Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Thursday accused Republicans and President Trump of paranoia, lying and damaging democracy on the one-year anniversary of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election.
“The volume of mistruth, the weight of distortions and fabrication, is hurting our democracy,” Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a floor speech marking the anniversary of the probe.
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“We should all be aghast at the relentless parade of conspiracies manufactured by the most extreme elements of the Republican Party and conservative media to distract from the special counsel’s investigation,” he added.
Schumer said Mueller’s investigation is already yielding results, since 17 Russians have been indicted along with two top former Trump campaign officials.
“Any fair-minded citizen and even the most ardent partisans should be able to look at the facts and say this investigation is not a witch hunt,” Schumer said.
President Trump tweeted about the anniversary Thursday morning, and repeated there is no evidence of collusion after a year.
“Congratulations America, we are now into the second year of the greatest Witch Hunt in American History,” Trump wrote. “And there is still No Collusion and No Obstruction. The only Collusion was that done by Democrats who were unable to win an Election despite the spending of far more money!”
Schumer said Trump, congressional conservatives and the conservative media are stoking the witch hunt theory, which he said, is fueled by paranoia and partisanship. He also disputed allegations that the FBI was spying on the Trump campaign beginning in 2016 in an effort to derail Trump, and said if that theory was true, the information would have been revealed hurt Trump’s chances.
“If this was a witch hunt, why didn’t the FBI, which the president said is politically motivated with no scintilla of truth, why didn’t they leak it?” Schumer said.
Schumer praised Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., for signing off on a bipartisan panel report Wednesday that found Russia worked secretly to help Trump and hurt Clinton during the 2016 election.
Schumer criticized House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., for saying Russia was meddling in the election but was not trying to help Trump, and pursuing classified Department of Justice documents they believe show the Obama administration’s efforts to derail both Trump’s campaign and his administration.
It’s an effort to hurt the Mueller probe, Schumer said.
“Now House conservatives are badgering DOJ officials for classified documents, hunting for any information that would help them sully the investigation,” Schumer said.
Schumer said the Mueller probe must continue.
“Today is a good day to remember that the special counsel investigation is serious, it’s nonpartisan and it’s critical to the interests of our democracy,” Schumer said. “We must allow it to proceed without political interference an intimidation.”
