Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal 12122019 20240713

Impeachment against President Trump. Join the conversation all morning with your phone calls, emails, facebook comments, and tweets. Washington journal is next. Host this is the washington journal for december 12, the House Judiciary Committee meets at 9 00 to vote on the two articles of impeachment. If it passes the committee today, it will head to the full house for a vote next week. The house of representatives comes in at 9 00. If you want to see the hearing, these articles of impeachments, which starts at 9 00, you can go to our cspan 3 channel starting at 9 00 and that is where you will see shots of the room you are seeing now. If you want to follow along, you can do so at cspan. Org and listen on our radio app. You can comment on the latest phase by calling 2027488001 for republicans. 2027488000 for democrats. Nd independents, 2027488002 you can also text us at 2027488003. If you want to post on twitter, you can do so cspanwj and you can post on our Facebook Page at facebook. Com cspan. Cbs this morning 9 00hearing that starts at today regarding the articles of impeachment saying it will start at 9 00 with the Committee Clerk reading the 9 page impeachment record into the record. The committee will consider each article of impeachment in turn. Once all the amendments have been offered and considered, they will vote on each article separately. Democratic leaders said the articles would be considered for votes next week. Democrats dont plan to offer any amendments on thursday aside from one addressing a procedural matter. Democrats are expected to offer several of their own after the House Judiciary Committee met last night. Each of the members allowed to make an Opening Statement regarding the process of what they were about to go through. It was the house judiciary chair explaining the two articles of impeachment of abuse of power and obstruction of congress. [video clip] the first article charges President Trump with abuse of power. It lays out two aggravating factors we must consider, to pressure you gain ukraine for a personal favor, president nationalrayed our security and attempted to corrupt our elections, when the president advances when the president demands a Foreign Government investigate his domestic political rivals, he corrupts our elections. To the founders, this corruption was especially pernicious. Free and Fair Elections are the bedrock of our democracy. If our elections are corrupt, everything is corrupt. The president faces a second article of impeachment for his ongoing efforts to obstruct a lawful investigation into his conduct. We have never, in the history of our nation, seen a president categorically defy congress in this manner. If the president can first abuse his power and then stonewall all congressional requests for information, congress cannot fulfill its duty to act as a check and balance against the executive and the president becomes a dictator. Host all Committee Members made allowed to make an Opening Statement. If you want to comment on this latest phase, that hearing at 9 00, 2027488001 for republicans. Democrats, 2027488000. And independents, 2027488002. If you want to text us your thoughts this morning, do so adding your name, your city, and your state. You can post on twitter and you can post on our Facebook Page at facebook. Com cspan. Doug collins also having a chance to talk about this process, particularly how democrats have treated the process. Here is what he had to say last night. [video clip] damage is the institutional damage to this for, getting information not having the rules followed, for having this committee as the chairman warned us about and said this Judiciary Committee should never accept a report from someone else without verifying and having heard to make sure it was there. Unless we become a rubberstamp. I dont know about you, but i am not a rubberstamp and i do not like what i have been forced to do, sit here and be lectured to by law professors and a staff that does not wear a pin telling us what is relevant or not. We are a rubberstamp of the worst kind because we did not even try to make a point. The rules committee will take care of it, but for reporters and media and people who have watched this body and the institution i have loved my life being destroyed day after day. If the minority has no right, this majority will be back in the minority crying and screaming for minority rights to be upheld and i will point back to 20 and say this is the year you put a dagger in minority rights. Justify the most basic obligations of this committee have been overrun. This a year of trashing institution, a year of trying to trash this administration and this president , we come up with abuse of power and cannot define it . We come up with obstruction of congress after 72 days . I know they are desperate. You know how i know . Adam schiffs own words yesterday. We cant go to court, that would take too long. An election is coming. Let me finish the last 4 sentences. What you need to continue to say is we cant beat him next year, the only thing we need is a 32nd commercial saying we impeached him, that is the wrong reason to impeach somebody and the American People are seeing through this. My heart breaks for a committee that has trashed this institution and this is where we are now. Host sure to go to the full house and pass the senate. The Washington Post picks up how the senate might treat articles of impeachment saying the plan would provide sufficient time, possibly two weeks for the house impeachment managers and the attorneys to make arguments before a vote. According to 13 senators and who spoke onr anonymity to describe private talks. A story on the hill taking a look at Senate Democrats saying some of them are quietly talking about asking Speaker Pelosi to hold articles of impeachment in the house until Mitch Mcconnell agrees to a fair rules package. Senators are concerned talk of withholding a speedy trial without witnesses which would it a shorter timeframe is quoted by one democratic senator saying if we dont agree on a set of rules, i think we are cooked. It will be a procedural thing. If you want to read that, that is at the hill. We start on our democrats line from california, earl on the latest phase of the impeachment process, good morning. They would forget about impeachment and move to censure the president for his bad behavior and perhaps they could get some bipartisan just mover this and on to do the work of the American People. Censurey go about the road versus the impeachment one . Caller it could focus on whether his behavior was bad on whether it was impeachable. If we focus on whether it is impeachable, it has to rise to the level of whether it is impeachable as we did in the theren administration and is no support in the Republican Party for impeachment. If we could get a bipartisan movement to say the president did something wrong and he should not do that anymore, it would make a statement that we could get this over with and move on to working on things like infrastructure and we need to that we have a terrible time agreeing on. Host independent line, good morning. Support the not impeachment of President Trump. Bedoes not deserve to impeached or thrown out from office but because of the substance and the theater of this dogfight with democrats and republicans. The substance being something that of a Real National security involvement of the president in serious crimes like the one in which saudi ahead allowed to go after the killing of the journalist from the washington him, the dismemberment of from the embassy in turkey. Host lets hear from doug. Caller this is clearly a naked political process. There is no bipartisan support as there was when the nixon impeachment trial was going on. Democrats know they cannot beat the president in an election so this is their way of beating the president without actually letting the American People vote for him. That is all i have to say, thank you. Host the president putting out sayset on a new poll most americans impose oppose impeachment, this will be the first impeachment ever where there was no crime, they dont even allege a crime. There is a poll from Monmouth University asking people about the impeachment process found in usa today saying about 6 in 10 americans say they do not think the president cooperated with the house increase compared with 31 that say he has. Other results saying half of americans oppose the president s removal from office and 45 say he should be impeached and convicted in the senate. Those numbers are little moved from the previous poll on impeachment. When it was asked certain questions about the process, the University Poll saying americans in theexpress faith investigation. 44 do not trust the inquiry at all. 26 say they trust of inquiry a lot. When asked about motivation, a third of americans say they try to follow the facts wherever they might lead and 59 say they were more interested in finding. Ays to take down the president 29 say they wanted to pursue the facts and 61 say they only wanted to protect the president , that is the result of a Monmouth University poll. From cleveland, ohio, democrats line. You are next up. Caller i just wanted to say i am happy the house is finally going through with impeachment. It upsets me republicans in the Judiciary Committee are sitting there not even trying to think maybe he did something wrong. They keep on with the partisan hackiness. I know these are smart guys, they have to know he is guilty, they have to know what trump has done is bad and it upsets me they are sitting there not doing anything about it, they are selling out their morals and when they write about this in the history books in decades to come, they are going to look like a bunch of smocks. Host you said you think what he did is bad, but is it impeachable in your mind and if it is, why . Caller i think it is impeachable because he has shown consistently the president is trying to he is using his power to go ahead and manipulate everything and it is disgusting, it is brazen, that is the worst part about it. He does whatever he wants and everyone bats a blind eye they turn a blind eye because they know nothing will be done about it. I feel ok that he is going to be impeached. I doubt he will be removed from the senate, but it is the message it sends. He is going to be here this Time Next Year and i