Answering hard questions about next steps. Meanwhile, even as that vote lay tess groundwork for moving the investigation towards public hearings that the world can see, there is more private testimony going on underway right now, under oath, this time from the president s top russia adviser. Tim morrison. Only the second person to testify who was on the president s call with ukraines president. The call that started this entire scandal. We have a team covering every aspect of the historic story today. Lets begin with the latest on that vote. Condition Congressional Correspondent Phil Mattingly. Phil, democrats would not go to the floor if they did not have, if they had not whipped the majority necessary to pass this resolution. Do we expect any republicans to join them or will this likely be along party lines . I think whats interesting here is whats going on behind the lines trying to get any members that may be on the fence to come into line. Republican aides think they are going to keep their entire conference together, maybe lose one or two at most. But with president trump, with Republican Leadership all working these members, members that may have been on the fence over the course of the last couple of days, it looks like thats going to be the case. Similar tore democrats who have a lot of moderate members who came from 2016 as they flipped the house in 2018. The vast majority of them have been lining up behind Speaker Pelosi and the effort to lay down the rules of the road for the impeachment inquiry as they move forward. As you watch the floor, you grasp how wide chasm is right now. Take a listen. The house impeachment inquiry is about abuse of power. Its about betrayal. Its about corruption. Its about national security. Its about the undermining of our elections. Its about defending our democracy for the people. The house is a separate and coequal branch of government. We dont work for this president or any president. We work for the American People. We have a constitutional responsibility to serve as the check and balance on an out of control executive branch. Our job is to ask difficult questions on behalf of the American People. What we are doing right here is consistent with the words of James Madison who in federalist jim, you see the impassioned speech. Youre seeing an equal amount of passion coming from republicans saying that the process has been all wrong from the beginning, saying that theyre basically trying to remove a president that was elected by the United States in 2016 just because they dont like him politically. But i think the broader picture here is this is moving head snapingly fast. There are rules that will lead likely to the impeachment of the president. A republican member told me earlier today, look, this is red team versus blue team. This is about protecting the president or moving forward where democrats want to go and that is thes bottom line with this house vote. And it opens criticism that this is a party issue. Another key deposition is taking place on capitol hill. The investigation is continuing. Right now, tim morrison, the top russia and european adviser serving the president is testifying under oath behind closed doors. Looking at this testimony, what is significant here is that morrison, not basing his testimony on hearsay, he was on that call. Do we know what we can expect from him . Yeah. We were told from multiple sources that he is expected to back up the testimony that came from bill taylor, who is the top u. S. Diplomate in ukraine becausings taylors testimony referenced morrison about 15 times. They had multiple conversations. Taylor himself said that he was concerned about the president demanding investigations into his political rivals in exchange for releasing aid to the ukrainian government, in exchange for setting up a meeting between the new Ukrainian Administration and the white house, something that the ukrainians desperately sought. Taylor referenced morrison talking about how the president wanted president zelensky of ukraine to go public, go to the microphones and announce an investigation. We are also told that he may not level the same amount of concerns bill taylor had, he did not necessarily see anything wrong with what the administration did. But this is just starting now behind closed doors. Theyre only getting into the third hour. Hes someone else who had direct interactions with the president so well see what more they learned about what you you you you you you he talked about the president with. As we look to the house, lets have a listen. You. Maybe the most Important Service as members of congress we will ever pay to the country and constitution you that we all love and have pledged to defend. For the past several weeks, you Intelligence Committee, the Foreign Affairs committee and Oversight Committee have engaged in an investigation, that work which has been conducted with equal opportunities for both parties to question witnesses has added a great deal to our understanding of the president s conduct as evident in the july 25 call record and the you you you events that preceded and followed that call. That work has necessarily occurred behind closed doors because we have had the task of finding the facts ourselves without the benefit of the investigation that the Justice Department declined to undertake. Despite attempts to obstruct, we have