Finally our leadership emerges from the chaos of the Trump administration and the Russia investigation.

Here are the key quotes:

• On democracy: "Without truth, and a principled fidelity to truth and to shared facts, Mr. President, our democracy will not last."
• On Josef Stalin: "It is a testament to the condition of our democracy that our own president uses words infamously spoken by Josef Stalin to describe his enemies."
• On fake news: "When a figure in power reflexively calls any press that doesn’t suit him 'fake news,' it is that person who should be the figure of suspicion, not the press."
• On foreign correspondents: "I dare say that anyone who has the privilege and awesome responsibility to serve in this chamber knows that these reflexive slurs of “fake news” are dubious, at best. Those of us who travel overseas, especially to war zones and other troubled areas around the globe, encounter members of US-based media who risk their lives, and sometimes lose their lives, reporting on the truth. To dismiss their work as fake news is an affront to their commitment and their sacrifice."
• On Congress' role as a check on the presidency: "An American president who cannot take criticism – who must constantly deflect and distort and distract – who must find someone else to blame -- is charting a very dangerous path. And a Congress that fails to act as a check on the president adds to the danger."
• On politicians: "Of course, a major difference between politicians and the free press is that the press usually corrects itself when it gets something wrong. Politicians don’t."
• On the Russia investigation: "To be very clear, to call the Russia matter a “hoax” – as the president has many times – is a falsehood ... What might seem like a casual and routine untruth – so casual and routine that it has by now become the white noise of Washington - is in fact a serious lapse in the defense of our country."

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