Executive Calendar
Floor Speech
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Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Madam President, 1 year ago today, the President of the United States did the unthinkable. He did at least what many people thought was unthinkable. He fired the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, James Comey. Shortly thereafter, he acknowledged the reason. He told NBC's Lester Holt that he fired James Comey because he was thinking about ``this Russia thing'' and how unjustified he thought the investigation was. He later told officials of Vladimir Putin's government in a private meeting in the Oval Office that this firing relieved him of the pressure that he was feeling as a result of the Russia investigation.
The 1-year anniversary of Jim Comey's firing might well be permitted to pass without notice, but little did we know at the time that it would be part of a relentless and repeated denunciation of professional law enforcement at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, at the Department of Justice, even at the CIA, and law enforcement agencies all around the country. This concerted and coordinated attack on the FBI and Department of Justice is no accident. It is part of a strategy to undermine the credibility not only of the special counsel's investigation of collusion by the Trump campaign with Russia in its meddling in the 2016 election and the potential of obstruction of justice and coverup by the President and his administration, but it is also deeply alarming as an attack on professional law enforcement.
The President's attacks have become so numerous and so brazen that they have almost become the new normal. Likewise, the attacks by his sycophants and surrogates in Congress undermine the credibility and trust of the FBI and the Department of Justice. That is why I am here today--because words have consequences.
These attacks have ramifications for the FBI when it investigates a crime. The willingness of potential witnesses to talk to them may be undermined. Their ability to prevent crime may be undercut because of informants' lack of trust in them. And the credibility of FBI agents at a trial in a conflict of credibility with a defendant who is lying can be sabotaged by the President through these denunciations--far beyond the special prosecutor's investigation.
This attack on law enforcement has consequences for the safety and security of our Nation, indeed, our national security, because the FBI needs those informants, needs credibility as witnesses, needs the trust of the American people to do its job in keeping America safe from sabotage or subterfuge internally, as well as organized crime, drug dealing--the panoply of threats that exist to our safety.
It is no accident that terrorist attacks have reduced in severity since 9/11. It is no accident that crime is at lower levels than in recent years. It is no accident that Americans feel safer as they walk the streets and communities of America, rural and urban. It is because we have devoted resources to local law enforcement, as well as the Federal agencies that are vital to support local law enforcement with the information and data they need to do their job and with the enforcement they provide in solving crimes and making sure the bad guys are convicted and go away.
The best laws in the world are dead letter if they are unenforced. The new laws that we pass here will mean nothing without strong and effective law enforcement.
We should all be deeply alarmed and concerned about this new normal of a President of the United States--who is responsible for making sure the laws are faithfully executed--actually attacking the agency that is responsible for the enforcement necessary for execution of those laws.
Here are a few examples. On April 6, 2018, a notice appeared on the front page of backpage.com confirming that the Department of Justice seized the website and took it offline--a crucial and important step in the fight against sex trafficking. On that same day, the FBI raided the Sedona home of Michael Lacey, a founder of backpage.com and one of the 7 individuals charged in a 93-count indictment for Federal crimes relating to facilitating prostitution and laundering money.
For years, backpage.com and its owners have knowingly concealed evidence of criminality by systematically editing its adult ads to facilitate prostitution and sex trafficking, including modern-day slavery of children. Backpage's misconduct led to the prostitution of a 14-year-old Connecticut girl, who was advertised on the website for clients in Connecticut, New York, and Atlantic City. Without the intervention of the Department of Justice and the FBI, many more children could have been exploited and victimized by backpage.
We know about the extraordinary magnitude of backpage's activities and about the deep harm it causes as a result of an investigation performed by Senate committees. The Senate has taken steps to stop that kind of promotion on the internet as a result of legislation that Senator Rob Portman of Ohio and I led here, legislation called SESTA. It was bipartisan legislation that passed overwhelmingly. The legislation will assist victims and survivors in having their day in court and allow law enforcement to do even better in the fight against sex trafficking.
