Transcripts For CSPAN2 U.S. Senate U.S. Senate 20240713

Transcript to fit their political meme. My question is what are we going to hold nancy closely, adam schiff response will for their treasonous actions but that is from michael in florida. We will go to steve next in fitzwilliam, New Hampshire. Steve, go ahead. Caller hello, sir. Good day to you. All right. This is all give intake. This all has been a plot since the day the man was elected. That evening. They came out and said on video we will see the ruination of donald trump. And they have been doing that since day one. If it is not one thing it is Something Else the next day. This wont work, well try Something Else. Host steven New Hampshire we seen video of the chief justice departure and we want to let you know the senate has been in a quorum call and very common in the u. S. Senate if you are a regular watcher. No business conducted they are waiting for senators to come to the floor and speak but as of now, in a quorum call and we will continue to take your comments and calls as they are in this quorum call but they did pass earlier today the usmca and the usmexico trade agreement in december and it passes in the senate by a vote of 89ten and now goes to the president s desk for his signature. Darrell in texas. Caller President Trump President Trump seems like he tries to sway his audience to look at another picture and when they brought hide it hunter biden into the picture he was not the topic of this impeachment. They asked if he had experience and what experience does President Trump have as a political person . Has he ever held a political, elected position . And when convicted he should be removed from this position. Host gerald in texas we saw there at the end a few minutes ago the majority leader making a number of unanimous consent requests as the chief justice was presiding there and there are some procedural moves in terms of whats ahead for the weekend actually and into next week and the Senate Majority leader asking that a summons be issued to the president and this is to inform the president of the trial and for the president to respond and also that the house and be informed and that the house be able to file its brief in the white house be able to file its brief as well and all of that material expected back to the u. S. Senate on certain dates before next tuesdays official start, i guess you could say of the trial as they get underway at 1 00 p. M. Eastern paid live coverage of course youre on cspan2. Franklin furnace this is sally, we lost that. We go to salem, virginia in here from georgia. Go ahead be three im doing good but my question is i have not been able to [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] host a few more minutes of your phone calls and we live from million in tennessee. Caller hello. How are you . Have been wanting the trial in the house all the way through and i had not seen any evidence that trump is guilty of anything or abusing his power. Now we are going into the senate trial and my personal belief that they will go ahead and dismiss it because this is also going to be a joke listening to all of this. I just think that theyre going about the country business and take care of that. Host william in tennessee to let you know where things are the senate is still in session they swore in the chief justice and senator grassley is the president pro tem of the senate did that and then the chief justice swore in all the members and all but one that senator inhofe was not in washington today and we understand he will be sworn in on tuesday and all of those 99 senators signing the oath book pledging their impartiality of the upcoming trial. We will show you all of that start to finish and a bit but we continue with your calls and comments to West New York new jersey. Eleanor, what do you think . Caller i vote guilty for a number of reasons. The republicans have been saying the democrats wanted to impeach the president since day one. The only reason that is the case is because the president has been violating the constitution from day one. He has put us in a very traumatizing situation almost going to war with iran and there have been so many things that even from sexist and also with this decisive rhetoric so we need to get rid of him so we can go on with the peoples business. Thank you. Host to ricky in ohio, thanks the president is not guilty. Hello. Caller i watched this thing from the very beginning every day. You can see the democrats are doing nothing to set this up. Host tell us why you think that. What do you mean by setting this up . Caller if he is guilty wh why if they have all the evidence against him while you sit there and bring other witnesses in . He was not allowed to bring witnesses in at the house inquiry. Host if the president and if the democrats and of house managers want to bring new witnesses, new evidence or new witnesses that the president should be able to, his legal team, should be able to do that as well. Caller yeah, what is good for the goose is good for the gander if you ask me but all we are doing is we are wasting money. Hes not committed no crime whatsoever or even charged with a crime. Host or reminder that you can find those articles of impeachment essential to the child at cspan. Org impeachment in the document sections there but atlanta, georgia, next up. Declan. Caller hello. I believe he is guilty. Like everyone says ive been watching this from the beginning. I believe that the republicans right now are all partisan. They are not listening or if they are listening to what the evidence has shown so far and like they say its hearsay. Not everything is hearsay. They got the president and they knew everything. He was part of it and i think its a disgrace. People have forgotten that hes been persecuted since he started and let me remind you what the republicans did to clinton when he came in office. They handed him the his whole presidency. Let me also remind you of obama. What did Mitch Mcconnell say . We wont make him a onetime president. They stopped everything. He couldnt proceed with his agenda. They disrespected him and then the middle of the address what did the person on the revolving inside call out liar, liar. So, i think they really need to stop listening to fox news. That only gives you halftruths and they need to listen to other news programs. Host President Trump in washington today and he will be holding a Campaign Rally monday night, the nights before the senate trial really gets under way. Monday night in des moines, iowa, two weeks ahead of the Iowa Caucuses in the senate trial getting underway tuesday. Brenda and jackson, missouri is next up. Go ahead. Caller i think the president is not guilty and the reason for that is because they have not proven a crime of high treason or misdemeanors, high crimes, misdemeanors or treason and not only that but they are themselves committing sedition. Host why do you say that . Caller because they are plotting to