Schumer, Senate Democrats Demand Investigations into the Trump Administration’s Ties to Russia

For Immediate Release

Date: February 15, 2017

CONTACT: Matt House, (202) 224-2939 

Schumer, Senate Democrats Demand Investigations into the Trump Administration’s Ties to Russia

Senate Democrats Demand Public Testimony, Record Preservation and that Attorney General Sessions Recuse Himself 

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer joined by Senators Warner, Feinstein and Cardin today delivered remarks outlining Senate Democrats’ demand that an investigation into President Trump’s administration and their ties to Russia be conducted in light of recent reports revealing connections between Russian intelligence and top officials in the Trump campaign, administration and transition team. Below are his remarks:

Good afternoon. I am very pleased to be joined by my colleagues Senator Feinstein, ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, and Senator Warner, ranking member of the Intelligence Committee. We expect that Senator Cardin, ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee, may join us.

This morning, I called together an emergency meeting of our caucus to discuss everything that has transpired in the last several days. General Flynn’s resignation, the outright lies coming from him, this administration, and the reports  of constant contact between the top officials in the Trump campaign and Russian intelligence are chilling. I have been in Congress for a long time and I’ve never, ever seen anything like this. These reports and revelations should not pit the two parties against one another – they should unite the parties in pursuit of the full truth. We are Americans before we are Democrats or Republicans. Nothing less than our system of checks and balances, democratic institutions, the rule of law, and our national security is at stake.

Senate Democrats are committed to not allowing this issue to become a political, partisan exercise. We will be fact-based, we will be measured, we will be thorough.

During our caucus meeting, we discussed the two tracks on which we must seek the truth. The first is in Congress.

Senator Warner, our ranking member on the Senate Intelligence Committee, is committed to using every resource in that committee to seek the truth. His committee will take the lead, but it will not be the only committee that looks into ties between the Trump campaign, transition, or administration, and Russia. These committee investigations must be bipartisan, they must have access to all intelligence, officials, transcripts, and documents that they need to answer critical questions and they must be permitted to make their findings public to the maximum extent possible.

Second, law enforcement must also get to the bottom of everything that may have transpired here.

In order to allow these two critical and important tracks to move forward, today the Senate Democrats are asking for three specific things. First, Senator Sessions must follow Department of Justice guidance and recuse himself. When the FBI looks into a matter, they do so right alongside prosecutors from the Justice Department.

Those prosecutors should not be reporting to the first Senator who endorsed Donald Trump’s campaign, who served on the same campaign committee as Michael Flynn and who nominated Donald Trump at the Republican Convention.

The Justice Department’s own guidelines demand that Attorney General Sessions remove himself from this matter immediately. If he does not, the investigation will remain jaundiced and the American people will doubt the credibility of its findings.

If this trail leads to the Oval Office, the person investigating that trail should not be the same person who helped put President Trump there—end of story. 

Second, we will make clear that we expect all records from administration, transition and campaign officials be preserved. There is real concern that administration, transition and campaign officials may try to cover up ties to Russia by deleting e-mails, texts and other records that could shine a light on those connections. These records are likely to be the subject of these Congressional investigations and must be preserved. 

And third, we’re demanding that campaign and transition officials be made available to testify in public, under oath on these issues.

Paul Manafort and General Flynn have both been reported to have constant contact with Russian intelligence officials. They must testify and anyone else involved in this must be made available to testify, as well. Our caucus is united in these three requests and we hope and expect our Republican colleagues to join in these calls, as well.

The gravity and seriousness of this issue cannot be overstated. Our security is at risk. Our system of checks and balances and rule of law is at risk. This cannot be a time for partisan squabbles. Instead, it must be a time when both parties come together to protect the rule of law, the system of checks and balances and the security of the American people.