would not be surprised if he wins reelection. I am okay democrats are sending this message. Host that is the room you will see the hearings starting at 9 00, watch on cspan 3. Now going through security sweeps. Cspan 3 is where you can watch it. To can go to cspan. Org monitor and download the free radio app if you dont have a chance to look at it directly, you can listen. We are going to reair the hearing or todays process at 8 00 tonight. Cspan. Orgcspan. Org go to our website at go to our website at cspan. Org for more information. It line, donald, hi. Caller good morning, pedro. I have been watching your show for the last year or so. I was never into politics that much until this started and i got older and it is more important to me in my life. What this really shows, your show shows it so good, the complete divide in our country. Watchn tell which people Mainstream Media and you can tell which people watch fox, there is a total different divide. Public. E up the , truth, tell the facts straight down the line. Impeachment is dividing this country so bad. I have read articles online that people are talking about starting a civil war and taking out guns, this is crazy. Host do you plan to watch todays proceedings . If so, what were you hoping to get out of them . Caller i am fed up with it myself because i dont think there is any facts and their broad abuse of power, not a crime has been stated. Easy civics lesson. The civics lesson now is there are three branches of government, legislative, executive, and judicial. You cannot let the legislator overpower the executive, they have oversight. Say we are going to assert such rights, you cannot just say he is abusing his power. Host that is donald in North Carolina. Phil in florida, independent line. You are on. Me back talking about the Electoral College again. Host before we go there, lets talk about articles of impeachment and wet you and what you are seeing play out . Caller everybody is saying this president was elected by the people and he wasnt. I want to see another special on the Electoral College. Host the president won that process. It to the articles of impeachment, what do you think about that process . Caller it will only go as far happensenate and if it to get through the senate, it will have to go to the supreme whos thewe know judges are aware on the Supreme Court. It is a go nowhere process. Host you said it has to go to the Supreme Court, do you think the president has the potential of the senate convicting him of sorts on the senate side . Caller i dont think so because everybody walks in lockstep in all of washington, republicans hang with republicans and democrats hang with democrats. That is why nothing gets done. Host lets hear from so loughran of california. She has been part of three impeachment processes and a staffer during the nixon administration. Gives her perspective on this current impeachment process. [video clip] gotast week, this Committee Evidence about the president because actions to undermine the integrity of the next election and his violation of his oath. To donaff member edwards, i watched his opening in the nixon impeachment and it rings true, the value and beauty of our constitution and represented of government if it is going to work requires we all respect and obey the constitution, it is the contract we have with each other. No one is above the law and the president of the United States must follow the constitution. President trump has not only abused his power, used a foreign power to do it. George washington would be astonished since he warned against the insidious wiles of foreign influence. One of my vivid memories was chuck wiggins, one of the most vigorous defenders of president nixon when he realized nixon had lied to him. I had been waiting for republican members to have that moment. It seems like we live in an alternate reality where as one columnist said, if it swims end . And acts like a duck, it is a piano. I reviewed what Committee Members said during the nixon impeachment, larry hogan said it is not easy for me to align myself against a president to whom i gave my enthusiastic support. I cannot turn away from the evidence. Caldwell butler, another pronixon publican said the misuse of power, the very essence of tyranny and a lack of remorse and concern for his constitutional ability were a factor in supporting impeachment. That is a problem today, President Trump continues misconduct, he is not contrite, he poses an ongoing threat. Host next up is the rain california, go ahead. Sayer i called in to donald trump is a clear and present danger to the security and sovereignty of america and must be impeached. He used taxpayer money to extort, he withheld taxpayer money to extort ukraine into announcing a fake investigation so he could cheat in our 2020 election. I think that is impeachable and i think he should be impeached for that, he is a clear and present danger to our country. Kentucky, youin are next up. During george time after the revolutionary war, they had a meeting with all the military hadcers and they knew power something to do with what you heard as well as what you see. All these tests of psycholinguistic abilities, there is a test of memory, discrimination of what you heard, memory of what you heard, memory of what you saw, discrimination of what you hear, all highthis test for professional and educational purposes. From what i hear about the impeachment, the impeachment is what people heard, it is not what people saw. The u. S. President during wartime has a right to investigate anybody he wants to anywhere he wants to if it has something to do with treason. It is that simple. It is my concern or estimation that this impeachment process should stop at this very moment because it is taking these little kids and little kids in school and confusing them what this country is all about. Host that is patrick in kentucky. We will hear from new york, where anthony is, democrats line, hi. Caller thank you and happy holidays to you folks at cspan. Brian lamb, susan swain, i miss you both on thursday and fridays. What you have is a government out of control, they are all a bunch of extortionists. I remember when nancy pelosi stood up for william jefferson, a congressman who took 80,000 in bribes and hid it in his freezer and nancy pelosi said he had every right to do so and the fbi had no right to search his premises. What biden did with his son was dubious worse than President Trump. Host do you agree with the process this effort by democrats or not . Caller no, i think they are shooting themselves in the foot because they are revealing just like i said before when nancy pelosi stuck up for jefferson. Host you made that point. Why do you think it is a mistake this time . Caller we allowed a Prior Administration to lie us into a war when we destroyed an entire civilization that complied with sanctions to be destroyed and they got a library and we are worried about something so mundane as trump saying this guy at his son, what did they do over here . He is pointing out the corruption in the government. Int lets go to martin ohio, independent line. Caller can you hear me . Host i can, go ahead. Representative al green who got on the floor of the house the other day and essentially blackmailed the american electorate and i will paraphrase what he said. He said we are going to use narrow charges so that if we dont get the impeachment we want, we will reimpeach him with other charges, that is like blackmailing the American People. The second point, if you take as premisee, the democrat that a corrupt president in the white house is a National Security issue, which it is, you have to say if a man like biden can running for president easily get in because he is one of the front runners gives the impression of corruption, the electorate has the right to know about it, the president has the right and responsibility to investigate and i did not know about the situation and i am now more informed as a voter. Host usa today takes a look at the role moderate democrats potentially could play in an upcoming house floor vote on impeachment. To author writes in a nod influence moderates on the process, the House Foreign Affairs chairman eliot engel to the Democratic Leaders wanted the the overwhelming majority of the caucus could support. The consensus said there were two strong points and we should go with them and not water anything down. Several moderates declined to take a position on the impeachment as of tuesday and said it would be irresponsible he hadent so quickly pushed to lead mueller out of the articles of impeachment, but we have to give this level thought analysis and consideration it is deserving of. Some signaled that were pleased with the outcome. I feel like she has been managing a lot of really difficult dynamics and responsive to the caucus and people like me and frontline districts. That was a democrat from michigan saying she yet to read the articles or make a decision and it takes a look at swing swing districts where impeachment and legislators focused might play out. If you want to look at the website for usa today. Lets go to gordon in kansas city, kansas. Caller thank you for taking my call this morning. I think the impeachment proceedings are totally bogus angry very angry at my president if he did not request an investigation to protect my tax dollars and the reason joe biden waited so long to get into the race, he had to get his hair plugs finished. Host skip in missouri, independent line. Caller how are you doing this morning . Host fine, thanks. Go ahead. Caller the thing i understand about trump is he always denies. Where did he learn that . I think he learned it from the lead counsel from the mccarthy hearings. Towas a mentor and counselor donald trump and taught him one thing you have to learn in business and everything you do is never admit to anything. Host how does that apply to the impeachment process . Caller he hasnt admitted to anything. We see that every day on the news. He is always deflecting the truth, deflecting innuendos of what has happened in the hearings. Michigan,ie in flint, on the line for democrats. Caller i was a regular caller for three years when i retired and i quit calling because i was tired of the republicans calling in and talking about that video with joe biden. We know who joe biden is. All the smearing in the world is not going to change that. In 2015 when this was going on, republicans