interviewed numerous witnesses, we have provided important testimony about the efforts to secure political favors from ukraine who have provided important testimony about the efforts to secure political favors from ukraine. We have reviewed Text Messages among key players which show how securing political investigations was placed at the forefront of our Foreign Policy towards ukraine. This resolution sets the stage for the next face of our investigation, one in which the American People a have the opportunity to hear from the witnesses firsthand. We will continue to conduct this inquiry with the seriousness of purpose that our task deserves because it is our duty and because no one is above the law. Madam speaker, i urge passage of the resolution and i yield back. The gentleman yields back. Gentleman from oklahoma. Thank you, madam speaker. Now were going to hear from a republican. Theyve been sharing time here. Lets listen in again. Thank you. What began with a rallying cry of were going to impeach the expletive deleted to a crowd of liberal activists and Young Children by my colleague from michigan on the fe day of this congress is now the majoritys flagship initiative. What a shame and what a waste of time in the peoples house. You my view, our president was doing his job, ensuring that if taxpayer dollars from our constituents and yours was going to the other side of the world, that it would be paired with a commitment to crack down on corruption at all levels. No matter who someones daddy is or what their political ambitions are. I think we all know this was inevitable. From the moment donald j. Trump was elected, the end of harassment and impeachment have just been waiting for the means and they think that theyve found them. Theyre wrong. There is, however, one small measure we can take to bring a shred of dignity you heard there in these last two minutes the different points of view on this impeachment investigation. Adam schiff, democrat, who will lead the investigation accusing the president of an intervieabu power. You heard republcans launch a whole host of criticisms here, including on the process, calling it a secretive process and defending the president s actions as you heard there saying he was fighting corruption. Our team of experts is here with me now. Listen, as we watch this, so many questions to delve into. I want to begin with you if i can, jackie, on the politics of this. You heard Phil Mattingly oh, stand by. Nancy pelosi is speaking. Lets listen in. By some of the most beautiful words in our countrys history, we the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and to our prosperity do jordain and establish this constitution of the United States. It goes on immediately to establish article 1, the legislative branch, article 2, the executive branch, article 3, the judiciary. The genius of the constitution, a operation of power. Three coequal branches of government to be a check and balance on each other. And its to that that we take the oath of office. We gather here on that opening day with our families gathered round to proudly raise our hand to protect and defend the constitution of the United States. That is exactly what we are doing today. Sadly, this is not any cause for any glee or comfort. This is something that is very solemn, this is something that is prayerful, and that we had to gather so much information to take us to this next step. Again, this is a solemn occasion. Nobody, i doubt anybody in this place or anybody that you know comes to congress to take the oath of office, comes to congress to impeach the president of the United States. Unless his actions are jeopardizing honoring our oath of office. So im you he grateful to our Committee Chairs for the careful and thoughtful investigation they have been doing as this inquiry has proceeded. And today, the house takes the next step faerd as we establish the procedures for open hearings conducted by the House Intelligence Committee so that the public can see the facts for themselves. This resolution ensures transparency, advancing Public Disclosure of deposition transcripts and outlining the procedures for the transfer of evidence to the Judiciary Committee to use in its proceedings. It enables effective public hearings setting up procedures for the questioning of written assistance and continuing the pre precedent of giving the minority the same right in questioning witnesses as the majority which has been true at every step of this inquiry. It provides the president and his council opportunities to participate, including presenting his case submitting requests for testimony, attending hearings, raising objections to testimony given crossexamining witnesses and more. Contrary to what you may have heard today, we give more opportunity to his case than was given to our president s before. And thank you, mr. Chairman, for making that point so clearly. And these action, this process, these open hearings, seeking the truth and making it available to the American People will inform congress on the very difficult decisions we will have to make in the future as to whether to impeach the president. That decision has not been made. That is what the inquiry will investigate and then we can make the decision based on the truth. I dont know why the republicans are afraid of the truth. Every member should support allowing the American People