take this country down. They been doing it for decades. Host brenda in missouri. We go to amy and pennsylvania. Amy, hello. Caller hello. Host you are on the air. Caller if there is any doubt that there was obstruction of justice which is what this trial is about one needs to go back to 2017 went from the president s mouth he said he was told not to fire james comey but in fact, and i quote, when i decided just to do it i said to myself you know, this russia thing with trump is a madeup story. What happened . He was fired for it obstruction of justice. This is not in the article of impeachment but it could be a pattern from a of 2017 where he says in his own words from his own mouth that hes firing people to prevent looking into possible wrongdoing which is obstruction of justice. I would like to say that i really love this segment. It gives a sense of what is happening out there but i really wish that when someone says that the entire half of the country is trying to bring down the country there would be questioning on your part and asking them how, in fact, people who vote democrat are trying to bring down the country but this is Conspiracy Theory talk then needs to be examined and not treated like an equal part of the rhetoric and discussion in our society. Host thank you for that, amy. Sunset, south carolina, marion, good afternoon. Caller this is marion. Our president is not guilty. Hes [inaudible] he stood up for christianity and god. I am a christian and i believe that he was elected to the people of christian values. I do not believe in [inaudible] murder is murder, it doesnt matter [inaudible] host the president participating at an event with an exec at a border on prayer in the schools but we are covering that and we will see that later in a Program Schedule on the cspan networks. Next is martin in grass valley, california. Martin, you are on. Caller yeah, this is martin and who are you . Host tell us about yourself. What he think about the articles of impeachment on President Trump . Is he guilty or not guilty . Caller one thing i can make a question on that because im not an attorney and i dont have the documents but whats your name . Host its not all that important but my name is bill. Why is that important . Caller i just wanted to introduce myself. Host okay, marta, go ahead with your comment. Caller i dont have all i am seeing is life. You see, you hear. But there are those who cant see and only here. Host roy next up in West Virginia. Welcome. Caller hello britt how are you doing today . Host doing fine, thank you. Caller i will say hes not guilty and the reason i say that is because he is the only president in history that has helped poor states like my state and kentucky, maryland, all the other smaller states its a fight to survive right now. Hes the only one thing came out to help us with no questions asked. When we had all the floods, the governor called him and he released money to help us with our flooding. Hes done more for West Virginia and other states than any other president ever did. That is what is making the democrats mad, especially nancy plosive from california and hes helping the big states like california where all the money is. Hes helping the poor states. Host roy in West Virginia, thank you for that comment. Here are where things stand with the senate is in session in a long quorum call and completed work for today, we think, on impeachment. Largely laying out the week ahead and senator Mitch Mcconnell and majority leader doing that at the end of the session but they have sworn into the members, chief justice sworn in and he will be the presiding officers in the senate trial of President Trump which will get underway again on tuesday at 1 00 p. M. Eastern here on cspan2. Continuing live coverage of the u. S. Senate and if we are able in the upcoming quorum call here we will bring you News Conference at 3 00 p. M. Eastern and its supposed to be with the democratic leader in the senate, chuck schumer. We will show you all the events from today later on in here on a cspan2 and also this evening on cspan. Joanne is in jamestown, california thank you for waiting, go ahead with your comment. Caller i say guilty. I watched all the trial like many people have ever said and i think his executive privilege is a thing that made us all sit back and think we would have gotten a lot more information for the people that were called if he would have allowed that and he nipped would have dipped it in the butt if he was not guilty of the thing that bothers me the most and Lindsay Graham has stated that they would not that theyve gone to the white house to set up what they were doing which is unfortunate. Host thank you for that jonah. We go to joshua in phoenix, arizona. Hello there. Caller first of all, thank you for getting everyone on both sides of this the opportunity to speak. I guess i think he is guilty because 13000 lives, why should people believe him now . He denies the subpoenas and he uses what he thanks is president ial powers and tell people to testify. Im 52 years old and people who are guilty dont hide evidence. One of the colors that would help the poor states and he must not know much about to state because the states that are doing the worst are states led by people like mcconnell and if you want to talk about helping poor states what has what has he done for frederico because for three days since the earthquake they still dont have [inaudible] not wanting to own up to what he did. Thats the best i can say. Hes a horrible president and has done nothing for this country and we need a democrat back in office. Host the trial will focus on the two articles of impeachment passed by the house. The abuse of power and also obstruction of congress and the child resuming tuesday, 1 00 p. M. Eastern and we will hear next from tracy. Are you on the air . Go ahead. Host tracy in north carolina, nope, gone bird new york and this is jake, you are on the air. Caller how you doing. My name is jake. I just want to say i share a lot of different opinions from both sides of the aisle. I do want to say that there is a Huge Division that started at least probably within the obama era and i think it amounted to something that has evolved into something that we are no longer able to contain. The impeachment process has been a backandforth attack through each party when in reality we should be more united as a country. I think the lack of evidence is huge here and if any witnesses wanted to be present within the senate they should have been acknowledged with the house to begin with. Having witnesses after the fact passing through the house is suspicious. I also want to point out the point that someone else brought up, if anyone wants to go look up 1996 joe bidens response on the embassy attacks, an attack on an embassy is an act of war. Any type of attack like that that another Democratic Party actually stated was an act of war, i just dont understand how it now its a problem for donald trump