The only way we can provide relief to these families is to take control of the pandemic as fast asfa we can do so if my colleagues are serious about getting the kids back to school safely, i would ask them to join me in demanding federal leadership to contain the virus instead of wishing that it would go away. We have to make it go away. To follow the sciencebased guidance as a result, lives were lost, my favorites were destroyed and we are now in the position all of our schools can safely resume in person operations. We must learn from these mistakes not to repeat them. Our childrens futures are at stake. Before we close, i did enter into the record the American Federation of teachers called reopening schools safely as well as the position statement from the Speech Language Hearing Association and i ask unanimous consent for these materials to be entered into the record, so ordered. All members have five minutes to submit additional written questions for the assist which will be forwarded to the witnesses for the response. I asked the witnesses to please respond as promptly as you are able to. The meeting is hereby adjourned. The Senate Judiciary committee. Thjudiciarycommittee. The committee is reviewing the origins of the investigation into the role of the fbi. This is about three hours. Good morning everyone. The hearing will come to order. Today we are going to have a video hearing for the acting general in 2017 and with the number two at the department of justice and early january 2017. Ms. Yates appeared in 2017. That wathat is different in wasr investigation really got started. It was before the haaretz report about the investigation was issued and i believe much has been learned since may of 2018, 2017 and we would like to discuss certain topics. My view is she exercised good caution and legal judgment in january of 2017 and if people had followehave followed her ads might be different today, so i just want to let you know from my point of view that analyzed the situation fairly correctly, and we will get into that later on. So, what is the purpose of this hearing is to ask questions knowing then what she knows now in may of 2017 we didnt know the russians of source presented evidence to the fbi in the form of a dossier that was full of hearsay that was eventually repudiated by the russians of source. We didnt know as clearly as we do now that there would be no warrant issued against parker page. She signed the original application in october and a removal in january and after the report we now find over 70 major violations of procedures and protocols. We will give her a chance to talk about what she knew and when she knew it. Most importantly to me since january the fifth that wasnt part of our discussion. Since may of 2017 colleagues come to learn now that there was a meeting at the oval office with the director, the president , the Vice President and brandon. We now know at the end of the meeting, which was called to brief the president about russian interference in the 2016 election and i want everyone to know she included that they didd interfere. It was the russians got hacked into the dnc and stole the claimed in emailcleansing the e russians were up to no good. That isnt the bone of contention with me. What happened during the crossfire hurricane is very much a concernro of mine. So, january 4, 2017 we now know that the fbi agents who were investigating general plan did it come as part of a counterintelligence investigation had recommended that he be dropped from the crossfire hurricane investigation. The Crossfire Hurricane Team determinedir it was no longer a viable candidate as a part of the larger untilda the case and the review of logical databases didnt yield any information on which to predicate for the investigative efforts. This is on january 4, 2017 where the fbi was making a recommendation through a memo to drop general plan from the counterintelligence investigation. Stwe now know that he told mr. Barnett wait a minute the seventh floor at the fbi wants to keep this thing going. What happened to come a meeting in the oval office. Weve never had a chance to talk about that meeting. What do we know . Me know after the general briefing there was a poll aside that president obama asked kobe and needs to stay behind and president obama mentioned the fact that he was aware of an intercept between general flynn and the Russian Ambassador. Ms. Yates wasnt aware of that and she said she was so surprised by the information she was learning that she s was havg a hard time processing it and listening to the conversation at the same time. The president of the United States knew about the surveillance of general flynn talking to the Russian Ambassador, but the number two that the Justice Department did not know. Thequestion is who told president and did they have the authority, did they go around the department of justice and if so, why. The bottom line about the january 5 meeting is to find out how the number two at the department of justice was not aware of this event into the public why did this matter to you. General flynn was the Incoming National security adviser. Trump had picked his team. General flynn was going to be the security adviser. What we had learned as there were intercepts between general flynn and Russian Ambassador in december. Flynn was talking about russian sanctions imposed by the Obama Administration. Theyve been released to the public and was talking about the come in lets see if we can work through this. Here is what is so stunning to me. There were people at the fbi considering that