Censuring Adam Schiff, Representative of the 30th Congressional District of California.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Today, we meet not to lower the costs of prescription drugs, nor to expand President Biden's infrastructure plan, nor to protect the voting rights of the people, nor to protect the healthcare choices of women across America because we know they are definitely not interested in that. No, we meet, rather, for another stop on the GOP's endless revenge tour against Democrats who dared to tell the truth about Donald Trump and his repeated sellouts and betrayals of the American people over the last 6 years.

It is all about Donald Trump tightening his stranglehold over Republicans for the 2024 campaign and driving out anyone who dares to think for himself or herself.

Don't take my word for it. Just read Friday's statement by the twice- impeached inciter of insurrection, sexual abuser, defamer of women, and indicted pilferer of national security secrets, war plans, and top- secret classified documents himself. On Friday, Trump posted this order to his followers in this unveiled threat to anyone who would dare to defy his control over the GOP: ``Any Republican voting against [Adam Schiff's] censure, or worse, should immediately be primaried.''

The Luna resolution is a weapon of mass distraction from Trump's indictment by a Florida grand jury on 37 Federal charges relating to obstruction and unlawful retention of defense information for storing dozens of classified, secret, and top-secret documents at his Florida resort in his bathroom, his bedroom, and beyond, and then refusing repeatedly for more than a year to return any of these official documents to the National Archives and the FBI.

It is amazing to me that they have to change the subject from one of Donald Trump's current offenses against America to one of his older offenses, welcoming Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential campaign.

Russia repeatedly intervened in the 2016 campaign to help Donald Trump, and that is not a matter of opinion. That is a question of direct, positive fact.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller, the former FBI Director whose report is cited authoritatively by Mrs. Luna, found right at the beginning of his report that ``the Russian Government interfered in the 2016 Presidential election in sweeping and systematic fashion.''

Here is what the CIA, the FBI, the NSA, and the Office of the Director of

the National Intelligence found in 2017: ``Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the U.S. Presidential election.''

The Mueller investigation and the Moscow Project documented more than 250 episodes of collaboration and meetings between Russia and the Trump campaign, including Paul Manafort's repeated passing of campaign secrets, such as polling data, to Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian agent, and the infamous meeting on June 9, 2016, at Trump Tower led by Donald Trump, Jr., Jared Kushner, and Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya.

Senator Marco Rubio, the Florida Republican, stated that the U.S. Senate bipartisan Select Committee on Intelligence ``found irrefutable evidence of Russian meddling'' in the American campaign.

The Mueller report, if you read it, makes no pronouncement on collusion, the punitive crux of the distinguished gentlewoman's complaint, because, as Mueller writes, ``collusion'' is not a legal offense or a legal concept.

The whole question of Trump's collusion with Russia is in the realm of opinion, and most Americans would see a lot of collusive activity, all the way up to the present day when Donald Trump refuses even to take the side of the Ukrainian people against Vladimir Putin's filthy, bloody, imperialist invasion of their country, which has been filled with lies, atrocities, and war crimes.

In any event, we don't censure Members over a difference of opinion.

Mr. Speaker, we are seeing the complete ethical collapse of a once- great political party. The Republican Party began as a pro-freedom, antiracist, pro-immigrant, anti-Know-Nothing party. It has become an authoritarian cult of personality taking orders from an inciter of insurrection, bully, and braggart whose rage toward Mike Pence and whose spectacular disrespect for the rule of law endangered not only our entire constitutional order but everyone in this room. The party of Lincoln and his Lincolnites has become the party of Luna and her Luna followers.

Today's madcap antics are an obvious deflection from Trump's deepening legal troubles. His allegedly criminal conduct in pilfering, hoarding, and refusing to return national security documents has caused his own Attorney General, William Barr, to say that: ``Trump's conduct is indefensible. . . . He is not a victim here. He was totally wrong.'' And, ``There is no excuse for what he did here.''

