The isle. I will yield back the for. The voting to confirm the nominee is the director of National Intelligence. Today i want to discuss congressman radcliffes confirmation as director of intelligence and congratulate that congressman on a job welldone. Witwell done. With this new position comes great responsibility. He will have tremendous power to do good and to be transparent. I would like to remind him that as ive reminded many heads of department before, transparency brings accountability. And the public business ought to be public by its very nature the Intelligence Community is a secretive bunch. They often operate in the shadows and they have to in order to do the job we ask them to do to protect the National Security. However, that doesnt mean when they ask them questions the intelligence communities have a license to withhold information. When Congress Comes knocking, the Intelligence Community must answer. After all they do not appear anywhere in the constitution. The Intelligence Community is a creation of congress. Congress isnt a creation of the Intelligence Community. The acting d director now in tht position understood that. He is perhaps one of the most transparent government officials in my time surfing the great people of iowa. Mr. Radcliffe has some big shoes to fill, thats for sure. Luckily he has them to guide him. The short time has resulted in important items being declassified. For example she and the attorney general declassified dozens of footnotes from the general report. The highlights of what those previously classified footnotes show what they go through six or seven of them. One, the russian intelligence was aware of antitrump research in early july 2016 before the fbi opened crossfire hurricane meaning they knew they could possibly use the steel dossier as a vehicle to plant disinformation and show payoffs to undermine the american government. But they failed to give that information to the fisa court. Some supported clinton, not trump. They were away and late januar january 2017 that russian intelligence of the steel company. The primary sub source view to his or her context not as a network of sources but rather simply as friends that discuss current event. The two intelligence reports one from january 12, 2017, the other from february 27, 2017 indicated information contained within was a product of russian disinformation. This was withheld from the fisa court and fbi continued to use the steel dossier to justify surveillance on carter page. I also want to know an interesting fact about the january 122017 date. Not only did the fbi learned that the central and essential document was most likely filled with this russian disinformation and then they failed to inform the court about it on that same dayhe the fbi got the renewal on carter page and you know why, it was removed delete code renewed two more times. My fill of americans, what the fbi did is a complete travesty and you have to ask yourself why did they do it . The Text Messages that i made a public help us better understand the question. The animus helped explain why the employees cut corners and didnt follow regular protocol in running their inquiry. As they mentioned before, its about how he will, quote on quote stop trump from becoming president. But thanks to the acting director and attorney general barr, the tech is can now be read in a greater context. For example on august 15, 2016, i want to believe the path that you forgot for consideration is no way that he gets elected but im afraid we cannot take that risk. In the unlikely event that you die before you are 40. The next day on august 16, 2016 the fbi opened up the probe crossfire. And now republican nominee to serve a. Whats sad about it, i dont know, and whether he mention anything. Lets not forget about senator johnson andsign. A public the text shows the fbi used the november 2016 briefing for the president ial transition staff as a counterintelligence operation for example he told page, and i quote, he cant obsess or assess if there are questions or demeanor. If katies husband is there he can see if there are people we can develop for potential relationships. That is an astounding finding. If that had been done by the democratic nominee, you wouldnt hear the end of that in fact they would publicly call for another special counsel. Because it is trump and flynn, the media has gone largely qui quiet. The fbi he wrote the memorandum that said they could find no derogatory information on him. That should have been the end of it but the same time the fbi was ready to close the case he asked another fbi agent if you havent closed i dont did it, enddoublequote. The case was still open at that moment and asked that it be kept open for now. It absolutely helped us 20 of the time then the next day on january 5, 2017 the attorney general Vice President of biotin and National Security adviser susan rice on the Russian Investigation. The january 5, 2017, the very same day as the oval Office Briefing with obama and biden and Obama Administration officials pleased the existence of the 2016 call with the Russian Ambassador. The chief of staff requested to unmask according to the Deputy Attorney general when she met with obama on that day. January 112017, the un ambassador Samantha Powers requested to unmask him and requested to speak than seven times and will have to explain why she did that. Then on january 12, 2017 that same day the existence of the call ran to the Washington Post then on february, 2017 the content is, content there are so many that occurred in the transition. Oh and also the early days of the Trump Administration which were obviously designed to undermine the new administration would i would like to know is why he di did so many Obama Administration officials that were not within the intelligence field requests to unmask when topeka. The sheer volume and timing caused me to question whether it was politically motivated based on the facts we now know it was the Top Law Enforcement Agency engaged in a coordinated effort before they could even get their footing. The American People have had to suffer through false news reports are all designed to destroy the Trump Administration and why the where they should he closed shop early on. They didnt have the russian connections the fbi thought that they had invited me that evidence was heading from the court they must be kept independent of white house interference yet based on information at this point it appears there were aspects of the Russian Investigation than they like to have us believe. Ultimately they have to answer for what they knew and when they knew it. That shouldnt be a problem for the most Transparent Administration in history as they used to tell us allse the time. Simply said the department of justice and federal bureau of investigation may never get the peoples trust. May 12, 2020, i wrote a letter to the acting director of requested a broad range of information related to the unmasking by the Obama Administration. On may 19, i expanded thatha request with senator johnson. Prior to that i wrote to the Justice Department and requested the transcripts of the call with the Russian Ambassador and susan rices infamous january 2017 email to herself to be declassified among other things. That email has now been declassified and cast further doubts on the fbi actions. Ive also requested along with senator johnson underlining intelligence reports from the Russian Investigation. Rush of investigation. Moreover, reports suggest the Obama Administration unmask a lot more u. S. Persons related to the Trump Campaign than just general flynn. The responsibility to respond to these requests will now fall on congressman radcliffe. Hopefully he is as helpful to congressional