Collins statement on markup before Attorney General Barr hearing

"Democrats have ignored the reality of the Mueller investigation . . .  I implore you to stop bullying an attorney general who has conducted himself in an exemplary manner. Examine the report, ask earnest questions and heed the pleas of hardworking Americans who understand that our time is better spent making progress than chasing ghosts."

WASHINGTON — Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.), Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, made the following opening statement at today's markup ahead of Attorney General Barr's hearing. Below are the remarks as prepared. Ranking Member Collins: William Barr didn’t need or request a second stint as attorney general. When he was nominated, he knew he was walking into a buzzsaw. Overshadowing all of the normal responsibilities of being attorney general was the Mueller investigation, and it would be up to the new attorney general to follow the special counsel regulations and report on the investigation’s findings to Congress. Bill Barr took the job because he saw a Justice Department reeling and a country that needed its faith in our top law enforcement agency restored in the wake of its disparate treatment of investigations into Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. By any objective account, Attorney General Barr has been succeeding in spades. When the Mueller report was completed, Barr updated Congress and the public of Mueller’s principal findings within 48 hours. Barr then offered to come testify before this committee, and, a few weeks after that, he released a redacted report, consistent with longstanding DOJ policy and federal law, to the public. Not only did the attorney general release the report voluntarily, he provided Congressional leaders the chance to read a less redacted version in a secure setting. I have seen that version – but Chairman Nadler refused to read that report, mere hours after he had subpoenaed it. Every other Democrat granted access has refused it as well. Barr has delivered transparency, information and answers far beyond what the special counsel regulations – written by Democrats in the Clinton Administration - require. And how have Democrats treated a two-time attorney general who volunteered to appear before them tomorrow to discuss the Mueller report? Like trash. Chairman Nadler held two press conferences for the sole purpose of smearing the attorney general, even though it’s the special counsel’s findings that have foiled Democrats’ attacks on the president. We know this because we have the special counsel’s report, thanks to Attorney General Barr. Yet, the Democrats have threatened to hold him in contempt of Congress. They have demanded he take actions no attorney general in the history of our country has ever done before. They have threatened to impeach him. They have used foul and aggressive language towards him, even disrespecting a Senate-confirmed cabinet official as a “so-called attorney general.” Democrats have told him to keep his mouth shut and said he has zero credibility. And for what reason? All because the Democrats didn’t get what they promised their base from the Mueller report and now they’ve maimed themselves politically. Sadly, this committee has sacrificed headway for headlines at every turn. Americans want Congress to move on from unproductive investigations and legislate, but Democrats have sabotaged access to the very information they’ve demanded. They voted to authorize a subpoena on acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker when he had agreed to appear voluntarily. They bullied him up to the eve of his appearance, and then called him back for an un-transcribed interview that they took every opportunity to misrepresent. Now that we have the Mueller report in hand, the chairman refuses to view additional information in a secure setting. Now, in response to Attorney General Barr’s offer to testify in the House just as he’s testifying across the Capitol right now, Democrats offer a poison pill to deter his appearance. Specifically, they want to subject a sitting cabinet official to cross-examination not by elected Members of Congress, but by unelected staffers and without precedent. This debases our committee and its members, and, while Democrats claim this arrangement has happened before, they cannot cite any such occasion. Again and again, Democrats manufacture fake crises. In the midst of their serial sideshow, Americans are enjoying renewed success. With Republican tax cuts in action, first quarter growth at a staggering 3.2% and 196,000 new jobs in March, Americans are moving forward and simply asking obstructionists in Congress to get out of their way. After two years of a thorough investigation by one of the most impressive prosecutorial teams ever assembled, the reality of no collusion, no obstruction may be hard to accept, but the notion that a committee with fewer resources and enforcement authorities will discover something Mueller missed strains credulity. Democrats have ignored the reality of the Mueller investigation and are ignoring the crisis at the southern border. Meanwhile, China’s economic espionage and intellectual property theft are exploiting American innovation relentlessly. Yet here we sit, with all of these issues under our jurisdiction, chasing headlines and trying to intimidate a sitting attorney general instead of being the leaders our neighbors sent us here to be. Should my colleagues recommit themselves to the business of legislating, I stand ready to work with them on these important matters and more. If you will not legislate, though, I implore you to stop bullying an attorney general who has conducted himself in an exemplary manner. Examine the report, ask earnest questions and heed the pleas of hardworking Americans who understand that our time is better spent making progress than chasing ghosts.