a violation of the logan act. It is a wall that was written in 1799 that prohibits american citizens without permission from the government talking to individuals about differences in policy. I want everybody to understand the way the system works. The Transition Team of the Incoming Administration should be talking to the representatives about how the transition a will work and about policy differences. Im going to ask every senator toto think that you called a foreign leader in your time in the senate to express differences were concerns about a particular Administration Policy can have you violated the act i consistentlyly talk to the leaders about my differences with republican and democratic administrations. Have i violated the act ive called them and urged them to push back against Iran Nuclear Agreement because people will listen to you. I thought that it was a bad deal. Did i violate the logan act . I called our allies in syria and asked them to rally their allies in washington. I violate the voting act, no. No one in the history of the department of justice has ever been prosecuted for violating the logan act. We are having these hearings to make sure that the walls like this cannot be used as political tools to get people you dont like and we need to clear up once and for all how the act works in america. I daresay that every Incoming Administration routinely has discussions with foreign leaders about policy differences in how things will be different. When ms. Yates understood what was going on, she was very concerned that a prosecution under the act was being contemplated. The question is who brought up the act in the january 5 meeting, whose great idea was this . The interview where she talked about the meeting with the fbi doesnt mention the Vice President being in the meeting but what do we now know . We know sheon was shocked and ws having a hard time following th conversation because she was stunned that the president knew about the intercept and she did not. Weve got an email from susan rice to herself on Inauguration Day in districts with the meeting in question following a briefing by the leadership on russian hacking during the president ial election. President obama had a brief conversation with fbi director jim comey, Deputy Attorney general sally yates and we were also present and debate the present. This is evident coming from susan rice did in the january 5 meeting the Vice President was there. What else have we found since we last talked class we found agents notes that the director of the fbi reported to the agent who was involved in the crossfire and gave him a readout on the meeting according to the agents notes, it says these are unusual times. Make sure you look at things and have the right people on it. Is there anything i shouldnt be telling the Transition Team . This is the director. Hes telling us not only the president was ambassador site meeting but it was the Vice President brought up the act. We need to find out what happened and who was there and this is the first step in the journey and again, why does it matter . It matters a lot to me. We have oversight and the department of justice here. How could it be that the number two in the department of justice doesnt know about an investigation of the Incoming National security adviser yet the president did . Who at the fbi, the department of justice went around to tell the president about the investigation . Whose idea was it to suggest the interaction between the act was a violation of the logan act and if that is going to be the standard, you are destroying the ability to transition into every senator in this room, we wevel isolated the act under that theory. Every one of us has reached out to show differences. Its never been used for a reason. I think that it was used here to find out more about general flynn, who beat obama administratiothe obamaadministr. So the bottom linethe is when s is over, we need to fix it and make sure Going Forward in the next transition no matter who wins that you can talk with foreign leaders without being afraid of going to jail. He wasnt talking to the russians about pay my house off, give me money. He was talking about those escalated the sanctions, give us the chance and we will start over. If that is a violation of the law, god help us all. And to her credit, sally didnt want to go down that road. General flynn was interviewed on january 24 by the fbi without her permission, against her counsel. She recommended that the department of justice notified about the concerns they had the right thing to do would be to call the Trump Administration and told them about the concerns they have about the general. The fbi went down a different path. The fbi called and suggested you dont need a lawyer. We just want to talk to you and get it over quickly. Do you mind meeting with us and when he said id like my lawyers, if you do that we have to go way up the chain and that will slow l things down a. Youve got the transcript, you know what i said. There was a violation of the act. You have the transcript. They were going to manufacture a crime, not try to figure out what he did. Thatss my view. We will see us over time that matters. I will end on this. Hiif a load of the advice becaue she said what happened was problematic and inconsistent with what should have happened. We will keep pressing on to find out what happened in that meeting and try to fix this so it neverin happens again. I will end with this. They Obama Administration, the department of justice have one act. Of the the fbi had another view of the logan