Schumer Floor Remarks on the Need for a Special Prosecutor to Investigate the Trump Campaign’s Ties to Russia

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer today delivered remarks on the Senate floor regarding the need to appoint a special prosecutor to lead the investigation into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, the need for Republicans to drop ACA repeal efforts and work in a bipartisan fashion to improve our healthcare system, and the recent wave of cyberattacks. Below are his remarks:

First, I want to thank our Capitol Police, the New York police, police around the country for the outstanding work that they do.                                                                                   

Much like our troops overseas, our law enforcement officers risk their lives for our safety. As we welcome many police officers to the Capitol this week, I’d like to express, on behalf of the Senate, our gratitude for their service, their sacrifice, and their countless acts of courage. 

And particularly I want to say in New York City where we are so proud that crime is the lowest of the 25 largest cities in the country, we thank our New York City Police Department for a job well done. I’d also like to thank the many police departments and sheriffs’ offices and so many other law enforcement in the state of New York. I’ve gotten to know them and respect them and just admire them as human beings and the job that they do.

Now, the events of last week, Mr. President, tested some of the fundamental precepts of our democratic system, including the rule of law and the independence of our law enforcement agencies that were designed to be a check on any abuse of power.  

The President of the United States fired the FBI Director who was conducting an active investigation of the president’s campaign and its ties to Russia. The Attorney General, who had recused himself from that investigation, played a role in that dismissal and continues to be involved in the selection of a new FBI Director. The White House gave pretext to reasons for the firing which were contradicted by the President himself a few days later when he admitted that he had planned to fire FBI Director Comey for weeks and that he was thinking about Russia when he did it. The President then suggested there were tapes of conversations between himself and Director Comey, threatening to release them if Mr. Comey spoke to the press.

These are not the actions of an Administration that respects the rule of law or treasures fidelity to the truth. These are not the actions of an Administration that’s eager for and even open to an independent investigation into a very serious matter – the interference of our elections by a foreign adversary.

Mr. President, the Founding Fathers, in their infinite wisdom – the longer I am around the more impressed I am with them and I was impressed to begin with – they designed three co-equal branches of government, with the appropriate powers to check and balance the others. The Founding Fathers explicitly worried about foreign powers trying to influence our elections and government; they actually wrote into the Constitutions protections against that very threat. Their concerns, expressed over 240 years ago, gain new prominence and meaning today more than perhaps any time in the past.

We in Congress – both parties – need to exercise the powers afforded to us by the Constitution to check and balance. We need to see that we get all the facts; we need to see that the Russia investigation is allowed to proceed as independently and impartially as possible; and we need to hold this Administration accountable for any abuse of their powers.

So first of all, if there are “tapes” as the president has suggested, he should turn them over immediately to Congress and the investigators. To destroy them would be a violation of law. If there are no tapes he should apologize to James Comey and the American people for misleading them.

And second, the fact that the President has said he may have taped Mr. Comey makes the need for a special prosecutor all the more important. If it’s true, if there are tapes, a special prosecutor would have the ability to obtain these tapes, undeterred, and then can examine them to and see what wrongdoing, if any, has occurred.

The reasons for a special prosecutor are compelling. A special prosecutor is not subject to day-to-day supervision by the Attorney General or anyone else at the Justice Department. He or she would have greater latitude in who they can subpoena, which questions to ask and how to conduct the investigation. He or she would have purview to investigate not only the subject but also anyone who attempts to interfere with the investigation. And there is built-in congressional oversight: Congress is notified whenever a special prosecutor is appointed, removed or finished with the investigation. And he or she can only be removed for cause, not to quash an investigation.

With the events of this past week and given that we have different stories coming out of this administration from different people, the need to have someone that is independent -- and far away from any of the actors -- to get to the bottom of this is so important.

Firing the FBI Director is extremely rare and deeply troubling. We need the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

So third, we in Congress need to hear testimony from Director Comey, as well as be briefed by Attorney General Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein. I understand that Director Comey declined an invitation to testify tomorrow, but I have no reason to believe he won’t be willing to come before the Senate in the future. I hope that he will, sooner rather than later, and that those appearances are in a public setting.

Later this week (on Thursday), Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein will brief the full Senate on the events of last week. Again I thank the Majority Leader for joining me in making that request. And again, I hope that we can make as much of the information public as possible. The American people deserve to know the truth just as much, if not more, than the Senate does.

