Where the house of representatives has begun a session to debate and then vote on whether to send him to a senate trial. Well lets have a little bit of business then hearing the m. P. H. Meant ossicles being read out lets take an injured the interests of the nation President Trump and gauged in this scheme or course of conduct through the following means one President Trump acting both directly and through his agents within and outside the United States government corruptly solicited the government of ukraine to publicly announce investigations into a a political opponent former Vice President joseph r. Biden jr and b. A discredited theory promoted by russia alleging that ukraine rather than russia interfered in the 2016 United States president ial election 2 with the same corrupt motives President Trump acting both directly and through his agents within and outside the United States government condition to official acts on the public announcements that he had requested a the release of 391000000. 00 of United States taxpayer funds that congress had appropriated on a bipartisan basis for the purpose of providing vital military and Security Assistance to ukraine to oppose russian aggression and which President Trump had ordered suspended and b. A head of state meeting at the white house which the president of ukraine sought to demonstrate continued United States support for the government of ukraine in the face of russian aggression. 3 faced with the public revelation of his actions President Trump ultimately released the military and Security Assistance to the government of ukraine but has persisted in openly and corruptly urging and soliciting ukraine to undertake investigations for his personal political benefit these actions were consistent with President Trumps previous invitations of foreign interference in United States elections and all of this President Trump abused the powers of the presidency by ignoring and injuring National Security and other Vital National interests to obtain an improper personal political benefit he has also betrayed the nation by abusing his high office to enlist a foreign power in corrupting democratic elections were for president by such conduct has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to National Security and the constitution if allowed to remain in office and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with Self Governance and the rule of law President Trump thus warrants impeachment and trial removal from office and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor trust or profit under the United States article 2 obstruction of congress the constitution provides that the house of representatives shall have the sole power of impeachment and that the President Shall be removed from office on impeachment for and conviction of treason bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors in his conduct of the office of president of the United States and in violation of his constitutional oath be fully to execute the office of president of the United States and to the best of his ability preserve protect and defend the constitution of the United States and in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed donald j. Trump has directed the unprecedented categorical in indiscriminate defiance of subpoenas issued by the house of representatives pursuant to its sole power of impeachment President Trump has abused the powers. The presidency in a manner offensive to and subversive of the constitution in that the house of representatives has engaged in an impeachment inquiry focused on President Trumps corrupt solicitation of the government of ukraine to interfere in the 2 1020. 00 United States president ial election as part of this impeachment inquiry at the committees undertaking the investigation served subpoenas seeking documents and testimony deemed vital to the inquiry from various executive Branch Agencies and offices and current and former officials. In response without lawful cause or excuse President Trump directed executive Branch Agencies offices and officials not to comply with those subpoenas President Trumped us interposed the powers of the presidency against the lawful subpoenas of the house of representatives and assumed to himself functions and judgments necessary to the exercise of the exercise of the sole power of impeachment vested by the constitution in the house of representatives President Trump abused the powers of his high office through the following means one directing the white house to defy a lawful subpoena by withholding the production of documents there in by the committees to directing other executive Branch Agencies and offices to defy lawful subpoenas and withhold the production of documents and records from the committees in response to which the department of state office of management and Budget Department of energy and department of defense refuse to produce a single document or record 3 directing current and former executive Branch Officials not to cooperate with the committees in response to which 9 Administration Officials defied subpoenas for testimony and namely John Michael Mick Mulvaney Robert b. Blair john a Eisenberg Michael Ellis Preston wells Griffith Russell t. Vote Michael Duffy Brian Mccormick and t. Brick buel these actions were consistent with President Trumps previous efforts to undermine United States government investigations into foreign interference in United States elections through these actions President Trumps to air gate to himself the right to determine the propriety and scope and nature of an impeachment inquiry into his own conduct as well as the unilateral parag of to deny any and all information to the house of representatives and the exercise of its sole power of impeachment in the history of the republic no president has ever ordered the complete the faience of an impeachment inquiry or sought to obstruct an. Pede so comprehensibly the ability of the house of representatives to investigate high crimes and misdemeanors the office serve to cover up the president s own repeated misconduct and to seize and control the power of impeachment and thus to nullify a vital constitutional safeguard vested soley in the house of representatives in all of this President Trump has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as president and subversive of Constitutional Government to the great prejudice of the cause of law and justice and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States wherefore President Trump by such conduct has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to the constitution if allowed to remain in office and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with Self Governance and the rule of law President Trump thus warrants impeachment and trial removal from office and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor trust or profit under the United States. Person and to House Resolution 767. 