when joe biden says the same thing. Host there will be seven house impeachment managers named by Speaker Pelosi yesterday. Host judiciary committee, when the thenjudiciary committee made the articles of impeachment against president Richard Nixon at that time. Of course, that never actually went to a vote on the house floor, nor to a senate trial on president nixon, who resigned in august of 1974. Also on that, on the managers, for the managers in the u. S. House, achim jeff race, Sylvia Garcia of texas, val demings of florida and jason crowe of colorado. We hear from kenny in monroe, connecticut, on the not guilty line. Tell us why, or kenny. Caller yes, hi. Kenny from the very i blue state of connecticut. I think President Trump is definitely not guilty. For congress to come in and ask for witnesses now is something that was their responsibility as it is written in the constitution. Theyre posed to bring up all the supposed to bring up all the witnesses, and the senate is supposed to vote on it. Host well, there were witnesses in the present impeachment trial. They were deposed witnesses, they werent witnesses who testified in the clinton trial itself. Caller right. Well, as for the witnesses, i think whats good for the goose is good for the gander in that area. And people making a stink about not calling, you know, hunter biden, i think that has every bit of relevance to it because that is, is the reason why donald trump was, wanted to speak to zelensky about the corruption. Host well, aside from hunter biden, who would be the strongest witness that the president s team could call in . In your opinion . Caller so the whistleblower, if he exists. And also adam schiff. Host all right. Well go to peggy in elk grove village. What state is that in, peggy . Caller hi. Im calling because i think that donald trump is guilty. I feel that when they were working on the articles of impeachment in the house, they were able to bring in witnesses, but donald trump would not allow it. So if there was, you know, if there were these witnesses that were allowed to come in, they would prove the guilt. And if so i think while this is in the senate, then they if theyre able to get witnesses in, they absolutely should because its going to show his guilt. Host well, House Republicans made the point that mare witnesses werent their witnesses werent allowed either, the ones they wanted to bring in. Peggy, you there . Caller yes. Yes, im sorry, i didnt hear what you said. Host House Republicans made the point that they wanted to bring witnesses in as well in the Intelligence Committee phase of this. But they werent, they werent allowed, those efforts were blocked by democrats in those committees. Caller well, i guess i hadnt heard that, but, you know, i guess the witnesses that they did want werent allowed to come in. Donald trump would not allow them to come in and speak, and so that may be, i dont know, but this would be the chance to be able to, you know, get the truth out. Host the senate is in a quorum call. They have completed work on impeachment for now with the senators being sworn in. Theyre back at 1 00 eastern on tuesday. To begin the senate trial, the impeachment trial of President Trump. Of course, our live coverage here on cspan2, and we welcome your cspan radio listeners as well. What were expecting in a couple of minutes, and if were able to bring you the News Conference were going to get from senator chuck schumer, the democratic leader, well have that for you when it starts assuming theres nobody speaking on the floor of the senate, because thats always our priority. Karen is next in hampton, georgia. Karen in georgia, youre on the air. Okay. Well hear from teresa in cannondale, texas. Theresa, youre on the air. Caller yes. Im definitely of the opinion that he is guilty of what he was charged with. The obstruction of justice portion, that goes along with the witnesses that the republicans are saying they werent allowed to call. One of the ones they wanted to call was the whistleblower. And we have whistleblower protections for a reason. And they should be ashamed of themselves for even asking that information. But i definitely think he is guilty of obstruction of justice. I am just very strong in that. And i will say, unlike all the rest of the people ive been hearing saying that hes done nothing for the country, he has done some good things. And i wish he would act more like a gentleman instead of a thug. Host okay, teresa. Thanks for your point. That other article of impeachment, article one, abuse of power, article two, obstruction of congress. And their efforts in the relevant committees to get testimony and documents from the administration. Tony is next up in virginia. Mute your television for us, tony, and go ahead with your comment. Tony in virginia there you go. Caller yes. Yes, sir, i was just thinking that a lot of these people are talking that hes guilty. Alls i see is the democrats mostly are right at the first tried their best to make sure that he couldnt get any of his information in, and so far hes been one of the best president s weve had host were going to let you go there. The senator schumers coming out. Were going to show that to you, as much as we can anyway, as the Senate Continues in this quorum call. Okay. Good afternoon to everybody. Now, as everyone here knows whoops, go ahead. Get your footing or your kneeing, whatever it is. So as everyone knows, weve all been sworn in by the chief justice of the United States to serve as judges and jurors in the impeachment trial of President Trump. When the chief justice walked in, you could feel the weight of the moment. I saw members on both sides of the aisle visibly gulp. The weight of history sits on shoulders and produces sometimes results you never know will happen. For some of us here, this is the first time weve done this. For others like myself, its the second time. But i assure you, theres no difference. Even though ive gone through this before, for all of us the solemnity, gravity of the moment in our history hits you square in the back when you take that oath. A separate oath designed by the senate only for senators who will serve on a court of impeachment. The feeling in the Senate Chamber is solemn, serious, proprofound. Profound. The weight of history, the eyes of history, you feel it, are upon you. I know every one of my colleagues felt it. I hope my colleagues on the other side of the aisle felt it. You all heard the reading of the articles of impeachment by representative schiff at noon. It was a solemn recitation of charges that, if proved, are crimes against our democracy itself. To actually hear the charges read, even though weve heard them many times before, impresses the seriousness of the charges. This is not something trivial, this is not something everybody does. This is not something that can be dismissed. President donald trump is accused of coercing a foreign leader into interfering in our elections and then doing everything