to hear the facts for themselves. That is really what this vote is about. Its about the truth. And what is at stake . What is at stake in all of this is nothing less than other democracy. I proudly stand next to the flag and i thank the gentleman from new york for providing it for us. This flag. So many have fought and died for this flag which stands for our democracy. When Benjamin Franklin came out of Independence Hall, weve heard this over and over. On september 17th, 1787, the day our constitution was adopted, he came out of Independence Hall and people said to him, dr. Franklin, what do we have, a monarchy or a republic . And he said, as you know, he said a republic. If we can keep it. If we can keep it and this constitution is the blueprint for our republic and not a monarchy. But when we have a president who says article ii says i can do whatever i want, that is in defiance of the separation of powers. Thats not what our constitution says. What does it state . Our democracy. What are we finding for . Defending our democracy for the people. Do you know that in the early days of our democracy, thomas payne says the times have found our founders who declare our democracy, to fight a war of independence, to write our founding documents and thank god they made them amendable so we could always be expanding freedom. And the genius, again, the genius of that constitution was the separation of powers. Any usurping of that power is a violation of our oath of office. So proudly, we all raised our hand to support and defend the constitution of the United States. Thats what this vote is about today. And we think that the times found our founders, the times have found others in the course of our history to protect our democracy, to keep our country united, the times have found every one of us in this room and in our country to Pay Attention to how we protect and defend the constitution of the United States. Honoring the vision of our founders who declared independence from a monarch and established a country contrary to that principal, honoring the men and women in uniform who fight for our flag and our freedom and for our democracy and honoring the aspirations of our children so that no preside president , whoever he or she might be in the future, could decide that article ii says they can do whatever they want. Let us honor our oath of office, let us defend our democracy, let us have a good vote today and have clarity, clarity as to how we proceed, why we proceed and, again, doing so in a way that honors the constitution. We must honor the constitution and how we do this. We must respect the institution we serve. And we must heed the further words of our founders e. Pluribis unum. They didnt know how many there would be ow how they would be, but they knew we needed to always be unifying. So hopefully as we go forward with this for a clarity of purpose, a clarity of procedure, a clarity of fact, a clarity of truth, its about the truth, its about the constitution. We will do so in a way that brings people together that is healing rather than dividing and that is how we will honor our oath of office. I urge an aye vote and yield back the balance of my time. The gentle lady yields back. You. The gentleman from oklahoma. Thank you, madam speaker. I yield two minutes to my good friend, the ranking remember member on the house Foreign Affairs committee mr. Mccall. Thank you, madam speaker. Id also argue article i does not say you can do whatever you want to do and the constitution says that and our Founding Fathers says that, as well. Im wolf blitzer in washington. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world for cnns special coverage. It is a very historic day here in the United States. Weve just heard nancy pelosi set the scene for what is going to be a very critically important vote to impeach the president of the United States. We have a lot of analysis set through to go to a full vote on the floor of the house of representatives. Nancy pelosi is making it clear not only by her words, by her actions that the democrats are determined to move forward on an official public transparent way with an impeachment process. Yes. As much as the democrats, when they surprised even most of the rank and file earlier this week by saying they would have this vote, as much as they say its not a response to the republicans, its a response to the republican attack on the process. Laying out clearly how this is going to go forward with open hearings and more importantly the rights that not just the republicans in congress, but the president and his team will have once they get into the presentation of evidence and the way the house Judiciary Committee laid it out by way of historical comparison. His team will have more rides even than president clinton did when you were covering that im you peachment. She always like to put a Historical Context on this and she should. The fact is, were going to see her in the chair, the speaker. Thats extraordinary. And you might think the speaker of the house is presiding. It almost never happens. That sends another signal, a symbolic signal about how significant, how somber and how important what is going to happen. The democrats clearly have the vote, the majority, to pass this resolution. The question were going to be asking is will there be any defectors from the democratic side and any defectors