That story is just one example of the laudable work that the Department of Justice and the FBI do every day to keep America safe. The attack against them has extraordinary irony and harm because it seeks to sow doubt about democratic institutions that are vital to our way of life.
President Trump has literally taken a page from his authoritarian heroes who systematically seek to say that the law is not what our enforcement agencies say, not what our democratic institutions say, but what they say. He has persistently and purposefully attempted to undermine all of the Department of Justice.
The fact is, these attacks have effect. When they come from the President's mouth, they have consequences. Not surprisingly, these repeated caustic and careless attacks have diminished public confidence in these institutions. Since Donald Trump entered office, reports suggest that a number of Americans who view the FBI capably has diminished by 28 percent. Just 38 percent of Americans have confidence in the FBI. That is distressing for a party that once espoused and supported law enforcement. The long-term negative collateral consequences of these assaults on our top law enforcement agencies are likely to be extensive.
Consider the dedication, the courage, the tenacity, and the strength that is required of those at the FBI to do their job day in and day out, putting their lives on the line, literally risking their well- being not over a year or a couple of years but, many of them, for careers, a lifetime. They are among the finest men and women in public service.
The FBI is one of our premier law enforcement institutions. The Department of Justice is and should be the marvel of the world for its fairness and its unrelenting dedication to do justice. As one Attorney General--Justice Jackson--said, its goal is not to seek convictions but to do justice, and that is the mission that it performs.
A recent case by the Department of Justice's National Security and Civil Rights Division shows how Donald Trump's attacks are weakening support for the FBI's important work.
In March of this year, three anti-Muslim militia members who were on trial for plotting to slaughter Somali refugees in Southwest Kansas adopted a defense strategy that could have been taken directly from the Trump playbook or from his Twitter feed. Defense attorneys in that case argued that a biased FBI conspired against their clients because of their political beliefs. The defendants said that their political beliefs were responsible for their prosecutions, not their own actions. In a turn of phrase that is very suggestive of the President's Twitter feed, the defense attorney argued that the defendants' discussion of killing Muslim ``cockroaches'' amounted to ``locker room talk,'' which was inspired, no doubt, partly by the 2016 election.
Meanwhile, the government had to deal with jurors who expressed a number of concerns about the honesty and corruption at the top levels of the FBI, questioning the ability and integrity of the organization.
Ms. Ifrah Ahmed, a Somali resident of the apartment complex the defendants were plotting to blow up, felt differently about the FBI investigation. She and other residents said that the verdict allayed their fears and affirmed their faith in the justice system.
It was because of the work of dedicated law enforcement professionals that the defendants' plan to bomb innocent and peaceful Muslim immigrants was thwarted in a victory for the rule of law and a victory for civil rights and our national security. But instead of applauding or lauding victories like this one, the President of the United States continues to spread a false narrative. His sole purpose is advancing his political agenda, protecting himself, and shielding himself from accountability. His attacks are designed to undermine the credibility of the FBI and designed to shield him from responsibility and apparent culpability for possible criminal wrongdoing.
In reality, the FBI and the DOJ work every day to protect Americans against threats, both foreign and domestic, while upholding the Constitution.
The Department of Justice includes more than 40 separate organizations, including the FBI, and more than 110,000 employees. I know about the ones in Connecticut. As a former U.S. attorney, the ethic and tradition of the U.S. attorney's office is about upholding the rule of law and the dedication to doing justice.
The FBI has more than 30,000 employees spread over 56 field offices around the United States. They are dedicated to protecting the United States from terrorism, cyber attacks, public corruption, violent crime, and abridgement of civil rights. According to its most recent annual report, the FBI disrupted more than 700 terrorist incidents and over 170 violent criminal organizations in 2017 alone. The FBI targets crimes not only in the streets but in boardrooms. In the same time period, it disrupted more than 430 criminal enterprises engaged in white-collar crimes.
Let's make no mistake--wrongdoing affects real people in their real lives. There are very few victimless crimes, if any. Every crime has some victim and some survivor. That is the reason they are prosecuted, and that is why we hire those prosecutors and FBI agents to go after lawbreakers. We should reward them for disrupting and deterring the lawbreakers, not denounce them, as the President has done.