00 the amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the committee on judiciary said dotted the resolution shall be debatable for 6 hours equally divided and controlled by the chair and Ranking Member of the committee on the judiciary or their respective designees the gentleman from new york mr natl or and the gentleman from georgia mr collins each will control 3 hours the chair now recognizes the gentleman from new york mr navl are madam speaker i ask unanimous consent that all members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous material an age as 755 that objection so ordered to speak madam speaker i now yield one minute to the distinguished speaker of the house generally be distinguished beakers recognized for one minute. Thank you maam thinker i thank the gentleman for yielding 1st tremendous leadership and helping us honor the constitution of the United States i also extend my gratitude to Congress Chairman shift who will be presiding later in the day my colleagues this morning and every morning when we come together members rise and pledge allegiance to the flag every day all across america children in School Members of the military officials and those civically engaged also pledge allegiance to the flag let us recall what that pledge said yes i pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america and to the republic to the republic for which it stands one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all the republic for which it stands is what we are here to talk about today a republic if we can keep it we gather today under the dome of this temple of democracy to exercise one of the most solemn powers that this body can take the impeachment of the president of the United States no member of party or politics comes to congress to impeach a president but every one of us as our 1st act as a member of congress stood on this Historic House floor before our beautiful American Flag and raised our hands in this oh yes i do swap solidly swear that i will support and defend the constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic so help me god. For 230 years members have taken that sacred oath which makes us custodians of the constitution when our founders declared independence established a new nation they crafted a system of government unlike every one ever seen before a republic starting with the sacred words we the people for centuries americans have fought and died to defend democracy for the people but very sadly now our founders vision of a republic is under threat from actions from the white house that is why today as speaker of the house i soundly and sadly open the debate on the impeachment of the president of the United States if we do not act now we would be derelict in our duty it is tragic that the president s reckless actions make impeachment necessary he gave us no choice what we are discussing today is the established fact that the president violated the constitution is a matter of fact that the president is an ongoing threat to our National Security and the integrity of our elections the basis of our democracy hundreds of historians legal scholars and former prosecutors but darlas of party had stated that the president committed impeachable offenses since today is a National Civics lesson though a sad one i submit these documents for the record and commend them for students to study out of trash and so are thank you madam speaker. What we are discussing today is the stablish fact that the president again violated the constitution is a matter of fact that the president is again an ongoing threat to our National Security and the testimony of decorated war heroes distinguished diplomats and patriotic career Public Servants some of the president s own appointees over the past weeks have told us this the president used the power of his Public Office to obtain an improper personal political benefit at the expense of americas National Security when a president weakens a democratic ally that is advancing American Security interests by fighting an american adversary the president weakens america this abuse of power also jeopardizes the integrity of our elections all americans agree that American Voters should choose our president not some Foreign Government the founders understood that is profoundly corrosive for our democracy for a president to invite interference in our elections as George Washington our nations. Our whose gaze we stand today warned history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most painful foes of republican government George Washington. Sadly the American People have witnessed further wrongs of the president which necessitate the 2nd article of impeachment of struction of congress when the president s wrongdoing was revealed he launched an unprecedented and discriminate and categorical campaign of defiance and obstruction never before in the history of our nation have we seen a president declare and acts if activist he is above the law the president goes even so far as to say and act on this absurdity when he says article 2 says i can do whatever i want no it doesnt that recklessness is a profound violation of the constitution and our republic which endure because