from the republican side . Starting with the democrats, the leadership im the other told is expecting to maybe lose a few, but insignificant number of democrats. Most of the socalled front liners, those democrats who made their majority who are in swing districts, many of them went for donald trump 7 to 10 points. Ing there are a little more than a handful who have not said a word. The bigger question is the republican side, whether anybody is going to be infect from the president. I am told by high level republicans in the house that on this particular vote they are whipping it like a Typical Party line procedural vote and even those who have been critical of the president are unlikely to defect on this vote. That doesnt mean they wont do so ultimately when the house votes on impeachment. And once this vote occurs, and it will pass in the house of representatives, there will be a lengthy process Going Forward to draft what are called articles of impeachment. Thats right. And theyll be based on all of the testimony. The public will finally get to see. We know for instance that bill taylor, who provided pretty compelling behind the doors of the diplomate essentially said this was a quid pro quo, opened up with a 15page statement that a lot of democrats came out and said was damning. So the public will get to hear from these folks publicly. And even as these hearings go on and some of the procedural emotions are settled on, we know there will be testimony next week behind closed doors. Listen, there were a lot of questions about whether democrats could do this. Democrats are not known for being organized and you the sort of efficient party. But in this case with Nancy Pelosis leadership, pelosi reluctantly came to this decision. Theyve been pretty methodical. And witness after witness, corroborating the report, you have volker coming folks who wo administration that this president did engage in a quid pro quo. Republicans have been talking about the procedure. They will have to answer do they think its okay for the president to engage in this type of behavior. Do they think its impeachable. The democrats in their preliminary investigation, they already have worn statements from several players who were involved in all this suggesting that yes, the president was engaged in what is called a quid pro quo trying to provide political dirt on joe biden and the democrats. Thats right, wolf. What ive been struck by over the only one month that this investigation has been going on is first of all, how consistent the testimony has been, how specific its been, how much it has come from essentially nonpartisan figures, appointees of the Trump Administration itself. These arent from outside players or from democrats. This is directly from nonpartisan officials and people who were appointed to political jobs by president trump. And what theyve all said is very consistent. Its not just a phone call. I think thats an important point to note. President trump took very specific actions and there is a number of them. They begin with the firing of the u. S. Ambassador last spring at the behest of his personal attorney rudy giuliani. The president insisted upon holding a meeting with president zelensky. He personally insisted on withholding 4 million in congressly approved security assistance. And there is this famous phone call. Hold on one minute. Nancy pelosi is about to do a news conference. Lets listen in. I just said id be here so im here. So here we are. Democrats have been hard at work legislating, investigating, litigating, and were happy this week that we did something were trying to do for a very long time, just the Ottoman Empire responsible for an armenian 403 to 16, Something Like that want we voted sanctions on turkey. Again, reaffirming our opposition to the president s action that he took visavis syria and turkey. And, again, that was 35460. So weve had strong bipartisan votes on these issues that relate to what happened in turkey visavis syria. And our for the people agenda, we said we were going to do first lower the Health Care Costs by lowering the cost of Prescription Drugs. And that is what we are doing with hr30 now named the elijah e. Cummings lower drug costs now legislation. We invite our republican colleagues who keep saying they want to do something to join us to do that. And when we pass it, we urge senator mcconnell to were going to continue to monitor the speaker of the house, nancy pelosi. We will get back to her if she discusses what will happen where this historical impeachment. Michael, the key provisions in this resolution thats about to be passed and a historic resolution, it reaffirms what already has been going on. The ongoing impeachment inquiry will continue, but it moves in a different direction. Instead of being behind closed doors, it opens it up and these hearings will be televised. Absolutely. And this was going to happen inevitably. The whole process has been designed up until now to gather evidence as responsibly and as carefully as possible, but its all going to become public. And has been pointed out, the testimony is really putting together a rather disturbing picture about what has been happening behind closed doors in the white house. And with the white houses efforts to stop people, we have to keep in mind that that, too, may be a disturbing development. And let me go back to nancy