I want to tone things down a little bit here and First Express my gratitude for the thousands of men and women who work every day on the front line with the fbi. I come from a background as a prosecutor and our local Law Enforcement work with the fbi every day in our local office in minnesota, and then in the senate, ive had the privilege to work with many, many people in the fbi. And i think the Inspector General hes job is incredibly important. He keeps everyone honest. But i do think this it is important for those t agents an those in Law Enforcement that are watching today that people understand there are people up here that understand that you are simply doing your jobs. Which i think is basically some recommendations Foric Change Wh the Inspector General found in this report. So before iis start my question
i think that it is important to put this discussion in context in the 2016 election which is why we are here today. It is nowe undisputed by our Intelligence Agencies that rus
letsd remember the words of dan coats who served in the senate, well respected, he said that in fact russia has been emboldenedo this again. and i did appreciate senator glam oig s words that he made clear that it was not ukraine that invaded this election, it was russia. and it was the words of fiona hill and the impeachment hearings over in the house that are important to remember. she said anyone that is repeating this lie is basically peddling in russian propaganda. so let s remember that this is not about one election or one party, it is about our democracy. what can we do? we can be honest and we can stop making political hay out of this and we can actually take some actions that would protect our election in 2020. and that includes finishishing