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Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHMITT. Madam President, before I get started on this, I thank my colleague from Tennessee.

I also want to note to my friend from Illinois that we are not doing anything else on this floor. We are certainly not moving an appropriations process. We could be doing appropriations bills in September, but Chuck Schumer doesn't want to do any of that. So all we are doing is nominations. If you feel so strongly about these individuals, go through the process.

Also, it is curious to mention precedent being raised here in this. I, in my first term here in the Senate, just witnessed for the first time in American history--first time ever--an Articles of Impeachment coming over to this Chamber, and we didn't have a trial. So forgive me if I don't want to be lectured about precedence. There is a process to get this done. We will never have an opportunity to have a trial on Mayorkas like we should have had.

But I digress. My objection here today is not specific to the qualifications of the individuals who have been nominated. My objection instead is to the fact that we live in a time right now--and as a lawyer, this is deeply saddening--where the Department of Justice and other government Agencies are being politicized and weaponized. This is angering the American people, and it should.

American history has no shortage of important moments marked by statesmen making difficult decisions which balance the outrages of the moment with the long-term stability of our Republic.

Throughout this last year, many of us have denounced here the weaponization of the Justice Department by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. What many in the political establishment don't care to acknowledge is that this is resonating even more with American working folks who believe that there is a two-tiered system of justice in our country, and it is being unlawfully applied.

From Hillary Clinton's ``mishandling'' of classified information to President Joe Biden doing the same, the American public has watched certain people be immune from consequences for their actions.

Biden-Harris are attempting to throw their political opponent, Donald Trump, in jail for the rest of his life. It is wrong. They are trying to interfere with this election, and that is why we stand here on the floor today.

So if you are not part of the exclusive club or if you dare to fight back against its monopoly on power, you are held to a different standard. Those brave enough to fight the system are not only expected to play by the rules but also subject to capricious, legal, and inconsistent lawfare--banana republic stuff. If this were happening in another country, our State Department would be warning us about it. It is happening right here under our noses.

These political attacks undermine the American people's faith in their government--a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. We all are one people, and we must only have one standard of which we are judged in our courts. We must immediately halt our creep toward tyranny.

So until the Justice Department resumes its focus on applying equal justice under the law instead of engaging in partisan lawfare against President Trump, I will join my colleagues here today.

I withhold my objection to allow the senior Senator from Alabama to speak.

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