from both charges. i do not believe that removal from office is warranted especially during an election year. i like everyone in this body lilistened to 12 days of debate and testimony covering nearly 90 hours i spent time meeting with my fellow senators in order to reach a conclusion that was fair, met our constitutional mandates, and what will best serve our nation. i did not seek that responsibility. however, i have tried to carry it out to the best of my ability as a senate juror was asked to weigh whether or not the house articles of impeachment charging the president with obstruction of congress or abuse of power, had merit and if true whether the offenses rose to a lever that requires the president to be removed from office. like many of us, i am troubled by multiple factors quite erfrankly i am troubled with th house managers demands that we in the senate fill in the gaps of their investigation and call more witnesses. something may fail to execute themselves. the job of the senate is to be an honest jerry, if you will, and not take up the role of prosecutor or prosecution. nonetheless, after hearing house manager statements it was clear this is exactly the role they insisted that we do. ubi'm troubled that countless times the house managers made senators feel as if we were the ones on trial. i believe house managers were both incorrect and demanding, constantly stating senators had no choice but to agree with their line of reasoning and if we did not, then we would deal with the consequences. the availed threat yet to be defined. i served in the house 16 years, 12 years before that i was chief of staff for house member. i know the house. i truly enjoyed my service there but you don't come to the senate and point fingers at senate members and and have the insinuation we are on trial if we do not do the right thing as they have concluded. enough of that. additionally my top concern was what precedents would be set for future presidents and their expectations of privacy in conversation with their advisors. not to mention the future with regards of the situation once again with our nation finding itself in a whirlpool of partisan impeachment. i've been most troubled that the house managers have not put cause before personal animus i would think back in the day perhaps that they had a barrel like a rain barrel to capture the excess water off the roof. i know we have that in dodge city. i think it probably set right over there it's flowing over with personal animus because there's a rain barrel to catch that and let us get back to our business. i deeply regret that. as has been stated frequently, alexander hamilton described it best charges against the president will fail themselves, will seldom fail to agitate the passions of the whole community and to divide it into parties more or less friendly or inimical to the infused. to continue that "in many cases it will connect itself with the pre-existing factions and will enlist all of their animosities and personalities influence and interest on one side or the other and in such cases there will always be the greatest danger to our nation that the decision will be regulated more by the comparative strength the parties them by the real demonstrations of innocence or guilt.i don't how many senators and for that matter distinguished professor from harvard professor dershowitz said that over and over again. unfortunately the warning of hamilton and our fathers have come into fruition today. it is infectious, and harming our ability to function as the united states senate where the threads of comedy are already getting pretty great. in this regard i appreciate it yesterday when white house counsel showed clips of major bills important to the american people that we have done in a bipartisan fashion despite our differences, despite the animus in the senate. especially highlighting something called the farm bill where we achieve 86 votes with support of the distinguished president. we don't always agree on every issue on the egg committee but we can work together to accomplish big things for america we've done that with the farm bill along with senator sabin in the entire agriculture committee we are the least partisan committee and this distinguished body. that is what we do in the mm senate. that is what we do on behalf of our farmers and ranchers, growers, everybody and throughout rural small town america and the charge of certainty and predictability and we had to get it done. it is what the white house has done on a number of occasions. we use the threads of comedy to get things done. it needs a lot of restricting. so i ask, has president trump's actions risen to the level envisioned by our founding fathers in the constitution as high crimes and misdemeanors warning removal for office? our constitution requires that the threshold for that judgment must be set for each senator sitting as a juror. all of us in the senate have concerns about the direction this country is heading but let me stress that we have come to time and time again through dark times, these are not the .worst of times. when i first arrived here in the senate as a chief of staff for senator frank carlson within weeks we had horrible tragedy of the assassination of martin luther king washington was burning, marines were on the capitol steps, sam biggs, live ammunition. that was tough. who today a charge of impeachment against the president has placed this nation in jeopardy again. the house managers assertions are exactly the kind of situation the framers were trying to avoid. the remarks by alexander hamilton that i've just read, as they devise the impeachment mechanism to remove a sitting president whose actions in danger the republic however, as we did back then we will once again come together. these are not the worst of trtimes and we've always pulled it together. with our strong