Following the house votes to impeach President Trump, House Speaker nancy pelosi joined by House Democratic leaders including Intelligence Committee chair adam schiff and judiciary Committee Chair jerry nadler holt held a news conference. The speaker was asked whether she would delay sending the articles of impeachment to the senate. This is a sad day that we had to introduce articles of impeachment. We have been legislating, investigating and litigating. To a, that came culmination on the floor of the house and the judiciary the guidance of Jerrold Nadler of new york and the Intelligence Community under adam schiff of california brought the articles of impeachment to the floor to a conclusion where they have passed. I thank them for their tremendous leadership. I think chairwoman Maxine Waters of california of the Financial Services committee and the chair of the ways and means committee, carolyn malone, chair of the government reform Oversight Committee and of course, adam schiff, the chair of the Intelligence Committee for their great work overtime. I just want to say before yielding to the chairman that i could not be prouder or more inspired than by the moral courage of the house democrats. We never asked one of them how they were going to vote. You saw the public statements that some of them made. We saw the result when everyone else did. Flooratements on the true patriotism and about to the vision of our founders. I view this day, this vote as honor thewe did to vision of our founders to , thelish a republic sacrifice government and women in uniform to defend our democracy and that republic and the aspirations of our children, that they will always live in a democracy and that we have tried to do everything we can to make sure that that is their reality. We will hear from eric chairman and then take questions. Is the distinguished chair of the judiciary committee, Jerrold Nadler. Thank you. The framers reserved the power of impeachment for the gravest offenses against our constitution, against our liberty and against our democratic institutions. President trump used the powers of his office for his own personal political gain to the detriment of the National Security interest of the United States. That is the very definition of an impeachable offense. When congress began to investigate President Trumps wrongdoing, he engaged in an unprecedented pattern of obstruction. That too, is why the impeachment power exists. The president who subverts our elections and are caused and our constitutional system of checks and balances puts himself above the law and it is the duty of congress to hold any president accountable. It gives us no pleasure to stand here today. President trump conduct has put our next election at risk. His behavior tests the integrity of our Constitutional Order at risk. His actions put the rule of law at risk. The framers gave us the power of impeachment for exactly this reason and in full foam went over oath and obligation to the American People, today we took action to hold President Trump accountable for the serious and undisputed risk he poses to our free and Fair Elections and to the separation of powers that safeguard their liberty. A president must not be allowed to become a dictator. , want to thank Speaker Pelosi chairman adam schiff, my fellow investigative chairs and all my colleagues who today defended the principles upon which our country was founded. The house of representatives did its constitutional duty and lived up to our responsibility to the American People by taking action to defend our National Security, to preserve our showratic elections and that no one, not even the president is above the law. Im happy to introduce the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, adam schiff. The president of the United States has been impeached. For now, its the third time in history. The president of the United States should be tried in the question is now whether senator mcconnell will allow a fair trial in the senate. Its whether the majority leader will allow a trial that involves witnesses and testimony and documents, a trial that should be fair to the president , yes, but should be fair also to the American People. The American People want to hear from people like john bolton, the American People want to hear from people like mick mulvaney. The American People want to see within those documents that the president has been hiding at the state department in the office of management and budget, in the white house itself. We have done our duty here in the house. We have upheld the constitution. We have done as the framers would have us do when a president abuses his office and obstructs a coequal branch of government. The question now is will the senate uphold its duty . Will the senators uphold their oath . Will dissenters want to hear from the witnesses . Will they want a real trial . We have to hope they do. The reason we undertook this extra ordinary step is because the president not only abused his office but threatens to abuse it again, threatens to interfere again by inviting foreign interference in our elections. Is incomplete as long as the president is free to continue to invite foreign interference in our affairs. I just want to close by thanking the speaker for guiding the congress through this to mulch was time. There is no one i think who could have guided the congress with a steadier hand or with more insight and intellect than the speaker of the house. I also want to thank mike colleagues, in particular so many new members of the house, who have displayed such courage, who have shown that they truly have the courage of their convictions. Thank