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[Pages S3453-S3454]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
ELECTIONS
Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, last night, President Donald Trump, in
an interview with ABC News, said that if he were offered information
about an opponent from a foreign source in the next election, he would
take a look at it and might not go to the FBI.
I think you might want to listen. There isn't anything
wrong with listening. If someone called from a country . . .
[and said] ``we have information on your opponent''--oh, I
think I'd want to hear it.
That is shocking, shocking--yet, sadly, is par for the course for
this President.
My predecessor, Senator Moynihan, said, ``We are defining deviancy
down.'' No President has defined deviancy down more than Donald Trump,
and his remarks last night defined deviancy down to a new low.
To say that it is OK for foreign countries to interfere in our
elections, with their motives not being what are in the interests of
the American people, is disgraceful, shocking. It is as if the
President has learned absolutely nothing from the past 2 years of
investigations into Russia's interference of the 2016 elections. This
is precisely how the whole thing started. A foreign power reached out
to establish connections with a Presidential campaign by dangling the
promise of information about an opponent, and President Trump said he
would welcome it. He asked Russia to interfere.
When he wonders why people think there might be collusion, well, this
is why. This is a President who says: Russia, come help. That doesn't
prove collusion, but it sure proves that he doesn't mind foreign powers
interfering with an election.
Again, the President's comments are undemocratic, un-American, and
disgraceful. The President's comments suggest he believes winning an
election is more important than the integrity of an election. That idea
is flat-out wrong. The President's idea that winning an election is
everything and the integrity of an election is nothing is one small
step away from dictators and autocrats, who manipulate the results of
an election because they care more about staying in power than they
care about democratic principles. Donald Trump seems to fall into that
category in which winning is everything and integrity is nothing.
It is simple. When a foreign power tries to give a campaign
information on an opponent, that is foreign interference in our
elections. It is exactly what the Framers worried about at the very
founding of our Republic.
It is up to us in Congress to protect that legacy, the wellspring of
democracy--free and fair elections. It is up to all of us in Congress--
Democrats and Republicans. When a foreign power interferes in our
elections, the Democrats shouldn't say ``If it helps our side, we are
OK with it,'' and the Republicans shouldn't say ``If it helps our side,
we are OK with it.''
Where are the Republicans going to be with this latest step over the
line by Donald Trump? Are they going to sit and cower and do nothing?
We have multiple bipartisan elections security bills that are just
languishing here in the Senate. We even
[[Page S3454]]
have a bill that has been introduced by the ranking member of the
Intelligence Committee that would make it a campaign's legal duty to
report to the FBI when a foreign power offers its assistance.
It is very simple. If a foreign power comes to your campaign and
offers assistance, you tell the FBI. This would say you are required to
by law. It is Senator Warner's bill. Are our Republican colleagues
going to be with us on that? We will find out shortly because later
this afternoon, my friend Senator Warner will ask our colleagues for
the unanimous consent to pass his bill that says: If Russia, Iran,
North Korea, or anyone else offers campaign help, you must report it to
the FBI ASAP.
My Republican friends should take a few hours to decide if they
really want to block that bill, because if they do, it would be a
disgrace and another step in defining deviancy down in this grand
democracy that is becoming more and more at risk.
The Republican blockade of elections security thus far, led by Leader
McConnell, has to come to an end. Bipartisan elections security bills
are languishing because Leader McConnell will not bring them to the
floor. One of his own colleagues, the chairman of the Rules and
Administration Committee, said we are not bringing them to the floor
because Leader McConnell doesn't want to. He stands in the way, with
his graveyard, on an issue that is vital to American integrity,
American democracy. Leader McConnell needs to bring these bills to the
floor.
Again, I ask our Republicans to think hard as Senator Warner asks for
his unanimous consent request later this morning or this afternoon. Are
you going to say it is OK when a foreign power goes to you or to any
other candidate or a sitting President and says, ``We will help you win
the election--shhh--and we will help you to be quiet about it and not
to tell law enforcement''? I hope not.
The embrace of our Republican colleagues of everything Donald Trump
does, including things they know are wrong, has become stunning and
appalling. Let's see, in this instance, if it gets even worse.
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