[inaudible conversations] how is everybody today . Good morning. I want to begin by taking a moment to commemorate the life of one of the most important members to watch these halls. Elijah cummings was beloved by both sides of the aisle. He was a fighter, a leader and most importantly our friend. His legacy will outlive every person in this room today. Legacies have changed last a very long time. They grow from generation to generation by compounding interest or a snowball rolling down a hill. It is my sincere hope that his wife, maia and his family find peace. Elijah has left a mark on this chamber and in this country. I would like to talk about the business of the week, House Democrats continue to work to overturn the results of the 2016 election and they are doing so through an unfair and unprecedented impeachment inquiry. They are fixated on tearing down the president and not fixing the countrys problems and there are countless examples of important work being ignored. Let me start by reiterating how broken this process is. Over the break, i sent a speaker letter asking 10 simple questions. She responded by only answering two. The inquiry should be suspended until the same Due Process Rights given to president nixon and president clinton should be provided to donald trump. Instead of answering, the speaker is avoiding and misrepresenting along every step of the way. I heard the speakers suggest this is an investigation phase, not actually and impeachment inquiry as she stated three weeks ago. In fact she compared the house process to that of a special counsel. But adam schiff is not a prosecutor. Hes not from the executive branch. He is a member of congress. That is a blatant abuse of power. The independent counsel kenneth starr, that was a statute that was passed by congress and signed into law by the president in 1978. There he was renewed several times until it expired in 1999. Let me ask again. Will the speaker provide a fair process, the same for president nixon and president clinton in this impeachment . Her actions indicate she will not. Therefore this inquiry must be suspended. It should be suspended for what is prevented from happening, doing the peoples work including funding our troops. As many of you know the National Defense authorization bill is languishing. The department of defense funding is languishing. Together these critical bills include troop pay raises, disaster coverage for military bases and increased medical funding for nih. Democrats are prioritizing impeachment over our own troops. Prioritizing impeachment over transformational trade deal and they are prioritizing impeachment over Bipartisan Legislation to reduce Prescription Drug costs. The speakers insist the democrat majority can impeach and legislate at the same time. The records show that is not happening. This is a congress this week that took up two items that were actually amendments and made the mayor. The American Public expect more from us. Finally i would like to take a moment and acknowledge an important conversation that occurred yesterday. On the campus of Georgetown University Facebook Ceo Mark Zuckerberg spoke about Free Expression in americas the social platform and the responsibility to preserve that. He said, quote, democracy depends on the ideas that we hold each others rights to express ourselves and be heard above our own desire to always get the outcome we want. That was spot on. The idea of banning speech you might not like his nonsense but sadly the mindset is creeping into places like College Campuses and even into our president ial campaign platforms. The values zuckerberg stated are uniquely and inherently american values. Everyone especially those in Congress Must fight to protect these values against entities who do not share them. We witnessed that before. As the current berg mentioned as china continues to build an arsenal of Technological Advancement they are creating derived not from just different values but values that threaten hours. We cannot let the suppressed internet we see abroad but most importantly in china creep into the United States. We cannot allow another country especially china to set the rules of discourse in the United States. Did you see what china did or tried to do with the nba commissioner to fire a general manager for supporting democracy protests in hong kong . We dont have to imagine the lengths they will go to influence public discourse, they are ready happening now. I appreciate what Mark Zuckerberg said. One of the largest and most widespread communication platforms in the world making it clear he not only understands that the threat is will but wants to proactively fight, yesterday was a heartwarming reminder that Free Expression is the best Business Model in the world. Lets go to questions. For weeks the president said there is no quid pro quo and the relationship with ukraine and funding, there was in fact a quid pro quo. Given that was mcilvain he wrong about that, does the president have confidence in light of that statement . I think you saw mcilvain he clarify his statement. There was no quid pro quo between Ukraine Military aid and any investigation into the 2016 election . The president never told me to withhold money until ukrainians did anything. In the investigation going on now those who were brought in said there was no quid pro quo. The American Public cannot have all the transcript out to see that. We have been clear and clarified in a statement exactly that. One of your members said this is an etchasketch. You cannot revise what you say in front of the cameras and say i meant the opposite. How can the president have confidence in mcilvain if he is going to say one thing in front of the cameras but reverse it completely away from it . He clarified in his statement, was very clear. I watched in all those transcripts what people have been saying, there was no quid pro quo. Mcilvain he said one thing and the opposite in his statements a which was it . Mcilvain he clarified his statement to be very clear. I took him at his word for clarification but more importantly, those individuals who come before the committee who have been investigated, who were in the place of knowledge and said there was no quid pro quo, you have the transcript of the phone calls. I know adam schiff wants to create something that is not there, we have the transcript, we have as much knowledge as everybody else as well. My colleagues asked if you thought his performance helped the president s defense. I think he was very clear in cleaning up his statement that there was no quid pro quo. Everybody has been investigated on this. More importantly you have the transcript to prove it. I know people today want to say someone is guilty until they are innocent. We know more than the whistleblower new. We have the transcripts of the