you. I just want to add that one person who is not with us former error chair of the government reform oversight Committee Chair, or north star, elijah cummings. He said when the history books are written about this tumultuous era, i want them to show that i was among those in the house of representatives who stood up to lawlessness and tyranny. Somewhataid, presciently, when we are dancing with the angels, the question will be what did you do to make sure we kept our democracy intact . Could, elijah. We passed two articles of impeachment. The president is impeached. Role you view the houses in this as complete or are there steps you might take to try to ensure the chairman will give a more fair trial in the senate . A more fair trial than they we hadtemplating because Affairs System in the house of representatives. Fair procedure in the house of representatives. We have legislation approved by the rules committee that will enable us to decide how we will send over the articles of impeachment. Wecannot name managers until see what the process is on the senate side and i would hope that would be soon as we did with their legislation to describe what the process would be. So far, we have not seen anything that looks fair to us so hopefully, it will be fair we when we see with that is, will send the articles. Are you going to send the articles until you see with the senate will do . We will assess that as we go along. [indiscernible] decide what that dynamic is. Resolution of that process will be soon in the senate. Did you have a question . I do have a question. What do you consider a fair trial . What are you looking for . Are you looking for documents . Me tell you what i dont consider a fair trial. This is what i dont consider a fair trial. That leader mcconnell has stated he is not an impartial juror, he will take his cues from the white house and he is working in total coordination with the white house counsels office. Any comments . Let me just say that obviously, senator mcconnell by in effectration has as the foreman of the jury is working with the defense counsel. Thats not fair. We will have to see what else. Thats an indication of an intention to have an unfair trial. We would like to see it done its up to the senators to make their own decision working together hopefully in recognition of their witnesses, that the president withheld from us documents that the president withheld from us and we would hope that information would be available in a trial to go to the next step. That is another level in terms of conviction, in terms of this. Right now, the president is impeached. [indiscernible] we are not having that discussion. We have done what we have set out to do. The house is acted on a very sad day to protect and defend the constitution of the United States. We do so in a manner that was fair even though the other side was make harris was make was mischaracterizing it. It was fair and appropriate an urgent. Decision as tor when we will send the articles when they see what they are doing on the senate side but thats a decision we will make jointly. Dont shout. Who is not going to shout a question . So the impeachment articles will be sent to the senate at some point . That would have been our intention but we will see what happens over there. You may not send it . Me if we areking going to play in the snow. That is not part of our conversation. Thats why we are asking. We need verification since you have raised the prospect of sending the articles over. I never raise the prospect, you asked the question. I said we are not sending it tonight because it is difficult to determine who the managers would be until we see the arena in which we will be participating. Thats all i said. I never raise the prospect. We will see when they come forward. Its up to the senate to say what their rules will be. Do my colleagues want to say anymore about this . Evenis a serious matter though the majority leader in the United States senate said its ok for the foreman of the cahoots with the lawyers of the accused. That doesnt sound right to us. Lets see when they understand what we have that we have acted, they will understand what their responsibilities are and we will see what that is. I never raise that possibility. Any other comments . Let me again thank eric chairman, all six of them, and her darling elijah. They did a remarkable job and hopefully you will be inspired by the moral courage of our as theespecially distinguished chairman recognized our freshman members who came here, reviewed the facts, understood the constitution, made their decision again to honor their oath of office. I am very proud of them. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2019] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] cspans washington journal is live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. The house of representative votes on articles of impeachment against President Trump. Join the conversation all facebookith emails, comments, and tweets. Watch washington journal live at 7 00 a. M. This morning. Live thursday, the house returns one day after voting to impeach President Trump and takes up work on the u. S. Mexico canada trade deal. That is at 9 00 a. M. On cspan. On cspan to the u. S. Senate takes of the funding bill passed fridays deadline. Which mcconnell expected to open the day session talking about the impeachment process. At cspan3, senator pat toomey speaking on the usmca trade deal. He is the only republican to say he will vote against the measure. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi holds her Weekly News Conference on the legislative agenda. Later,t