were in charge of everything. I have three quick questions for republicans. How do they explain to their children and grandchildren the may 20, 2017 meeting with kislyak and lavrov in the oval office . Number 2, helsinki. How would they have felt if president obama got up every day of his presidency and called them names . I would like to see how they would feel. Host why all those things matter in terms of the impeachment process . Caller it shows he is not our president , he has chosen to only be the president for his pocket of people and i think that is horrible. There is a lot of democrats, me included, that were willing to give him a chance until he started calling us names just because we disagree with him politically. Dont think the constitutional scholars that wrote this, i dont think they could have ever imagined a world where all these republicans would stand behind and walk lockstep behind this corrupt president. I dont think they could ever foresee that. Host that is debbie and michigan. We have taken calls for about a halfhour. We will do so until 9 00. At 9 00, the house of representatives will come in. At 9 00, the second hearing in the second day of taking a look at the articles of impeachment will take place, expected to work on amendments, work on the articles themselves and a Committee Vote expected. You can watch that starting at at0 at cspan 3 and follow cspan. Org and the radio app. We will take a second to turn focus from domestic issues and look at International Issues in the United Kingdom as they hold elections today and what they might mean for the future of what is known as brexit. Joining us is matt colchester. Good morning to you. Guest good morning. Host when it comes to what happens today and if people have not been following closely, explain what is expected. Caller there is a general election in the u. K. Where voters have the choice between backing Boris Johnson who has brexit, theeliver split with the European Union by the end of january or if he doesnt get a majority, it is likely we will see an alliance of smaller parties who will push for a second brexit referendum putting the question of whether brexit should leave the e. U. Back to the british people again. Host is brexit the driving force in this election . Caller that is a good question. Boris johnson has made brexit the central plank saying this is a oneoff vote to decide whether the u. K. Does go ahead with brexit or not. The Opposition Labour Party has focused on traditional issues such as public spending, healthcare, policing, and such. This is a bizarre election because it is not playing out like most elections in the u. K. People are not just voting for domestic issues, they are voting because of this issue of brexit. The districts that traditionally voted labor may vote conservative. It is a very unpredictable election. Host the wall street journal sites health care being part of the process as a concern of voters. Guest yes. I think the u. K. Has just phase coming out of this long period of austerity where public spending was squeezed after the financial crash and that meant spending on health care, policing, and housing went down. People are angry about that and that is something the Opposition Labour Party are trying to use to get into power. The question is whether that will trump this issue of brexit. It looks like Boris Johnson is. N course to win an election his message of getting brexit done is resonating with the British Public who have lived through three years of political chaos and want to see an end to this. Host what has Boris Johnson done to secure or promote his message . Caller he has been touring around areas of the midland in the center of the u. K. , areas that traditionally were voting, butlabor voted to leave the e. U. Traditionally, you never voted for my party, but now is the time because i can deliver on brexit. We can hold a second referendum. We can push it back to the British Public to see if they want to split with a trading partner split with the u. K. s trading partner. Host we see we saw Boris Johnsons comments on the idea the United States should stay out of this election. Does President Trump play a factor in this at all . Guest yes. President trump played a big role. Saying brexit was a good thing that is something the Opposition Labour Party has tried to weaponize. In the u. K. , President Trump propositione a high rating. There is a lot of worry in the u. K. That would result in labor rights and Health Standards falling to match those in the u. S. He has played a large role in this election. Host assuming Boris Johnson wins, what happens next . Caller he will form a government and he will very quickly move to pass legislation in parliament to enact the with the e. U. , which should happen before january 31. That does not mean the brexit saga is over. It is important the u. K. Does secure deep access to the e. U. Mr. Johnson says he can secure a trade deal within with the e. U. Within a year. Trade experts are doubtful this can happen, so there will be a fight about whether the u. K. Goes for a barebones deal with the e. U. Or if brexit plays out over a longer period as a more indepth deal is negotiated. Is a Max Colchester correspondent talking about the u. K. Elections. Thank you for your time. Guest many thanks. Host we will be simulcasting the bbcs coverage of the election on cspan 2. You can watch that starting at 6 00 this evening. Appreciate you listening at me. I stayed up several hours last cspan andng at this listening to collins and Jerrold Nadler and i am going to tell people need to look more at that kind of been that kind of talk that has been going through the fbi and where the democrats have gotten a lot that didinformation not fit right with trump and apologyds to be a big to trump from the democrats taking information from the fbi that is not true and even to changed. At have been host talking about the release of the Inspector General report looking at instances of how this the inspector accuses the fbi of gross incompetent gross incompetence. Michael horowitz debunked President Trumps accusation the fbi conspired to overthrow his presidency, he insisted his report was no exoneration citing the serious errors, omissions, and misleading statements in itrt wiretap findings does not mitigate anyone at the fbi who touched this. You heard the caller talk about the coverage. This is the senate Judiciary Committee chair Lindsey Graham asking the Inspector General Michael Horowitz if that report indicated the efforts of then fbi director james comey. [video clip] games come he said this week your report vindicates him. Is that a Fair Assessment of your report . I think the activities do not indicate anybody who touched this. Host that hearing is available on cspan if you want to see that. That was one of the other major things that happened on capitol hill alongside articles of impeachment efforts made last night in the House Judiciary Committee, which continues today starting at 9 00. David in West Virginia, independent line. Pedro. Good morning, the democrats run on a platform to takech the president over the house and they will have a partisan vote to impeach him. Why cant republicans run on a platform to take the house back each thempeach unimp president. This is a joke and the republicans can get back. Democrats are saying it is my way or the highway. They will continue that into the election. Host helen in florida, democrats line. Caller i would like the republicans to please address the facts. It tell me why they are blocking subpoenas, which is a legal action, why they dont let Rudy Giuliani and all the people, Mick Mulvaney all those people to testify. Why is that ok to block his tax returns . Why doesnt he comply to the laws . That is the question and all the other things about biden and all that is all you must address the issues. Host are you saying those people should testify before the articles of impeachment go forward . Caller yes. I am also saying all these supporters are trump why thent they explain president doesnt answer the subpoenas . Why the people in his administration because think why dont republicans address those issues . Host the Washington Post reports if this goes to the senate, the potential witness list that could come about. The Washington Post highlighting the attention is over whether to allow witnesses who could turn the trial into even more of a contentious affair. Includes adamst schiff, Speaker Pelosi, joe biden and his son, hunter, as well as the anonymous whistleblower whose complaints about the conversations led to the house impeachment inquiry. Any agreement to call a witness would require 51 votes and if democratic votes were needed to end an impasse, Chuck Schumer would demand his own list of witnesses as part of any compromise and under Mitch Mcconnells thinking, this could mean calling Vice President mike pence and the Top White House aides including the acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, to testify. Host we will go to greg in alabama, republican line. Pedro. Good morning, i am afraid america is becoming numb to this subject. As important as it is, we saw a freshman rep come in and use the that was herdid agenda, to impeach the president , you have to be suspect, this is before this came about. From day 1, this was her job, what she was elected for. That puts a cloud over the process. You cannot trust a congress that says their job is to impeach the president. Their job is to inflict the will of the people. What we are seeing is a Democratic Party that is scared to death. When you are leading candidates answer to an 83yearold man when they make an acquisition as rudely as he did is to challenge pushup contest their only choice may be to impeach. Host spring hill, florida, independent line. Ler i am independent line independent now, but i was raised in a republican family. The president all the way up through clinton. When i voted for nixon, i got into a conversation with my father and said how can they convict him . How can they say he was to be impeached . He told me, jeff, did he do it . Said heg to what they i heard theit and tapes. He said never be ashamed of removing a president who breaks the law, that is the purpose of our country, never put the president above the law. I listened to the Mueller Report , which they said they could not convict him of the crimes of what he did, but the Mueller Report did say he