Releasing a memo of a phone call President Trump had with the president of ukraine in july this year. Both leaders argued the memo showed President Trump pressuring a foreign leader for political gain. This is 35 minutes. Good morning, everyone. Robust discussion today within the caucus that was the center of the meeting focused on the United States, mexico, canada trade agreement. ,peaker pelosi and richard neal along with the democratic working group, have been very clear that our goal is to get to yes. And to reach an agreement with the administration that improves upon in a meaningful way the nafta agreement that is currently in place. That nafta agreement has resulted in the outsourcing of good paying american jobs, hurting working families and americans all across the country , including but not limited to in the heartland of america. If we are going to renegotiate the trade agreement, our perspective is that the meaningful if be its going to replace what is currently there. In order for that agreement to be meaningful, House Democrats have laid out for different issues which we discussed in the caucus today. One, improve the labor standards. Any agreement that includes standards,on labor and environmental standards, particularly in mexico, must be enforceable to be meaningful. We made that position clear to the administration but we also want to get to yes. We want to get to yes because the business of the American People must be done. In are sent to washington new democratic majority to get things done for the people. To Lower Health Care costs, to increase pay for Everyday Americans, to enact the Real Infrastructure plan to protect people with preexisting conditions, and to also clean up corruption which is what we are endeavoring to do so that Government Works and is of the people, by the people, and for the people. Later on this afternoon, Speaker Pelosi at 4 00 will convene a ourkers meeting to discuss drug price negotiation bill. Perhaps the top priority of House Democrats, as articulated to the American People last year, and has implemented through our agenda this year, is to Lower Health Care costs and drive down the high price of lifesaving Prescription Drugs. It is unacceptable that the people in america pay more for lifesaving Prescription Drugs than any other developed nation in the world. We pay more than canada. We pay more than australia. We pay more than japan. We pay more than germany. We pay more than france. We pay more than great britain. Squarely because of the anticompetitive practices of some pharmaceutical companies and the fact that the federal government is prohibited under law from negotiating lower drug prices on behalf of the American People. That is a racket. We are prepared to break that up. Bill that wec republicanto secure support in connection with, because they claim they want to do something about this issue, will give the federal government the ability to negotiate lower drug prices on behalf of medicare recipients and the American People. It would be a substantial Game Changing step in the right direction. The president has claimed he wants to get that done. We look forward to being able to billa discussion about our and find Common Ground on this issue on behalf of Everyday Americans. Let me now yield to our distinguished vice chair Katherine Clark. Thank you mr. Chairman. Our caucus is focused on the very real threats to National Security. We are focus not only on those coming from the white house but on those that are coming from the border and the approach this administration has taken to immigration. 3. 6 billionstolen from our military families, from the quality of their lives, and from Millie Rick Perry readiness to build a wall, we have not forgotten about the immigration policy and the impact on children and migrants that threatens our security doesnt know that. We are passing to important bills this week. One by congresswoman Veronica Escobar and one by congresswoman lauren underwood. They specifically increase our ability to have objective appointments made that can make sure that we are really acting in the interest of National Security in our policies at the border. In that we are getting medical screenings for the children who are coming across our borders seeking refuge here. Tose are critical pieces making sure that our immigration policy not only provides for National Security but is humane. And represents those values of a country that has always been a ande where people can go sick a better life. The other issue we continue to focus on, today there will be a large rally starting at 1 00 for gun safety. We are going to keep the pressure on from the senate to take these bills up for a vote. As weve said before, this is an issue that is tearing at the security of our community. We are not going to continue to let the answer be one of silence from the u. S. Senate. Stand up for the American People. Make our communities safe again. Attention, forur the continuing work the democrats in the house are doing to push the agenda for the people. Good morning. You dont about firearms, passing the usmca. Can you walk into government the same time . This likes to dominate every conversation. [inaudible] the president has made clear that he wants a renegotiated agreement between the United States, mexico, and canada. We want to get to yes. Theres no reason why the business of the American People should not continue. We are all charged with doing just that. In the last congress, we managed to find bipartisan agreement around meaningful and historic criminal justice reform. At the same time, when there were other areas of disagreement, we advanced on that issue. We should be in a position and able to advance the ball on lowering health care costs, Prescription Drug pricing, infrastructure, gun violence prevention, and a renewed trade agreement. [inaudible] the legislative agenda fell off the radar when they were impeaching visiting clinton. Why is this different . The record shows that president in continued to work in a democratic led house and senate on an agenda on behalf of the American People simultaneous to the watergate proceedings. Present clinton continue to work with the