in his power to cover it up. These are exactly the kind of offenses the founders most feared when they forged the impeachment clause in the constitution. Do we want foreign powers to determine our elections . Do the American People want someone from overseas determining whos their president . Whos their governor, whos their senator, whos their congressman . This is what the nation has feared for centuries. And we fear it today more than ever with this president. This is very, very serious stuff. This is not trivial. Because its hard to imagine a greater subversion of our democracy than for powers outside our borders to determine the elections within our borders. And for a country to attempt such a thing on its own as russia has done is bad enough. For an american president to deliberately solicit such a thing, to blackmail a foreign country with military assistance, to help them win an election is unimaginably worse. I am actually filled with anger. When you read the attempts to subvert our democracy, these charges are serious, very. And its on those charges which the senate has to render a verdict. Remarkably, crucial pieces of information related to the charges against the president are still coming out. Last night lev parnas, an associate of the president s personal attorney, rudy giuliani, gave an astonishing interview on National Television that further implicated the president to pressure ukrainian president zelensky into announcing investigations into one of the prime ministers leading rivals. President s leading rivals. And just today through the good work of chris van hollen, who youll hear from shortly, the gao found that it was illegal, illegal for President Trump to withhold military assistance from ukraine to pressure them to interfere in the 2020 elections. Both the revelations about mr. Parnas and the gao opinion strengthen our push for witnesses and documents in the trial. The gao opinion especially makes clear that the documents we requested in our letter to leader mcconnell are even more needed now than when we requested it last month. Finish because President Trump, simply put, broke the law are. Every senator will get a chance to vote to obtain these documents next week. Now returning to how i began, the oath we all just took will weigh heavily on senators to consider this question about how fair a trial we have. We have asked for four factbased, fact witnesses and three specific sets of relevant documents. The witnesses are not democrats, they are the president s men, his top advisers who he appointed. The documents are not democratic documents, they are just documents. Period. Every Senate Impeachment trial in our history, all 15 that were brought to completion, featured witnesses. Every single one. Leader mcconnell is fond of citing precedent. We have all heard him about 1999. The precedent in impeachment trials in the senate is to have witnesses. To have no witnesses would be a dramatic break with precedent. It would mean the first impeachment trial of a president in history with no witnesses. The first impeachment trial of anybody that went to completion in the senates 200someoddyear history without witnesses. So in the coming days, each of us, every one of us democrat and republican will face a choice about whether to begin this trial in the search of truth or in service of the president s desire to cover it up. Now that every senator has sworn a solemn oath before god and the American People to do impartial justice, let every senator reflect on that choice, and let history weigh on every one of our shoulders. Senator harris. Thank you, leader schumer. I would argue that not only is this an impeachment trial, but that the very integrity of the United States senate is on trial. What is before us are charges that are arguably the most serious charges that have ever been leveled against a president of the United States. And where there has been an abandonment of responsibility to uphold the ideals, much less the words of the United States constitution by the president of the United States, that responsibility now rests on the shoulders of each member of the United States senate. Which is to uphold the integrity of our system of democracy, oppose the integrity uphold the integrity of our system of justice and to uphold the integrity of the United States senate which has a responsibility to do fair and impartial justice. Which means demanding that the American Public and each member of this body receive all evidence, documents and individuals who are witnesses, so that we can engage in a fair deliberation and make a decision that reflects the ideals and the values and the very principles of the United States system of justice. And so that is what is before us today. And we took a very solemn oath. Its a very serious matter which each of us should take the responsibly and take seriously, understanding that whatever the Party Affiliation of the president of the United States, right now it is incumbent on the United States senate to do the work of upholding americas constitution and our very system of justice. Thank you, senator harris. Senator coons. Thank you, senator schumer, senator harris. Raising my right hand and swearing to do impartial justice was a solemn moment, a solemn moment for all of us, a moment when the very weight of history becomes clear. To be in the chamber as the chief justice of the Supreme Court strode up to the podium and took his oath to do impartial justice made clear the gravity and the historic nature of this moment. Over this coming weekend, we really have two questions that i think our colleagues need to wrestle with. One is, is this going to be a trial. Theres a simple reality. In america trials have evidence, and coverups do not. Trials have evidence. They have documents, they have witnesses that are relevant to the matter in front of us. And leader schumer has, by letter, asked that we consider four different witnesses who are directly relevant, who were Senior Leaders in this administration, who were in the room on the email chain and could testify if they testified truthfully to whether the president did or did not inappropriately block aid to ukraine. As has been charged. This is a big departure from previous investigations of president s for inpeachment that President Trump has used an overly broad assertion of executive privilege to try and block critical testimony. President clinton, even president nixon directed his closest advisers and his cabinet officials to cooperate with an investigation which leads to the second issue. The second article is obstruction of congress. The president has to decide, is he going to present a defense. If he hopes to claim exoneration, he has to put a defense in front of this senate. So far the evidence developed and presented in front of the house Intelligence Committee, the House Judiciary Committee and that led them to take up and vote to articles of impeachment seems very compelling. Largely because the president