absolutely coordinated efforts with the russians, passed information to them, he knew they were infiltrating our government and now we move to this, which is almost the same thing, trying to and theth ukraine people who were working there actually involved stood up and testified there was a quid pro. Uo, he did this i listened to republicans during this hearing last night, yesterday, and they were saying obstruction of congress is not an impeachable offense. If it is not an impeachable offense, if what he did is not an impeachable offense, they should never charge anybody for anything because he is as guilty as the day is long, Everybody Knows it. I am ashamed of the Republican Party for not standing up for the truth, not standing up for the constitution, not standing up for what is right. Host lets hear from a republican last night, at the articles of impeachment hearing. , their effortsk to impeach the president. [video clip] 20 first, 2017, Maxine Waters tweeted get ready for impeachment. March 21, 2017. On may 16th, representatives from this committee a representative became the second member of the house to raise the topic of future impeachment proceedings. Representative brad sherman and al green introduced the first impeachment resolution for obstruction of justice and russian interference in july of 2017. Hen introduced co 5 articles of impeachment against President Trump in november 2017. Representative tlaib said we are going to impeach the blank during a swearingin ceremony. When al green 6 set i am concerned if we dont impeach this president , he will get reelected . Democrats could not let go of the russian collusion story even when Robert Mueller stated the Trump Campaign did not coordinate with russia. 95 colleagues of ours voted in favor of proceeding to impeachment on july 17, 2019. 16 of our democratic colleagues voted for that. It is clear my democrat colleagues prejudged this case and ignore the president case to. Ssert executive privilege democrats are so righteous in their belief President Trump must be impeached, they ignore plain facts. Host the Washington Times takes a look at what happens after today and next week if a vote happens. Senate democrats would need defectors for the two thirds majority vote required to convict the president and remove him from office. Houseats hold 31 districts. Rightthose are considered republican pickup. They keep saying they need more time to consider the articles. Ne from pennsylvania, democrats line. Caller i wanted to make a comment i am very happy that because being impeached the guy, since he has been in there has been a nothing but a habitual liar and made fun of people, refusing to see show his taxes and says bad things about women. Why do these people republicans stand behind him . They are afraid of losing their job and they should not be afraid of that. They are in the office to uplift the office, not life or a man who refuses to show lie for a man who refuses to show his taxes. Host mark from new york, republican line. Caller this is president black guy. On tv they ask why do you refuse to show your taxes . I like the answer, it is none of your business. Calling people names is not illegal. The reason i voted for trump is alluse he said if you let the wrong people in, you will have the biggest trojan horse. Democrats are hurt because they were wrong for three years. Host what do you think about the articles of impeachment that have been presented . Caller a pretty pretty flimsy. They are making their own words. Host why do they do you call them flimsy . Caller they are not substantial. Host why do you come to that conclusion . Caller you cannot find anything, that means they are saying he made a phone call, these are flimsy articles of impeachment. Host mark in new york calling about the process playing out on the articles of impeachment with the House Judiciary Committee meeting last night. You can see that meeting at our website, cspan. Org. The second part takes place today, 9 00 is the start time where members of the committee will not only take a look at the articles themselves, there is expected to be the presentation of amendments to that, votes on that. The amendments will be presented by republicans. Cspan 3,ee that on cspan. Org, and the radio app. The New York Times highlights how republicans have been managing this process, reaching out to fellow republicans. Katie rogers reporting white house Officials Say they have learned a few things about party unity since then with the house vote and senate trial all but forgone conclusions, the goal will be to keep republicans in lockstep with the president and on message. A Charm Offensive to keep Congressional Republicans started months ago that included movie nights in the east wing, lunches and dinners at the white house with the president and trips to camp david. Mick mulvaney has hosted 56 republicans in recent weeks. They come out and we are all on the same page. One of the reasons they are doing it, they will tell you, is messages work in their districts, the whether rightleaning, leftleaning, or down the middle. Sam from florida. Caller how are you doing . That lady took my thunder when she started talking. I was not going to vote for trump way before this started. When you can lie about a weather map, you can lie about anything. He lied about having sex with those two women. He had a one night affair with the one. He is wanted in new york. If he does not make president , he will be charged like michael cohen, he will be sitting right next to michael cohen. Host what about the articles of impeachment that have been presented . Caller they could also add the emoluments clause. Mentioned tong he trump, i stayed at your hotel. He gets all his money from saudi arabia. Host that is not expected to be a part of the articles. Caller they could also put in 10 Mueller Report, 8 or obstruction of justice is. I am not saying he is doing some things good for the country. Host what do you think about the articles that have been presented as they are, particularly as they pertain to the ukraine call . Caller first of all, he wanted joe biden to go on cspan and say they were investigating his son. Host i think it was cnn. Caller and he said there is no pressure. This guy said i felt pressure, do you think he would get another payment . This argument the guy did not know and he said there was no pressure, would you say there was pressure . Somebodynot take saying something bad about him. He said the lady would not hang his picture up. In florida. S stan republican doug collins has an oped in usa today about the articles of impeachment that have been presented giving his take and his pushback saying the notion that withholding foreign aid from historically corrupt country and releasing the eight after the new administration enacted anticorruption reform represents an abuse of power failed to enrage the taxpayers whose paychecks fund that aid and the most dangerous lie told by leading democrats is the president stands guilty until proven innocent. An extension of the lie is only a guilty person would resist being railroaded. When the speaker puts on the onus puts the onus on the president to produce information that demonstrates his innocence, the speaker of the peoples house is denying an american the presumption of innocence. That is some of the exchange doug collins has if you want to read his oped. Janie from dayton, ohio, you are next, democrats line. You hear Different Things and what i could not understand as i thought i heard a rumor earlier last night that if they have a thing in the senate, they will not call witnesses. If you were not guilty, wouldnt you want to express to yourself i am not guilty . He is blanketing everything to run out the clock and i heard other people Say Something about flimsy evidence. To prove that is to put it on the floor or it i have never heard anybody ignore a subpoena. They still will come and answer questions like a woman or man. He is doing any of that. That is like a king. Host from massachusetts, republican line. Caller good morning. Thank you, pedro. That guy said he never heard about people ignoring a subpoena, check eric holder. What about the irs deal . This is nothing but a sham to make President Trump look bad. The obstruction of justice of congress is ridiculous. Weaponizing the doj and the fbi of the cia, that is abuse congressional that israel abuse. That is real abuse. Ukraine is one of the most corrupt countries in the world was notr government even established with a parliament and everything until around july 21. Those funds, i think trump was back holding back something until he knew there was going to be an established government that would fight the corruption that was going on through the oligarchs. They were pumping money into burisma and funneling it to other people. That is where i am standing. Host about one hour we have been taking your calls on the latest phase of the articles of impeachment. That hearing, 9 00 on cspan 3. Follow along on cspan. Org and the radio app. The house comes in at 9 00 and when it does, we will take you to them. We will take calls for the next hour. 2027488001 for republicans. For republicans. 