I’d
like to discuss the media’s complete misrepresentation of the Republican report
on Senator Durbin’s Trump investigation, in which my staff participated in
accordance with committee rules.
As
I noted on October 7 of this year, Senator Durbin publicly released a
Democratic staff report on his investigation. Republicans did the same that
day.
I
came to the floor that day to describe the Republican report.
In
doing so, I laid out what the available facts and evidence showed within the
scope of inquiry, which was from December 14, 2020 to January 3, 2021.
I
say that date range – yet again – because many reporters have wrongly conflated
this investigation with January 6, 2021.
I’m
not going to rehash my entire speech, I’ve incorporated it here
by reference.
However,
I will note – yet again – for the media several key facts.
Not
analysis, just facts.
1.Records
indicate that President Trump’s focus was on “legitimate complaints and reports
of crimes.”
2.Witnesses
testified that President Trump’s main focus was on making the Justice
Department awareof the
potential criminal allegations, and to ensure the Department did its job. It
wasn’t to direct or order specific investigative steps. And to that point,
witnesses said that Trump’s focus was on the American people, not himself or
his campaign, being harmed by what he believed to be widespread election fraud.
3.Witnesses
testified that it wasn’t
unreasonable for President Trump to question what the Justice Department was
doing to investigate election fraud and crime allegations. Indeed, one witness
testified that Trump had “no impact” on the Department’s actions to investigate
election allegations. I’d be remiss if I didn’t also note that one witness
testified that the Justice Department was “dragging their feet and maybe more
to keep these investigations from going forward.”
4.My
staff read former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, BJ Pak a
press release from the Biden administration where Biden set policy for the
Justice Department by prohibiting it from using subpoenas for records of
reporters in criminal leak investigations. My staff then asked if any president
has similar authority to set the Department’s policy with respect to
investigating and reviewing voter fraud and election crime allegations. The
witness stated, “I would agree that the President has that duty.”
5.President
Trump twice rejected firing Acting Attorney General Rosen and twice rejected
the notion of sending what’s called the “draft Clark letter.”
Accordingly,
on the basis of this foundational evidence, with respect to the scope of this
investigation from December 14, 2020 to January 3, 2021, President Trump sought
and followed the advice and recommendations of his senior advisors. I note with
specific emphasis the fact that he followed their advice and recommendations. This
is a critical fact.
The
report is titled, “In Their Own Words.” It’s based on actual witness testimony,
not CNN-style partisan “analysis.”
I
encourage everyone to read the report and the transcripts and draw your own
conclusions.
That’s
how I’ve always approached my investigations.
Some
on CNN have said I showed “fealty” to Trump by stating the facts. They called
these facts that I’ve just recited “delusional.”
I’ve
never had a problem following the facts wherever they lead, no matter who’s in
power.
I
ran a transcribed interview on Donald Trump Jr. during the Trump administration.
That was done as part of my Trump/Russia investigation when I was Chairman of
the Judiciary Committee, which focused on the June 9, 2016 Trump Tower meeting.
I
also subpoenaed Paul Manafort to appear at a hearing and provide testimony.
Instead
of publicly testifying, Manafort voluntarily agreed to an interview with my and
then Ranking Member Feinstein’s staff.
But,
the Ranking Member’s staff then refused to interview him and objected to my
staff doing so without them.
Notably,
the Committee never received any emails from the Democratic National Committee
or the Clinton Campaign even though we repeatedly asked for them. Of course,
the Democrats wouldn’t support subpoenaing them and you didn’t hear a lot about
that from the media. The Trump campaign produced records.
Just
like there’s a coverage vacuum of Hunter Biden and James Biden and their connection
to the communist Chinese government.
My
and Senator Johnson’s September 2020 report on those financial connections and
their potential criminality was attacked as Russian disinformation. Later on,
Hunter Biden publicly admitted he was under criminal investigation for
financial matters.
In
that report, we made clear that based on the deep financial connections between
the Biden family and foreign governments, Hunter Biden is a counterintelligence
and extortion concern.
On
that note, recently released emails have opened up the possibility that Joe
Biden mixed bank accounts and funds with Hunter Biden.
Other
emails show that Joe Biden shared office space with individuals connected to
the communist Chinese regime.
Of
course, my and Senator Johnson’s report was the first to prove that Hunter
Biden, James Biden and other family members had extensive financial and
business relationships with individuals not just connected to the communist
Chinese regime, but it’s intelligence and military services.
About
that report, Politico ran the off-base headline: “GOP Senators’ anti-Biden
report repackages old claims.” In contrast, one of their reporters recently
confirmed the authenticity of some Hunter Biden emails for a book.
One
Washington Post columnist said, “Even after accepting disinformation from
Russian agents, Johnson and Grassley couldn't come up with anything new or
interesting on Hunter Biden.”
And
NPR said about the New York Post Hunter Biden stories, “We don’t want to waste
our time on stories that are not really stories, and we don’t want to waste the
listeners’ and readers’ time on stories that are just pure distractions.”
So
much for investigative journalism. It died without so much as a whimper.
The
media’s attack against the Republican Trump report is essentially an attack on
witness testimony received by the committee. Time and again, many in the media have
failed to meet the facts head-on in order to fit their own biased storyline.