Yesterday, Representative Boebert offered a resolution of impeachment against President Biden. The GOP simply has no ideas for our economy, no ideas for our country, and no ideas for our people but is on an embarrassing revenge tour on behalf of Donald Trump, who treats them like a ventriloquist dummy.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from California (Mr. Schiff).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Aguilar), the chairman of the Democratic Caucus and a former member of the January 6th Select Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Jeffries), the minority leader and a member of the first House impeachment team.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Quigley).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from New York (Mr. Goldman).

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 20 seconds to the gentleman.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lofgren).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Himes).

Mr. HIMES: Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Maryland for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I just heard the gentleman from Virginia say that this is not a censure of Donald Trump, and he is right about that, and, boy, is he right about that because there is no behavior--not a discussion of how he would handle women, not an attack on this Capitol, and not the misuse of classified information--that will ever result in a peep from the Republican majority much less a censure of that behavior. This is a question of standing, Mr. Speaker, amongst other things, if that is what you stand upon.

As my colleagues pointed out, we don't hear anything about a colleague whose entire campaign and entire resume was built on falsehood. Instead, we hear that Russia was a hoax.

Mr. Speaker, I was there. The investigation began by a Republican chairman. All these investigations were predicated on the fact that a Donald Trump foreign policy aide told the Australian ambassador that they were expecting dirt from the Russians.

The most important thing I can say is that I sat next to Adam Schiff for years. He is a man of integrity and dignity. This vote, quite frankly, Mr. Speaker, is a testament to your dignity or lack thereof.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Swalwell).

Mr. Speaker, I just want to observe that there are dozens of Members on our side who have come to stand with Mr. Schiff, and it appears to have been evacuated on the other side. There is nobody standing with the Luna resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Garcia).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Ms. Dean), a member of the second House impeachment team.

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 10 seconds to the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentleman from California (Mr. Mullin).

Mr. Speaker, they defend the big lie, they defend the insurrection, they defend George Santos, but they attack Adam Schiff.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Carson).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern), the ranking member of the Rules Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member of the Rules Committee for those astute remarks. I note that dozens of Members of our caucus have come to stand with Mr. Schiff today, while the sponsor of this resolution, Mrs. Luna, appears to be completely isolated over on her side of the aisle.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Krishnamoorthi).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Crow), a member of the first impeachment team.

Mr. Speaker, we are here precisely because of Donald Trump, because he wants this retribution exacted against Adam Schiff for standing up against Donald Trump's lies and assaults on American democracy.

I congratulate the gentlewoman on her forthcoming baby. That is awesome news. I am wondering if she would share some of her time with me because I have started to run out of time, and she has no speakers over on her side, so consider that.

In the meantime, I recognize for 1 minute the gentlewoman from Colorado (Ms. DeGette). I recognize for 1 minute the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Neguse).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Thompson), the chairman of the January 6th Select Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 10 seconds to the gentleman from Mississippi.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Ms. Scanlon).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentleman from California (Mr. Robert Garcia).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from California (Mr. Sherman).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentleman from Texas (Mr. Castro).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), the former Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 10 seconds to the gentlewoman from California.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I call up the privileged resolution noticed earlier today.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, Americans do not trust Congress. From the highest levels of office, an elected Member of this body enabled the fraudulent spending of $32 million out of the pockets of our American people and threw it down the drain to knowingly chase ghosts, all for political gain.

This man occupied a position of the highest trust and authority.

As Chair of the House Intelligence Committee, Representative Schiff launched an all-out political campaign built on baseless distortions against a sitting U.S. President at the expense of every single citizen in this country and the honor of the House of Representatives.

With access to sensitive information unavailable to most Members of Congress, and certainly not accessible to the American people, Representative Schiff abused his privileges, claiming to know the truth, while leaving Americans in the dark about this web of lies. These were lies so severe that they altered the course of the country forever: the lie that President Donald Trump colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 Presidential election revealed to be completely false by numerous investigations, including the Durham report; the lie that the Steele dossier--a folder of falsified and since completely debunked collusion accusations funded by the Democratic Party--had any shred of credibility, yet Representative Schiff read it into the Congressional Record as fact; the lies concocted and compiled in a false memo that was used to lie to the FISA court, to precipitate domestic spying on U.S. citizen, Carter Page, violating American civil liberties.