202 7488000 for democrats. And for independents, 202 7488002. If you want to text us, do so at 202 7488003. As the previous caller mentioned, the fbi report with the Inspector General in front of Congress Talking about failures of the fbi. The hill characterizes some of what was revealed. It was a bad day for the fbi, saying that the testimony laid bare the extent of the breakdown in the fbis use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to monitor carter page, a point republicans repeatedly hammered. Quote, i think the activities we found dont vindicate anybody who touched this. The hill pease says the hearing provides fodder for the president and his allies the piece says the hearing provides fodder for the president and his allies. Horwitz reiterated he found no testimonial or documentary evidence of political bias or improper motivation drive in fbis decision. And then a rare agreement for the reform of the process, saying republicans and democrats appeared in agreement on one thing following wednesdays hearing, the need for changes to the pfizer program to avoid missteps that horowitz identified in the report. Lindsey graham saying he would like to see more checks and balances. Talking about the role of the attorney general that was played in conducting a parallel probe into the origins of the russia probe. [video clip] in a press Statement Issued monday, u. S. Attorney john durham tasked by attorney general barr to also investigate the origins of the russia investigation, stated and i quote, last month, we advised the ig that we do not agree with some of the reports conclusions as to predication and how the fbi case was opened. What is your reaction to that . I was surprised by the statement. I did not necessarily know it was going to happen monday. We did meet with mr. Durham, we provided him with a copy of the ourrt as we did others to factual accuracy review process. We met with him in november with regard to that. We did discuss the opening issue. He said he did not necessarily agree with our conclusion about the opening of a full counterintelligence investigation, which is what alsowas but there was investigative means by which the fbi can move forward with an investigation. It is called april luminary investigation. There are two types, full and preliminary. Meeting thatg the the information from the friendly Foreign Government was in his view, sufficient to support the per luminary investigation the preliminary investigation. Investigative steps such as confidential human source activities are allowed under a preliminary investigation or full investigation. Or durhamher barr present information that contradicted your findings . No. Host fox news reporting on some of those findings, saying the now infamous steele dossier sunday the 26 teen election provided much of the incident much of the information used in the fisa renewal. Quote, we determined that prior the fbiuring the fisa, was unable to cooperate any of these is any of the specific allegations against carter page and relied on was only able to confirm the accuracy of limited facts, most of them were in public domain. The information confirmed was only the timing of events and dates when carter page travel to russia. That is the fox news take of it. The former attorney general talking about bill barr in an oped in the near times under the in the New York Times, under the headline william barr is unfit to be the attorney general. As a former line prosecutor, i find it alarming to hear bar commenting on them Ongoing Investigation into the overages of the russia probe. As someone who spent six years in the office, bar it is infuriating to watch him public he undermined an independent Inspector General report based on an exhaustive review of the fbis conduct using partisan talking points very no resemblance to the facts of his own Department Adding that the American People deserve an attorney general serves their interests, leads the Justice Department with integrity and can be trusted to respect the raw respect the law even when it is politically inconvenient to the president who appointed them. That all played out yesterday. If you want to watch the full hearing, we invite you to go to our website to view that hearing for yourself. That played out as efforts on the impeachment inquiry played out in the House Judiciary Committee. That is what we are talking to you about. Eric in maryland, independent line. Go ahead. Caller good morning. Notd to argue understanding how people are not putting the pieces together. President trump suspicion on , whenf from the candidacy he asked russia to hack emails and then they did. It is well understood that trump had interest and businesses in russia. You can kind of draw the line there and his appointment of tillerson as secretary of state when we know that president obama had put sanctions on russia for invading for mia invading crimea. It really ties back into he is casting suspicion on himself. The russia probe was valid. There,collusion was not it is easy to see influence was there and his interests and his movements have been in favor of having not to mention russian representatives in the white house and the oval office. It just doesnt make sense why an innocent print incident an innocent president would not remove himself and try to remove all doubt or any suspicion. Texas,ets go to tony in democrats line. Caller i am a democrat, a proud democrat but unfortunately i think that my own party has been and leter by the mafia President Trump be judge and his uncut abilities which so far i dont think he has done anything that he says he did. Deal, america does not get anything from that big nafta deal. We dont get nothing. Pelosi saying we are getting all of this stuff, that is just a big lie. I call for a noconfidence vote in our entire government because i think the democrats and the republicans are all in bed together and if they ever try to put donald trump in prison, he will come after them one by one because he is a billionaire and you dont put billionaires in prison. Host our next caller in louisiana, republican line. Caller good morning. To thees me, listening democrats,om republicans and independents, how different everyone is hearing what is going on. I try to listen to the various medias and i try to read and find things on the internet. But if you are working hard and paying taxes, it is hard to find the right stuff and figure it out but i do know one thing, that our country stands for innocent until Proven Guilty and equal justice under the law. Host how do you think that applies to the articles of impeachment that we have been seeing . Caller when i looked at them announcing the articles of impeachment, every one of them were in lockstep with each other from the beginning. Of course you realize that since the election it was a knife fight with the republicans. They have not been in lockstep at they have been accused of being in lockstep. Himself toproved some of them so now they are supporting him and the ones that couldnt support him have left and that is what you are supposed to do if you dont agree with somebody and you dont want to support him. You dont impeach him. It seems so crazy to me that they are trying to do that with somebody. Host ok. That is kathy in louisiana. A room that has become quite familiar if you have seen the several hearings that have taken place. This continues on today. The articles of impeachment being considered directly by the House Judiciary Committee, amendments reportedly expected to be offered and at the end of the day, a vote to vote out of committee. If that happens, expect it to go to the full floor of the house next week. 9 00 is when that starts. Cspan3 is where you can watch it. If you want to watch the proceedings from yesterday, where members had a chance for Opening Statements to give perspective, you can do so at cspan. Org. Along with available other impeachment available other impeachment material. Vice president mike pences council between the Vice President and ukraines president , calling the request illegitimate because the impeachment inquiry has concluded in a letter to the House Intelligence Committee , it servesam schiff no purpose to declassify onelement of testimony from who pressed the Vice President last week to declassify supplemental testimony from one of the Vice President s National Security aides, jennifer williams. Louisiana, james on our independent line. Caller good morning. For giving usan this free forum to speak. People we the people need fromt our perspectives facts. We need to take the facts as they are and use our brains. By our to be hypnotized leaders whether it be President Trump, democrats or the republicans, but they have agendas. Somehow we seem to have gotten so visceral with our emotions that we dont want to believe what we see an thank you cspan for not putting spin on it and allowing us allowing this free forum. Host which narrative are you believing that has been told . Ofler right now, because our president s actions before he was elected, and he was duly elected, and i will say i didnt like him but the facts are showing that because of his. Verall behavior thatinclined to believe due to the circumstances and the facts, that he should be impeached. Host ok. Lets hear from evan from ine in california emma california, democrats line. Caller i believe he should be impeached because of the abuse of powers article. Withoutone things consulting anybody else. Like the kurdish people, those were our allies. Host how does the abuse of power apply in this case concerning ukraine . He did it upon himself to send Rudy Giuliani over there to make deals and then he told the president , whatever his name is, he was holding their money. The same way he closed down our government for 35 days. That was a hostage negotiation. That was the same thing they did with ukraine. You want the money, the security, youve got to go and say this and put out a false line. It is hard to take back ally because that is what he did to hillary. And thate back a lie is what he did to hillary. He wants money. He never showed his tax reform reports and everything. We dont know how much money he has. He might not be as rich as he was saying he was because he lies all the time. Emma in stockton, california. Even as this plays out, other events on capitol hill this week. The topic of spending, one of those concerns about some members of congress, particularly as the december 20 headline deadline comes up. The holiday rush on capitol hill is in full swing and the bipartisan lethargy is showing signs of easing even as the house debates articles of impeachment. Senate house negotiators are trying to agree on a bundle beening bill but there has an abundance of bipartisan dealmaking. Mix on the in the most recent bargaining. Quote, people may be coming to the conclusion that there is more to life than judges and impeachment even though judges and impeachment are important. I suspect that feeling will grow if we go to an impeachment trial in january. I expect there be a strong appetite for Bipartisan Legislation that is important to the country, using the walk and two gum metaphor. Among other matters, recently passed legislation to streamline the process for the approval of ingredients sold in drugs without a prescription. Also a bipartisan deal that would provide 250 5 million annually to historically black colleges and a streamlined federal student aid form. Mike is next from virginia. Beef is withggest the articles of impeachment. A couple of observations. First of all, there is nothing in the articles of impeachment about bribery which was supposed to be something they were looking at but i think indicates they