The FBI's hard work in building cases the right way leads to victories in the courtroom. I have seen them and have prosecuted them myself. The prosecutor, whether it is an assistant U.S. attorney or a U.S. attorney, contributes mightily to those victories, but they would be impossible without the nuts and bolts--the investigative work, the shoe leather, and sometimes the very significant risks involved in uncovering the truth and bringing it to court. Sometimes FBI agents work for months undercover on a single case at grave jeopardy to themselves. More than 90 percent of terrorism- and gang-related cases result in a conviction--a judgment favorable to the United States.
These statistics that I have cited here represent only a fraction of the work these agencies do to protect America every day, in real life, for real people. Despite President Trump's efforts to water down environmental protections, the FBI continues to pursue cases where corporations violate clean water and clean air standards and threaten public health.
At the end of April, the Department of Justice charged the ex-CEO of Volkswagen with conspiracy in the company's rigging of diesel vehicles to feign compliance and falsely portray compliance with the company's and Federal standards.
Volkswagen deceived American regulators. Why should that matter to ordinary Americans? Well, it is an unlevel playing field with its competitors if it cuts corners. So it impacts fair competition, but it also impacts our clean air and the safety and health of Americans who breathe that air. Essentially, they not only deceived regulators, but they defrauded American consumers for years, promising them those standards, which they knew they were failing to meet. Only because of the tireless efforts of Federal investigators and prosecutors has the company's chief executive now been brought to justice to face these charges. The Department of Justice's actions send a message to businesses both here and abroad that efforts to cheat American consumers or harm the environment will have consequences. They ought to pay attention. They ought to be deterred.
The Department of Justice also develops key initiatives to respond to urgent threats, particularly in the frontline against terrorism. The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Forces are comprised of small cells of highly trained, locally based, passionately committed investigators, analysts, linguists, SWAT experts, and other specialists from dozens of U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies. They operate as part of the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force, because the FBI has that responsibility for our national security, along with them as a team. When it comes to investigating terrorism, they do it all. They chase down leads, gather evidence, make arrests, provide security for special events, conduct training, collect and share intelligence, and respond to threats and incidents at a moment's notice. These task forces are based in 104 cities nationwide, including at least one in each of the FBI's field offices.
Without any exaggeration, these investigators and prosecutors protect us. They protect American lives from terrorist threats, both at home and abroad. Just last month FBI agents, working with the Newark Joint Terrorism Task Force, thwarted a plot of five men to join ISIS and carry out an attack in ISIS's name on U.S. soil using homemade bombs. Because of their brave and tenacious efforts and their countless hours of hard work--hour after hour, day after day--this plot, and many others like it, were disrupted and American lives were saved.
America has always faced threats to our national security and public safety, even as they are more complex today than ever before. We need the kind of professionalism that the FBI and the Department of Justice and other agencies bring to law enforcement every day. For all of us who have been Federal prosecutors--whether a U.S. attorney, as I was, or in another capacity--these attacks are repugnant. They belie a fundamental misunderstanding of the ethos and tradition of justice and the rule of law in our democracy.
Unfortunately, President Trump has failed not only to stand up for those law enforcement agencies, but he has actually hindered, actively and consistently, their vital work in protecting our Nation. He has undermined their stature and credibility. He has attacked their integrity, all without any basis in fact.
President Reagan once said that facts are stubborn things. The American people should know the facts. If they do, they will appreciate that the facts show that the Department of Justice and the FBI, even with their faults, are a paragon of law enforcement. Their faults should not be minimized or dismissed. They ought to be addressed, but not by denouncing or demeaning their hard work.
The numbers and statistics I have given and the examples I have cited are not meant defensively for them. They don't need my defense. Their actions and their work speak louder than anyone's words. I hope they will continue that service and sacrifice, undiscouraged and undeterred by these rash and reckless attacks from the President and surrogates who support him.
I personally thank them for their service and sacrifice, as all Americans should, and I thank many of them for their friendship.
Thank you, Madam President.
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