Collins statement on executive privilege hearing

" . . . we defend the Constitution and our laws above any person who holds any position in our government. What can be used by one party or one branch today can — and will — be used by the other tomorrow. Just ask Senator Harry Reid. "Instead of stripping one branch of its powers, we refuse to sacrifice Congress’s integrity for a sliver of momentary power. A tyrant can be a single person, but it can also be an unchecked multitude."

WASHINGTON — Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.), Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, made the following opening statement at today's hearing on executive privilege. Below are the remarks as prepared. Ranking Member Collins: A deliberative body like the Judiciary Committee commands respect, but only when it conducts itself in a respectable manner. The Democrats have controlled this powerful committee for five months, but their actions have placed its influence at risk. This committee has been at the vanguard during some of the most trying moments in our history. This is the committee that has stood unflinching in the face of past judges, cabinet members and presidential fury. We gather in this room, on behalf of the American people, to discuss some of the most important legal issues facing us today. Many of us were lawyers before we became politicians. Both are beloved professions, of course, but in law we prize reason before passion. Let’s keep that in mind as we proceed today. I hear from my colleagues on this committee that Congress is a co-equal branch of our federal government — that it shares power with the executive branch equally. That’s not quite right, though. Congress, in fact, is the supreme branch of government. The Founders wrote the articles in order of importance, and it is this branch — Article I, the legislative branch — that the Constitution endows with enormous power, because it is we — and especially this house — who represent the people. We are a nation of the self-governed. The president answers to Congress, and, with all of this power to enact laws of enormous breadth, it is this committee’s authority to remove a president and upend entire elections that this majority has chosen singularly to focus on. For the past months, Democrats have focused on those few areas in which we are not given boundless prerogative. We know the danger of simple majority rule. We are not a country run by a 51 percent majority. Without a division of centralized power, democracy becomes anarchy, and so the Supreme Court has power. The attorney general has power, and — even if he’s not a member of your party — the president has power. For the past months, we have besmirched this body and failed to do our jobs. This committee, one of the most important bodies in Congress, has become a parody. When the results of Robert Mueller’s investigation did not satisfy Democrats, they quickly started peddling to the American people a manufactured “constitutional crisis.” The majority turned a reasonable discussion of the Mueller report into the opening cannon fire of a circus they created. Just like a circus, our committee apparently has snacks, with a congressman eating fried chicken on the dais — the same dais from which we have recommended impeachment of some of the world’s most powerful leaders. We also have tight rope walkers, politicians channeling outrage to a far-left base, howling for impeachment while also trying to appear rational to the rest of the country. Let’s hope there are nets below to catch them when the gambit is up. This circus even has self-proclaimed lions, roaring about evidence that’s nowhere to be found and demanding punitive action as they cry, “What’s next?” Never mind the absurdity of what’s next, when, for example, the chairman claims that a subpoena is merely the “beginning of a dialogue” weeks after assuring our committee that a subpoena is “a powerful and coercive tool” to “be used only when our attempts to reach an accommodation with the witness have reached an impasse.” Democrats will not voice their anger at Robert Mueller for failing to find the collusion they promised America, but their frustration is obvious. They direct their ire at the attorney general, who — in the name of transparency — has gone above and beyond what was required of him and has released nearly the entire Mueller Report to the public and even more to congressional leaders. For that unprecedented step, Democrats held him in contempt. And they did so with no hearing, no groundwork laid, no attempt at negotiation or accommodation. In fact, a mere 19 days passed between issuance of the subpoena and contempt. When the Oversight Committee held Eric Holder in contempt, 255 days passed. That’s more than 13 times as fast. Now Democrats tell us they’re taking this circus to the courts because the president has asserted executive privilege, a fact they claim represents a “constitutional crisis.” Today, we will discuss and debate that privilege. Many people claim Republicans on this committee are covering for the president when we should join Democrats in their demands that the attorney general violate the law. To them I say that we defend the Constitution and our laws above any person who holds any position in our government. What can be used by one party or one branch today can — and will — be used by the other tomorrow. Just ask Senator Harry Reid. Instead of stripping one branch of its powers, we refuse to sacrifice Congress’s integrity for a sliver of momentary power. A tyrant can be a single person, but it can also be an unchecked multitude. There is no constitutional crisis here. Past presidents have asserted the exact same executive privilege — from George Washington to Bill Clinton and, most recently, Barack Obama. If there is an impending constitutional crisis, it is Congress asserting that it is now responsible for both writing and enforcing the law. It is this majority refusing all of the attorney general’s negotiations and accommodations. Their refusal to even review the lesser redacted version of the report has weakened their legal position. They are not operating in good faith. The danger is not the president. The danger is a Congress that screams for respect and compliance but does not respect process and holds executive officials in contempt for upholding the law. The danger, above all, is the weakening of this Congress’s prestige in the eyes of the most powerful person in this nation: the American citizen.