act, but the font that it could be used against the Incoming National security adviser who was talking about different policies that that could be used as a basis for an interview, but that could be a crime, that should shock us all because if it can happen to general flynn, it can happen to the committee because we do this all the time. Thank you very much mr. Chairman. As i understand, today is the second hearing in the examination of crossfire hurricane. Thats the fbi investigation into the Russian Election interference and ties to the campaign. Inspector general horovitz confirmed after the investigation the fbi had the basis to investigate whether the campaign was involved in the efforts to interfere in the 2016 election. Specifically in late july, 2016, australian officials informed the fbi that trumpor Campaign Adviser had advanced knowledge of russia was willing to assist the Trump Campaign by anonymously releasing dirt on clinton in the form of thousands of emails. The fbi learned this one week after they released 20,000 emails that russia had hacked from the computers of the committee. National circumstances, it was essential that the fbi investigate todays witness, former Deputy Attorney general sally yates has said russias attack on our election required both an investigation and a response. And as Inspector Generalal horowitz confirmed, the opening of the investigation had nothing to do with reporting from Christopher Steele, the socalled steel dossier. That counterintelligence investigation crossfire hurricane eventually became Billy Mueller investigation into former Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein recently confirmed to this committee that the steel dossier had nothing to do with the Mueller Investigation either. Muellers investigation detailed sweeping and systematic russian interference in the 2016 election. The special counsel determined that the russian government, quote, perceived it would benefit from a Trump Presidency and worked to secure the come. They uncovered more than 120 contacts between the Trump Campaign and individuals linked to russia revealing that the Trump Campaign knew about, welcomed and expected that it would benefit from russias interference. The investigation also established that individuals associated with the Trump Campaign repeatedly lied to congress, the special counsel and the American People to conceal the context with russia. We also disagree that President Trump with his claims about Michael Flynn. Namely that officials that joe biden targeted flynn in order to undermine the presidency. The facts are well known and not in dispute, but what they review them. Late december, 2016, president obama imposed sanctions to punish russia for its unprecedented attack on our democracy. Day, flynn spoke several times with Russian Ambassador. Transcripts of the call revealed flynn urged russia not to escalate matters but respond to this sanctions in, quote, a reciprocal or even keeled manner. Flynn didnt express disapproval for the interference into election. Instead he sent a clear message that the Incoming Administration wasnt interested in Holding Russia accountable, a message that undermined u. S. Policy. When flynn was interviewed about his conversations as a part of crossfire hurricane, he didnt tell the truth. He was charged by special counsel euler and pleaded guilty twice to lying to the fbi. He stated in court under oath that his actions were wrong and that he accepted full responsibility for them. Despite his guilty plea is, this may attorney general bar intervened to dismiss the case over the objection of career prosecutors. Flynn wasnt treated unfairly. In fact, it appears he was granted favorable treatment by having the Justice Department seek to dismiss his case even after he admitted guilt and took responsibility for his actions. I believe this sends a wrong message. It signals that is acceptable to lie to the fbi and that raises legitimate questions about whether an ally of the president receives special treatment. Given her involvement in the early stages of mr. Flynns case i hope that our witness today, former Deputy Attorney general ally yates, can shed additional light on why the Flynn Investigation and charges were warranted. Let me justt say this, the real question isnt whether the logan act was violated. The question is whether flynn was acting on his own without the president elect knowledge or permission. If so, that was a counterintelligence problem. If, however, the incoming president did no flynn was talking and asking russia not to overreact to u. S. Sanctions if suggesting that the Incoming Administration would not hold russia accountable, then why was the incoming president not interested in Holding Russia accountable for interfering in the 2016er election . I hope that we would use the investigations findings to harden our defenses including addressing russia is ard time to interfere in the 2020 election and the president s unwillingness to denounce the foreign interference. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, senator. Ms. Yates is appearing here voluntarily, and i appreciate that. She had some reasons she couldnt be here in person which were accommodated and legitimate and we have agreed to the infollowing. She will answer questions within the following scope, knowledge of events described in the report entitled review of the fisa applications and other aspects and fbi crossfire hurricane investigation, knowledge of the russian interference with the 2016 president ial election. As aids knowledge of the investigation of g