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Floor Speech
He knows, I know, and all the Democrats know that if there was anything to do with President Trump, they would have happily released it. My lord, you went after him for everything else you could possibly think of. Why wouldn't you possibly go after this?
Well, it is because this is nothing but political theater. We know that. We know that what your resolution is--it doesn't actually have transparency because we all want transparency. All of us want transparency. We want to know actually what happened. The American people want to know what has happened. But what this resolution does is it actually is a blurred line between the separation of powers.
When we start dictating to the Department of Justice what they can and can't do--there is a clear separation of power. We are the legislative branch. That is what we do. We make laws. We can't dictate to the other branches on what they must and how they must do their job.
Now, with that being said, I would simply ask the question: Why now? Is it because of their hatred toward President Trump, because they want to do anything they can possibly do to distract from what they might be hiding? Why wasn't this done the previous 4 years? What happened? They had the same files. This case wasn't new.
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Mr. MULLIN. Mr. President, we all want transparency and for credible information on the Epstein case to be made public so that the American people can decide.
The Trump administration has already said they are committed to releasing all available files. Last week, President Trump directed AG Bondi to produce any and all permanent grand jury testimony in the Epstein case.
My colleague from Arizona's resolution tells the FBI and the DOJ how to do their job.
My resolution would echo the seriousness of the directive from the President and the DOJ to the courts and calls immediately to unseal all materials. When combined with what our House colleagues have done, this resolution moves forward providing justice to the victims and transparency to the American people.
Mr. President, as I said before, we want transparency, but the courts control the grand jury; the judges that oversee the courts control the grand jury. We in this body can have resolutions back and forth and suggest that it be done, but truthfully, the judges have to do it. AG Bondi and the President have both already called upon the judges to release this information.
What my resolution is simply saying is that we agree with the President, we agree with AG Bondi on the judges and calling upon the judges to release it.
As if in legislative session and not withstanding rule XXII, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 335, which is at the desk.
I mean, think about what happened during the Biden administration. They covered up, No. 1, for his cognitive behavior; No. 2, they covered up the Hunter Biden laptop; No. 3, they covered up the Russiagate and continue to cover up the Russiagate; and No. 4, they covered up the fact that an autopen signed every--well, every one of his papers except one.
Where was the coverup? Where did the elites come from? Well, it is because of the pressure from the Biden administration that actually did put it on all the social media outlets.
It is interesting, when I started talking to the social media founders after President Trump was elected, they said: We feel like we can actually do our job again. Why? Because the DOJ wasn't threatening to sue them; the Biden administration wasn't threatening to blackmail them. Yet my colleague from Arizona is saying that we are covering up for the elites?
Let's be honest. We know these files have been out there forever. I don't remember a single time the Biden administration called on these things to be released, and I definitely don't remember my colleague from Arizona calling for these files to be released.
As I said before, this is nothing more than political theater. Everybody sees it. The American people see it. And what else can President Trump and AG Bondi do but call on the judges to release the information? We are simply going back and forth here saying the same thing.
The difference between my resolution and my colleague from Arizona's resolution is mine isn't blurring the boundaries between separation of power; mine is simply calling upon the judges to release the information. What my colleague's resolution does is truly trying to tell the FBI and the DOJ how they can proceed in doing their job and how they can actually present the information--basically saying: We want all that information to go through Congress.
Well, I am sure Congress has never once played politics with any information. I am sure that this investigation would be handled much like other investigations into this administration that the Democrats have done over the last, I don't know, 8 years. I am sure this will be handled just like any other thing they have tried to go after, like the baseless impeachments or the baseless special counsels or the unbelievable amount of charges they have tried to file against the President. I am sure this will be handled the exact same way.
What we are simply wanting to do here is give them cover. So if my colleague from Arizona actually wants transparency, then he would drop his objection to my resolution and just simply have mine go through, and we can move forward with the transparency that maybe both of us actually want.
I would ask my colleague once again to accept my resolution.
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Mr. MULLIN. Mr. President, in closing, I would just simply say that maybe my colleague from Arizona and I can work together, if he wants to, and we can drop some of the stuff in his resolution. Maybe we can come up with a conclusion with my resolution. I have concerns about yours blurring the lines between the separation of powers and at the same time want transparency.
If we can both agree we want transparency--we have worked together on several issues in the past. Let's sit down and try working this one out.
Mr. President, with that, I yield back.
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