has declined to present a defense. He will have his chance in briefs over this next few days and in the comments of this trial. So i would say to my colleagues on the other side, please, spend the weekend reflecting on the importance of this moment, on the ways in which, i would agree, the senate itself is on trial and see whether you can be open to the idea that we should have a trial, not a coverup, that features documents, evidence, witnesses rather than an historic sham that fails to meet the moment. Thank you. Senator blumenthal. I thought that senator schumer captured well the extraordinary drama of this moment. I was struck by the deep, deep sense of solemnity, and there was a knot in my stomach when the chief justice came into the chamber and then pronounced the name donald john trump. The difference in the reference to President Trump struck me as really distinguishing this proceeding from any other. And, in fact, nothing we do while we serve in the United States senate will be more important and consequential than putting country above apparently in this proceeding. The report released by the gao, an independent, nonpartisan watchdog agency, squarely raises the importance of Mick Mulvaney as a witness. He was the acting director of the omb that withheld the money. He took the president s order. John bolton was the witness who tried to dissuade the president from this socalled drug deal. Direct contact with the president of the United States. Robert blair and Michael Duffy not just the president s men, they were the president s henchmen. They executed the drug deal. Each of these witnesses had eyes and ears on the president of the United States. They have firsthand knowledge. They are the witnesses who must appear, and maybe they will have evidence to show the president s innocent. Maybe they will help to exonerate him. But the president has refused all of those witnesses. He has gagged them as he has blocked all the documents. And let me say about the documents, as we argued to the or jury, documents dont lie. Its black and white. Its there without any shading. And an effort by the president s defense team to use a document that they have blocked should be excluded. As it would be in any trial. They should be playing by the rules of a full and fair proceeding, not a coverup which is what the president has sought to do. And so i hope my republican colleagues will, in fact, put country above party and decide that the American People want a full, fair and open proceeding. So that they will know all of the truth. And all of these corroborating witnesses the case is already overwhelming. But im going to be listening. I will be listening closely to every word, watching every video and document that we see, and i will try to be as full can and fair as i can be as a considerer of the fact and the law here. Senator van hollen. Thank you, senator schumer. As we were sworn in today for this historic moment, we received a very important report from the gao. The gao, the Government Accountability office, is an independent, nonpartisan entity. Theyre not republicans, theyre not democrats, theyre not independents. Theyre nonpartisan. And they issued a Decision Making absolutely clear that the Trump Administration violated the law when they illegally withheld the monies for ukraine. And we know from other public evidence that it was President Trump himself who made that order and, therefore, the president himself ordered his agencies to commit an illegal act. Thats the gist and guts of what the gao told us. Now, that illegal act was committed as part of the overall scheme of abuse of power that we heard from the house managers today read on the floor of the senate that senator schumer mentioned. And it just underscores the fact that this president was willing to break other laws as part of his overall scheme to abuse power and to cover up that abusive scheme. And the gao report also made clear that in their inquiry, in their investigation they were stonewalled, they were blocked. They didnt get all the documents they wanted. And in their report, they said they believe that raises constitutional questions, which it does. Ill just end by pointing out that the whole purpose of the impound and control act is to reinforce the constitution of the United States. The power of the purse and separation of powers. And so in ordering the violation of that law as part of the overall abuse of power scheme, the president again showed contempt for the constitution of the United States. And finally, the gao report like other evidence that has come out has underscored the importance of having relevant fact witnesses and relevant documents. You dont have a fair trial if you dont get all the evidence. The house has established a mountain of evidence supporting their claims. But all of us have said that we want to see all the evidence. The American People are entitled to the evidence. And i also will wait until all the evidence is in and listen to all that evidence, which we dont know what it will be, before rendering a final verdict in this case. And one other point related to what chris said. It seems very likely that the very documents that were withheld to the gao are among the documents we requested in a letter that i wrote to mcconnell three weeks ago. Questions. [inaudible conversations] from wanting four witnesses. I wonder in the wake of what we learned from parnas texts and photos and emails, if it needs to be five. Okay. Well, these four eye witnesses, these are fact witnesses who know exactly what happened. Some of our republican colleagues say these chargings are serious, but there are no eyewitnesses. Thats why we need these four. Now mr. Parnas raises lots of serious questions. It certainly increases the strength of our argument for having these four. And as for mr. Parnas, its something we wouldnt rule out, but we want to see all of the other, theres evidently, there are four sets of emails coming out, and id want to wait to see those. [inaudible] house impeachment managers prepare their case, how closely are you going to be working with house impeachment managers and the Speakers Office as you prepare your strategy . Well, conferring, that always happens as has happened in previous trials, as happens with the republicans and the president. Theres one big difference. Mcconnell said hes going to cake his cues from the president. We are taking our cues from nobody. [inaudible] i believe that, you know, again, leader mcconnell has still not shown anybody his resolution. We dont know how long things will be and anything else. Its amazing that at this moment we still havent seen it, and its amazing the partisanship. Because bipartisanship, by definition, you try to work something out. We havent herald a thing from them about it heard a thing from them about it, but we know why. Theyre afraid of the truth. Its obvious. Thats what the average person says. You know, average people say why are they hiding this. So we expect