Transcripts For CSPAN U.S. Senate 10302017 20171031

Monitoring tens of millions of dollars from foreign governments on behalf of their agenda was given the chairmanship of a campaign for the presidency of ,he United States and with it im told the influence on a future president and his party. Andnow that mr. Metaphor had continuing contact with the president since his resignation from the campaign. Just as shocking was the admission by a trump camp advisor that he met with a kremlin contact to discuss socalled dirt on secretary clinton. While we know that mr. Papadopoulos had expensive expansive email conversations, his admission at least yet today raises many more questions than it answers. Mr. Miller and his team should be allowed to seek answers to those questions without interference from the president or anyone else. Stakes could not be higher. Were talking about the pride and wellspring of our grand democracy. Free and fair elections, which have been going on for more than two centuries and were disturbed by a hostile foreign powder with no good intentions for the people of this country. It is critical. We need to get to the bottom of this. That is special counsel muellers job and he must allowed to perform it with no interference. The rule of law is paramount in america. We pride ourselves on them. The investigation must be allowed to proceed unimpeded. The president must not, under any circumstances in any way interfere with the special counsels work. If he does, Congress Must respond swiftly, unequivocally, and in a bipartisan way to ensure that the Investigation Continues and the truth, the whole truth, comes out. Nowr. President , everybody in washington knows that the special counsel has announced charges against two of president trumps former Campaign Aides in connection with the Ongoing Investigation into whether or therussia interfered with 2016 election. We know now, after painstaking investigations in the intelligence community, that in fact russia did interfere in the election. And, what many of us are concerned about since they have intinued this pattern another countrys elections, we are concerned about the fact that they will interfere with the next elections coming up. Weve already seen attempts in this special election down in alabama that they have been trying to increase the number of hits going to a facebook or twitter account. So, they interfered. Well, we learned also this morning that a third former Trump Campaign aide has been fbi into lying to the january when he was asked about his interactions while he was with the Trump Campaign. Mr. President , these are very serious charges. And, we should be united against an individual who helped further russias interference in our elections. Yet, sadly, the response to these indictments has been seemingly split along partisan lines. That does not make sense. Defending america is not a partisan issue. Senate, every one in the , all of our democrats, republicans, our two independents, they have sworn and to do exactly that. To defend the constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. And so charging these individuals should not be seen as a victory for one party or another or it should not be seen. S a defeat for party these individuals are charged unitedimes against the states. Crimes against all of us americans. And, the fact is that russian interfered with our election in so doing, he has attacked the very foundation of our constitutional democracy. We know that. And, we also know that we are not the only country that he has attacked and according to the u. S. Intelligence community, he will continue this type of. Ehavior unless he is stopped and that is why we have such a heavy responsibility to defend america from these kinds of attacks and to defend our american constitutional foundations built on a process of free and fair and unfettered elections. It does not matter whether you are a democrat or republican, it should be clear. If you help an enemy of the United States medal in our democracy, you will be held accountable. Too often here in the senate and throughout the country of a whole we find ourselves suddenly divided on the issue because of Party Politics but that should not be the case. There should be no disagreement when it comes to protecting berica because we should americans first. Not democrats are republicans first. We should be americans first. We must continue to be patient with the Mueller Investigation and allow it to follow the fact wherever they may lead because finding out what happened is the only way we are want to prevent this from happening again and it is the only way that we are going to be able to keep our. Ountry safe metapresident , i yield the floor. Representatives from twitter, facebook, twitter testified before congress on tuesday and wednesday as part of the investigation into russias influence on social media and the election. Live coverage is available on the cspan networks. Tomorrow, live coverage on cspan3. General counsel from twitter, general counsel from facebook, enforcement of law and Information Security from google testify before the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on crime and terrorism. On wednesday, two hearings live on cspan3. The house select intelligence , watch the hearings on cspan3, online cspan. Org, or listen live on the our free cspan radio app. Cspans washington journal, live it every day with news and policy issues that impact you. Morning, tuesday inside elections editor Nathan Gonzales discusses the early outlook for campaign 2018. In George Washington University Professor Jonathan Turley talks about the indictments of three former Campaign Officials and special counsel muellers investigation. Join the discussion. Fema administrator brock long 2017fies tuesday on the hurricane response. He is one of the witnesses at a Senate Committee hearing. Live coverage starts at 10 00 a. M. Eastern here on cspan. Called one of the premier chroniclers of our age. A best selling author whose books i been adapted into three movies. Michael lewis will be our guest on sunday on indepth. Have in common is they are interesting characters situations. Ng if you can attach the reader to the character at the beginning of the book, they will follow that character anywhere. Trust me, there is no one in america who will want to read my description to collateralize debt obligations. Want to know it is a powerful mice, you know, the origins of literature. Mr. Lewis is the author of several books including liar , the big short, the undoing project. Coming up sunday. Live news3 00 p. M. On cspan two. Former independent counsel ken starr compared his investigations of the Clinton Administration to the current investigations of the Tramp Administration during a discussion that the annual Texas Tribune festival in austin. Other panelists included a former director of the u. S. Ethics office, the former spokesman for attorney general eric holder and others. This is just over one hour. [applause] look at that. Everyone. It to see you at the gathering here today entitled trump, ethics, and the law