republicancontrolled house and senate in 1998 on behalf of the American People. The same thing should happen this time around. I would like to add. I dont see these as two different tracks. What we heard from the American People in the midterms is, they want us to protect their health care. They want us to address gun violence, make sure we are rebuilding america through infrastructure, and they wanted us to get corruption out of the government. Those were the things that we ran on. Thats what the American People said we had to do. We have a constitutional , at this point with this threat from our president for National Security. Overts his political gain the National Security of our country. As president ition of the United States to ask a favor of the ukraine in order to gain an advantage in our political system. Threat thaty real we have to act on. Time, we are sent here to put the issues of the families we serve on the table. We have to do both. Thats the work we have been doing since we took the majority. We will continue with that as we go into this impeachment proceeding. The transcripts are out. The president told the ukrainian president to contact the attorney general. What is your response to that . The Administration Says theres no quid pro quo so everything is fine. I havent had an opportunity to review the transcript yet. It confirms several things. Pressuredmp clearly the ukrainian president to commence an investigation of the biden family to dig up political dirt in order to bolster the president s Electoral Prospects in 2020. Powers textbook abuse of and the transcripts have become exhibit a in that regard. President trump apparently said the ukrainian president , i need you to do me a favor. Issue related to joe withs alleged involvement the Ukrainian Government in the prior prosecutor. Thats a phony scandal. The fact that the president brought it up and said multiple times, according to this transcript, i need you to talk to Rudolph Giuliani. What role does Rudolph Giuliani have in this government . Is he in the department of justice . Is he the secretary of state . Ukraine ambassador to or the European Union . Rudolph giuliani is the president s political hitman. In an official conversation with the president of ukraine, he directed the ukrainian president to have a followup conversation with giuliani as part of the effort to dig up dirt on joe biden. Full stop. That is lawless. That undermines our National Security. Thats an abuse of power. Thats unpatriotic. That undermines the electrode process and our democracy. The American People will not stand for it. I would like to add, the crime is with the quid. It is for something something for something. The crime is when you ask for that favor. When you inject politics into foreign policy. As the chairman said, we have just received this unclassified transcript from the white house. The initial reading shows that, not only was Rudolph Giuliani brought in, but the department of justice, attorney general barr, exactly the crime that we were concerned about. Blurring those lines between the political, our National Security, and the official role of the president of the United States. Given what you know about the asked thes, trump president for the favor. Is that alone enough to impeach the president . If so, why would you wait for other committees to send their best evidence and slow that process . We are in the midst of an impeachment inquiry that will be led this week by the efforts of the Intelligence Committee and chairman adam schiff. Later today, the house of representatives will pass a resolution demanding that the administration release the full and unredacted version of the whistleblower complaint. We can only imagine what is in that document. We will obtain it. The American People will be able to see it. We also need to hear, on thursday, from the acting director of National Intelligence who will be before the house Intelligence Committee. Thats important information. Thats where the focus will be. This is a matter of urgent concern and National Security. We will present the truth to the American People. One thing that Speaker Pelosi did not do yesterday is lay out a timeline for this inquiry. Im curious if you can provide any Additional Information on that, given that we are 13 months from a president ial election. This will be injected into the Democratic Campaign and probably for a nominee. The speaker has made clear this will move expeditiously. She indicated that in her conversations with House Democrats. She indicated that publicly. Shes also made clear that we are going to follow the facts, be guided by the law, and informed by a constitutional responsibility. We will do it comfortably. We will do it fairly. We will do it expeditiously. [inaudible] the expectation is that we will do it fairly, copper handsomely, and expeditiously. The timeline has been set forth by the whistleblower. That is, urgent. Thats what they said. Urgent and credible. That will be our timeline. This bigger talked about letting the facts we this investigation. She has also said that public sentiment do you feel the public has come around on impeachment now . More than two thirds of your caucuses and support. How will this impact your prospects in 2020 . We need to present the truth to the American People without fear of favor. This has nothing to do with the political implications. We have a constitutional responsibility to deal with a matter of urgent National Security concern. We need to present this information to the American People, bring them along with us based on the facts and the evidence. We party scene damming admissions made by the president over the last few days and confirmed by the transcript that was released today. We will see whats in the whistleblower complaint. We also know that we have to get to the bottom of the second issue here, which is the ,ithholding of duly authorized allocated money, hundreds of millions of dollars in security and military assistance from ukraine, perhaps as a coercive witchhuntracting the and the investigation President Trump wanted the ukrainian president and government to undertake. Understand the vulnerability and seriousness