Syria

Floor Speech

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Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, I rise today to speak about a problem that is growing and needs to be confronted or we will regret our decision to lay down in the face of Russian aggression and Syrian aggression inside of Syria.

As you well know, we have been trying to find a solution in Syria for quite a while. We were able to reach an agreement about deescalation zones in southwestern Syria where, basically, the parties would disengage, and we reached a settlement with the Russians, U.N. Resolution 2254, to create some space to stop the fighting and the killing.

What have we found? In recent days, the Syrian regime has intensified military operations within the southwest Syria deescalation zone negotiated by Jordan, Russia, and the United States. The Russian Air Force is flying in this area, and we are doing nothing about it.

The bottom line is that if we allow Russia to get away with this and Assad to get away with this, it is going to hurt us everywhere else in the Mideast. When President Trump meets with President Putin on July 16, I hope he will bring this up.

The question is this: Are we going to let Putin walk all over us? We had 8 years of that, and I am kind of tired of it.

Now, 6,000 civilians have already fled their homes. A lot of them have been killed in this area where we reached an agreement with the Russians and the Jordanians and the world at-large. These people were assured under this agreement that they would not be bombed or slaughtered anymore. Now the slaughtering and the bombing has started anew. They are going to look at us and everybody in the region is going to look at us as all talk and no action. The United Nations is going to be seen as weak.

I like a strong President. I appreciate what President Trump has done to rebuild the military. I like the fact that we are talking with North Korea to avoid a conflict with North Korea, but I also like the fact that the President has told North Korea: We are going to stop your nuclear program and missile program. We would rather do it peacefully, but it is going to stop. Stop threatening the United States. We are trying to make it a win-win.

We have taken the fight to ISIS in a new way. There are a lot of things to say about our military and foreign policy under President Trump, like getting out of the Iran deal, which was terrible. It is all good. It is about to erode in a big way.

If we let Russia and Assad violate the agreement that we negotiated and they don't pay a price, then it is going to hurt our standing everywhere, and it is going to embolden Russia and Assad even more.

This is a nightmare for Israel. Syrians have suffered enough at the hands of Assad and Russia. It is a nightmare for the Kurds, and it really affects our standing in the world.

When this meeting happens on July 16 in Finland, I hope the President will bring this up if it is not resolved before then because, President Trump, if you let Putin get away with this and Assad get away with this, then, good luck everywhere else in the world.

We have had 8 years of letting bad people get away with bad things. I hope you will bring it up and bring it to an end because our word should matter. Thousands of people have been displaced from their homes. Hundreds have been killed in violation of an agreement we signed, I think, last year.

Secondly, the meeting with Putin is a good thing. You have to talk to your enemies, your friends, and everybody in between. National Security Advisor Bolton had it right. There are things we can work on with Russia and there are things we can't. Russia is an enemy. They are not a friend. They are an enemy of democracy, but you have to talk to your enemies as well as your friends.

We do have some common ground--maybe even in Syria. Russia has had bases in Syria for a long time. I don't mind that they continue to have bases. I don't want to turn Damascus over to the Iranians, and I don't want Syria to be run by the Russians. I want Syria to be run by Syrians.

There was a statement today by the President that Russia denies meddling in our election. You are right, Mr. President, they deny it, but they are lying. When you meet with Putin and he says we had nothing to do with it, I would take the opportunity to show him why we disagree. When you meet with Putin, I would explain to him what happens if you continue to meddle in our election.

Not only did they meddle in the 2016 election--I am not alleging they changed the outcome, and I have seen no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians--but I am 100 percent convinced that it was the Russians who stole the Democratic National Committee emails and Podesta's emails. It was the Russians who took out ads all over the country pitting one American against the other.

The bottom line is this: Russia did interfere in our democracy. They are doing it everywhere else in the world. When they say they didn't, they are lying.

President Trump, if you don't bring this up, it will be a huge mistake. If you don't push back against the lie, it will be a huge mistake.

As to what they are doing now, I hope President Trump will tell President Putin: We know what you are doing, and you had better knock it off because you continue to do this at your own peril. If we have a face-to-face between President Trump and President Putin and there is not a clear understanding by President Putin that we have had it with his interference in our democracy and his destabilizing the world at- large, then it will be a huge mistake and a great opportunity lost.

There are areas on which we can agree with the Russians and places where we can work with the Russians, but to have a good relationship with Russia, you have to have an honest relationship with Russia. Here is the honest relationship with Russia: Putin is no friend of democracy. He interfered in the 2016 election, and he is going to do it again in 2018. He really is not a Republican or a Democrat. He hates us equally.

Remember the dossier--this piece of garbage that was collected in Russia by a foreign agent paid for by the Democratic Party? Where do you think they got that information from? Do you think Putin would hesitate 1 minute to undercut you if he thought it was in his interest? He will do what is in his interest, and when the pain is too great, he will back off.

I am counting on you, and the American people are counting on you, President Trump, and the world is counting on you to set the record straight when it comes to Putin's interference in democracy, including ours. I hope he understands after this meeting is over with that if he continues to go down this path, it is at his own peril. If we don't make it painful, he will keep doing it.

We are doing a lot of good things in terms of pushing back against Russia but not enough, because if we were doing enough, they would not be interfering in the 2018 elections, and they are.

Finally, as to whether or not they did it, every intelligence agency we have, under the Obama administration and now the Trump administration, says without equivocation that the Russians interfered in our election. It wasn't some 300-pound guy sitting on a bed somewhere. They stole the emails. They gave them to WikiLeaks. They are trying to divide us. They are not a friend of Republicans. They are an enemy to all of us.

President Trump, use this opportunity to clear up the record and set it straight when it comes to Russia's interference in our democracy. Find common ground where you can. It makes sense to work with the Russians in Syria, and it makes sense to work with them in North Korea. It makes no sense to believe the lie or to make them believe that we believe the lie, and the lie is that they didn't interfere.

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