Is expected to make trump the 3rd president to be impeached and u. S. History well the democratic speaker of the house nancy pelosi opened the debate she called for both sides to put aside their pastas on differences and vote in the interest of the country 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. Now republican senator Lindsey Graham says he wants to say see a quick trial in the Senate Without any new witnesses presented i think this exercise in the house is beginning to weaponize impeachment the Intel Committee could ducted the fact finding elements of it which is unusual the process they use i think is dangerous to the presidency as an institution when it gets here my goal is to have a short trial as possible what does that translate to when 51 people are ready to vote this one will vote the most likely outcome is to use the trial record. What they used in the house to impeach President Trump will be the trial record for the senate. Well lets bring in heidi is your cost her shes joining us live from capitol hill in washington d. C. And as we end the near of the debate before the vote heidi its very much been you know democrats in the house saying that the president abused his office obstructed Congress Republicans as insisting he did nothing wrong in the democrats are trying to remove the president from office through impeachment because they cant beat him in next years general action. Thats right what were seeing now are the final moments of the 6 hours of deeply impassioned and partisan arguments we saw democrats framing what we are witnessing now in historic terms saying that this is the song for exercise of the impeachment rule which the founders of this country indigent to be used against those who hold the highest offices in the land only when they be trade the country and democrats say that is what President Trump has done meanwhile we have republicans also using sweeping rhetoric in their defense of trump saying that this is an impeachment sham that these proceedings are in our compare comparable to the attack on pearl harbor and even one republican member saying this is like the crucifixion of christ so theyre debating these 2 articles which are abuse of power and of struction of congress both stemming from the accusation that trump use the power of his presidency to try to pressure ukraine to interfere in the upcoming president ial elections in his favor democrats say that put trumps personal interests above those of National Security while republicans have been united in saying that this is a please leave hardison effort and theres little that republicans members of the house can do about it now were only about half an hour away from only expects these historic votes to take place that members will consider each article one at a time and democrats most certainly. Have the numbers to pass these articles which would formally impeach President Trump making him only the 3rd u. S. President in history to be impeached and were seeing that partisan division here played out in washington which mirrors the same division among the greater American Public on this very the story. Thank you for that for now thats the latest live on capitol hill lets bring in our White House Correspondent committee how that as we expect that vote in the coming hour kimberly were going to also be hearing from the President Donald Trump and hes and much friendlier territory hes gone to battle creek michigan to address supporters while this Impeachment Vote takes place. Its really going to come down to the incredibly historic split screen moment if you will that is going to really encapsulates where america stands right now in terms of its political divisions and polarizations on the one hand we will have this very dramatic historic vote in the house of representatives democrats voting to impeach President Trump almost simultaneously we expect the president will be addressing thousands of his republican supporters it really encapsulates where we are right now and in fact ive just got an update from the White House Press secretary Stephanie Grisham in the last few moments where she has tweeted out that the president has arrived in battle creek michigan and she says well the dems meaning democrats blather on about appeasement president troposphere to speak directly to the American People i happen to attack somebody that i know inside that stadium who is a trump supporter i asked her what the mood is incent side is this historic vote comes down she says excitement everyone is ignoring the impeachment there with trump all the way certainly the white house officially is saying this is a sad and solemn day we heard there as weve been talking throughout the day republicans saying that they believe that this is a weapon izing of the impeachment process expect the president will make that argument as he has been doing on twitter throughout the day although when he left here he was quiet we expect that hes saving much of his feelings and some ations after watching these proceedings were told in the white house residence off and on for his supporters but were getting a window into what he might be thinking he sent out or rather his campaign sent out an email making the argument not only that this is an attempt by democrats the republicans say to undo the results of the 2016 u. S. Election but going much further and in much sharper language the campaign saying that this is essential political revenge on the part on behalf of the Clintons Hillary clinton for not winning. 