Have a little bit of a different lineup this morning. Our republican whip obviously had a great victory last night for lsu. He will be back shortly. We are pleased to be joined by our chief deputy whip and our conference secretary, mr. Smith, or both going to speak in a few minutes. As we gather this morning, we are still obviously watching closely whats unfolding on the streets of iran. Unbelievably courageous demonstrations under way. Underway. The iranian people very clearly understand the damage that their own regime is doing around the world. The damage the regime is doing to the nation of iran and taking to the streets to protest putting their lives at risk absolutely, literally, and we all stand strongly with the people of iran. We are also watching. We anticipate the speaker will finally bring a vote to the floor to name managers for the articles of impeachment. Obviously after saying for months and months it was urgent that President Trump be impeached, the speaker of the house then sat on the articles for many, many weeks. Unclear exactly what she believes she accomplished by it. We seem to be in exactly the same situation we were in previously, except that we have now had this tremendous delay, which means that important pieces of work like, for example, usmca, which obviously the house has passed which we need to have passed in the senate, will not be taken up because the senate will now be focused on the impeachment trial. So we are going to continue to focus on whats necessary to make sure we are upholding our oath to the constitution and to make sure we are continuing to work on the issues that matter to the American People. And with that, i would like to introduce the gentleman from missouri, mr. Smith, to talk about a range of issues connected to impeachment as well as usmca. Mr. Smith thank you, madam chair. Its a pleasure to be here this morning. Just as the chair had stated, the democrats looks like Nancy Pelosis going to bring forth in releasing the articles of impeachment to the senate this week. Of course, she has stalled this process for a long time. In fact, probably longer than the entire impeachment proceedings in the house did she hold on to the articles of impeachment. They are the party of impeachment. If you look at history, which very few people have been looking into it, five out of the last six republican president s Democrat Members of congress have filed impeachment on. That is unacceptable. But it is acceptable of a party that is of impeachment. I think a question that needs to be asked as the articles of impeachment move over to the United States senate is, will the four candidates for office, for president of the United States, be impartial jurors . Four people thats trying to fire the president of the United States and the election process, how can they be impartial jurors sitting through that process . Thats a question that should be asked. Thats a question that should be addressed. Thats a question that should be asked. Thats a question that should be addressed. I hope those four senators decide to recuse themselves. That is whats proper. That is whats fitting. Ms. Cheney thank you, mr. Smith. I would like to ask our chief deputy whip, the gentleman from georgia, mr. Ferguson, to join us. Mr. Ferguson thank you. Appreciate the chance to be with youall today. When i travel back home and i listen to constituents and i see whats going on around the country, i think sometimes washington thinks that impeachment is a single most important thing on the planet. Folks back home are trying to live their lives. They are trying to go to work every single day. They are raising their family. They are raising their kids. Particularly those americans in that live in rural areas. They are trying to rebuild their lives from decades of bad policy that have helped destroy rural america. They are hungry to see us do something important like get usmca finalize. We have news this week looks like the president is prepared to sign phase one of the china deal. If you want to really know the cost of impeachment, besides on the credibility of the democrats as nancy pelosi continues to hold these articles, the real cost is to the American People is the delay of the usmca continues. Had we not been dealing with impeachment, we could have gotten this done sooner. And now impeachment could stand in the way of this important piece of legislation, getting to the president s desk and helping the American People. It is wrong and we need to do everything that we can to continue to push for american families. We have been the party that has been doing that. We have not been wrapped up in a very partisan process here that has been a real sham and betrayal of the American People. With that i yield back to the chairwoman. Ms. Cheney thanks very much. Id like to turn things over to our leader, mr. Mccarthy. Mr. Mccarthy good morning. Over the weekend the footage coming out of tie ran was tehran was nothing short of inspirational. With complete disregard for their own safety, the iranian people took to the streets to have their voices heard. They were demonstrating against the government with a long history of opposing its own people, most recently intentionally misleading them about a Major International incident. After initially lying to the world, iranian officials finally admitted they were responsible for shooting down a commercial airliner that claimed the lives of 176 innocent people. The iranian people rightfully objected to this horrific decision by their own leadership. This is a leadership that just a few months ago killed 1500 protestors. For simply coming out to have a voice. Freedom of speech. America should stand with anyone in the world who craves freedom. We have a long history of doing that. Thats why i introduced a resolution in support of the protestors, condemning the leadership of iran for shooting down and killing 176 innocent people. This is not a political issue. This is a time that will test this congress. Does it stand with those in the world who crave freedom. Americas so much more than a country. America is an idea. An idea thats so powerful it can unite those even in a regime in iran to crave the freedoms that