phone call. The American People said it and no one believes theres quid pro quo. Question on turkey, possibility of bringing sanctions to the floor next week. Would you support that . I want to support the president and the work he is doing right now. I applaud the ability to get a ceasefire to save lives especially for the kurds. That was driven in combination with what the administration was able to do about the sanctions they were able to move. I think it would be appropriate to let them continue to do that work especially based on the success of a president , and mike pompeo with their work in turkey and i would take direction from that. Would it be on the floor . I would take applause right now and let them do the work. They got back from a successful meeting and before we moved anything i think we would have to have a meeting as a whole, listen to the latest information on the ground. With that success lets build towards more. Do you think it was appropriate for the president to direct government officials to work with Rudy Giuliani on ukraine matters . What the president was doing, heres an open investigation that the attorney general was working on. Something we do every day in this country. Every american wants to get to the bottom, why did we put america through that 2year nightmare . No president in a future election should have to go through just went through this country. An investigation with millions of dollars, went to a lot of countries, where did it start, why did it happen . People want to know that answer. Do you think mcilvain he should step down . Know. You talk about a vote to censure adam schiff. Is that for coming up . That will come up monday. Why do you think he is deserving of censure . 3 simple reasons. When you serve on the Intelligence Committee is different from any other committee in the house. You will gather in formation and read items that members of the house cant have knowledge of. When a member of the Intelligence Committee speaks of something we hold them to a higher standard. We believe it has to be the truth, they see the information which we cannot. What i found with adam schiff, three times the American Public he has lied. He lied at the beginning when he said he had proof beyond circumstantial evidence and we went through the two year nightmare because of that. He continued from the chair to convey to the American Public about the transcript that was so important what he wished was and it was not. It was so compelling the speaker of the house in a National Interview with George Stephanopoulos believed what he said was true. Then he looked into the cameras and lied to the American Public to say he did not know who the whistleblower was, he wished that person would come forward and only later did we find out the whistleblower had gone to his own staff. We have no idea what they said or how many times they met. We are now finding out his own staff had traveled to ukraine, any other member of congress would come down to the well and apologize but this is even more difficult situation. He is interested to carry something out, members of the Judiciary Committee try to see the interviews, they are not allowed in the room and are not able to see the transcripts, we are supposed to be voting on something, for an idea at him schiff will compile the information about an impeachment when he has knowingly lied to us so many times, that is one problem but i think what is appropriate based on how many times he has lied to us, to the American Public he should be censured and that is a question for every member of congress. How can you trust an individual who misled us on a transcript, had the speaker only waited 48 hours we would never be where we are today, misled us about what he said he knew beyond circumstantial evidence, spent millions of dollars and took america through a nightmare and now tweeting in august saying he doesnt know who the whistleblower is at the same time his staff is going to ukraine, his staff is meeting with the whistleblower and when the whistleblower goes to the Inspector General never mentions he had met with adam schiffs staff. The forum the whistleblower fills out, there is a box you would check if you met with any congressional skip that. He has tried to hide so many of the facts and when he was put in position to get the fact he lied about them. He should be held accountable just like every other member. It is appropriate for him to be censured. The question, will their own members stand up for what is right . Do they think it is appropriate that the chair of the Intel Committee lied to the American Public and more portly lying to them, how can you trust anything he puts forth . Thank you. [inaudible conversations] if you missed any of our live coverage of this event is it available to view again, cspan. Org, just type Kevin Mccarthy in the video search box which you will find at the top of the homepage. A little later we have more from campaign 2020 with elizabeth warren. The massachusetts senator holds a townhall meeting inaudible, virginia, you can see live coverage at 6 00 pm eastern on cspan. Coming up tomorrow, more from the campaign trail with democratic president ial candidate bernie sanders. He holds a rally in new york city where he will be joined by alexandria ocasio cortez. She is expected to endorse senator sanders at the event. That will be live at 1 00 eastern on cspan, cspan. Org or listen live with the free cspan radio apps. Cspan released a new survey on voting and elections. The poll shows just over a third of americans believe in person voter fraud is a problem and just as many disagree. Republicans at 44 are more likely to believe it is an issue than democrats and independents but it doesnt reach a majority among any of those groups. Almost half of americans believe voter discrimination is still a problem in the United States while a quarter disagree. There is a 50 point gap between republicans and democrats on that question. 24 of republicans and 72 of democrats agree that voter discrimination is still an issue. You can read the full results of the poll, cspan. Org. Booktv have live coverage of the wisconsin book festival from madison. Starting saturday 11 30 eastern featuring former diplomat offering her thoughts on combating terrorism. Democratic political strategist donna brazil reflects on her career. Literary director maria provides a history of latin america and Megan Phelps Roper recounts growing up with the Westboro Baptist church. Watch live coverage of the wisconsin book festival saturday starting at 11 30 a. M. Eastern and be sure to catch the texas book festival in october and Miami Book Fair in november, on booktv on cspan2. Now portions of yesterdays Democratic National committee womens leadership forum, nancy
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