CONYERS Remarks Forum on “An Examination of Trump’s Un-American Muslim and Refugee Ban”

Dean of the U.S. House
of Representatives
John Conyers, Jr.

Detroit - Today’s forum comes as our Nation stands at a crossroads.  For decades, we have granted safe haven to families fleeing persecution and violence.  Will we continue down that path of refuge, tolerance, and inclusion pursued across parties and Administrations, or will we veer down the path of intolerance, xenophobia, and paranoia as the current Administration appears to be heading?

If we are to correct course, it will require each and every participant in our republic to take action. 

It will take actions by citizens such as we have seen over the last two weeks – in the Women’s March on Washington, and in spontaneous demonstrations that erupted all over the country. 

It will take a free press -- not willing to simply “shut up” as the Administration has insisted -- reporting on the many abuses we have witnessed in the President’s first 14 days – such as the report over the weekend that Steven Bannon personally intervened to prevent legal permanent residents from being able to return to their homes, and the report last night that Mr. Trump insulted the Australian Prime Minister and compared Syrian refugees fleeing terrorism as being the “next Boston Bombers.” 

It will take an independent judiciary, such as the five courts that stayed parts of the executive order over the weekend and last night; and independent Inspector Generals, such as the review announced today concerning legality of the Muslim ban. 

It will take employees of the federal government, willing to offer their honest and principled dissents -- such as we have seen at the Department of Justice and the Department of State -- even when facing outrageous insults from the President and threats from the White House Press Secretary to simply “get with the program” or quit. 

And it will take Members of Congress willing to stand together and speak truth to power which happened at the Supreme Court on Monday and is happening here today.    

I take a back seat to no one in our Nation’s efforts to combat the threat of terrorism.  That is why our refugee system already extensively vets and confirms each and every individual seeking entry to our country. 

But we don’t defeat terrorism by alienating our allies, by dividing our citizens, or by shredding our Constitution.  The sooner the Trump Administration comes to that realization, the sooner we can return to the values our Nation was founded upon.

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FBI Completes Email Review, Recommends No Charges For Secretary Clinton

Washington, DC - Today, Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) Director James Comey sent a letter to Congress reporting that the FBI has completed its review of emails to or from Hillary Clinton when she served as Secretary of State.  Based on its review, the FBI stands by its recommendation that no criminal charges are warranted in its investigation of Secretary Clinton's use of a private email server. 

House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) released the following statement:

“In the days that come, we will have many questions about the FBI's handling of this investigation. In the meantime, however, I welcome this news confirming again that no charges are warranted in this matter.”

House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Ranking Member Elijah E. Cummings (D-MD) released the following statement:

“Today’s announcement by the FBI affirms and vindicates its findings from this summer with respect to Secretary Clinton.  Over past week, Republicans have engaged in wild speculation and launched unsubstantiated accusations, but the FBI has determined—yet again—that they are without merit.  Now it is time for the American people to go forward based on the facts.”

FBI Letter To Congress On Review of Emails On Hillary Clinton With No Charges Of Private Email Server 11-06... by Beverly Tran on Scribd

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Statement of the Honorable John Conyers, Jr. for the Hearing on “Oversight of the Judgment Fund: Iran, Big Settlements, and the Lack of Transparency” Before the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice

Dean of the U.S. House
of Representatives
John Conyers, Jr.

The purpose of today’s hearing is to examine the Treasury Department’s Judgment Fund.

Congress created the Judgment Fund in 1956 to reduce its appropriations workload. 

Prior to establishing the Fund, Congress devoted an inordinate amount of its time to appropriating monies to satisfy run-of-the-mill legal judgments and settlements on a case-by-case basis.

      

Today, the Fund permits agencies to obtain payment for legal judgments and settlements without having to request appropriations from Congress under limited statutorily prescribed circumstances.

Unfortunately, given the title of today’s hearing, it appears the Majority is more interested in criticizing the Administration’s recent settlement of longstanding claims with Iran than in conducting oversight of the Fund.

That criticism is without merit.

To begin with, it was legally permissible for the State Department to request that the payments come from the Judgment Fund. 

The payment settled longstanding claims made before the U.S.-Iran Claims Tribunal that related to a curtailed arms deal between the United States and the pre-revolutionary government of Iran.

The Tribunal was created to hear claims between U.S. and Iranian nationals and their respective governments that arose as a result of the deterioration in relations following the Iranian Revolution.

In order to avoid an adverse judgment before the Tribunal, the State Department negotiated a $1.7 billion deal to settle the claim, of which $1.3 billion in interest payments came from the Judgment Fund.

As Professor Paul Figley, a Majority witness, points out in his written testimony, this is legally permissible.

And, past administrations going back decades have used the Fund to settle claims with Iran.

      

In addition to being perfectly legal, the Iran settlement saved taxpayers billions of dollars.

According to the State Department, negotiators determined that the United States could have possibly owed Iran billions more for over 30 years’ worth of interest on the $400 million principal had the claim been adjudicated before the Tribunal.

Rather than demonstrate that the Judgment Fund may encourage Executive Branch officials to negotiate profligate settlements, the Iran payments instead show that the State Department was acting to protect U.S. financial interests.

Finally, in terms of transparency, I note that the payments were disclosed to the public at the time they were made.

The Obama Administration announced the payments when they were made in January 2016. 

While much has been made of the timing of the payments in relation to Iran’s release of three American prisoners, it is undisputed that the Administration made no effort to hide these payments or that separate, unrelated teams carried out the negotiations for the settlement and the prisoner release.

Although few would oppose greater transparency for government actions, the Majority’s examples of purported Executive Branch “overreach” in settlement negotiations fail to show that the Administration has misused the Judgment Fund.

In closing, I want to thank the witnesses for participating in this hearing and I look forward to hearing their testimony. 

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