of our system of separation of power 3 coequal branches each a check and balance on the other a republic again if we can keep it the founders great fear of a rogue or a corrupt president is the very reason why they enshrines impeachment in the constitution as one founder William Davey of North Carolina warned unless the constitution contained an impeachment provision a president might spare no efforts or means whatever to get himself reelected another founder george mason and sisted that the president who will cured his appointment in the 1st instance to improper and corrupt acts might repeat his guilt and return to power we in Congress Article one the legislative branch must stand up and make clear to the American People and to all people that this body still stands by the principles enshrined in the constitution and defended by generations of americans. Last week and observance of the 75th anniversary of the battle of the vault members traveled to that Hallowed Ground to express our gratitude to the heroes of freedom who sacrificed everything to secure a victory of freedom over tyranny not just for america but for the world the veterans of that battle who were there in their ninetys told us how after the war was won the europeans to whom they when they liberate it would ask why did you risk us you dont know us and give your lives to save us were not americans and our men would say we came here to fight for you not because you are americans because we are americans as our beloved chairman allies are coming as an Oversight Committee chair our north star said one announcing his support for this action. When the history books are written about this to mulch was error i want them to show that i was among those in the house of representatives who stood up to lawlessness and tyranny he also said almost prophetically. When we are dancing with the angels the question will be what we did did we do to make sure we kept our democracy intact alive as you know has since passed on now he is dancing with the angels and i know that he and all of us here are very proud of the moral courage of members what your honor is a vision of our founders for every pub but the sacrifice that by men and women in uniform to defend it and the aspirations of actual event to live freely within it today we are here to defend democracy for the people that God Bless America i know that the balance of my phone. Thank you may be batley a. Gentleman gentleman from georgia thank you madam speaker and we are here today drainer into a debate the should surprise no this is not been a surprise it mistah even something that we would have not thought about from the very moment that the Majority Party in this house won the inevitability that we would be here today was only a matter of what date they would schedule it nothing else in fact how it even began to be look even further was on september 24th the speaker announced an impeachment inquiry before even seeing the call transcript there were going to hear so much about today you know its not about. What this body can do and is constitutional oath theres been a lot of constitutional and founders thrown around and will be all day today but theres one thing that i will mention all along and that is also the founders were very concerned about a partisan impeachment in which politics of the majority who have their strength can do what they want to do it regardless of any facts in fact ive said it before and i will say it again i do not believe no matter what was said today and even what has been said this is not a solemn occasion when you go looking for something for 3 years and especially this year since january you want to be excited when you found it but they cant because i know what is now happening it took me last night but i was thinking about it why do we keep calling this a solemn occasion when youve been wanting to do this ever since the gentleman was elected mr prez the came forward and did what he thought fit for the American People but yet they wanted to impeach him and he hit me now i know the reason they want me to is now theyre realizing what i told them i have been telling them for the last few weeks that the the clock in the calendar are terrible masters the clock in the calendar terrible masters they do not care about anything except getting the time done and the calendar fix they do not care about facts they do not care about time and one day the clock in the calendar will hang this body in a very detrimental way how do i know this because one of our members has to leave said on the night she was sworn in were going to impeach well you know the wrist in my email 20 not taking al green said im concerned if we dont impeach this president he will get reelected that is probably the most prescient thing said by the majority in the last year is they said we cant beat him if we dont impeach him theres a reason behind this impeachment and even Speaker Pelosi said it would be dangerous to leave it to voters to determine whether President Trump stays in office. Really after we just said the pledge of allegiance we go back to the speakers own words and said it would be dangerous to leave it to the voters i will tell you right now madam speaker we on the republican side have no problem taking our case to the majority and to the people of this country because they elected donald trump and it is a matter for the voters not this house not in this way not in the way this is being done it is trampled everything this house believes in i said it yesterday and i believe it to be this true today i will fight this on process which has been deplorable to use the word of the majority it has been all full the calendar in a clock make it impressive that we actually do it quickly we dont care about rules we dont care about minority hearing days we dont care about giving the opportunity for witnesses to be called because the chairman gets to determine what is relevant while thats pretty good let the accuser determine what is relevant to the one being accused the people of america see through this the people of america