Not only was this an egregious abuse of Representative Schiff's privileged access to classified information, but this memo was littered with 17 major mistakes and omissions. The groundless memo violated Carter Page's civil liberties, publicly assassinated his character, and subjected him to multiple, abusive, unlawful investigations.

Representative Schiff exploited his position as Chair of the Intel Committee at every opportunity possible, threatening national security, undermining our duly-elected President, and bringing dishonor upon the institution. Perhaps most unforgivable, Representative Schiff ripped apart American families across the country with repeated false narratives.

His own political good was served by permanently destroying family relationships and sowing lasting division across our land, which we live with every single day.

The perpetrators of this web of deceit became mainstays on cable news, waking up every morning with one goal: to lie, lie, lie to the American people that there was direct evidence of a Russia collusion.

Despite transcripts from Representative Schiff's investigation showing that the Director of National Intelligence, former Obama Attorney General, former Deputy Attorney General, and FBI Director, to name a few, went on record telling Representative Schiff's committee that there was no direct evidence for his criminal conspiracy, yet to this day, Representative Schiff actively fundraises off of his exploitation of Americans, as if robbing them from the truth and $32 million in taxpayer dollars is not enough.

Can anyone in this Chamber comprehend this list of crimes and yet somehow believe there should not be an answer for it?

This is not a partisan act. This is not a conservative versus liberal vote. This is a clear vote between right and wrong, and I urge my colleagues to do the right thing.

I will end with repeating what I started with. The American people do not trust Congress. The cyclical pattern of lies has worn down the credibility of every institution and every official in the United States Government. You see it. I see it.

If we run away from this opportunity to hold this man accountable, there is only one fault and that is of ourselves. We will betray the people who trusted us and sent us here to do the right thing. We will be responsible for the end of any shred of justice in this body. We will reject the duty that we swore an oath to protect upon taking office.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Ogles).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. Miller).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Langworthy).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Norman).

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 2 minutes to the gentleman from South Carolina.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Good).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. McClintock).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Colorado (Mrs. Boebert).

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Colorado.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Georgia (Ms. Greene).

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentlewoman.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mills).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Wyoming (Ms. Hageman).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I take a second to thank all of my colleagues from across the aisle who have spoken today for putting themselves on the Record defending the Russia collusion hoax, even after the Burisma payments to Hunter Biden and the big guy have been made public. The Congressional Record is a very useful accountability tool.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I remind people that this is on behalf of the American people in restoring order to the House and in an effort to bring back trust, which is something that this institution has lacked for many years.

I am very proud and I own my vote in saying that I will be voting for the censure of Adam Schiff.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

As a United States Air Force veteran and a proud Mexican-American woman that happens to be almost 8 months pregnant, I say that in regard to integrity, what happened in this country, what happened with the divide that occurred after the fact that the Russia

collusion hoax was pushed down the throats of the American people is not what I would consider integrity.

If we want to talk about these little fun games and comments back and forth, we are not here about Donald Trump. We are not here about January 6. We are here about the former chairman of the Intelligence Committee who used a lie that broke apart this country.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Again, as I said, this is not about Donald Trump. This is about holding accountable someone who exploited their official position and had access to information that most Members of Congress do not have access to and bringing accountability back to the American people.

Regardless of whatever the gentlewoman from California says or anyone else, you guys are not being honest about the focus of this resolution and this censure. That is exactly why we are here today to debate it out.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, to my Republican colleagues who introduced this resolution, I thank you. You honor me with your enmity. You flatter me with this falsehood.

You, who are the authors of a big lie about the last election, must condemn the truthtellers, and I stand proudly before you. Your words tell me that I have been effective in the defense of our democracy, and I am grateful.

Yet, this false and defamatory resolution comes at a considerable cost to the country and to the Congress. At a moment when many millions of people in our home State of California are unable to find a place to live or afford a place to live, Speaker McCarthy chooses to occupy the resources of Congress for 2 straight weeks on this hollow sop to the MAGA crowd. He offers nothing to those who are homeless or addicted to opioids, or to millions of college students mired in debt, but this paltry distraction.