america inspires. From hong kong to taiwan to tehran. This is an opportunity for this congress to put politics aside. An opportunity for the Founding Fathers craved and built, an idea we will not only maintain it in this nation but grow it around the world. This is a moment for this leadership to act. This is a chance of bipartisanship. This is a chance to change the course of what we give a message to iran government last week. I know there were those out there that thought somehow iran would unite, but, no, quite the opposite. They crave the freedom in which we inspire to show. So i ask all members to sign on and this bill should be voted on. I know we just heard from Speaker Pelosi that she will be moving the managers which we hoped for months ago. I know within her own leadership there were questions about why she held it. No one questions about what she gained was nothing. But if there is anyone who gained from this, it would be anyone who is running for president thats not in the u. S. Senate. With iowa quickly upon us in early february, those four senators running for president will now no longer have a voice. Interesting to me if i see the Democrat National committee ask those who are not senators to not campaign while the others cannot. I know what happened four years ago. Something no one thought would. That the head of a complete party of the Democrat National committee resigning the day before, actually the night before the nominating convention. Why . Because emails came out to show that one of the main campaigners, senator Bernie Sanders, was cheated. They had a process in there where they had superdelegates. They are the insurance policy for the establishment to determine who can become the nominee. Because of this horrific act, the Democrat National committee actually removed superdelegates on the first round. Senator sanders has a chance to win. But not now that nancy pelosi has held these documents. There was nothing gained. Goes against everything she said. But if you look at the true political nature of why, the harm to harm one campaign and give benefit to nomplete the only to another. The only rightful thing of joe biden is make a pledge to not campaign while Bernie Sanders cannot after what the Democrat National committee had done to his campaign a few short years ago. Open up for questions. Yes, maam. Senate republicans for the president to delay the state of the union until after the impeachment. I leave it up to the president. The unfortunate part the speaker controls the invitation when it comes. We have watched the speaker play politics with it before. We know how weak this impeachment is. I think the president is above it aufment the president the president decides to come during that time, rightfully so. Every time the president has given a state of the union, i think its been overwhelmingly uplifting to this nation. The guests he brings, the accomplishments that we have able to achieve together. I would have hoped if the speaker moved the documents when she said she would this would not be a question. Can i get your reaction to the comments made by the canadian prime minister. He sat down for an interview said had tensions rose in the middle east he believes the canadians who died in that plane crash would be home with their families. Im wondering what your response to that, as well as growing concern in canada that the escalation of those tensions is the reason why there are so many dead medians. The reason why there are 106 dead people, innocent, is because iran shot a missile and shot down a commercial liner. The reason why anything escalated, because iran went and bombed tankers. Iran shot down a u. S. Drone. Iran did something much different. Killed a u. S. Citizen. Iran went and attacked our embacy. Embasy. Yes, i agree that iran is escalating things in the middle east. I think for one moment in time, for one snapshot here, you have to sit back and give this president credit. Yeah, what happened, iran for the first time had deescalated, which they had not done last year. Trudeau is right that i ran is in a dogfight. A dogfight. Is in thats why that resolution should be on the floor. Thats why that resolution should pass. Quick followup. He said it was generally tensions. He didnt say iran or the u. S. My other followup is he also said in that interview would have preferred if the Trump Administration had given canada heads up that there was going to be a strike targeting soleimani given they have troops in the region and a partner in the coalition for isis in that region. Do you think canada should have been given a heads up . I think soleimani should have been filled. I think more than 600 gold star families believe the same thing. I think it should have happened a long time ago. I think had soleimani been held accountable for his actions for the decades before, this escalation would have never gone. Americans would have been alive. Embassy would not have been attacked. The refinery in saudi arabia would not have been bombed. The two tankers would not have been bombed. The buildup of all the other terrorist activity in all the other countries would not have taken place. We learned nothing back in 1998, we had a moment in time to take out bin laden. So, yes, the president made the right decision. Trudeau did not have to mention iran because the facts are purely on iran. Its interesting to me that when i hear on the floor of the house just last week when we talked about some of these ideas, trumps natural instinct is to put america first. Some of those on the other side of the aisle, their instincts is to blame america first. There is no blame here for america. America stood up once again for freedom. Iran went past a red line they had not done before, killing a u. S. Citizen. Iran shot down commercial innocent airliner. There is no doubt where the blame lies. There is no doubt why the resolution should pass. Thank you all very much. Shortly after the House Republican news conference, House Democratic leaders held a briefing with reporters. They discussed Speaker Pelosis announcement that she would hold a vote to send the articles of impeachment to the senate. This is about 35 minutes. Good morning. I am