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“HE-SAID DEBATE” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H7873-H7874 on Sept. 6, 2018.
The Department is one of the oldest in the US, focused primarily on law enforcement and the federal prison system. Downsizing the Federal Government, a project aimed at lowering taxes and boosting federal efficiency, detailed wasteful expenses such as $16 muffins at conferences and board meetings.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
HE-SAID/HE-SAID DEBATE
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Gutierrez) for 5 minutes.
Mr. GUTIERREZ. Mr. Speaker, I have been thinking about all the criminal investigations pointing directly at the President and his associates and the fact that, for many Americans, this has become a he-
said/he-said debate.
On the one hand, you have the President saying that this is all a witch hunt: Yes, I fired Comey and ordered to derail the investigation; yes, I knew about and helped conceal the Russia meeting; and, yes, I knew about the payments to keep people quiet.
Then there is Robert Mueller, the former FBI Director, who really hasn't said a word this whole time, but his efficient, productive, and successful investigations keep rolling right along. I guess he lets his indictments do his talking.
So in this battle of he-said/he-said, who would the oddsmakers pick? If you were a betting man or woman, a Vegas oddsmaker, or just an armchair quarterback, who would you go with?
On the one hand, we have a conservative Republican who was the second longest serving FBI Director. Only Hoover served longer. On the other hand, we have the host of a reality TV show with no political or government or military or law enforcement experience whatsoever.
Hmm, let's continue.
On the one hand, we have a Vietnam veteran with a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star. Director Mueller joined the Marines as a volunteer at the height of the Vietnam war after his high school teammate was killed in action. Mueller enlisted to honor his friend and out of a sense of duty, honor, and obligation to put oneself behind one's country as a matter of honor.
On the other hand, we have the President, who avoided military service by claiming he had bone spurs in his foot, despite ample evidence that was a lie, a complete fiction made up to serve what? His own personal interests above those of the Nation at time of war.
According to what I have read, Director Mueller was a good student at Princeton, and after earning his bachelor's and master's and after serving in Vietnam with distinction, he studied law at the University of Virginia, where he served on the Law Review, a prestigious accomplishment at any law school, let alone one of the best.
The President went to business school and inherited millions of dollars and started a real estate business because his dad gave him the money.
Director Mueller is a courtroom expert and veteran law enforcement leader. Think about this: He was a private litigator, a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's Office, and started serving at the Justice Department under Attorney General Dick Thornburgh, who was Ronald Reagan's and George H.W. Bush's Attorney General.
To be sure, the President has a great deal of courtroom experience, too, but that is mostly related to depositions, civil lawsuits, and criminal cases when he sues people or threatens to sue them.
On a more personal note, Director Mueller's service as FBI Director, as you may remember, was delayed at one point because he was fighting prostate cancer, which he beat.
He is a man of integrity who married his high school sweetheart in 1966, and to the best of everyone's knowledge, it is the only marriage of either one of them.
The President, well, I am running out of time, so I won't be able to discuss his long list of marriages and affairs, which have all become quite public.
Finally, while the President characterizes the Mueller investigation as the most expensive witch hunt in history, I bet the oddsmakers would give a lot of weight to the following facts: The President's campaign chairman has been convicted; his National Security Advisor resigned and pleaded guilty; his personal attorney and long-time fixer in New York pleaded guilty on multiple counts; and people from inside The Trump Organization and inside the campaign and the White House are cooperating with prosecutors as we speak. And this was all despite the President's efforts and with the full cooperation of Republicans in Congress to prevent the truth from coming out.
There are a lot of people in this body who are staking their careers on the President and his influence over their voters in their States or their congressional districts. Okay. You are betting on a guy who is up tweeting at 3 a.m. in the morning.
Look, I am going to bet--when I look at the main protagonist in this legal drama, I will put my money on the law enforcement veteran who, at 3 a.m. in the morning, is working on who he is going to indict next.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to refrain from engaging in personalities toward the President of the United States.
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