did not have legal sufficiency to prove anything. The abuse of power to the nations detriment is to prove that you have to show getnt and unless they giuliani or trump on the stand, you will not know what the intent is. Thirdly, the instruction of congress, that is a made up charge. I heard earlier callers talking about blocking subpoenas but the way the Government Works is if you think a subpoena is unreasonable or unlawful, you have every right to dispute that in the courts. My understanding is the executive branch has done that and it is on the congress and Judicial Branch to make a ruling that yes you have to file follow the subpoena or you dont. That hasnt happened yet, then the process hasnt been followed and they have not blocked a subpoena. Host you saw as the camera was sweeping past the chairs of the various members that we will see , hank johnson of the georgia democrats, it was last night during these Opening Statements that each of the members were allowed he talked about why he changed his mind when he came to impeachment. [video clip] until this investigation began i did not support impeaching President Trump. I would like to tell you what changed my mind. America first. We have heard those words a lot recently. We have not always agreed on what they mean. But we know this. Our founders created impeachment so that no president could place himself above the law. Impeachment gives congress the ability and the responsibility to put america first. I dont take that responsibility lightly. While i did not vote for President Trump, i respect the office he holds. I did not call for impeachment when the president shut down our government or tried to Rip Health Care from those with preexisting conditions or embarrassed us on the world stage, or pardoned political cronies or took money from our troops to fund his wall, or tour babies from their mothers at the border. I did not call for his impeachment then, not because i supported this president s actions. I simply felt that impeachment should be reserved for moments when our democracy itself is in danger. When the sign says in case of emergency break glass, there better be one heck of an emergency. I did not call for impeachment before, but i call for impeachment today because this is one heck of an emergency. The facts are clear. President trump undermined americas foreignpolicy to pursue what his own National Security staff called a domestic political errand. ,e withheld military aid putting Americas National hisrity at risk in what handpicked ambassador called a quid pro quo. Host that took place at the House Judiciary Committee. 9 00 they will continue their work on the articles of impeachment. The hill reports on represented of ted lieu, a democrat from california, that he underwent surgery tuesday after experiencing chest pain and was absent from congress for the remainder of the week. They also said he was admitted to George Washington University Hospital on monday evening with chest pain but tests showed no sign of heart damage. Successfulderwent a surgery after ct scans showed a park showed a partial blockage of an artery. He plans to be back at work next week according to his chief of staff. Evelyn in connecticut. Good morning on our independent line. Caller i guess i should say they the lord bless representative lou with continued good luck good health. What i wanted to say was that given the overall impression when i listen to the impeachment hearings in the ig report hearings, in the ig report hearings, i see a lot of people trying to hide the truth from the fisa court, make up things and the truth matters to me. Impugning asked to not any motives of those people. When i listen to the impeachment the president ar trying to get at the truth of some corruption in the question is, why was he doing that and what were his motives . Isont think that that sufficiently proven with the fact we have now. It might be. On the other hand, the truth matters to me. I would like to know the truth about possible corruption and anything going on with the bidens. Podesta jakeyhen emails were released, i was unhappy that russians hacked the dnc. That is not appropriate. They were warned. They probably could have done something about it. However the content of the Podesta Emails did matter to me because if im going to be influenced, i want to be influenced with the truth and the truth of the Podesta Emails was insulting and upsetting. Elitist and antireligion. That offended me. I am interested in the truth. When you see the democrats in the impeachment hearing so fired up about the constitution, but when i watched the ig report, i dont hear the same people fired up about the constitution, and all of these violations of privacy. Host that is evelyn in connecticut, talking about that Inspector General report in the hearing that took place yesterday. One of the exchanges with the Inspector General was with the texas senator ted cruz who talked about errors of the fisa application as it pertained to former Trump Campaign manager carter page. [video clip] the number two major error in the applications was submitting carter pages prior relationship was omitting carter pages prior relationship. He functioned as a source for the United States intelligence agency. That is a pretty important fact. If you are telling the fisa court the fact that this guy, carter page two i dont know but the fact that he is talking to russia is really suspicious, well the fact that he is serving as a source for u. S. Intelligence agents is pretty relevant to why he is talking to russia because we have lots of sources talking to bad guys. When you dont tell the court that, you are deceiving the court. It is worse than just deceiving the court. Because as the oig report altered an email, fabricated evidence and specifically the words and not a source had been inserted into the email. That email then was sent on to the officials responsible for making the decision to go ,orward and as the report said 256 of the on page report, the final paragraph consistent with the Inspector General act of 1978 and following oigs discovery that the odc attorney had altered the email that he sent to the supervising agent who thereafter relied on it to swear out the final fisa application. The men and women at home need to know what is happening. A lawyer at the fbi creates fraudulent evidence, alters in email. That is used as the basis for a sworn statement to the court that the court relies on. Am i stating that accurately . That is correct. That is what occurred. Host that is a portion of the whole hearing that took place yesterday. Go to our website at cspan. Org if you want to watch that. If you want to watch the Opening Statements of the House Judiciary Committee when it comes to impeachment, you can go to our website as well. If you want to watch on your computer when it starts at 9 00, you can do so at sues bit at cspan. Org, cspan3 if you will be in front of a television. You can also download our free cspan radio app. That hearing starting at 9 00. We will go to the house of his is at 9 00 but cspan3, you will see people in the chairs debating the articles of impeachment starting at 9 00. Representatives at 9 00 but cspan3, you will see people in the chairs debating articles of impeachment sorting it on 00 starting at 9 00. Will vote against articles of impeachment that outlined the case for the president s removal from office. A democrat who represents has been a vocal opponent to the impeachment effort, examining whether the president pressured ukraine to investigate his political rival, former Vice President joe biden. He says the president s conduct was not grounds for impeachment and that impeachment would only help the president in 2020. Quote, i dont see anything theyre worthy of taking the president out of office. I am concerned about splitting our nation apart. Pennsylvania, democrats line. Caller thankfully me get a word in edge wise. Looking at the articles, on the top of page five in the bottom of page four, third could be something added about House Resolution 3047 and part of that says that it is to support ukraines sovereignty and support the right of the people of ukraine to freely determine their future and the rest of the paragraph says without interference, intimidation or coercion. Reading this, it looks like those things have happened, it would be something that could be considered to be added to the articles, something specifically that is part of a house for solution, 3047 that is not being followed. Host from connecticut, republican line, we will hear from paul. Caller hi. I have been watching the program, watching the impeachment and it reminds me of the mccarthy days. If everybody were members, Everybody Knows that turnaround they were told they were guilty, put out of work, they did not get to work in hollywood for x number of years. We are doing the exactly same we are doing the exact same thing. When i ordered the ussr magazine and it came to the house, my parents had a fit because it implied that i was a communist in those days. Now we are saying with the flimflam evidence we have here ,hat we have russia doing this we have crimea doing this, etc. We have always had people interfering with our elections, whether it was local elections or the national elections. We need to be on guard for those things but at the same time, we cannot have federal agencies turning around and falsifying documents to gain some purpose. Whatever that purpose is. When we say there was not any bias or evidence of bias and i listened to some of the things that were said, i cannot conceive that there was not some bias. Is, the important thing russians are coming. The germans are coming. The french are coming. Everybody is coming, why . Int lets go to patricia bryan, alabama, independent line. I am independent because i am antipartisan, i am not republican or democrat. What we tend to forget is that they are impeaching a president and it all got started by the democrats and Hillary Clinton dos a false then railroaded a bunch of people and now we are crying foul, i dont think he should be impeached. Sibley because they dont have enough evidence and all the evidence points to the wrongdoing on the democrats and Hillary Clinton but i dont see anybody squawking about that. You cant impeach a president because you dont like what he says or what he tweets or what he is doing. You can impeach him if he is doing something against the constitution. You can impeach him if he is jeopardizing us. As far as i can see, he hasnt done anything. He has kept all of his Campaign Promises which is more than i can say when i voted for obama and i voted for him twice. Host that is patricia in alabama. You saw the two chairs were both the chairman and the ranking member, jerry nadler and doug sitins respectively will alongside the other members of the House Judiciary Committee at that hearing that starts at 9 00. What is expected to happen today, the marking up, so to speak of the articles, i possible presentation of amendments to the articles of impeachment. You can see that at 9 00 starting at cspan3, cspan. Org and the cspan radio app. Some of the Senate Perspective taking a look at this process, the National Review highlighting senator joe mansion, the democrat from West Virginia saying it was yesterday that he was torn regarding whether he would vote to commit the president once the proceedings reached the senate, saying i am very much torn on it. I think it weighs on everybody. A moderate, as democrat in the home state of West Virginia, they gave the president a 68. 