that we will have votes on these witnesses on tuesday. We cant be sure until we see the resolution that mcconnell has put together, yes. Following up on that, are there some other things you might try to amend that youre looking at his resolution . Well, you know, we definitely want these four witnesses and three sets of documents. Whether therell be other things and in what order well do them, we dont know yet. Is there any indication that the solemnity of what went on today on the floor, that that could change some of your republican colleagues attitudes about the political nature of never we know the pressure there will be. We know the kinds of threats that donald trump is not afraid to use with all of them. I just read what he told europe, that he was going to raise tariffs on them, i think, by 25 if they didnt go along with what he wanted in iran. So you cant underestimate that. But if you belief the truth believe the truth is right and the truth prevails, the wisdom of the Founding Fathers and what we saw in the chamber this afternoon, the solemnity, the weight, the fact that youre almost in a different world than the normal senate world, gives me some hope that a number of our Senate Colleagues will rise to the occasion. I dont know how theyll vote. We dont even know what the evidence will be. It could be exculpatory, it could be further incriminating, we dont know, but we want the truth. And maybe some republicans will rise to the occasion, because this is the second one ive been through. Its different. Its different than daytoday, normal being a legislator. [inaudible] theres a chance that some of the deliberations and debates might be in closed session. Are you, would you prefer that that would actually be an open session so that we could see the debate and i would like it to be as open i mean, might there be an occasional moment where we think we might come together in a closed session . Yes. But the strong presumption is to be open, and i want to see as much of it open as possible. Republicans have floated the idea of calling Vice President biden as a witness. Vice President Biden has said that he would testify if subpoenaed. Would you be willing to come to some kind of arrangement whereby, lets say, democrats would get john bolton as a witness and listen, im not going to negotiate out here. We need these four witnesses, we need these three sets of documents. They havent made any offer about any witnesses or any documents, so were just fighting for this at minimum. Naming the gal step will be in the race. One more. Do you expect to have witnesses. The organizing. I have not seen the organizing resolution. I dont think i wrote the republicans announcing the resolution. Thank it everybody had a nice weekend. U. S. Senate still in session. We are waiting for members to come to the floor to speak. They have completed initial work on impeachment. But this morning and the chief justice, the smart nano senators, Mitch Mcconnell making moves including a summons to be issued to the president for response by saturday. The house managers to represent their race by monday and the senate trial, President Trump the third time in u. S. History, a president is on file in the u. S. Senate. That trial will get underway in earnest on tuesday at 1 00 p. M. Eastern. Live coverage of course as always here on cspan. As a skull continues, well take it in to the oval office. Comments from President Trump, meeting with folks in the oval office and will show you as much as we can. As the skull continues. I didnt have a good education. We will take care of this. Thank you. I want to thank everybody for being here today. I am a high school student. In my middle school, i was the only jewish person. I was very open with my religion. I let people know when i had progressed. When we started the holocaust unit, i did with everybody did. I wanted to inform people. I want people to learn. On my belongings and on my arms, i had things written. And others made fun of me. I was terrified that i was jewish. And this should never be in anyones mind. Anyone in school to be able to say i am whatever religion i am. I believe this. We should be able to say that. It is been three or four years since middle school. Im in junior high now. I think everyone should have the right to exercise their Constitutional Rights in school. I just want to thank you so much for everything youve done. I dont think you for all of the work youve done and for his one problem is. Isnt working out better now. My high school is extremely supportive of me. Theyve helped me be a leader in the Jewish Community now. This will help too. Thank you very much. We talked a few times. And then in the high school. I was fighting for the prayer in football games. Now you have a president for this and i thank you for that. Thank you coach. Thank you all very much. It really helped a lot of people. I am from kentucky. I have a prayer vigilance of my school. Just to let them know that someone was there for them and caring for them. Americans united for the church and state. Whenever my teachers told me. I have bought brought team of prayer. I feel like a very much helps move our community and our schools. I am just so thankful. Say hell no to everybody and thank you so much. I come from a heritage from the faith persuasion and everyday in my life from childbirth until now, it is my belief that had not had that freedom to exercise that faith, we would not be where we are today. For that reason we look at this moment and an opportunity to return to where we have been. As the opportunity to express ourselves and to share with others whom i feel the same way. Just how far we have been brought in and how far we might come. Beautiful. I want thank you. The better education and these guidelines have been updated since 2003. When we saw that and contacted the department of education, we were so gratified the response the secretary and others and yourself said yes we need to address this. And we need to update this. Other administrations shouldve done it every two years and it hadnt been done. So thank you so much for standing up and really supporting the religious freedoms. We have colored covered a lot of territories. And has been to many years and it is very important. Thank you all very much. What about the cultural more out there. There is a cultural war. You have two sides. You have two news size. It is getting worse and worse because some believe it is unknown. We are losing it up a lot. I want to listen and up totally. We do have other things happening today that ten or 15 years ago, when been unthinkable. Take the word god down, taking the word christmas out. I think we turn that one around. I think we have turned both of them around very good. Were not going to let it happen. Whenever going to let that happen. We will fight again hard. You know better than anybody we are fighting hard. We are opening up and again soon. Like so many other stories youve heard, hopefully in the future