My caucus still believes that Attorney General Sessions must be made available to the Senate in a similar capacity, given his reported role in firing Director Comey and helping to select his replacement. Considering his recusal from the Russia investigation, his close involvement in these events warrants the Senate’s questioning as well.

To repeat: We need the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. The Russian meddling is so serious - it is no place for partisan fighting. And frankly, we need our Republican colleagues to help get to the bottom of what happened in the 2016 election and hold this or any administration accountable when they don’t tell the truth.

If only one party is doing the talking, the issue will only seem partisan to the American people. A subject as important as this one – the tampering of our elections by a foreign power, a matter the Founders fretted about at the dawning of the Republic – shouldn’t be colored by partisan politics. It’s time to put country before party.

We need our Republican friends to help us call upon the White House to get an independent investigation on Russia…and we need them to speak out when the White House misleads the public.

No less, no less than the integrity of our system of government and the rule of law is at stake.

Now, Mr. President, a word on healthcare. As the Senate Republican caucus debates what to do on healthcare, they should take a hard look at the consequences of the House Republican bill on individual Americans.

Last week, Senate Democrats met with four Americans who shared their stories and explained how they would be hurt by Trumpcare. Because of the furor over Director Comey’s firing, their voices may have been drowned out, so I wanted to repeat a few of their stories.

We heard from Cyndi Johnson, from Bloomington, Indiana, whose daughter was born with Down syndrome, a preexisting condition. Ms. Johnson was approaching the lifetime coverage limit on her plan when healthcare reform was passed, which eliminated the limit. That policy change, as well as Medicaid, helped Ms. Johnson and her family climb out from under a mountain of medical debt and get the care they needed for their daughter. Every parent so much wants to help a child who’s sick. That might be taken away from the Cindy Johnsons of the world if the House bill passed.

Under Trumpcare, states are no longer required to prohibit lifetime limits and Medicaid is cut by $880 billion dollars. Let’s think of the Mrs. Johnsons and their daughters and sons.

We also heard from Michael Dunkley, from Alexandria, Virginia. Mr. Dunkley is a 64-year-old full-time caregiver for his wife, who has advanced MS. In 2013, shortly after being laid off, Mr. Dunkley was diagnosed with aggressive stage 4 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma but his insurance coverage through COBRA was set to expire at the end of the year. Mr. Dunkley was able to sign up for insurance on Virginia’s marketplace that provided coverage despite his pre-existing condition.

Under Trumpcare, Mr. Dunkley could be charged five times or more by insurance companies simply because he’s older. He also could be priced out of insurance because of his pre-existing condition.

President Trump and the Republicans promised better and cheaper healthcare for everyone, but these Americans – and many, many more like them, perhaps millions, pretty certainly millions – would be devastated by Trumpcare. It’s another colossal broken promise to folks like Mr. Dunkley, Ms. Johnson and her daughter.

So my Republican friends here in the Senate I hope you’ll listen to these stories and the stories of your constituents who are saying many of the same things. To take away healthcare from the Johnsons and the Dunkleys, to give a tax break to the very wealthiest of Americans, hundreds of thousands of dollars for people who make tens of millions of dollars. No American would be for that. That’s what’s in the bill in the House, and that’s where the Republican Senate bill – despite all the talk back and forth – is aiming to go. My Republican friends here in the Senate – please, listen to these stories. Drop repeal, drop Trumpcare, and work with Democrats on ways to improve our healthcare system and bring costs down. We can move forward together, or Republicans can move us backwards on their own.                                                                                      

Last, Mr. President, I want to make a note about the worldwide cyber-attack. So far, according to the New York Times, the attack has afflicted at least 200,000 computers in more than 150 countries.

It’s a sobering reminder that cyber-attacks are one of this century’s greatest challenges. They continue to get larger in scale, broader in scope, and more malicious in intent. It’s time we stop talking about the threat of cyber-attacks and actually start doing something about it.

A few years ago, Democrats tried to pass a bill to protect our critical infrastructure from cyber-attacks, but our friends on the other side of the aisle blocked it to defend a business community that didn’t want to share information necessary to fight these challenges. I hope this global cyber-attack serves as a wake-up call and renews bipartisan interest in protecting the United States – our hospitals, universities, businesses, intellectual property, credit files, election systems, and critical infrastructure – from cyber-attacks.