2016 u. S. Election very Strong Language that we expect the president will come out swinging as he often does in defiance battling it out if you will in a battleground state and in a city battle creek Michigan Committee its interesting that the republicans you know insist that the democrats have had an agenda to remove the president from office from the from the day he took office and especially you know we know that House Speaker nancy pelosi was very reluctant to start this impeachment process. Yeah its a really good point that you bring up and it may speak to the poll numbers that i expect the president will talk about later the big reason that nancy pelosi and so many of the more moderate democrats were reticent to go with impeachment even though there was sort of the more further left faction of the party pushing and pressing forward its because of what were seeing a little bit right now in the poll numbers and that is that the president could appear as a victim use this in his favor and actually gain support and thats what the campaign has been saying that they are seeing Donald Trumps campaign that is they believe that well the country is evenly divided in terms of whether or not to impeach the president in these key battleground states that helped him win in 2016 that he needs in 2020 his support among independents has actually gone up they argue by 6 points a little reluctant to talk about numbers because theyre often skewed depending on which side of the political spectrum youre on but the point is that is why there was some reluctance on the part of House Speaker nancy pelosi but soon with the impeachment inquiry and gathering of the facts the groundswell so significant really that it became the foregone conclusion that this is where the house was going of course the as alan fish our correspondent the u. S. Senate has been talking about the last few moments ultimately the white house expects though that the president will be vindicated once that it gets to that body which is of course controlled by Republicans Committee thank you for that one lets go back to the house now to this and to some more of that debate to protect our National Security in order to cheat in our elections he not only abuse his power he turned his back on the sacrifices of our veterans and their families have made for all that we hold so dear that abuse of power is reprehensible and it is exactly what impeachment was designed to prevent. We have a solemn duty to protect our constitution to protect our democracy and to our all those who have laid their lives on the line for these United States of america i yield back gentleman from georgia thank you madam speaker at this time i yield for unanimous consent request to the gentle lady from indiana lee is recognized thank you madam speaker i ask unanimous consent to enter into the record my opposition to these articles of impeachment without a reaction i reserve gentleman from california and the speaker im proud to recognize a gentleman from california ms davis for 30 seconds generally is recognized. Madam speaker madam speaker make no mistake we are not impeaching this president he is impeaching himself if you are the president and you obstruct justice try to bribe a foreign leader and threaten National Security youre going to get impeached and if story the specter. Gentleman from georgia. Thank you madam speaker at this time i do recognize a general from North Carolina for unanimous consent which i dont recognize better speaker i ask unanimous consent to enter into the record my opposition to these articles of impeachment without objection reserved gentleman from california and the speaker im proud to recognize a gentleman from new mexico ms holland for one minute generalized recognized for one minute. And speaker i stand before you as a representative of new mexico a place where we believe in dignity and respect for all in congress ive been fighting for them weve been working to make health care more affordable education accessible and move our country forward for the people but today this president has forced us into a serious debate were talking about a president who used the power of the presidency for his own political gain risking our National Security and putting the integrity of the next election at risk its a sad day when a president shows complete disrespect for congress as a coequal branch of government and for the American People who elected us we collected the evidence and the facts are indisputable we all took an oath to protect and defend our constitution we have the solemn responsibility to hold this president accountable because its our job i urge my colleagues to live up to our responsibility and show our fellow americans that no one not even the president is above the law and i yield John Layfield spectrum and georgia thank you madam speaker at this moment yield to the gentlefolk all for you not a specific question is recognized as she him is consent to enter into the record ma position of these articles of impeachment that objection i reserve the gentleman from california speaker i recognize the gentle lady from North Carolina ms adams for a unanimous consent request generally spec and i just thank you madam speaker i ask unanimous consent to enter into the record my statement in support of the articles of impeachment against president donald j. Trump without objection so order i reserve the balance of our time and reserves thank you madam speaker it is time that i give. 5 minutes to the gentleman from louisiana the majority of the minority is with the socialist gentleman is recognized for 5 minutes thank you madam speaker impeaching a present of states. This isnt about some solemn duty tonight lets talk about what this is really about this is been about a political vendetta a political but dead that didnt just start with the zelinsky call it started long before that just listen to some of the quotes from democrats in this Chamber Speaker pelosi quote its been going on for 22 months 2 and a half years actually we cannot accept a 2nd term for donald trump whats more serious is that he cant win this isnt about some crime that was committed its about fear that he might win reelection thats not why you impeach a president al green quote im concerned that if we dont impeach this president he will get reelected the list goes on madam speaker in fact there are some quotes that i cant even read on this house floor that some of our colleagues made and keep in mind more than 100 democrats on this house floor voted to impeach this president before the zelinsky phone call just look at some of these articles of impeachment that they voted for 2 years ago 58 democrats voted to impeach the president over comments he made about n. F. L. Players kneeling for the pledge of allegiance impeaching the president over 50 democrats voted to impeach him for that just this summer over 90 democrats voted to impeach the president for comments he made about the squad. So he makes comments about some other members of congress who make a lot of comments about him and 95 members vote to impeach the president of the United States this is a political vendetta it has nothing to do with a crime committed there was no crime and why dont we listen to some of the witnesses obviously we werent able to call all the witnesses we wanted but there were witnesses in fact gordon seidlin u. S. Ambassador to European Union hes mentioned over 600. 