5 of the vote in the 2016 election, the largest margin of any state in the United States. , 59 ofeleased their voters in the state are against impeaching the president. In georgia, next democrats line. Caller hey there. Host hello. Is ir the oddest thing actually lean more toward the Republican Values but i guess the reason i am calling in is not a political thing, except that there has been a lot of asormation thrown at us citizens of the United States of america, and i love my country and i have to say this, i really was torn between a lot of stuff because i looked at the entire picture, the Democrat Point of view, the Republican Point of view, a bunch of good people on both sides. My point is i realized the truth when our ambassadors answered the questions we asked them and i have never seen a group of people that have honored our country more than our ambassadors. From the first person that sent down to the last one. Host so they changed your mind on the situation . Guest apps caller absolutely. What i saw them stand for was not only justice but themeousness and i saw deal with everyone with love and if we dont have love, how can we ever be just or righteous and that is why parties are such a conflict, we have forgotten that. I want to remind america that who we are really ambassadors of, which is christ, who put things in place and has all the power. Our ambassadors have done our country a great service. I appreciate the opportunity. Host lets hear from emma in texas, republican line. Caller good morning and thank you for taking my call. Immigrant. L i come to this country because the idea of the respect of the law. What the Obama Administration power tog all the elect Hillary Clinton because everything they are accusing President Trump happened during Obama Administration. Use the power of. He fbi dropped. Hink emma we have told you time and time again. If you would not mind turning down your television. It makes it easier on everybody as far as talking to us and getting your point across and getting your thought across. Give us a call, 202 7488001 the republicans 202 7488001 for republicans. 202 7488000 for democrats. For independents, 202 7488002. Melanie is next on our independent line. Caller i want to start by saying that this is not about republican, democrat or independent. Bym an american first and cree as to every american. We need to reeducate ourselves on the constitution. The fact that we in the United States have no king for a reason. We live by our constitution and the rule of law and the truth. The fact that Rudy Giuliani intod that he was looking ukraine investigations and then trump on the south lawn calling out for china as well as ukraine to investigate a u. S. Citizen, that is absolutely unlawful, absolutely unconstitutional and absolutely grants the power of the house to impeach this president. Yorker, i feelw like we are reliving 9 11 with the planes bombing into our buildings. Host that is melanie in virginia, talking about what is expected to play out today at the House Judiciary Committee. We will start with the actual reading the meeting or hearing will start with the actual reading of the articles. That will be done by the chief clerk of the committee and then they will move on to the amendments. You can see the room filling up, legislators in place. Getting ready for that start time of 9 00. You can go over to cspan3 if you want to watch that. Several texts to show you. Randy saying when republicans mentioned the will of six 3 million voters, the democrats remind the gop that six to 6 million did not vote for trump. Another viewer in delaware saying i am stunned at how many democratic callers are willing to support and codify impeachment. President obama and his crew did a lot worse, selling guns to mexican drug cartels using the irs political opposition and it goes on from there. Byron from indiana says no proof of doing anything wrong. County members of congress who are trying to overturn our election have dual citizenship with an outside country . This is from anthony saying i think the articles of impeachment are sound and just and people calling in and defending the president are ignorant and only say what they hear from republicans spewing lies and propaganda. 202 7488003 is how you can text us your thoughts on this process. You can also call us on the line. Our Facebook Pages available as well. From las vegas, democrats line, this is tammy. Caller hi. I just had a tip for democrats out there. If you guys want to impeach the president , trying to pick something that doesnt point right back to your own horrible candidates awful corruption. We cant have people like the bidens running around the world drifting on our name, especially when they were trying to get rid of corruption. Now i have a tip for cspan. I used to like you guys a lot but at least when i turn on fox, which i dont do, or msnbc, they are honest about their agenda. For you guys to spend five minutes on horwitz and just give the light wash shows her partisanship. The day you guys had that person from the Kavanaugh Hearing with that horrible book that sold 1000 copies, you reached a low point for me. This impeachment porn is a low point. Host the impeachment is an important process to watch out. We spent several minutes talking about the report itself and showed several pieces of tape from the hearing itself. We broadcast the hearing itself yesterday with no interruption. I dont know any other network that did that. Maybe several did. Charles in virginia, republican line. Caller good morning. That iseachment inquiry now going to the judiciary, i just dont understand why the democrats has got to focus on impeachment instead of doing what is right for this country. Trump has released the transcripts of the call book. Of the call. Zelinski in ukraine said he was under no pressure. They have tried to impeach this president since day one and i dont think they are going to stop until they do it. Kids like a bunch of fighting over a candy bar. Host independent line from linda in texas. Caller good morning. I was calling because this made me sick to my stomach, it was like a kangaroo court. To where people already have their minds made up and the man is innocent and they just take him out and lynch him. It makes me sick to my stomach. I wanted to break down and cry. Host john in florida, democrats line. Caller good morning. Amazed that people can still feel that President Trump is innocent because the evidence is overwhelming. I can understand some people who havent been following things but the congressmen and senators who know these things and stand by and make arguments in favor of this president is shocking. He is corrupting this country. Host when you say the evidence is overwhelming, what do you. 2 . Caller the fact that he stood on the front lawn and announced he himself asked the president of ukraine to investigate biden. The information in the transcript that he himself put out. All of the testimony of his own employees, that there was indeed a quid pro quo. There is nothing else to look at. Host what makes it impeach of a in your mind quit what makes it impeachable in your mind . Caller he was using his authority as the president for his own personal gain. He was not doing it for the country. K is nexten from north to ken is next from North Carolina, republican line. Please tell me the difference. The other thing is, on joe biden, his son hunter, Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman are going to jail forget about the reason burisma. His son received two things to get into the navy. Those two things and while he he got an navy, administrative discharge. That is all i had to say. Host one more piece of tape from last night, this is John Ratcliffe talking about the articles of impeachment that were presented to the Committee Last night and questioning those articles. [video clip] today we are marking up two articles of impeachment, abuse of power and obstruction of congress. Nowhere in the constitution does it mention either one. Neither one has ever been sustained as the basis for impeachment, which explains why i have two members of congress, one republican and one democrat approached me on the floor whatrday to ask me exactly obstruction of congress means. They asked because they have never heard of it before. We are marking up articles of impeachment for offenses that arent crimes that some members of congress have never heard of before, much less know what it means. The democrats keep repeating over and over again, the president is not above the law. Ive said it before, the president is not above the law but he damn sure shouldnt be below it either. Democrats have tried this before during the mueller hearing. Democrat said repeatedly, unequivocally, that donald trump must be impeached from stretching of justice until they heard the special counsel admit to me that his obstruction of justice analysis was done under a oneofakind never before used the department of justice Legal Standard that inverted a perception of innocence to a presumption of guilt. Now the democrats are taking it one step further. Instead of creating Legal Standards out of thin air, they are creating impeachable offenses out of thin air. Whatever happened to quid pro quo, extortion and bribery . The democrats have been telling