you will not hurt here too much more about that. Thats a good question. What is your response about your campaign in 2020 and joe biden. I dont know. I can send pictures taken. But i have taken thousands of pictures with people. I dont know him at all. I dont know what hes about. I dont know where he comes from. I knew nothing about him. I can only tell you this thing is the big hoax. It is a big hoax. This is the current hoax. We got in through the russian, we have gone through a lot of them from probably before i came down the escalator. It was certainly since i came down the escalator, just take a look at what is happened. In the meantime our country is trying to probably make a deal. I dont know who this man is. I guess he attended fund raisers i took a picture with him. Im in a room, i take pictures with people. I take thousands and thousands of pictures with people all of the time. Thousands during the course of a year. And often times ill be taking a picture was a makeable say, i wonder what newspaper that one bullet. I know nothing about him. But i can tell you this, i dont know him. I dont believe ive ever spoken to him him. I meet thousands and thousands of people. And i take thousands of pictures. I do it openly. And i do it gladly. If i have a picture where i am sending was somebody in, like believe i saw the picture with this man. I dont know him, no conversations that i remember with him. You just have to take a look at the polls. And take a look at the pictures, you see that i dont need anybodys help. Were doing phenomenally well. The economy is doing well. Weve never had an economy like this in history. Weve just made to train deals in the history of the country. I dont need the help of a man that i never met before. Other than perhaps taking a picture at a fundraiser or something if thats where it was taken. I will probably be going to a meeting with Business Leaders. We want them to come to the United States. Some of them must be in the United States because of the discussions that were happening. We are booming. Our country is the hottest country anywhere in the world. Every world leader is asking what if you done. It is incredible. This most incredible thing weve ever seen. I understand the stock market broke 29000. It was a fraction of that when i came in. It wouldve been cut in half at the other person or the other party one. The number wouldve been cut in half. We are doing so well. Only get more. We have tremendous room for growth. In terms of the economy. We have tremendous full powerful growth room. Ill be meeting the biggest biggest Business Leaders in the world. I will also be meeting with foreign leaders. You talk about prayer and fix it. What is the advantage. Wash them up for you. Im a great relationship with catholics. I dont so much for catholics. You take a look at the abortion issue, you take a look at many of the issues mexico city, so many of the different issues and my relationship with the catholics in the Catholic Church has been very good. As you know very well. Rudy giuliani wrote a letter to dolinsky rest requesting a private meeting. He says in capacity with private counsel. This was before the inauguration with dante trump. Did you are authorized to write that letter and what was your understanding of what the meaning of it was. I dont know about that letter. But certainly rudy is one of the great crime fighters in the history. Probably the best over the last 50 years. He was also the greatest mayor in new york. I think rudy was truly an outstanding mare as an example of his endorsement. If bloomberg can you got bloomberg elected. But he was the greatest crimefighter. Many of somebody that frankly, having him on my side was a great honor for me. And it has been a great honor for me. Rudy giuliani did a phenomenal job over a long period of time. He fought crime. Frankly, he is the very legitimate guy. A very straight shooter. I do know about a specific letter. But it wouldnt of been big deal. Rudy was always important to be a great president that was okay with me. Our country was going to hell. In our country this on a path that we havent seen in decades and decades. We have never done better. What is your view on how long it should take next week. It is a hoax. Everybody knows that. It is the complete hoax. The whole thing with ukraine. So you have a perfect phone call, this is the call, actually two phone calls. They were about perth perfect calls. In fact probably among the nicest calls ive ever made to foreign leaders. So you have these perfect calls, before they knew there was a call. Fortunately they were transcribed. You have other people saying terrible things about calls. You may think whistleblower who wrote a report that had no relationship to what was said. Everything was false. You now the ukrainian president and the foreign minister of ukraine, saying that there was nothing done wrong. In fact they said there was absolutely no pressure whatsoever. Everything was perfect. And they impeach. It is totally partisan. We have hundred and 95 to nothing goes. I guess we had a breakup. We had one democrat come over to the republican side. This is a hoax and a sham. I did the biggest deal ever done in the history of our country in terms of trade and probably other things to if you think about it. The deal with china. That was the second story to a total hoax. Today we passed the u. S. Mta. It will take the place of nafta which was a terrible deal. In the u. S. Mca will probably be second to this witchhunt hoax. Hopefully everyone knows is not going anywhere. There was nothing done wrong. This was a perfect home. Think of it, the president of the United States is led the greatest economic revival of any country anywhere in the world in the United States as big as it is, we are doing better than any other country by far. Our unemployment numbers of the mess they have been in over 50 years. Africanamerican, asian american, hispanic american, the best in the history of our country. And ive got to go hoax. A phony hoax. Put out by the democrats so they can try and win an election. Hopefully they will not win. He was put out for purposes of winning an election. Our country is doing great. Our country has never done better. So the only thing they can do, and a similar report. That was a bone. After two and a half years the field. Now they said, what can we do. They pick up a phone call was perfect. But they didnt know it was perfect. They made up a phone call. What they did, if a corrupt person, a corrupt politician named adam shipped, he mayday phone call. And you will care about this as you grow older. He went out and he said things, quick go pro. In times there was no times. And he said dont call me i will call you. So mom statement. I never said that. Fortunately i released transcripts of the call and transcript was perfectly accurate. And everybody agrees because i went through a lot and they said well you can you add one word here are lt. Col. Said well i think