Donald Trump is under indictment for actions that jeopardize our national security, and McCarthy would spend the Nation's time on petty political payback, thinking he can censure or fine Trump's opposition into submission.

But I will not yield, not one inch.

The cost of the Speaker's delinquency is high, but the cost to Congress of this frivolous and yet dangerous resolution may be even higher, as it represents another serious abuse of power.

Donald Trump has threatened that any of you who defy him and vote against this partisan resolution will be met by a primary challenge.

He calls for my imprisonment. If a transient majority can punish and attempt to silence Members who hold a corrupt President to account, there is no telling what further corruption of office will follow.

I say this to Speaker McCarthy and others who wish to gratify Donald Trump with this act of subservience or bend to his demands: Try as you might to expel me from Congress or silence me with a $16 million fine, you will not succeed. You might as well make it $160 million. You will never deter me from doing my duty.

No matter how many false justifications or slanders you level against me, you but indict yourselves. As Liz Cheney said: ``There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain.''

This resolution attacks me for initiating an investigation into the Trump campaign's solicitation and acceptance of Russian help in the 2016 election, even though the investigation was first led not by me but by a Republican chairman.

It would hold that when you give internal campaign polling data to a Russian intelligence operative while Russian intelligence is helping your campaign, as Trump's campaign chairman did, that you must not call that collusion, though that is its proper name, as the country well knows.

It would fine me for the costs of the critically important Mueller investigation into Trump's misconduct, even though the special counsel was appointed by Trump's own Attorney General.

It would reprimand me over a flawed FISA application, as if I were its author or I were the Director of the FBI, and over flaws only discovered years later and by the inspector general, not Mr. Durham.

In short, it would accuse me of omnipotence, the leader of some vast deep state conspiracy. Of course, it is nonsense.

Here is the real gravamen of my offense: I led the first impeachment of Donald Trump for one of the most egregious Presidential abuses of power in our history, and I led a trial which resulted in the first bipartisan vote to remove a President in history. I would do so again.

I warned that if Trump was not held accountable, he would go on to try to

cheat in even worse ways in the next election, and he did, inciting a violent attack on this very Capitol.

After that, I participated in some of the most important hearings in congressional history, hearings that exposed Donald Trump's incitement of a dangerous insurrection to prevent the peaceful transfer of power.

My colleagues, if there is cause for censure in this House, and there is, it should be directed at those in this body who sought to overturn a free and fair election.

The question, my Republican colleagues, is not why I am the subject of this false resolution for doing my constitutional duty, but why are you not? Why are you not standing beside me, the subject of a similar rebuke for speaking the truth?

Why did you not stand up to Donald Trump? Why did you not reject his immortality? Why did you not condemn his dishonesty?

Why did you not speak out when his horde attacked this Capitol or now when he treats the Nation's secrets with such carelessness, lawlessness, and disdain? Why did you hide from efforts to hold him accountable?

Why were you silent, afraid, unwilling to do your ethical, constitutional duty? Why did you cower? Why did you cower, and why do you still?

Will it be said of you that you lacked the courage to stand up to the most immoral, unlawful, and unethical President in history but consoled yourselves by attacking those who did?

Today, I wear this partisan vote as a badge of honor, knowing that I have lived my oath, knowing that I have done my duty to hold a dangerous and out-of-control President accountable, and knowing that I would do so again in a heartbeat if the circumstances should ever require it.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished gentleman for yielding and for his leadership.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to this fake, phony, and fraudulent censure resolution brought against Adam Schiff, the distinguished gentleman from the great State of California.

House Democrats will continue to put people over politics, to fight for lower costs, better-paying jobs, safer communities, defend democracy, fight for freedom, and build an economy that invests and grows the middle class.

This is a do-nothing Republican-controlled Congress, that is why this censure resolution is on the floor today. Extreme MAGA Republicans have no vision, have no plan, and have no agenda to make life better for everyday Americans.