of that. The president didnt put american foreignpolicy first. Ukraine is an ally. We passed the military and Security Assistance in a partisan way. The president apparently held that a up while ukraine is at war with russia. Crimea,y, who invaded ukraine is on the front lines of russias attempt to reshape europe in a manner that undermines United States interests. Apparently, the president was willing to withhold military asistance in order to extract political investigation designed to get dirt on the biden family to bolster donald trump select world prospects. That is classic abuse of power. You said you wanted to move expeditiously but also comprehensively. How do you resolve the tensions between those two . So much testimony has been blocked. There has been so many records blocked. A lot of this is being pursued in the court. That well make sure gather all of the evidence necessary to tell the complete story to the American People. Obtain theen able to transcripts of the phone call between donald trump in the ukrainian president. , after soon obtain congress expresses its position in a bipartisan way and a bicameral way later on today, the whistleblower complaint. The actingr from director of National Intelligence and there will be activity that occurs. We are moving expeditiously. This is a matter of urgent National Security concern. We are going to proceed fairly. The administration understands that if it continues to obstruct the American People will conclude that they have something even worse to hide. Urgency inioned the the whistleblower complaint. What do you think constitute urgent here . Is it because of the impact of the alleged complaint . Is it keeping it from happening cap again . That is a critical question on why we need to hear and read what the whistleblower had to say. We already have established the urgency here. When you have a president who puts aside his role as being president of the United States, his oath to faithfully execute the laws of this country, and instead puts his political gain in front of our National Security, we have energy problem. An urgent problem. We are reacting to that. Is there more . We dont know. We dont have the whistleblower complaint. The very fact that this administration and the department of justice is working to keep that complaint from us, that they tried to bury this whistleblower, not get this information to congress in the exact way that the whistleblower statute is trying to help us glean information from, thats the point of it. What we have now, this transcript from the white house, at first glance, it is even more damming than what we already had from admissions from this president. Thats where the urgency comes from. Will bey and facts revealed as we continue this investigation. For thedoes this mean judiciary Ongoing Investigation into obstruction of justice . Is that now on the back burner . The Judiciary Committee is meeting later on this afternoon or this evening to have a discussion about how will move forward in a broader context. At the end of the day, what is clear is that the intel committee, the oversight committee, the Financial Services committee, the Foreign Affairs committee, the ways and means committee, they will all recommend possible articles of impeachment to the judiciary which is the committee of jurisdiction moving forward. You mentioned the attorney general bill barr as well as mr. Giuliani. Do you believe these two men should be called to testify before congress . If they refuse, should they be subpoenaed . The focus right now is on getting to the truth by every available means necessary. Thenext step is to secure full, unredacted version of the whistleblower complaint. We will proceed from there. Based on what we already know, here is what is clear. Care aboutp doesnt our National Security interests. Donald trump doesnt care about the rule of law. Donald trump doesnt care about the integrity of the election process. And the free will of the American People to decide who will be our leader absent foreign interference. All donald trump cares about is himself. That will be the focus moving forward. That undermines the best interest of the American People, our National Security, and our democracy. With regards to public sentiment, is there something about this case, about the conversation between trump and the ukrainian president , that you think strikes a different cord, in contrast to what happened with the Mueller Report and various other allegations of your caucus have raised to make the case for impeachment, that would convince the American People and republicans . The republicans are ultimately going to have to decide, are they going to stand for the country and the rule of law . Are they going to stand for the lawlessness of this current president . You will have to ask them how they will proceed. We have seen the senate, in a bipartisan way, make it clear cut that we have to get to the bottom of what has happened. That suggests that even Mitch Mcconnell and Senate Republicans get that this is a scandal of a different order of magnitude that strikes at the heart of the safety and security and wellbeing of the American People and our democracy. Party thatblican always holds themselves out as that party of National Security, its hard to understand why they are hunting hiding. We saw a glimmer of life in the senate that has been dormant for a long time. I hope that this will be the beginning of them coming to understand that the team you are on is very clear. Do you choose the constitution . Do you choose the rule of law . Do you choose the fundamentals and protectingy the integrity of our elections . Or do you stand with a lawless president . The president has admitted that hes done this. Rudy giuliani has admitted that hes done this. I think those lines are so clear and the threat and corruption is so evident that i think we are going to the American People will see the truth and the true threat to our democracy. The republicans will as well. Last wrote . Rope . We have all spoken to republican senators. We dont see many cracks in their solidarity. If it turns out that they dont vote to impeach, what have you gained . Right now, we are