understand due process and they understand when it is being trampled in the peoples house you see its also not a matter of process which will be discussed its a matter of actual facts ill fight the facts all day long because what we found here today is a president who did not do as being charged in fact they had to go to abuse of power this amorphous term that youre going to hear many many arguments about how that abuse of power except for one thing the call itself the 2 party say no pressure nothing was ever done to get the money in fact they didnt even know the money was held but there is something that barry bonds bothers me about the facts there were 5 meetings well hear about those today in which he was never a linkage made there was one witness that has depended on over 600 times in a majority of a report that in the end after question had to say well that was my presumption of what was happening. You say this is an impeachment based on presumption is that impeachment basically also poll tested impeachment a what actually sales of the American People today is going to be a lot of things what it is not is fair what it is not is about the truth what is true today and i just heard it just a moment ago in the article themselves where it said in the end the speaker i believe actually talked about this is well is it the president weakened a foreign d leader you know what the truth of the matter is the most interesting and deplorable thing that ive heard over the last few weeks is the actual attack by the majority on president s lansky because they realize their whole crux of their case is is if he was not pressured their house of cards falls in by the way its already failed but if we cant pressure show pressure then we either have to call him a liar a world leader or we have to make up names to call him and thats exactly what happened in Judiciary Committee when a member of the majority actually said hes acting or theyre complaining to a battered wife that is below the dignity of this body to take a world leader and when he doesnt make your case for you to belittle him especially as it will be often said by the majority if theyre in the middle of a hot war with russia you see present trump actually did give them office of weapons President Trump did nothing wrong were going to talk about that all day long today we went on process and we went on facts won because the American People see through this but before i close this 1st part i will have to recognize that even the senate the minority leader in the senate recognize that the house did not do their job because he cant make the case to his own members so hes havent asked for witnesses asked for more time you see and even yesterday a sort of funny i thought a whole areas the minority leader in the senate went out and did a press conference that they did not witness is they did not my request well welcome to the club mr schumer thats exactly whats happened over here for the last 3 months so today were going to talk a lot about impeachment were going to talk a lot about a president and were going to talk about 2 articles of impeachment. Abuse of power because they cant actually piano anything factual basis on him the president did nothing wrong in this it. And then it dont talk about obstruction of congress you know structure of congress as ive said before is like a petulant children saying we didnt get our way when we didnt ask the right way and we didnt actually go after and try to make a case you know why madam speaker the clock and the calendar are terrible masters and the majority will own that problem today because of the clock in the calendar facts dont matter the promises to the base matter and today is a promise kept for the majority not a surprise a fact and without a reserve i mean research gentleman from new york and speaker i yield myself such time as i may consume gentleman is recognized and the speaker the house of representatives must now consider 2 articles of impeachment against President Trump the 1st article charges that the president used his Public Office to coerce a Foreign Government into attacking his political rival the 2nd article charges that the president took extreme an unprecedented steps to obstruct our investigation into his kind of taken together the 2 articles charge that President Trump placed his private political interests above our National Security above our elections and above our system of checks and balances after months of series of investigation there can be no serious debate about the evidence and hand on july 25th when he spoke to president selenski of ukraine President Trump had the upper hand. The president through his agents had already demanded that ukraine announce an investigation of his political opponents ukraine needed our help both military aid which had been appropriated by congress because of our security interests and then Oval Office Meeting to show the world that the United States continues to stand with ukraine against russian aggression President Trump should have been focused on the interests of the American People on that call instead he prioritizes private political interests President Trump past president s alinsky for a favor he wanted ukraine to announce to bogus investigations one into former Vice President biden then his leading opponent in the 2020 election and the other to advance a Conspiracy Theory that ukraine not russia attacked their elections in 2016 neither request was premised on any legitimate National Security or Foreign Policy interest one was intended to help President Trump conceal the truth about the 2016 election the other was intended to help them gain an advantage in the 2020 election after the call President Trump ratcheted up the pressure he deployed his private attorney and other agents some acting far outside the regular channels of diplomacy to make his desires clear there would be no aid and no meeting until ukraine announced the sham investigations to our founding generation abuse of power was a specific well defined offense a president may not misuse the powers of