00 times in the shift report he was their star witness and what did he say when asked quote did president trip ever tell you personally about any preconditions for anything his answer no any preconditions for the aide to be released no any preconditions for a white house meeting under oath the test of fide no abuse of power lets talk about that article of impeachment madam speaker George Washington law professor turley who admitted under oath that he voted against donald trump spoke to this claim of abuse of power in fact he said quote so we are listening to members of the house of representatives republican Steve Corning whats happening against President Trump a political vendetta saying that there was no crime but democrats fear that trump will be reelected we are nearing we think we are nearing the end of the debate which precedes the votes the Impeachment Vote against the u. S. President which. Thank. You but you are watching aljazeera and a quick look now at other news stories from around the world lebanons former Prime Minister has announced for the 2nd time that he doesnt want to lead a new government far very resigned and october after weeks of antigovernment demonstrations on monday the president planned to hold consultations with the Political Parties to decide on a new Prime Minister but thats been postponed until thursday where people have been voicing their anger against corruption and sectarian politics governing the country for decades. Protestors have rallied again in new delhi after indias top court postponed hearings on a controversial new citizenship law until january it says it needs more details from the government that all makes it easier for non muslims from of guns thought bangladesh and pakistan to gain and the and citizenship. At least 23 civilians have been killed in the latest round of russian attacks on the rebel held areas of northwestern syria where shelling in airstrikes in it live province have escalated in recent weeks president Bashar Al Assads government appears to be preparing for a ground offensive to secure the main highway linking the capital damascus with the Northern City of aleppo our diplomatic editor james basis at the United Nations and he says there are now divisions in the Security Council over how to move forward on syria. For the last 6 years the u. N. Security council has authorized humanitarian aid going into syria from iraq jordan and turkey the u. N. Says this authorization is vital because its the only way to get that a into opposition controlled areas every year this needs to be renewed with a new Security Council resolution but behind the scenes there is a route russia says the situation has changed and its looking like russia might use its veto there is a. Is not is not the one that reflects neither the image this is book about in the cumulative emissions we have to recognize that things are changing the British Ambassador was listening to that and quickly responded things are changing because these resolutions have been going down year after year so i think thats point one point to anything less than 4 crossings and 12 months is a vote for saving lives its not yet clear when the vote will take place but if russia blocks the resolution it will be the 14th time that russia has used its veto since the syrian war began one years ago. Bought on fighters have killed at least 14 civilians and to 5 others during a raid in chad fishermans camp was attacked on the banks of lake chad another 13 people are believed to be missing the region has seen attacks from the for around 10 years now with more than 30000 people killed. Well back now to our special coverage of the vote is due shortly on whether to impeach the president of the United States lets bring in alan baron now hes in washington d. C. And mr barron you know what have you made of what youve heard in the last 6 hours of the debate the democrats maintaining that you know the not impeaching the president with the president as the and facts impeaching himself by bribing a foreign leader and the republicans maintaining that this is all a political vendetta well one thing is clear nothing has changed in the course of those 6 hours the republicans have dug in on the same issues a lot of it about process and they the needle has not moved at all with regard to the republicans and the democrats are sounding the same. Clarion calls that theyve been sounding all along so nothing has really changed whats happened is all of them have had a chance to get on the record about their views concerning this president and whether he should be impeached or just about thank you for that well lets go back to the house now to hear what we think of the final few moments of the debase nor did i expect to witness such a craven rationalization a president ial actions which it put our National Security at risk undermine the integrity of our elections and defied the Constitutional Authority of the congress to conduct oversight weve heard from republicans that this impeachment really has to do with policy differences there or how we feel personally about the president about his temperament where that we simply dislike throughout the trent presidency. Democrats have resisted pursuing impeachment even as we watched with dismay and discussed out a pattern of wrongdoing that pattern included ordering federal agencies to lie to the public. Firing the f. B. I. Director for refusing to end investigations of his campaign siding with