Today, use the lives and labors of our lawmakers to make our nation and world better. Remind our senators that although there will be hills and valleys as they strive to accomplish your purpose, you will always be with them, even until the end of time. Lord, inspire our legislators to know that you have begun a good work in them and will carry it on to completion. Sustain them with your grace and never let them go. We pray in your merciful name. Amen. The president pro tempore please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to our flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. The presiding officer under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. Under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of the house message to accompany h. R. 695, which the clerk will report. The clerk house message to accompany h. R. 695, an act to amend the National Child protection act of 1993 and so forth and for other purposes. A senator mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from new mexico. A senator thank you, mr. President , for the recognition. Mr. Udall i came to the floor today to talk a little bit about rule of law and President Trumps approach to what has happened as far as the mueller investigation. The rule of law has protected our nations democracy, institutions, and citizens for over 200 years. It means that no one person is above the law, no one, not even the president. President trump does not seem to respect the rule of law. He acts as if the law doesnt apply to him. He believes that he can steer the wheels of justice in can whichever direction he wants to shield himself from lawful investigation. This president is willing to risk National Security, to defy the judgment of the f. B. I. Director and his team, and release classified material for his own political purposes. Think about that. The president of the United States just declassified a top secret document, and he did it with the clear intent to undermine the investigation into russian interference in our election. His actions should end any doubt about his willingness to obstruct justice. After he disclassified the nunes memo, President Trump said, and i quote here, a lot of people should be ashamed of themselves. Its a disgrace whats happened in our country. End quote. This is one of the rare times ive agreed with President Trump. It is a disgrace whats happened in our country, but not for the reasons the president gives. Russias Cyber Attacks and other potential operations during the 2016 election represented a direct strike at our democracy. I cannot think of a time when our National Interest has been so threatened and the president of the United States has ignored the threat. Not only has this president turned a blind eye to russias interference, but he has done nothing to prevent future attacks. He ignores the threat even though the c. I. A. Director says russia will try to interfere in our elections again. Instead, he has done everything he can to curry favor with vladimir putin. He should be ashamed of himself. Unfortunately, he has demonstrated time and time again that he is incapable of shame, but he is not alone. Many members of his party should be ashamed for enabling the president to undermine the special counsel investigation, for enabling his defamation of career public servants, and for remaining silent in the face of a growing crisis. The president has made clear he does not like special counsel mueller and Deputy Attorney general rosensteins independence and commitment to the rule of law, and hes had an eye on getting rid of them for quite a while. We learned he considered firing them last june and we have known for many months from the president s own admission that he fired f. B. I. Director james comey to stop the russia investigation. These men have dedicated their lives to serving our country. Mr. Mueller served as a federal prosecutor and department of justice lawyer for much of his career and was appointed as f. B. I. Director in 2001 by president bush. Mr. Rosenstein is also a career federal prosecutor and was appointed as a u. S. Attorney by president george w. Bush. The president has said many times and i quote here there was no collusion. If thats true, why does the president go to such Great Lengths to undermine the investigation . The president s intentions are transparent and dangerous. He fails to accept that mr. Mueller and mr. Rosenstein swore an oath to the constitution. Because they will not pledge their loyalty to him, he is bound and determined to stop the investigation into his potential wrongdoing. But the republican leader has delayed bringing forward Bipartisan Legislation to protect mr. Mueller from arbitrary dismissal. In light of recent events, Congress Must act. The special counsel needs protection to do his job. He shouldnt have interference from the president and his partisan supporters. In the Senate Appropriations bill for the department of justice, i included language directing the department of justice to abide by its current regulations for the special counsel, but its clear to me we must do a lot more. During the watergate investigation, Eugene Mccarthy said, and i quote here, this is the time for all good people not to go to the aid of their party but to come to the aid of their country, end quote. It is time for all members of congress to come to the aid of our country and ensure that mr. Mueller and his team are able to gather the facts and draw their conclusions without obstruction. It is astonishing that President Trump still calls the russia investigation a witchhunt. Our governments 17 Law Enforcement and National Security agencies all reached the conclusion that russia actively interfered with our president ial election through hacking, National Party computers, through leaking information, and spreading disinformation over media and social media outlets. The president s continued refusal to address this threat is unconscionable and betrays our National Interests. Mr. Muellers investigation into russian interference is justified by the evidence and it is imperative. So we also have abundant evidence that the president tried to interfear with the department of justice and f. B. I. Investigation. The president s firing of the f. B. I. Director james comey because of, quote, the russian thing is what landed him a special counsel in the first place. Why did the president want a pledge of personal loyalty from mr. Comey and mr. Rosenstein . Why did he ask mr. Comey to drop the investigation of mr. Flynn . Why is the president so angry at attorney general sessions for recusing himself from the investigation . And why did the president need the attorney general to not recuse to, quote, protect him . The evidence of interference with an Ongoing Investigation is enough reason to investigate. We all remember president nixons chief transgression was the coverup, and despite a constant refrain of denials from the president and his campaign and despite these denials from the president s campaign that they didnt have any connection with russia, we know that there were many connections. Former National Security advisor Michael Flynn pled guilty to lying to the f. B. I. About his december 22, 2016, conversation with the Russian Ambassador about relieving u. S. Sanctions imposed for russias interference. Campaign foreign advisor George Papadopoulos pled guilty to lying to the f. B. I. About his contacts with people connected to the russian government. Former Campaign Manager paul man a fort manafort is charged in a federal indictment as acting as a Foreign Agent for the prorussian ukraine government. The president s son don jr. , his soninlaw and Paul Manafort all met with foreign operatives to gather dirt on hillary clinton. And then the president personally dictated a press statement misrepresenting the nature of the meeting. These are just a few of the connections. Mr. President , id like to place into the record a november 13, 2017, article from the Washington Post. It chronicles many of the meetings between the Trump Campaign officials and the russians during the campaign, too long to go into here. I will ask consent to put that article in the record. