[captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] now, we will hear from House Democrats who also spoke to reporters after the house voted to move forward with additional impeachment inquiry procedures. Included chairs of all. Ommittees with authority mr. Mcgovern this is a sad and somber time in the history of the United States of america. For the fourth time in our history, we are compelled by allegations of president ial wrongdoing, so serious we are engaged in an impeachment inquiry. None of us ran for impeachment none of us ran for office to impeach president but we have , put into place a fair process. These procedures are guided by the precedent congress set under previous impeachments and guarantee protections for the president and his counsel that were not expressly provided during prior impeachments and lays out a process so the American People can hear about President Trumps abuse of power. Im proud of the resolution we put together and it will withstand the test of time and proud of the work of the rules committee. And even though it got somewhat contentious last night, im proud of the way democrats and republicans conducted themselves. There was no live streaming. Nobody stormed the committee, nobody seized a microphone and people behaved in a way that is respectful of this institution and i appreciate the cooperation of Ranking Member tom cole and the other republicans as well. I want to thank all the Committee Chairs here for their hard work to uncover the truth for the American People. This vote is a victory not for any of us, but on behalf of the constituents who sent us here and who demand that we follow the facts and uphold our oath. I thank the courageous Civil Servants who testified so far, many in contradiction of this administrations attempts to silence them. Let me conclude with this, i truly believe 100 years from now, historians will judge us by the decisions we are making here today. At the end of the day, this resolution isnt about donald trump or any of us, but about our constitution and our country. And i yield to the distinguished chair of the select committee on intelligence, adam schiff. Mr. Schiff i thank the gentleman for yielding. This is a solemn day when the president s misconduct has compelled us to move forward with an impeachment inquiry. The resolution sets out the procedures Going Forward with that impeachment process. The Founding Fathers understood that a leader might take hold of the oval office, who would sacrifice the National Security and fail to defend the constitution and put his interests above the country. Constitution and put his interests above the country. They understood it might happen and provided a mechanism to deal with it and that mechanism is called impeachment. We take no joy in having to move down this road and proceed with the impeachment inquiry. But neither do we shrink from it. The resolution from the perspective of the Intelligence Committee sets out important procedures for how we may conduct our open hearings. During the depositions we have conducted thus far, we have used a format that we believe is conducive to the factfinding process. Those procedures now will be incorporated into the open hearings in which staff counsel will be permitted for lengthy periods of time to do sustained questioning for up to 45 minutes per side, followed by member questioning. We have used this to Great Success for both parties during the course of the depositions where in the depositions we have alternated one hour for the majority, one hour for the minority, 45 minutes for the majority, 45 minutes for the minority. In those depositions, over 100 members have been eligible to participate. I should tell you that notwithstanding those that have complained about lack of access to the depositions, most of the members who have been permitted to attend have failed to attend, have not made use of the ability of attending each and every deposition. But those that have on both sides of the aisle have had the opportunity to question witnesses and when we move in open session, both parties will have the opportunity to question any witnesses that are called. The resolution will also permit the chair to release, begin releasing the transcripts of the depositions and i think you will see when those are released just what equal opportunity members of both parties have had. We recognize the seriousness of this undertaking. We recognize that we have been compelled by the circumstances to move forward. When a president abuses his or her office, when a president sacrifices the national interests, when a president refuses to defend the constitution and does so for the purpose of advancing a personal or political agenda, the founders provided the remedy. I make no prejudgment as to whether that remedy will be warranted when we finish these hearings. I will wait until all the facts are put forward. We will undertake this duty with the seriousness it deserves and to the best of our ability. And i yield to the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, mr. Nadler. Mr. Nadler thank you, very much. No person, republican or democrat, president or anyone else should be permitted to jeopardize americas security and reputation for selfserving political purposes. No president , no official can demand that an ally of the United States do anything in particular to help his or her political ambitions as a condition of receiving help from our country. If after a fair and thorough inquiry, the allegations against President Trump are found to be true, it would represent a profound offense against the constitution and against the people of this country. It is the duty of the house to vindicate the constitution and to make it Crystal Clear to future president s that this kind of conduct if proven is an affront of the great public that placed their trust in him or her. This resolution that we passed today lays the groundwork for open hearings in both the Intelligence Committee and the Judiciary Committee. The house and the American Public must see all the evidence for themselves. The resolution makes clear the there will be safeguards in the process that will be given and that will be