this they shouldve ended the word here. Everybody agrees that the transcript was perfected and done by total professionals. I released that after they had done these fraudulent acts. You envision that. We have the greatest economy and history of our country. We have the highest job numbers today it was just announced. We have more people working in the United States than ever before in the history of our country. All of us a 160 million people. Were doing an incredible job. And for absolutely no reason, i had a peach. It is a disgrace and its a hoax. Thank you very much. [inaudible conversation] [background sounds] [background sounds] speemac President Trump in the oval office a short time ago. That is live on the senate flo floor. The minute a lengthy phone call sometime. We expect them to rob a business for the end of the day in the week shortly after earlier today, moving forward on impeachment. The house managers came over and check the chair of the Intelligence Committee, read the two articles of impeachment and later the chief Justice John Roberts was escorted to the senate floor. He was born in and a score and 99 of the 100 senators. But will be sworn and when the trial begins in earnest on tuesday the majority leader making moves on the senate floor just as the impeachment part was wrapping up. They were making sure that they summoned that was issued to the present calling for his response. His legal schemes response by saturday this weekend, and at the house managers present their brief to the senate by monday of next week. The senate trial again resuming 1 00 p. M. Tuesday january 21st in her life coverage here on cspan2. Every trade agreement that i have seen in my time in congress, north american freetrade and central trade agreement, and south korea and one after another permit normal trade, every one of these trade agreements and trade actions, were written fundamentally in secret by corporate interests to serve corporate interests. Workers were never at the center of these trade agreements. One of my promise vote in the house was against the north american freetrade agreement. I voted no ever since again. All of those were written by corporations to maximize profits and compensation for executives. And to enrich stockholders always at the expense of work. Speemac well mr. President , is that it has remained in session this afternoon following the first meeting of our impeachment trial. History will not only remember today for the first steps of the trial, but today was also a tremendous bipartisan legislative accomplishment. For the American People. The Senate Passed um ca, President Trump historic new trade agreement with canada and mexico. Eightynine ten. Now this landmark deal, which experts estimate will add tens of millions of dollars to the u. S. Economy. And it will create a hundred and 796,000 new jobs. Its on its way down to the white house to be signed into law. This was a major priority for farmers and ranchers, for manufacturers, small businesses, working families across the entire country and today, the senate got it done. We also passed another important bill that will keep analog of the dangerous drug attentional, designated as schedule one narcotics. It will keep them appropriately listed among the most dangerous illegal drug and keep this important tool in the hands of law enforcement. The legislation also preserved mandatory minimum sentences for the criminals to unleash these poisons. These are streets. All enforcement officials from kentucky and across the nation have been pleading with congress for months to keep these tools in place. What are democratic calling separate consisted these efforts to make these temporary measurements permanent. Finally, this week they have determined, we were leist able to get an agreement to prevent these measures from expiring for now. There is a lot of work to do. Ethanol in these analogs are a plague. They killed more kentuckians than any other illegal drugs. Nearly 800 deaths alone in 2018. And just in my state. In the problem of course, is nationwide. So going to stay in the fight of keep working, but todays victory was an important step. The senate will convene on tuesday as ive discussed this morning and impeachment trial is just about the most Serious Business in which the United States senate can engage. But the Founding Fathers gave us the task for a reason. They had confidence in the senate for a reason. They know this institution could do what was right for our nation. And so i am confident that we can prove the farmers right in the days that lie ahead. I ask unanimous consent we are committed to spec speak up to ten minutes apiece. I had to request to me during todays session. I ask unanimous consent the executive concession with consideration of all nominations on the desk and that the nominations be confirmed in the motion to reconsider beacons and remain in life on the table. With no intervening action a debate that no further merchants be in order. In a same as related to the nominations be put in the record. In the present be immediately notified by the Senate Actions in the senate then resumes legislative session. Without objection. I ask unanimous consent the now consider the following senate resolutions. These are submitted earlier today. 476477 and 478. Without objection. I ask unanimous consent for resolution to be a break to the preamble be agreed to in the motion to reconsider week is underpaid. Then on the table,. Without objection. Ask unanimous consent that on tuesday january 21st, from 10 00 a. M. Until 11 00 a. M. , while the senate is setting is the court of impeachment, and that notwithstanding the sentence adjournment, the senate can receive house messages and executive matters. In the committees be authorized to report legislative and objective matters. The senators be allowed to submit statements for the record, bills, and resolutions and cosponsor requests and where applicable the secretary of the senate on behalf of the presiding officer be permitted to refer such matters. Without objection. Mr. President , i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes his business today, in adjourned until 2 00 p. M. Friday january the 17th for a poor former session only with no business being conducted. Further on when the senators on friday january the 17th, and next convene, at 12 30 p. M. On tuesday, january 21st, for the following the pledge of the morning begin to expire, and the proceedings be approved today, leaders later in the end of the day. Morning business be closed. Finally following beleaguered remarks, subject to the call of the chair. Without objection. So theres no further business, i ask that and turn under the previous order. Senators adjourned until 2 0. Uss it has the mexico canada trade agreement and 89 ten boat. The house approve the trade pact last month and now it has to the president. Also today the u. S. Senate received the house impeachment managers. Justice john roberts was sworn