the presidency to obtain an improper personal benefit the evidence shows that President Trump did exactly that for this alone he should be impeached but the 1st article also identifies 2 aggravating factors. When President Trump conditioned military aid and a personal favor he harmed americas National Security and when he demanded that a Foreign Government target his domestic political rival he took steps to corrupt our next election to the founders these offenses clearly merited removal from office the president faces a 2nd article of impeachment for his efforts to obstruct our investigation of his misconduct the constitution grants the sole power of impeachment to the house of representatives within our system of checks and balances the president may not decide for himself what constitutes a valid impeachment inquiry nor may he ignore lawful subpoenas or direct others to do so many president s including President Trump have asserted privileges and other objections to specific subpoenas but only President Trump has ordered the categorical defiance of a congressional investigation the automatic rejection of all subpoenas the president is not above the law and he should be impeached for this as well congress cannot wait for the next election to address this misconduct President Trump has demonstrated a clear pattern of wrongdoing this is not the 1st time he has solicited foreign interference in an election has been exposed and has attempted to obstruct the resulting investigation we cannot rely in the next election as a remedy for president ial misconduct when the president threatens the very integrity of that election he has shown us he will continue to put his selfish interests above the good of the country we must act without delay by his actions President Trump has broken his oath of office his conduct continues to undermine our constitution and threaten our next election his actions warrant his impeachment and demand his removal from office i urge my colleagues to support these articles and i reserve the balance of my time. Gentleman from georgia thank you madam speaker it is it. My pleasure this time did feel 3 minutes to the gentleman from wisconsin mr sensenbrenner and recognized for 3 minutes manage speaker i rise not decision to impeaching president well youve been listening there to Opening Statements from both the republicans and the democrats ahead of that debate on the articles of impeachment there will be a vote later on today we expect that to take place within about 6 hours initially you heard from nancy pelosi who said that it would be derelict in their duty not to act and then you had from the Ranking Member on the house Judiciary Committee that republican representative doug collins and who defended the president well lets now go to our correspondent castor whos on capitol hill for us we will go to the white house off to it but 1st lets start with heidi let me ask you we have been hearing lots and lots of very very vocal very impassioned statements today talk us through what happens from here. Thats right you can hear from the democrats that they are framing this impeachment debate which is leading up to this likely historic vote to impeach President Trump theyre framing that in the terms of history nancy pelosi the House Speaker is just saying that the nations founders would be right they would feel that the white house is actions are a threat she called trumps actions in ongoing threat to National Security and saying that he Gave Congress no choice but to move forward with this impeachment now obviously very different terms coming from the Republicans Doug collins who is leading the republican half of this debate he said that this entire impeachment process is partisan hes accusing democrats of wanting to undo trump selection in 2016 from the date that he took the oath of office and he says democrats think that he will win again and reelection next. Steere and thus theyre moving forward with this impeachment now he says that is you regardless of the facts well what are the facts what we know concretely is that trump did move to freeze security aide to ukraine or a 100000000. 00 just under that amount and we also know that soon after that he got on the phone with the president of ukraine and asked for investigations into trumps political rival joe biden democrats say it was in exchange that this amounted to bribery that it was with the corrupt intent that the president asked for this for his personal benefit putting the nations security at risk because it endangered a u. S. Ally that was at war with russia while republicans say that these 2 things are not linked at the aide and that the requests for the investigations was not an exchange and that trump was simply performing the duties of his office in trying to combat corruption in ukraine now democrats have heard from many witnesses who have testified over the last 2 months of this impeachment inquiry saying that there was this team going on that there was a shadow Foreign Policy to get trump this political dirt that he was searching for but republicans have said there that theres still no smoking gun theres no one thats testified distinctly to the president s intent which is still the key to all of this and thats why looking forward after whats today whats expected to be todays historic vote on the house floor where democrats certainly have the numbers to impeach President Trump more of this evidence will be hashed out on the senate side in the coming new year or so thats when well see trumps trial likely to have been and in that chamber controlled by republicans its a big question what type of evidence republicans will allow to come forward to perhaps still clarify that big question mark as to the president s motives. Heidi were hearing from both sides now and i believe thats 6 hours of debates or 3 hours for the democrats 3 hours for the republicans and then theyll have a vote then as you say it goes to the senate trial and there is an ongoing debate there about the rules of that trial
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