adhered to. The resolution is necessary to ensure that our Constitutional Order remains intact for future generations. What we have seen are i challenge democratic order what we have seen are allegations of conduct at many levels, that if proven to be true are a challenges to the democratic order and norms that we all depend. We must hand this country to our children with its democracy in as good a shape as it was handed to us. We simply have no choice because no one can be above the law and we must enforce that. I now yield to the chairman of the Foreign Affairs committee, mr. Engel. Mr. Engel thank you. Im Elliott Engel chairman of the Foreign Affairs committee. For the last month, we have been working lockstep on this impeachment inquiry. So far we have seen damning evidence that the president abused his power and jeopardized our National Security to help his own political for the tunes. Fortunes. He pressed for another round of foreign interference in an american election. Its what the framers feared the most. We laid the groundwork for the next open phase of this investigation. Moving ahead, the Foreign Affairs committee will continue to support this effort because we know that the administrations abusive power resulted in our Foreign Policy being subverted and our diplomats being smeared, side lined and harassed. We cannot stand for that. Im glad that the resolution we passed today will provide for an open and fair process that will allow the American People to hear from witnesses, see the evidence and understand the troubling story of what the president and his allies did. They deserve to know the facts and soon will. Thank you. And now its my pleasure to call on carolyn maloney, the acting chair of the oversight committee. Mrs. Maloney i will be brief. I have just two points. First i want to my colleagues for their work. This is a very grave matter. As they have shown, we are acting deliberatively, thoroughly and without delay. Secondly, i want to remind everyone of the words of our beloved former chairman, Elijah Cummings and quote, he said we are fighting for the soul of democracy, end quote. That is our core mission under the constitution. We cannot allow a president or any president to extort Foreign Countries into interfering with our democracy. We cannot allow a president to withhold Critical Military aid that we have in congress provided in order to counter russian aggression. And we cannot allow a president to ignore dualy authorized subpoenas, withheld documents, prevent witnesses from testifying, covering up wrongdoing and obstructing congress. This is a fundamental corruption of the constitution and abuse of power and a breach of the oath of office. Thank you. And i now yield to the chairman of our caucus, representative jeffries. Mr. Jeffries thank you congresswoman maloney and thank the chairs for their diligent work throughout this process. This is not a celebratory moment here in the capital city. This is a solemn moment. Its a sober moment. Its a serious moment. None of us came to congress to impeach this president or any president , but duty now requires that we investigate the serious wrongdoing that is hiding in plain sight. This is a moment for every Single Member of the house of representatives to put principle over party, to put the constitution above corruption, to put democracy above dereliction of duty. This is not a moment this impeachment inquiry is not about democrats versus republicans, not about the left versus the right. Its not about the liberals versus conservatives. The impeachment inquiry is about right versus wrong. And we have a constitutional responsibility to follow the facts, apply the law, be guided by the constitution and present the evidence of wrongdoing to the American People. The impeachment inquiry is about abuse of power. Its about betrayal. Its about corruption. Its about National Security. Its about the integrity of our elections, its about defending our democracy for the people. With that, i will take a handful of questions. Reporter in light of all the information that has been gotten from witnesses behind to closed doors, are you willing to share expand the angry beyond the ukraine scandal and are you willing to share any instances who would like to testify publicly. Mr. Jeffries we are operating mr. Operating jeffries we are operating under an impeachment inquiry umbrellas and six committees of relevant jurisdiction that will explore the wrongdoing that exists coming out of 1600 pennsylvania avenue and at the end of the process, make recommendations to the chair of the Judiciary Committee with a continued focus on the trumpukraine scandal, the abuse of power, the solicitation of foreign interference in the 2020 election and that inquiry will be led by adam schiff and the Intelligence Committee because it relates to a matter of National Security. Mr. Nadler we are not going to speculate on that now, but will see what happens. Reporter any witnesses to come before the public . Mr. Jeffries we are not going to speculate on that. Reporter when can the American People expect to see open hearings . Might it be as early as the week after next . Mr. Nadler that depends on adam schiff and the speed which things go there. Reporter how crucial is john boltons testimony in building the case you hope to build against President Trump . Mr. Nadler you should ask adam schiff. Any testimony is important , especially testimony that is so crucially located. Reporter you say that you have the right to impose appropriate remedies if you determine that the president is unlawfully blocking witnesses, what do you mean by that . Mr. Nadler its elementary that we are one party to a litigation. Unlawfully block the investigation as this president has been doing, although we hope he wont continue doing it. We may have to take steps and do other things. Reporter what kind of punishment are you considering . Mr. Nadler im not considering anything. Well see what happens. Reporter how do you interpret the ways that republicans stated that two democrats voted with them . Mr. Nadler i interpret that the republicans are ignoring evidence that they dont want to see a proper investigation. Thats all i