Dan Coats: “Mr. President, I generally believe that the Senate floor should be a place to talk about issues, not about scandals. So…”

“Mr. President, I generally believe that the Senate floor should be a place to talk about issues, not about scandals. So my first inclination is to voice my support for an independent counsel and hope the process will take its course. The need for this investigation should be beyond question, proven on the front page of the newspaper every morning. Under normal circumstances, there would be little more to say. But this circumstance is not normal because it now concerns some of the most disturbing questions that can be asked in a democracy. Was the executive power of the White House abused to improperly influence the outcome of an American Presidential election? Were foreign governments invited by the Democratic Party and the Clinton administration to corrupt American elections? Was the privilege of American citizenship distorted and undermined to serve the President's reelection? And now we are forced to ask, were American intelligence services manipulated by this administration as part of its fundraising machine? The revelations that began last October, and have continued until this morning, do not primarily concern the low standards of our current campaign finance system.”