Raising A Question of the Privileges of the House

Floor Speech

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Ms. HAGEMAN. Mr. Speaker, I take my duties as Wyoming's lone congressional Representative very seriously, and my obligation to be honest and trustworthy is the foundation of my ability to carry them out.

This privileged resolution isn't about politics. It is about the seriousness of being honest and forthright as a Member of Congress and upholding the oath of office that we all take upon being sworn in.

It is true that the gentleman from California wouldn't be the first Member of Congress to exaggerate or stretch the truth; however, willfully lying about serious issues our country has faced is something entirely different and claiming that a sitting President has committed what amounts to treason is beyond simple hyperbole.

This Member's lies led to the wasting of millions of taxpayer dollars for unnecessary investigations and the deflection of our attention from the most pressing issues at hand to focus on a made-up crisis.

This Member's actions were designed to delegitimize the 2016 election and to hamstring the Trump administration.

For all the talk about not accepting the election results in 2020, perhaps Democrats and the media, which are mostly one and the same, might want to look at their actions in 2016.

To make matters worse, this Representative perpetuated these lies while he was chair of the House Intelligence Committee and consistently implied, if not outright stated, that he had inside information.

In that capacity, he lied about the following:

How the FBI and DOJ obtained and renewed a FISA warrant; that FBI and DOJ officials did not omit material information from the FISA warrant; how the DOJ used the Steele dossier; what was collected by the FISA warrant; the FBI's vetting process for the Steele dossier; that he had an alleged smoking gun showing that President Trump colluded with Russia.

Each of these claims has proven to be false.

The lies have continued. In fact, they have become compulsive, and they continue right through to this very day.

The lies weaken this body, and if left unchecked, threaten the rule of law, our election integrity, and the civil rights of his targets.

The words and actions of this Member were dangerous and untrue-- knowingly untrue. There must be a serious consequence for that. Being censured is the least of what he should be subjected to, and I support this resolution.

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