Mr. Speaker, today, I rise to talk about the events of Friday night and concern for the continued special counsel position of Robert Mueller. On Friday night, late, the Deputy Director of the FBI,…
Mr. Speaker, today, I rise to talk about the events of Friday night and concern for the continued special counsel position of Robert Mueller.
On Friday night, late, the Deputy Director of the FBI, Mr. Andrew McCabe, was fired. I haven't seen the IG report. Nobody has seen it. It won't be available until April. But it is concerning that, that late at night, people were working at Justice to fire a career employee and possibly deprive him of his pension.
Mr. McCabe believes the reason he was fired was because of his knowledge of Mr. Comey's conversations with the President, and his own conversations with the President, and his being a corroborating witness. I don't know what the cause was, but the process was awful. It was rushed, and it seemed to violate the due process rights of this career Federal employee.
And then to watch the President of the United States, a multibillionaire, spike the ball on being able to deprive a 20-year Federal employee of a pension was cruel, un-American, and mean- spirited. It was a shot across the bow at other government officials who are doing their jobs--Justice Department officials, FBI officials, law enforcement officials who love this country and put their lives on the line--and that if they don't agree with the Mueller investigation continuing; or if they see concerns about the United States President and his campaign and some involvement with Russia or with obstruction of justice, or violations of emoluments clauses; that they too risk their jobs and risk their pensions, and risk their financial security.
It is a scary time in America, and we are looking at the abyss.
In December, I was concerned about this as well. And Representative Walter Jones from North Carolina, a Republican, and I, have a bipartisan bill, H.R. 4669, which has a Senate companion filed, and is bipartisan as well, by Senator Tillis and Senator Coons, which is S. 1741; and it gives the special counsel due process if he is fired for causes that are not objective--related to his job and the performance of his duties.
But it means he couldn't be fired for politics and he couldn't be fired to squelch an investigation concerning the very fundamentals of this country and allegiance and adherence to the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America for which we have all taken an oath to uphold. Nothing is more sacred.
If the President has done nothing wrong, as he has said on many occasions, and he has tweeted recently about Mr. Mueller and said it is a ``witch hunt'' and said there is no collusion. If there is no collusion, if there is no obstruction of justice, if there are no violations, the President should, as Representative Trey Gowdy has said, welcome the continuation of the investigation to clear him.
As Representative Trey Gowdy said: He is not acting like a man who is innocent. And Representative Charlie Dent has said similar things.
If you have nothing to hide, why stop an investigation if there is nothing to find? And if there is something to find and something for the American people to know about, and for Congress to know about and act on, then it is incumbent on us to protect Mr. Mueller and protect that investigation.
That is why we have these bipartisan bills. I know there is Democratic support for these bills, but there hasn't been Republican support that I know of, beyond Senator Tillis and Representative Walter Jones.
I call on Speaker Ryan to schedule this bill, have it scheduled in Representative Goodlatte's committee, my committee, the Judiciary Committee, for a hearing, or bring it directly to the floor for a vote.
I call on Representative Goodlatte to schedule the bill for a markup and have it voted on.
But, more importantly, I call on my Republican colleagues to stand up for America and stand up for their oath of office.
We get along, Republicans and Democrats. Republicans are good people, too. They have different thoughts on certain issues and different perspectives than most Democrats and I do. But we all believe in an America that should not be capitulating to Russia, and an America that shouldn't be seeing the Constitution shredded and laws violated.
So I call on my Republican colleagues to look into their soul, look into their heart, remember their oath. Sign on to H.R. 4669, as Representative Walter Jones has, and stand up for America.
