entities that have been indicted/charged 
as a result of the investigation, 7 guilty pleas, 1 trial conviction, 
and 5 people sentenced to prison.
  The report is clear that the Trump campaign knew it would benefit 
from Russia's illegal activities. ``Several individuals affiliated with 
the Trump Campaign lied to the Office, and to Congress, about their 
interactions with Russian-affiliated individuals.'' Mueller's report 
states that some corroborating electronic communications were deleted.

  One editorial in the Washington Post asked the question: How could 
there be obstruction of justice even if there was little evidence to 
support the underlying suspicion of Trump campaign coordination with 
Russia?
  First, Mr. Mueller argued:

       ``Obstruction of justice can be motivated by a desire to 
     protect non-criminal personal interests, to protect against 
     investigations where underlying criminal liability falls into 
     a gray area, or to avoid personal embarrassment. The injury 
     to the integrity of the justice system is the same regardless 
     of whether a person committed an underlying wrong.''

  More specifically, ``the President had a motive to put the FBI's 
Russia investigation behind him,'' Mr. Mueller wrote. ``A thorough FBI 
investigation would uncover facts about the campaign and the President 
personally that the President could have understood to be crimes or 
that would give rise to personal and political concerns.''
  I am quoting directly from the Mueller report.
  For the record, the President did not fully cooperate with Special 
Counsel Mueller's investigation. The President refused to sit for an 
interview. He has taken every opportunity to say that this whole 
process was a witch hunt. He has done all he can to undermine the 
authority of the special counsel, its investigators, its purpose and, 
therefore, its results.
  As Special Counsel Mueller noted in his final report:

       Beginning in December 2017, the [Special Counsel] sought 
     for more than a year to interview the President on topics 
     relevant to both Russian-election interference and 
     obstruction-of-justice . . . we received the President's 
     written responses . . . we informed counsel of the 
     insufficiency of those responses in several respects . . . 
     Recognizing that the President would not be interviewed 
     voluntarily, we considered whether to issue a subpoena for 
     his testimony. We viewed the written answers to be 
     inadequate. But at that point, our investigation had made 
     significant progress and had produced substantial evidence 
     for our report. We thus weighed the costs of potentially 
     lengthy constitutional litigation, with resulting delay in 
     finishing our investigation. . . .

  So there is no question that the President did not cooperate as Mr. 
Mueller had requested.
  Special Counsel Mueller noted that he declined to ``make a 
traditional prosecutorial judgment'' due to its acceptance of the 
Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, or OLC, opinion 
prohibiting the indictment of a sitting President. The special counsel 
stated that while the OLC opinion holds that a sitting President may 
not be prosecuted, the OLC opinion ``recognizes that a criminal 
investigation during the President's term is permissible. The OLC 
opinion also recognizes that a President does not have immunity after 
he leaves office. . . . Given those considerations, the facts known to 
us, and the strong public interest in safeguarding the integrity of the 
criminal justice system, we conducted a thorough factual investigation 
in order to preserve the evidence when memories were fresh and 
documents materials were made available.''
  That is ending a quote by the special counsel. Mr. Mueller's report 
is a clear directive to Congress to move forward with its own 
proceedings.
  The criminal process at issue here for a sitting President is 
completely separate and independent of both the congressional oversight 
power and the congressional impeachment power for high crimes and 
misdemeanors. Even if the House decides to begin impeachment 
proceedings against the President--and it has the sole power to do so--
and even if the Senate were to convict the President--it has the sole 
power to do so--the Constitution provides that ``the Party convicted 
shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, 
Judgment, and Punishment, according to Law.''
  The report emphasizes the President's constitutional obligation to 
faithfully execute the laws under article II, section 3 of the 
Constitution, and notes that ``the proper supervision of criminal law 
does not demand freedom for the President to act with a corrupt 
intention of shielding himself from criminal punishment, avoiding 
financial liability, or preventing personal embarrassment.''
  Congress should take action and convene oversight hearings on the 
Mueller report and the underlying evidence. The report states:

       Our investigation found multiple acts by the President that 
     were capable of exerting undue influence over law enforcement 
     investigations, including the Russian-interference and 
     obstruction investigations. The incidents were often carried 
     out through one-on-one meetings in which the President sought 
     to use his official power outside of usual channels.
       These actions ranged from efforts to remove the Special 
     Counsel and to reverse the effect of the Attorney General's 
     recusal; to the attempted use of official power to limit the 
     scope of the investigation; to direct and indirect contacts 
     with witnesses with the potential to influence their 
     testimony. Viewing the acts collectively can help illuminate 
     their significance.