pelosi, the speaker, right now. Our children for americas future, we take an oath to protect and defend the constitution. That we cannot ignore and we will not ignore when the president s behavior indicates that that investigation, that inquiry is necessary. We will decide whether well go forward with impeachment. That decision has not been made. But here we are, again, our founders, september 17th, 18 excuse me, 1787, they came forth with a constitution, a separation of power, three coequal branches of government, balance of power. And when Benjamin Franklin came out, this side mr. Frankly, what do we have, a monarchy or a republic . In the here and now, we are keeping the republic from a president who says article ii, says i can do whatever i want. Not so. And if so, if you think that is so and you act upon that belief that is in violation of the constitution of the United States. And so we will proceed with the facts, the truth. Its about the truth and its about the constitution and were working hard to defend our democracy. Because if we dont have a system of checks and balances, we might as well all just elect a president and go home. Because it will be that unitary form of government that our founders did not want us to have. All of you as guardians of our democracy, the guardianses of the gate of our democracy as messengers about revealing the facts and the truth to the American People. In fact, the times have found us as they found us, thomas payne said our founders to declare independence, to fight a war, to win it, to right our founding documents, in a way that made us a republic. Times have found us now to have a republic and to keep it as Benjamin Franklin admonished. This isnt about anything personal with the president. It isnt about patriotism. It isnt about partisanship. Its about patriotism. Its about patriotism. And i would hope that rather than protecting the president personally, all of our colleagues would choose to honor their oath of office to protect and defend not the president , but the constitution of the United States. Just a few questions because were on the floor. Yes, maam . Madam speaker, did you the republican and the white house that this is an [ inaudible question ]. The question is do i think its going diminish their no. The facts are what they are. They can try to misrepresent them, but the fact is, this is a process that is expanded opportunity for them to show anything that is exculpatory to prove the independence of the president. Republicans say that this process is not due process for the president. Are these rules really fair . Yes, they are. Yes, they are. If i answered it once, ive answered it twice. Im going to answer it one time. These rules are fairer than anything than have gone before in terms of an impeachment proceeding. Im not here to answer what the republicans say. Were doing appropriations, were doing trade, were doing drug prices, lowering the cost of drug prices. Im not here to answer any questions about what the republicans say. Other than to what i have said just now. Madam speaker, do you believe you have the votes yet . Yes. If you think that what do you think of the younger law maushgs w maus maus maushgs who think that katie hills decision to resign is her decision to resign. It is shes an absolutely Outstanding Young public servant. Very smart, strategic, patriotic, loves our country, respected by her colleagues in the congress. For the work she does here. She made her decision and her timing and i respect that. I do say to my own children and grandchildren, you know some of these i dont know what you would call them. Appearances on is it social media can come back to haunt you if they are taken out of context and that. But i do think that we have to be careful. This is something that i think could spring from this that could be a benefit. Regardless of any errors in judgment that anyone may have made were going to continue to monitor Nancy Pelosis news conference. Shes moving answering questions on other subjects. Lets get back to the historic moment that were about to see, the house of representatives, the full house of representatives, all members are about to vote on a resolution Going Forward, formally authorizing an impeachment process against the president of the United States donald trump. And one of the provisions in this resolution that will pass, the democrats have a significant majority in the house of represents, even if no republicans support it, the democrats have enough votes to go forward. One of the provisions will enable the president and his lawyers and his white house officials to participate in this process. Until now, they have not been participating directly in these closed door hearings. Ross, youre a legal analyst. Lets talk about what this resolution will provide the president of the United States. It will allow the president to present their case, the president s case, response to evidence, written requests for additional testimony, other enevidence, attend hearings, raise an objection to testimony given and crossexamine witnesses. There is one provision, though, thats added. If the president in the words of this resolution unlawfully refuse toes cooperate with congressional requests, presumably witnesses for subpoena ands documents, the chair shall have the discretion to oppose by denying specific requests by the president or his