nation because we have strong people we are a strong nation because it is in our nature to work together even as we disagree among ourselves. i made my choice very clear and my plea is let us restore the threads of comedy in this distinguished body. work together, we must, we will emerge strong because we will. i yield the floor. >> mr. president. >> senator from north dakota. >> mr. president i rise today to speak regarding the impeachment of president donald trump. for more than two weeks now the senate has listened as both the house managers and the tpresident's counsel have presented their cases. nearly 28,000 pages of documents including testimony from 17 witnesses gathered as part of the investigation made part of the senate record. over the course of two days senators asked 180 questions of the house managers and white house counsel. the senate took its constitutional duty very seriously. at after carefully listening to the house usmanagers, president counsel, reviewing the documents and testimony and asking questions, it's clear to me the house should not impeach president trump and the senate should vote to acquit the president. the house process did not provide the president with important due process rights. on the other hand, the senate trial was conducted using past precedent of the clinton astria is the framework. at the start senate agreed that the house evidence could be admitted into the record. we provided an ample opportunity for house managers and white house counsel to make their arguments and ensure senators have substantial time to ask questions. in fact, senators asked 180 questions over two full days and received lengthy answers from both and detailed answers from both presidents counsel and the house managers. the american public has seen the transcript of the call between president trump and president zelinski.president zelinski is set on several occasions that he did not feel pressured to do anything in return for the security assistance. further, military aid was provided to ukraine without any investigations being conducted, given these facts, the houses allegations do not rise to the level of impeachable offense. our founding fathers believed that impeachment should not be used as a partisan weapon. and that the president serves at the will of the people with an election to be held in coming months, it should be up to the american people to decide who will lead the country. we need to put this impeachment behind us. we need to get back to work advancing measures to help improve the lives of americans. these legislative priorities delayed while the house and senate focus attention on partisan impeachment including important items like addressing our nations infrastructure, costs, providing middle-class tax number promoting american energy development, supporting our military and veterans upholding our trust and obligations to our tribal communities, securing our nd borders and continuing to fight for our farmers and ranchers. these should all be areas where we can work together on a bipartisan basis for the american people. with these important priorities in mind, i look forward to getting back to work for the american people and with that, mr. president, i yield the floor. >> the impeachment trial of president trump is coming to a close. >> today we urge you in the face of overwhelming evidence of the president's guilt and knowing that if left in office he will continue to seek foreign interference in the next election to vote to convict in both articles of impeachment and removal from office donald j trump the 45th president of the united states. >> protect the integrity of the united states senate, stand firm today and protect the office of the president. stand firm today and protect the constitution. stand firm today and protect the will of the american people in their vote, stand firm today and protect our nation.i ask this person impeachment come to an end. >> watched the final vote on the impeachment of president trump live from the senate floor wednesday starting at 4:00 p.m. eastern on c-span2 on demand at c-span.org/impeachme nt or listen on the free c-span radio app. >> c-span washington journal live every day with news and policy issues that impact you coming up wednesday morning, we are getting a reaction to president trump state of the union address and the pending senate impeachment vote. join the conversation all morning with your phone calls, emails, facebook comments and tweets. watch c-span washington journal live at 7:00 eastern wednesday morning. >> here is a look at our live coverage wednesday on c-span the house is back at 10:00 a.m. eastern for general speeches with legislative business at noon. they are expected to take up a number of suspension bills dealing with the restoring lakes estuaries and days.on c-span ãb4:00 p.m. the senate convenes as the court of impeachment and holds final vote on the two articles of impeachment in the trial of president trump. on c-span 3 fbi director christopher wray testifies at an oversight hearing before the house judiciary committee that gets underway at 10:00 a.m.. >> c-span, your unfiltered view of government. created by cable in 1979 and brought to you today your television provider. [applause] >> now to the chamber of the u.s. house, first lady melania trump enters the gallery for president trump's third state of the union speech. in a night that he is facing a 4:00 p.m. vote tomorrow the u.s. senate on the two articles of impeachment but also a night where he's reached his highest rating as president according to gallup at 49 percent. live coverage of the state of the union here on c-span2. [applause] [applause] [applause] [gavel] madame speaker, the presidents cabinet. [applause] [applause] [applause] [inaudible background conversations] [inaudible chatter] [inaudible chatter] [inaudible chatter] .......