oversight and public accountability and as ambassador grenell. So lets see it all. The American Public has waited long enough. Finally, i want to remind the congressman and the Intelligence Community the hold ive placed for general counsel indicted two years ago in the Judiciary Committee. Ive explained in detailan many times and im not going to bother explaining it again other than to mention that the Deputy Attorney generalen rosenstein agreed to give me the documents and he never did. And in turn, he blamed the director who then blamed rosenstein. Youve heard it before. All my colleagues have whether you have a republican or democrat administration, it is the typical bureaucratic blame game thanks to the acting director and attorney general barr, the blame game has ended so importantly especially for the future administrations and congressman radcliffe, i want to make it clear that the Judiciary Committee jurisdiction extends to intelligence communities since the authorization resolution created the center select committee on intelligence, the senate reserves for other Standing Committees such as the senate judiciarymi committee independet authority to, quote, study and review any intelligence activities and further, to obtain access to products of the intelligence activities of any department or agency and further quoting when such activity directly affects a matter otherwise within the jurisdiction of such committee. The senate Judiciary Committee has jurisdiction over all federal courts including the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court where a lot of intelligence activity takes place. Of course all of congress, not just any one committee or senator has the Constitutional Authority over the Intelligence Community so in conclusion, please cant congressman and greater Intelligence Community, remember you were created by statute, but congress was created by the constitution. I wont yield the floor. The senator from oregon. In a few minutes the senate is going to vote on the nomination of John Radcliffe to be the director of National Intelligence. And i have come to the floor to discuss this important nomination. Senators often come to this floor to talk about the importance of speaking truth to power. In his statement before the Intelligence Committee and in his written response revealed that he wouldnt speak truth to power. He would surrender to it. He demonstrated that he is so eager to serve power he will twist the truth, and he showed this again and again. We sold for example in the name of helping power we saw them dance around to ask questions whether he would respect or even understood the law. He made a number of disturbing statements that makee it clear that he hasan and will misrepresent and politicized intelligence without a moments hesitation. I ask the congressman at his hearing about the law that requires a public unclassified report on who was responsible for the murder of the Washington Post journalist and resident. This was the law passed by the congress and signed by the president of the united states. This required the director of National Intelligence to produce that unclassified report on what the circumstances were in february. That has never happened. So as this nomination, i simply ask whether the government was bound by the law. His response, the congressman called the law a request for unclassified information. That is how he referred to this. Then the congressman promised to take a look at the law. So in his own words, John Radcliffe wouldnt commit to following the important flaw because without knowing the circumstances, i believe it is open season on journalists how he danced around the question of whether he complied with the law is a disqualification by itself to be the head of National Intelligence. This is a pattern throughout the hearing. He had his talking point, but the moment he was asked anything specific, he a danced away. Im just going to take a few minutes to give some examples. Obviously it is critically important to know a nominees view for the position on the question of spying on americans. So, i asked John Radcliffe three times. There is poor in this wiretapping of americans but was binding. Each time John Ratcliffe with himself lots of wiggle room to suggest whatever it says, the president might have ways to go around it. He also said he would work with the attorney general who we know has explicitly said he doesnt believe in the foreign Intelligence Surveillance law. So this is where he could be dangerous. Donald trump as president and william barr as attorney general, the leadership of the Intelligence Community is one of democracys last lines of defense is. Thats why the American People need a director that understands how the law protects the rights and wont start conducting warrantless wiretapping on americans just because the attorney general wrongly claims that its legal. Now this is a view undisputed within the Intelligence Community. They looked at it up and down and a unanimous judgment for the committee that it was true. But the intelligence really doesnt matter. All that matters is that he makes donald trump happy and if donald trump or doesnt want to acknowledge the russians helped him then those are the marching orders. It is the exact opposite of seeking truth to power and that is why since the beginning of my remarks i described his views with respect to power and not speaking truth but totally surrender to power. He is also perfectly happy three times during this hearing to say the russians did not succeed in changing ucthe outcome of the 2016 election. Now this position directly contradictsic what the Intelligence Committee wrote in plain english. We did not make an assessment of the impact russian activities had on the outcome of the 2016 election. So he asked John Radcliffe where he got his information. He referred back to the Intelligence Committees assessment and the repor report, neither of which supported hisid statement. Mr. President , ask yourself why would John RadcliffeSay Something that was obviously not true . Thats because donald trump wants us to believe he didnt benefit from russian interference and first and foremost that is what matters to John Radcliffe. If he is willing to misrepresent the assessment that is already public anybody can read for themselves, i take it there is no telling how he i would misrepresent of what is classified is every reason to believe the public postatement would be designed for one purpose and one purpose only to make sure donald trump is clean either congress or the American People have any reason to trust that those public statements are accurate. So this kind of approach taken by the director of National Intelligence is a real threat toti democracy when they demonstrate he is willing to bury the actual intelligence for whatever makes donald trump happy at any particular moment the American People will lose confidence not just about foreign interference that is plenty serious as it is but other threats from china and korea and weapons of mass destruction and if the government is secretly spying on americans without a warrant or committing torture and ultimately its about whether americans are asked to die for our country. The American People look to Intelligence Leaders the unvarnished truth on these and other issues which is why its so important to have a foundation of credibility. Time and time again, child on John Radcliffe has demonstrated he doesnt clear the lowest bar of credibility in this position and i urge my colleagues when we vote to reject the nomination to be director of National Intelligence and i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. I know we were looking forward to finish the legislative work this week