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Udall thank you, mr. President. But neither the compelling evidence justifying investigation nor mr. Muellers credentials have stopped the president and his friends in congress from attacking both. Representative nunes nominally recused himself from the trump collusion investigation in the house intelligence committee, but he and his colleagues on the committee have now released a memo based on incomplete and misleading information. With the president s full backing, this is despite a warning from the f. B. I. Against the release and the speaker will do nothing to rein in him or his committee members. The president s attacks on the independence of our nations premier Law Enforcement agency mirror his attacks on our other foundational institutions. He has maligned the judiciary, he has maligned the press. He attacks and disrespects our foundational principles, separation of powers, free speech, religion, and equality under the law. This is in addition to the president s regular assault on the truth. The Washington Post counted at least 2,000 times where this president departed from the truth in his first year in office. The white house and its allies in Congress Must stop their baseless attacks on mr. Mueller and his team. They must let them do their job and find the facts. We must ensure the independence of prosecutors so we can ensure investigation and outcomes are fair and impartial. Why is the president going to such lengths to fight this investigation . We do not know, but we do know that a foreign power, russia, interfered in our last election, and we do know that the president and his team have had significant business links to russian financial interests. And the president s Family Business continues today but does so while concealing his tax returns and keeping their Business Partners secret. On top of that, the Trump Administration has become much more accommodating of russian interests. Are these things connected in some way . We need to know. Thats why the special counsels investigation is so important. Now is the time for every member of congress to put the country ahead of politics. Special counsel mueller must be able to do his job, to follow the facts wherever they may lead, and to draw his conclusions. Congress must pass legislation to protect the special counsel from being arbitrarily fired, not serve as the president s lieutenants in an unprecedented assault on the rule of law. Mr. President , i note the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call quorum call quorum call a senator mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from massachusetts. Ms. Warren mr. President , are we in a quorum call . The presiding officer we are. Ms. Warren i ask the quorum call be lifted. The presiding officer without objection. Ms. Warren thank you, mr. President. One year ago today i came to the senate floor to oppose the nomination of Jeff Sessions to lead the department of justice. The Justice Department is charged with defending our laws and standing up for all people, regardless of color, sex, Sexual Orientation, religion, or ability. That night i described Jeff Sessions appalling record on nearly every Major National issue handled by the Justice Department, including civil rights, immigration, and criminal justice reform. That night i also read a letter that Coretta Scott king sent to the Judiciary Committee in 1986 opposing sessions nomination to serve as a federal judge. Mrs. King wrote a vivid account of how Jeff Sessions as a u. S. Attorney in the 1980s had, quote, used the awesome power of his office to chill the free exercise of that vote by black citizens. That letter had been a part of the senate Judiciary Committees records for more than 30 years. It helped sink the nomination of Jeff Sessions for the federal judgeship for which hed been nominated back in the 1980s, and i hoped by reminding the senate of its bipartisan rejection of sessions in the 1980s, that letter might help us once again come together in a bipartisan way to say that this kind of bigotry shouldnt be allowed in our criminal justice system. That was my plan. But for reading those words, the words of an icon of the civil rights movement, i was booted off the senate floor. Every one of my republican colleagues present that night voted to shut me up for reading mrs. Kings words. And the next day every single republican voted to confirm Jeff Sessions, a man deemed too racist to hold a federal Court Judgeship in 1986. Nope. They confirmed him to lead the Agency Charged with defending justice for all americans. And now its been one year since the Republican Controlled Senate made Jeff Sessions attorney general of the United States, and i wish i could say that i was wrong. I actually really do. But Coretta Scott kings warnings ring even louder today than they did in 1986. On issue after issue, Jeff SessionsJustice Department has failed in its mission to promote justice for all americans. Instead, sessions has taken the department in exactly the opposite direction. So, lets make a list. Start with voting. In 1986, mrs. King warned us that sessions had used the awesome power of his office as an alabama prosecutor to chill the free exercise of the vote by African Americans. As attorney general, hes continued that crusade targeting not only African Americans but latinos, the elderly, veterans, and other marginalized groups. Only weeks after sessions took the reins, the Justice Department abandoned its legal challenge of a texas voter i. D. Law that intentionally discriminated against voters of color. Later, the department argued that it should be easier easier for states to strike eligible voters from their voting rolls, a proven way to prevent citizens from voting. Sessions has eagerly embraced President Trumps make believe, factfree conspiracy theories about voter fraud condoning the president s Voter Suppression commission and engaging in statelevel inquiries into voter databases. Next on the list, defending all americans, equal protection under the law. In her letter, Coretta Scott king warned that Jeff Sessions would undermine equality under the law. And sure enough, when Jeff Sessions took over at the Justice Department, he immediately got to work reversing the agencys prior efforts to defend laws and policies that protect americans from discrimination based on Sexual Orientation or gender i. Identity. Sessions Justice Department has rescinded guidance protecting transgender students and workers from illegal discrimination. The same day that President Trump used twitter to announce that he was banning transgender individuals from serving in the military, the Justice Department filed a legal brief reflecting sessions view that our great civil rights laws dont protect gay americans from discrimination, despite rulings by other federal courts and guidance from the equal Employment Opportunity commission reaching the opposite conclusion. And the sessions Justice Department has gone out of its way to argue in the Supreme Court that Business Owners should be able to deny service to gay customers. In 1