us it was clear, the facts are undisputed, the evidence was overwhelming, except it wasnt any of those things and now it is all gone. Instead they reached into the grab bag for a nebulous abuse of power accusation that legal scholars admit is not a crime. Now democrats say the president obstructed congress in its investigation into an alleged quid pro quo extortion bribery scheme that they now have to concede never existed in the first place. Where have i heard that before . Host as far as the other activity of congress, and its an editorial taking a look at the fda trade agreement, saying that that should be the focus and take a break take a break from impeachment. We dont pretend to know why House Speaker nancy pelosi minor tweaks to the United States makes a cocanada agreement or usmca, nor do we know whether she saw political advantage to doing this in the middle of impeachment process that is at best politically risky for democrats. We know ratification of the usmca would be a good thing and we urge congress to do so quickly. It is hard to find anyone desiring to speak against this agreement which would replace nafta as the document governing the change of goods and services among the north american neighbors. Franklin, new jersey, democrats line. Caller hello. Host you are on. Caller excellent. This president is not a billionaire. Millionaires dont use the countrys number the countrys money to prop up their own businesses, nor do they put up with taking other countrys money to increase their will to be president. He should be tossed out of the country, period. Line,ohio, republican larry good morning. Caller good morning. I think all of this goes back about five years. When biden wanted the prosecutor fired and he was fired and the democrats sent over blankets. What do blankets do . Now i think the president has done the same thing basically. He is checking into Different Things that is happening over dide and another thing, we send the missiles but i think the democrats are getting the cart before the horse for the simple fact that they think biden is going to be the next democratic president. Believe every time he opens his mouth he loses points. I think thats about all i have to say. Host joe in North Carolina, independent line. Caller you said joe . Host you are on. Caller looking at the situation, when they were talking to the professor, earlier this week, and he said that they should go to court and have the court decide if they should release the information. Host you mean professor jonathan turley, the republican called witness . Caller yes. They should have said to him, whats next and then he would say well the president appeals it and it goes to the federal they asked what then and he says well they say he should turn over information, so then what happens . Then he appeals it and you go to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court says you should turn this over to the government, to the congress and he says no i wont and the court says will you are in contempt of court which you probably cant do because they cant accuse the president of a crime and even if they did, who is going to arrest him . It sure isnt going to be the attorney general. People better think about it. Host joe from North Carolina adding those thoughts. Jesse in california, republican line. Caller yes. I am a republican in this beautiful country for 60 years. Ever the best president elected in power and he is really feeling for this country. Look at unemployment. Look at what mr. Obama did. 250 billion dollars to the terrorist regime of iran. Host how do those things relate to the articles of impeachment being debated today . Caller they should impeach mr. Clinton to where he lied to the court with that woman. Why they didnt impeach him . Host they did impeach him in the house. He was acquitted in the senate. Caller all the democrats are concerned because they know they will never have a chance to take mr. Trumps place because he is doing a fantastic job for this country. Host the New York Times highlighting what is on the table today, literally saying articles of impeachment run for nine pages, including two counts against President Trump. They will begin with the Committee Clerk reading those articles allowed. The first article, abuse of power accuses President Trump of withholding military aid and coveted white house meetings for ukraines president as leverage for extracting public announcements of investigations into former Vice President joe biden and his son as well as the unsubstantiated theory that ukraine conspired with democrats to swing the 2016 election. The second article, objection of Congress Charges that President Trump sought to cover up his own wrongdoing. That is on the articles debate will after the reading, we turn to the articles themselves and then the amendment process expected to begin. Cspan3 is how you watch. Cspan. Org or listen on our radio app. The house of a president is coming in about eight minutes from now. We will take you there at 9 00 when they come into session. That will be on our main channel. If youre interested in watching that hearing on television, cspan3 is how. Texas, democrats line, go ahead. Caller good morning. You are an amazing station and if anyone says you are not they are lying. Articles of impeachment, i am for trump being out of there. This is the United States of america, not the United States of russia, not president putin. I have a great friend from the ukraine and she says if people dont stand up to this president remember one i morning because people believe what they were saying, what putin and all were saying in one morning as a child we woke up and there were russian tanks outside of our windows. Doug collins, i cant believe this man is a minister. I cant believe he is a chaplain in the air force or the navy my whichever. I cant believe navy, whichever. I cant believe it. Ratcliffe, all of them, they are the biggest liars in step with trump. Cruz, the president accused his father of being a russian spy and if he was, who would have told him that but Vladimir Putin . You get up in the morning and look at your grandchildren and your children and your like what are they leaving us . What are they leaving our children . Host kathy is in michigan, independent line. Caller how are you this morning . Host fine, thank you, go ahead. Caller a few things i want to touch on. First of all, i am against this sham impeachment. I think the democrats ought to be impeached for abuse of power. , everybody has forgotten what trump has been saying all along. He is going to get to the bottom of 2016 and what took place. We got a good flavor for that from the ig report and ukraine is all part of 2016. But its didnt interfere doesnt mean ukraine didnt either. Host ok. Caller also one more thing. The dnc hack. Because most everybody said it was russia, people are forgetting. There was a man by the name of rich who worked for the dnc. Host that is kathy in michigan. We will go to debbie in maryland. Republican line. Caller i hope everyone is well today. Two things i would like to say. When you impeach a president on these grounds which add up to nothing, you hurt the country, you rip it apart. Instance a democratic president comes. You make it easy for him to be impeached on no grounds, nothing. It is very serious. The people out there, the democrats, i will say are not understanding what they are doing. It is very serious thing. Next,sharon from ohio, up democrats line. Caller can anyone think of any action that trump has taken that does not benefit Vladimir Putin . Who benefited from his withdrawal of our military exercises in south korea . Russia. Who benefited from trump giving secret intelligence to russians in the oval office . Who benefited from trump blaming for interference of our elections . Who benefits from trumps undermining the Nato Alliance . Host how does that apply to todays events with impeachment . Caller if i could continue. Host we are running close on time. You already put quite a list out there. Go ahead. How does that relate to articles of impeachment . Caller the evidence is clear and overwhelming. We are becoming like russia. He imprisons,s is kills or means his opponents. If we are allowed to do a hit job on an opponent like trump is trying to do, then we are going to be just like russia and that is who he why did we withdraw from syria and leave the kurds to die . Allianceited from the with the turkish president . Host alicia from maryland, independent line. Caller good morning. To thes listening representatives speak last night, i noticed that the democrats spoke specifically about President Trump and his actions while the republicans seemed to speak a lot about the democrats and for me, i heard very little of them actually evenering or defending or doing much to substantiate that the president had done nothing wrong. To listen to that was very interesting. They talked about how President Trump gave approved 82 ukraine two previous years but this year was the first time he withheld the aid and it anything to interrupt that transfer and did anything to interrupt that transfer. That is interesting because why now . What is different about this year . Ben in louisiana, republican line. ,aller i appreciate the call you accepting my call. I have been a democrat for 40 years. I recently changed because what has happened right now. For two oring on three years now. The difference between democracy and a republic, and that is why they keep using the word democracy, it sounds like democrat but the difference between democracy and a republic is a democracy relies on anarchy or a monarchy. A republic, you elect your representatives. That is why we are a republic. People need to think about that before they go vote. Louisiana. Is ben in just about to start the house of representatives daily session when they work on legislation including prescription drugs. If you want to watch the hearings taking a look at the articles of impeachment set to start just about now, you can do so by going over to cspan3. You can monitor it at cspan. Org. You can listen along on our free cspan radio app. We will take you to the house of a present ofs. Of representatives. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc. , in cooperation with the United States house of representatives. Any use of the closedcaptioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u. S. House of representatives. ]