proceeding with the impeachment inquiry that was formally launched supporty with the full of Speaker Nancy Pelosi to get to the truth for the American People. We will travel along this journey together. Republicans will have an opportunity to decide whether they will stand with a lawless president or stand with our National Security interests and the rule of law. [inaudible] a hearing on assault weapons. Our democrats prepared to come out with some sort of ban on assault weapons for a Buyback Program . This is a hearing that is taking place before the Judiciary Committee today to explore the options as it relates to trying to get weapons of war off of our streets, which can massacre innocent americans in a matter of seconds, as we saw tragically in dayton and el paso. Our focus on the gun safety issue remains clear. Its been 210 days since the house passed universal criminal background check legislation that will save lives. The senate has been derelict in its duty to act to protect the American People from its gun violence epidemic. Mitch mcconnell, if you took up that bill today, would be able to take a substantial step forward to address the gun violence problem we clearly have in the United States of america. Thats what they should do. Speaker pelosi yesterday mentioned that she spoke to President Trump about a deal on gun control. Any word on what that deal might include . Is that off the table in light of the impeachment . As Katherine Clark made clear, nothing should be off the our solemnse responsibility is to get things done on behalf of Everyday Americans so we can make life better. We need to do it on Lower Health Care costs. We need to do it on Prescription Drug pricing, fixing our company trade. Ructure, and we need to do it on guns. ,e have consistently said notwithstanding the approach that was taken by the House Republican majority when barack theirwas president , where mantra was, obstruction today, obstruction tomorrow, obstruction forever. We are willing to work with this onsident to get things done solving problems like the gun violence epidemic. If he actually came to an agreement with the president on trade or guns, isnt that giving him a political when . If you would come to the table and say he would come to the table and say he would support universal background checks, that he would support closing the loophole that allowed the shooter in charleston to get a gun he wasnt entitled to have, that if you would take the step at recognizing the threat to our communities, the politics dont matter. This is about the American People. And a Public Health crisis we have in the country. Whatever is going on with this president , his chaos, his disregard for the rule of law and the constitution, we stand ready to work with him. If you will do anything to help make our streets safer on this issue of gun safety. What weve heard from him unfortunately is, after the her wrenches loss of life that we he in the month of august, said he was ready to move forward. Nra ande call from the he totally rolled back his position. We are not going away. The American People are not going away. They have not changed their position on this. It is still over 90 of americans across political ideologies agree that these are common sense steps that can save lives. Thats our goal. Secure our communities. Save lives. Whether thats from mass shootings, daily gun violence, or suicide. We will stand ready to work with Mitch Mcconnell, to work with republicans, and to work with the white house to get that done. Some of your colleagues are worried that this process you have described for impeachment will not be that expeditious or clear to the public. They have been asking for some sort of select committee. Im wondering if that is still on the table. Speaker pelosi has made clear that the six committees of jurisdiction will proceed under the umbrella of an impeachment create with a focus on dealing with the matter of urgent National Security concerns connected with the ukraine scandal. Theres a lot of chaos, crisis, confusion, corruption, and criminality to sort out with respect to the trump administration. Is an us at the moment almost unspeakable abuse of power that the president has committed with respect to bullying the Ukrainian Government to launch an investigation into the biden family to secure political dirt. We are going to uncover the truth of the American People, beginning today through the next few days and weeks, and present that information to the American People. Is it still on the table at all . The speaker has said we are proceeding under an impeachment umbrella with an emphasis on the ukrainian scandal. Thank you. Can i get clarification on that . Each of the six committees will separately submit articles of impeachment. , ithe speaker has made clear believe there is consensus within the caucus at the moment, that the six committees of jurisdiction will continue their work in the form of an official in impeachment inquiry. At the end of the process, they will make recommendations to the Judiciary Committee. Thank you. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2017] cspans washington journal live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. Thursday morning, the 2020 battleground states, we will visit michigan. Richard birder will join us to talk about michigans role as a battleground state, and how the 2020 campaigns are playing out. Watch washington journal thursday morning. Join the discussion. Coming up tonight, house intelligence immunity chair Committee Chair adam schiff holding a News Conference for a call between President Trump and the president of ukraine. Then House Republican leaders criticize democrats for launching an impeachment inquiry. Then President Trumps meeting at the u. N. General assembly. Intelligence Committee Chair alan chef held a press conference about the call between President Trump and the president of ukraine. He says it is a shakedown of a foreign leader. And that he betrayed his oath of office. Mr. Schiff good afternoon. I now had a chance to review and detail the notes of the call between the president of the United States and the president of ukraine as well as the legal opio