counsel. Right. The president and the republicans sort of have three main complaints. One is there wasnt a house vote. This takes care of that. The second was that things were happening in secret. This takes care of that. Third was that the president and republicans couldnt actively participate in the process. And the provision you just read addresses the president s lawyers participation at the Judiciary Committee. What we expect to hear from republicans and the president is but the real action is actually happening before the House Intelligence Committee where the president s lawyers dont have the ability to crossexamine witnesses. What i think the speaker and democrats will say is except in previous impeachments, the president had a right to do all those things before the Judiciary Committee and that is the right weve given here. The president s people will counter that, you know, by that point, the process will have already been done. And theyre already doing that. When it comes to strategy and public opinion, that is all that matters here because thats driving the votes or lack thereof. Republicans feel like theyve kind of laid the groundwork already for whats happened in the past. Or whats happening right now at the beginning of the process. In the clinton impeachment, they didnt have to do their own depositions because ken starr spent, what, two years, three years, behind closed doors just like they are doing depositions of various and grand jury testimony. And grand jury testimony. That is not the case here because the trump Justice Department refused to look into this. So that is a huge difference theyre messaging and they have conservative media to bolster that. Thats a big one. Everybody stand by. Were going to get to this historic vote on the floor of the house of representatives. Were going to take a quick break. Much much of our special coverage right after this. New neutrogena® bright boost with dullnessfighting neoglucosamine. Boosts cell turnover by 10 times for instantly brighter skin. Bright boost neutrogena®. Get the perfectly grilled flavors of an outdoor grill indoors, and because its a ninja foodi, it can do even more, like transform into an air fryer. 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There is no obligation, so call the number on your screen right now to see if your doctor is in our network; to find out if you can save on your prescriptions and to get our free decision guide. Licensed humana sales agents are standing by, so call now. Welcome back to our special coverage. Were standing by. The house of representatives, the full house is about to vote on a resolution formally Going Forward with an impeachment investigation with the president of the United States, donald trump. I want to go to Phil Mattingly up on capitol hill. Set the scene for us, phil. Walk us through what were about to see unfold on the floor on of the house of representatives. Within the next five to ten minutes, everyone is going to want to keep an eye on the vote for the resolution will be the second vote. Democrats have the votes to move this forward and they have largely moved a lot of their front line members firmly behind the speaker and the Democratic Party in terms of moving forward on this. So there is only a few members youll want to keep an eye on. For democrats, those who meet vote no and for republicans, those who might vote yes. On the democrat side, my count is four front line democrats who havent supported an impeachment inquiry up to this point. One youll want to keep an eye on, jeff vandrew. He flipped a trump district in 2018. On the republican side, there are a very good chance that no republicans will join democrats on this. There has been a heavy behind the scenes effort by house Republican Leadership, the house majori minority leader. Fred upton is considered on the fence. Im told keep an eye on francis rooney. They think Republican Leadership think they can keep him in line. But thats all youre looking for. All that underscores here is this has turned into a very partisan red versus blue type of scene. Kevin mccarthy, the republican leader in the house now speaking. Who will work for them . So i ask you all a simple question. Especially to my colleagues. Is that what is happening here today . Are we gathered in these final moments before we depart for a week to fund our government . To pay our troops . Are we gathered today to prove a new trade deal . Or are we gathered to debate the Critical National Security Issues regarding china or iran . Well, that answer would be unanimously no. Those items would be the achievement of a productive congress. A congress that truly works for the people. This Congress Records more subpoenas than laws. That is the legacy. It is not just devoid of solutions for the American People. It is now discrediting democracy. By using secret interviews and selective leaks to portray the president s legitimate actions as an impeachable defense. Democrats are continuing their Permanent Campaign to undermine his legitimacy. For the last three years, they have predetermined the president s guilt, they have never accepted the voters choice to make him president. So for 37 days and counting, they have run an unprecedented, undemocratic and unfair investigation. This resolution today only makes it worse. Ive heard member of the other side say they promise rights to the