  That is again quoting from the Mueller report.
  These are disturbing and troubling actions by the President. Congress 
needs to get to the bottom of what happened and lay bare the facts for 
all Americans to see.
  The report continues:

       The President's efforts to influence the investigation were 
     mostly unsuccessful, but

[[Page S2602]]

     that is largely because the persons who surrounded the 
     President declined to carry out orders or accede to his 
     requests. Comey did not end the investigation of Flynn, which 
     ultimately resulted in Flynn's prosecution and conviction for 
     lying to the FBI. McGahn did not tell Acting Attorney General 
     Rod Rosenstein that the Special Counsel must be removed, but 
     was instead prepared to resign over the President's order. 
     Lewandowski and Dearborn did not deliver the President's 
     message to Attorney General Sessions that he should confine 
     the Russia investigation to future election meddling only. 
     And McGahn refused to recede from his recollection about 
     events surrounding the President's direction to have the 
     Special Counsel removed, despite the President's multiple 
     demands that he do so.

  That is again quoting from the Mueller report.
  The American people can take little comfort in the fact that the 
episodes of potential obstruction of justice would have been much worse 
had the President's staff actually followed through on his orders. The 
misconduct here emanates from the President himself.
  The report notes the marked change in the President's behavior--after 
the firing of FBI Director Comey--once the President realized that 
``investigators were conducting an obstruction-of-justice inquiry into 
his own conduct . . . The President launched public attacks on the 
investigation and individuals involved in it who could possess evidence 
adverse to the President, while in private, the President engaged in a 
series of targeted efforts to control the investigation.
  For instance, the President attempted to remove the special counsel. 
He sought to have Attorney General Sessions unrecuse himself and limit 
the investigation. He sought to prevent public disclosure of 
information about the June 9, 2016, meeting between Russians and 
campaign officials. And he used public forms to attack potential 
witnesses who might offer adverse information and to praise witnesses 
who declined to cooperate with the government.
  The report continues:

       The conclusion that Congress may apply the obstruction laws 
     to the President's corrupt exercise of the powers of office 
     accords with our constitutional system of checks and balances 
     and the principle that no person is above the law. . . . In 
     sum, contrary to the position taken by the President's 
     counsel, we concluded that, in light of the Supreme Court 
     precedent governing separation-of-power issues, we have a 
     valid basis for investigating the conduct at issue in this 
     report. In our view, the application of the obstruction 
     statutes would not impermissibly burden the President's 
     Article II function to supervise prosecutorial conduct or to 
     remove inferior law enforcement officers.

  The report concludes:

       The protection of the criminal justice system from corrupt 
     acts by any person--including the President--accords with the 
     fundamental principle of our government that ``no person in 
     this country is so high that he is above the law.''

  They cited U.S. v. Lee, Clinton v. Jones, and U.S. v. Nixon.
  Congress, through its oversight powers and constitutional 
responsibilities, should closely examine, investigate, and take 
testimony on the following episodes and events relating to potential 
obstruction of justice by President Trump.
  The special counsel examined these episodes in great detail and found 
supportive documentary and testimonial evidence that raised significant 
concerns about potential wrongdoing in a number of cases, including the 
Trump campaign's response to reports about Russia's support for Trump; 
conduct involving FBI Director Comey and National Security Advisor 
Michael Flynn; the President's reaction to the continuing Russia 
investigation; the President's termination of Comey and efforts to have 
Rosenstein take responsibility; the appointment of special counsel and 
efforts to remove him; efforts to curtail the special counsel's 
investigation; efforts to prevent public disclosure of evidence or 
affect witness cooperation or testimony; further efforts to have 
Attorney General Sessions take control of the investigation, after 
recusal; efforts to have White House Counsel Don McGahn deny that the 
President had ordered him to have the special counsel removed; conduct 
towards Flynn and Manafort; and conduct involving Michael Cohen. That 
is quite a long list.
  Congress should now rise to its constitutional responsibility and 
conduct vigorous oversight based on the roadmap provided by the Mueller 
report, both as to Russia's interference in the 2016 Presidential 
election and efforts to obstruct justice during the Mueller 
investigation.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.

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