Raising A Question of the Privileges of the House

Floor Speech

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Mrs. LUNA. Mr. Speaker, I call up the privileged resolution noticed earlier today.

Mr. Speaker, Americans do not trust Congress. From the highest levels of office, an elected Member of this body enabled the fraudulent spending of $32 million out of the pockets of our American people and threw it down the drain to knowingly chase ghosts, all for political gain.

This man occupied a position of the highest trust and authority.

As Chair of the House Intelligence Committee, Representative Schiff launched an all-out political campaign built on baseless distortions against a sitting U.S. President at the expense of every single citizen in this country and the honor of the House of Representatives.

With access to sensitive information unavailable to most Members of Congress, and certainly not accessible to the American people, Representative Schiff abused his privileges, claiming to know the truth, while leaving Americans in the dark about this web of lies. These were lies so severe that they altered the course of the country forever: the lie that President Donald Trump colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 Presidential election revealed to be completely false by numerous investigations, including the Durham report; the lie that the Steele dossier--a folder of falsified and since completely debunked collusion accusations funded by the Democratic Party--had any shred of credibility, yet Representative Schiff read it into the Congressional Record as fact; the lies concocted and compiled in a false memo that was used to lie to the FISA court, to precipitate domestic spying on U.S. citizen, Carter Page, violating American civil liberties.

Not only was this an egregious abuse of Representative Schiff's privileged access to classified information, but this memo was littered with 17 major mistakes and omissions. The groundless memo violated Carter Page's civil liberties, publicly assassinated his character, and subjected him to multiple, abusive, unlawful investigations.

Representative Schiff exploited his position as Chair of the Intel Committee at every opportunity possible, threatening national security, undermining our duly-elected President, and bringing dishonor upon the institution. Perhaps most unforgivable, Representative Schiff ripped apart American families across the country with repeated false narratives.

His own political good was served by permanently destroying family relationships and sowing lasting division across our land, which we live with every single day.

The perpetrators of this web of deceit became mainstays on cable news, waking up every morning with one goal: to lie, lie, lie to the American people that there was direct evidence of a Russia collusion.

Despite transcripts from Representative Schiff's investigation showing that the Director of National Intelligence, former Obama Attorney General, former Deputy Attorney General, and FBI Director, to name a few, went on record telling Representative Schiff's committee that there was no direct evidence for his criminal conspiracy, yet to this day, Representative Schiff actively fundraises off of his exploitation of Americans, as if robbing them from the truth and $32 million in taxpayer dollars is not enough.

Can anyone in this Chamber comprehend this list of crimes and yet somehow believe there should not be an answer for it?

This is not a partisan act. This is not a conservative versus liberal vote. This is a clear vote between right and wrong, and I urge my colleagues to do the right thing.

I will end with repeating what I started with. The American people do not trust Congress. The cyclical pattern of lies has worn down the credibility of every institution and every official in the United States Government. You see it. I see it.

If we run away from this opportunity to hold this man accountable, there is only one fault and that is of ourselves. We will betray the people who trusted us and sent us here to do the right thing. We will be responsible for the end of any shred of justice in this body. We will reject the duty that we swore an oath to protect upon taking office.

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Mrs. LUNA. Greene).

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Mrs. LUNA. Hageman).

I take a second to thank all of my colleagues from across the aisle who have spoken today for putting themselves on the Record defending the Russia collusion hoax, even after the Burisma payments to Hunter Biden and the big guy have been made public. The Congressional Record is a very useful accountability tool.
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Mrs. LUNA. I remind people that this is on behalf of the American people in restoring order to the House and in an effort to bring back trust, which is something that this institution has lacked for many years.

I am very proud and I own my vote in saying that I will be voting for the censure of Adam Schiff.

As a United States Air Force veteran and a proud Mexican-American woman that happens to be almost 8 months pregnant, I say that in regard to integrity, what happened in this country, what happened with the divide that occurred after the fact that the Russia collusion hoax was pushed down the throats of the American people is not what I would consider integrity.

If we want to talk about these little fun games and comments back and forth, we are not here about Donald Trump. We are not here about January 6. We are here about the former chairman of the Intelligence Committee who used a lie that broke apart this country.

Again, as I said, this is not about Donald Trump. This is about holding accountable someone who exploited their official position and had access to information that most Members of Congress do not have access to and bringing accountability back to the American people.

Regardless of whatever the gentlewoman from California says or anyone else, you guys are not being honest about the focus of this resolution and this censure. That is exactly why we are here today to debate it out.
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