blatter mayor puton against our intelligence agencies taking funding away from the military to put towards an ineffective border wall and setting policies that have led the separation of families and caging of children we have to be sure deep disagreements with the policies and actions taken by this president theres been a lot of talk about the 63000000 people who voted for mr trump little talk about the 65000000 people who voted for hillary clinton. The policy difference or those votes this president was elected legitimately. The house will stay in order the gentleman deserves to be heard germans recognized. And. Because we have an Electoral College but none of these are reasons to pursue what chairman shifts has called and wrenching process for the nation in fact democrats rejected that process in fact only in 3 specific votes in december of 2017 democrats overwhelmingly voted against pursuing articles of impeachment including the speaker and myself. We did so again in 2018 with over 60 percent of the democrats rejecting pursuing articles of impeachment and again just months ago in july of 201960 percent of the democrats said no to pursuing articles of impeachment just days before the infamous july 25th telephone call we did the same with 60 percent of democrats voting not to proceed credible witnesses many of whom were appointed to office by President Trump have corroborated the details and timeline of his abuse of president ial power which forms the basis of the 1st article of impeachment in this resolution instead i will not recount all of the witnesses or abuses that have occurred i congratulate my colleagues and mr nat learned his committee and mr shift and his committee for setting forth a compelling case theyve been laid out fully in the articles before us and by colleagues in their remarks what i will do is remind americans that the house provided President Trump every opportunity to prove his innocence but the witnesses were precluded from coming forth the witnesses who have personal knowledge did not come either at the president s request and which he refused to show up because he thought it was a sham as so many of you have said or to the committees and steady ignored congressional subpoenas for documents and for testimony by white house officials and ordered his subordinates not to cooperate perhaps they could have exonerated. This itself i suggest you is unprecedented when president nixon and clinton were asked to hand over documents and allow fissions to testify ultimately both complied because it is the law such actions of the president can be taken as further evidence of age is obstruction and abuse of power it is in and of itself impeachable conduct the subject of the 2nd article of impeachment these 2 articles the force concerned 2 very profound constitutional issues about the abuse of power in our republic 1st whether it is acceptable for the president of the United States any president to solicit foreign interference in our elections there is a difference as to whether hes done that and the place to try that is in the United States senate but we believe strongly there is probable cause to conclude that done to mine our National Security the integrity of our elections and the integrity of our democracy and secondly whether it is permissible permissible for the president to obstruct congress and act as if he is above the law and immune from constitutional oversight on december 4th the Judiciary Committee heard the testimony of constitutional law experts who weighed in on these points some 1500 historians have said the same thing as professor noah feldman said if we cannot impeach a president who abuses his office for personal advantage we no longer live in a democracy we live in a moniker or we live under a dictatorship. The votes we are about to take concerning the rule of law and our democracy itself let us not forget the words of john locke so influenced influential to the founders of our republic john lott millennia ago said this wherever law ends tyranny begins this impeachment asked whether we are still a republic of laws as our founders intended or whether we will accept that one person and be above the law in america as we have said over and over again no one is above the law but only as long as we hold every person accountable for breaking the law even a president will that be true if the house does not act if we wait and delay we won the risk of allowing the president s misconduct if we believe it to be so to be repeated at the expense of the integrity of our elections our National Security and our constitutional sists system of separation of powers democrats did not choose this in pietschmann we did not wish for it. We voted against it we voted against it once we voted against it twice we voted against it 3 times as recently as july we did not want this however President Trumps misconduct has forced our Constitutional Republic to protect itself. These votes that we are about to take and the process that will follow in the senate. A not only an assessment of the president s commitment to the constitution or to his oath of office it is as well a test of our own damning evidence of the president s high crimes as emerged nevertheless republican members of this house and of the senate have continued to defend a president whose actions seem to many of us to be indefensible all of us feel a sense of loyalty to party is what makes our 2 party system function is what helps hold president s and majorities accountable but Party Loyalty must have its limits and as evidence of the president s impeachable offenses have mounted daily as the witnesses testified it has become increasingly clear that the limits of partition schip have been reached and passed now democrats and republicans together face a test before constituents are countryman and our creator the New York Times on october 18th summarized the question now posed to house and Senate Republicans and democrats compromised by compromise donald trump has hammered away at what republicans once saw as foundational virtues decency honesty responsibility and yes even civility but on to say will they