can draw. Mr. Jeffries last question. Reporter chairman nadler, how long will the house judiciary meet . And i think it is important for the American Public to understand the time line. And for all of you here, this bill has more ability for the president once it reaches the Judiciary Committee and the Intelligence Committee that the republicans have a problem with, why have those problems in judiciary rather than intelligence . Mr. Nadler first question was the time line, we dont know. It depends on how many witnesses, et cetera. I cant speculate on that. Second question, remember, the Intelligence Committee is doing a basic investigative job, a job that in past impeachments was done by the Starr Commission or urban committee. Once it goes to judiciary, its a different stage. It is not the official initial factfinding stage and it is proper that the president have more recourse at that point. The minority, the republicans, have the same rights and have rights to call witnesses, to examine witnesses, et cetera, in intelligence. They will have the same rights in judiciary. Once it gets to judiciary, if we are carrying if there has been a recommendation for an impeachment, then we are carrying on that inquiry at that point and the president ought to have more rights than in the initial factfinding stage. Mr. Jeffries the president yesterday directed his republican defenders to focus on substance. Thats what House Democrats have been doing from the very beginning and we invite our republican colleagues pursuant to the direction of the president to do the same. What is this all about . Congress, on a bipartisan basis, allocated 391 million to ukraine in military and economic assistance because we deemed it in our National Security interests. Ukraine right now is under attack from russianbacked separatists. Ukraine is a friend. Russia is a foe. Ukraine is a democracy. Russia is a dictatorship. The United States may be the only thing standing between Vladimir Putin and ukraine being completely overrun by russia as part of his sanity to the glory fantasy to reconstruct the glory days of the soviet union. In that context, congress allocated the 391 million in a bipartisan fashion. In february, the administration, they wrote to congress and said the aid is on the way. But it never showed up. And then in may, the Trump Department of defense wrote to congress again and said the aid is on the way. And in that letter said, all necessary preconditions have been met by the new ukranian government, including the implementation of anticorruption protocols. That was in the letter that was sent by trumps department of defense in may. And yet the aid never showed up. Twice during the summer, Mitch Mcconnell called up the Trump Administration and said wheres the aid . Mitch mcconnell couldnt get a good answer. And then on july 18 at the white house, the office of management and budget holds a meeting and mulvaney is there and said the reason that the aid hasnt been released is at the explicit direction of the president of the United States of america. July 25, we understand why, do us a favor, though. Pressuring a Foreign Government to target an american citizen for political gain and thereby solicit foreign interference in the 2020 election while withholding this aid by a vulnerable ukraine. Mr. President , that is the substance of the matter and thats what we are going to focus on moving forward. Mr. Engel foreign aid is a very important component of what we do around the world in order to keep america at the top of the world. And the money that the congress allocated to foreign aid was not the president s personal pinata he can use however he wants. Mr. Engel by witholding that money, he is taking an asset of the United States, not a personal asset, of the United States and withholding it to try to coerce the leader of another country to help him in his political election. If that isnt crazy, then i dont know what is. This really just cannot stand. Foreign aid is not the president s personal pinata to do with what he wants with it. Congress appropriates it and ukraine are at an important crossroads right now. This is a very serious matter and not simply the president talking to a foreign country but taking american money that the congress allocated for foreign aid to a country, to withhold it and say to that leader, im not going to give it to you unless you do what i need you to do. That is an absolute disgrace. And that is one of the reasons why we are here. Thank you very much. Some of the impeachment inquiry and the response on cspan, unfiltered coverage, live as it happens. Any time cspan. Org. Everygton journal, live day with news and policy issues that impact you. Coming up friday morning, washington examiners philip klein discusses his new book about the burden the growing National Debt will have on the millennial generation. The rise in vaping related illness. Watch washington journal live at 7 00 a. M. Eastern on friday morning. Join the discussion. Live, friday on the cspan networks, a ceremony for the new smithsonian secretary. That is at 3 00 on cspan. At 7 30 p. M. , the democratic president ial candidates are in des moines for the Iowa DemocraticParty Liberty and justice celebration. At 8 00 p. M. On cspan two, President Trump holds a Campaign Rally in tupelo, mississippi. On cspan3, at 9 30 a. M. , a report on the effects of climate change. Forre the house adjourned the week, outgoing california representative katie hill gave her final speech from house floor after intimate photos of her released without her knowledge and an internal house panel began looking into possible ethics violations involving her and a congressional staffer. In her farewell remarks, the lawmaker apologized to her constituents and explained her decision to resign. Ms. Hill this is the last speech that i will give on this floor as a member of congress. I wasnt ready for my time here to come to an end so soon. Its a reality im still grappling with and i will be for a long time to come. I expected or i at least hoped to be here for at long for as long as the voters of my district deemed me worthy of the honor of representing them. I thought i could make a