Providing for Consideration of H. Con. Res. Expressing the Sense of Congress That the Report of Special Counsel Mueller Should Be Made Available to the Public and to Congress, and Providing for Proceedings During the Period From March Through March 2019

Floor Speech

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Mr. WELCH. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I don't know what is in the Mueller report and neither do you. The American people don't know what is in the Mueller report, but they want to know. And I want to know, as you do, and why not?

Mr. Speaker, 81 percent of the American people polled say they want to know, and that includes 79 percent of the Republicans. That is good news.

Because what we do know, without knowing the details of the Mueller report, is that really bad stuff happened in the last election. Some of it was in a campaign, and some of it was in a foreign country that is our severe adversary; and I speak, of course, of Vladimir Putin's Russia.

But the bad stuff: a former campaign foreign policy adviser indicted and convicted, Mr. Papadopoulos; a former campaign manager on his way to jail, Mr. Manafort; a former campaign aide and Manafort's long-time junior business partner indicted; a former foreign policy national security adviser pleaded guilty, Mr. Flynn.

This is the high level of a campaign where crimes are not just being discussed; there have been convictions and guilty pleas. What is behind all of that? We need to know.

And, incidentally, Mr. Speaker, the American people are footing the bill for this--about $25 million, as far as we can tell. They have got a right to know.

But, in addition to whatever happened in the campaign, really bad stuff happened in Russia. We know from our own intelligence agencies that Russia made a concerted effort and a determined effort and a well- financed effort to interfere in our election.

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Mr. WELCH. Mr. Speaker, outside interference goes to the heart of our democracy. The most important challenge for our country is that we, the citizens of this country, make the decision on who is our President, who are our Senators, and who are our Representatives.

We have to get to the bottom of what Russia did and how they did it so that we can take steps to make certain that that does not happen in the future. It is the American people who decide who is their leader.

Release the Mueller report.

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