House Democrats will continue to work for the people. Clearly, as this resolution demonstrates, extreme MAGA Republicans work for the twice-impeached, disgraced former President of the United States of America, the insurrectionist in chief, the extreme puppet master, who clearly ordered that this fake, phony, and fraudulent resolution be brought to the floor today after it failed last week.

In fact, the supreme puppet master even threatened the other side of the aisle with primaries if they didn't bend the knee. When he says, ``bend the knee,'' extreme MAGA Republicans say, ``how high.''

Adam Schiff has done nothing wrong. Adam Schiff is a good man. Adam Schiff has served this country with distinction. Adam Schiff served this country well as a Federal prosecutor, fighting to keep communities safe. Adam Schiff served this country well as the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, investigating people without fear or favor, including those at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue because he believes in the Constitution and his oath of office.

Adam Schiff served his country well as the lead impeachment manager during the first impeachment trial of the former President of the United States, prosecuting his corrupt abuse of power. Yes, Adam Schiff served this country well in the aftermath of the violent insurrection. He pushed back against the big lie told by the puppet master in chief and participated as a prominent member of the January 6th Committee to defend our democracy.

Adam Schiff has done nothing wrong. He has worked hard to do right by the American people. The extreme MAGA Republicans have no vision, no agenda, and no plan to make life better for the American people, so we have this phony, fake, and fraudulent censure resolution.

Adam Schiff will not be silenced. We will not be silenced. House Democrats will not be silenced today. We will not be silenced tomorrow. We will not be silenced next week. We will not be silenced next month. We will not be silenced next year. We will not be silenced this decade. We will not be silenced this century. You will never ever silence us.

We will always do what is right. We will always fight for the Constitution, fight to defend democracy, fight for freedom, expose extremism, and continue America's long, necessary, and majestic march toward a more perfect Union.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' against this phony, fake, and fraudulent censure resolution.

Mr. Speaker, there are a lot of things that happen here in Congress that waste the American people's hard-earned tax dollars, but one of the most outrageous wastes of hard-earned taxpayer dollars has been the Russian collusion hoax led by Adam Schiff.

Adam Schiff lied to American people by leading the fake Russian witch hunt against President Trump. He weaponized the House Intelligence Committee to abuse all principles of due process and perpetuate the lies of Russian collusion, and he did that in the media over and over again.

His committee conducted approximately 53 interviews during its 2017- 2018 Russia probe. These transcripts from the Director of National Intelligence, former Obama Attorney General, former Deputy Attorney General, and the FBI director, among others, proved that there was zero direct evidence of criminal conspiracy.

He not only refused to release these interview transcripts, but he also continued to peddle lies to the American people that Russia interfered in the elections.

He falsely claimed that Russians offered help, that the campaign accepted help, that the Russians gave help, and that the President made full use of that help when referring to allegations between President Trump and Russia during the 2016 election.

In November 2020, he specifically asked Twitter to take action against spreaders of misinformation by removing content that questioned his baseless claims of Russian collusion. The biggest spreader of misinformation was Adam Schiff.

As we know, the Mueller report determined there was no criminal collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Thanks to the Durham report, we know now the entire Russian hoax

was bought and paid for by Hillary Clinton and the DNC.

During the probe, Schiff also abused his position on the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and violated civil liberties by subpoenaing phone records from AT&T and a former Republican colleague on an entirely baseless claim.

His lies and abuse of power continued during the sham. During the Hollywood-produced January 6 Committee witch hunt, he and his staff doctored a text message between Representative Jim Jordan and former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to deliberately manipulate information presented to the American people. What a lie.

He displayed a graphic of a text message which cut a sentence in half--in half--and eliminated the final two paragraphs of a detailed legal summary that were contained in the original text message.

He did this to peddle more lies to the American people and to perpetuate the fake narrative that January 6 was an insurrection, and it was not.

Mr. Speaker, now Adam Schiff is running for Senate in California. California has a lot of things messed up, and California is not the model that the United States needs. As a matter of fact, their government policies are atrocious.

So if California decides to send Adam Schiff to the Senate, they will be sending a proven liar, and that is what he is aiming to do. He is raising money off of being a liar and running for Senate.