president , but only if he does what they want. That is the equivalent of saying in the First Amendment, you have the right to the freedom of speech, but you can only say the words i agree with. That is what you call due process. The amendment offered by my colleague, mr. Cole, would help correct some of the transparency concerns we have witnessed in the last few weeks. But today is more than the unfairness of an impeachment process. Democrats are trying to impeach the president because they are scared they cannot defeat him at the ballot box. That is not my words. Thats the words of my colleagues from the other side of the aisle that has offered impeachment three different types. This impeachment is not only an attempt to undo the last election. En an attempt to influence the next one, as well. This is not what democrats promised when they entered the months 11 months ago. In this chamber, we heard from our speaker where we all sat here. We heard what the speaker said. When she talked about words of optimism and cooperation. It was said we Work Together to make america stronger, more prosperous. We were told our mission was to return to power to the people. In fact, our new colleagues on the other side of the aisle were sent to washington with a mandate to do just that. So whats happening . Nothing like that today. Not long ago, democrats recognized that a partisan impeachment would put politics over people and harm our nation. That exact same speaker that talked about cooperation, that talked about and promised the American People that they would do different, they would be different if they trusted you with the majority. You have failed in that promise. Unless there is something so compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan, i do not think we should go down that path because it divides the country. What has changed since those words have been spoken . Alexander hamilton wrote there will always be the greater danger that using the impeachment power would be driven by animosity instead of real demonstrations of innocence or guilt. The sham impeachment by democrats have proven hamilton right and portrays the speakers own words. I know emotions are high. I know members would run for positions of chair simply on the fact that there will be a better chair for impeachment right after the election. But when we all stood that day and lynched to the words of speaker cooperation, we all raised our hand to uphold the constitution. Tomorrow is november 1st. Were one year away from the election. Why do you not trust the people . Why in a process that america lends their voice to all of you that you deny us to speak for them . Has animosity risen that high . Is hamilton proven correct again . There is a moment in time that you should rise to the occasion. This is that moment. This is the moment that history will write. History will ask you when you cast this vote, when you cast a vote to justify something has gone on behind closed doors, i want you to ask the historian and answer the question, what do you know that happens there . Have you heard anything that took place that you justified . What do you believe the definition of due process is . What do you think the First Amendment is . Do you have the right to have a voice or only the words that you agree with . You may get elected in a primary, but in a general election, youre elected to represent the people of america. Not to deny their voice. This house is so much better than what is transforming today. I believe everyone who runs for this office runs to solve a problem. But when you go back to the American Public, with the achievement of more subpoenas than laws, that is not why you ran. That is not why we are here and that is why i agree with my colleague, mr. Cole, that believes in the power of the people, people before politics, that we believe and know we can do better, that we believe the speaker when she said about cooperation. We believed her when she said if you trusted them with the majority, they would be different. I guess its only fitting you take this vote on halloween. I yield back. The gentleman from oklahoma has one minute remaining. With that, i will yield back the balance of my time. So were going to continue to watch. Were getting ready for two votes on the floor of the house of representatives. First a procedural vote that will be passed and then the substantive vote authorizing this new phase of the public examination of the president of the United States when it comes to drafting articles of impeachment. Walk us through this first vote, what that will be. So theyre going on be setting up, as you said, a procedural vote so they can get to the next one. Were going to go through and were going to watch that fist vote. But it is that second vote. That is the substance, the rules of the road and given the ideas that the republicans will have and the president and his team will have and as it goes forward into the articles of impeachment, which will, rightly so, move from the Intelligence Committee which is now conducting the deposition and will conduct the public hearings to the Judiciary Committee which is where historically it was and everybody agrees should be when you actually talk about the articles of impeachment. And Kevin Mccarthy made a powerful statement there. He did. That was very different than the republican talking points weve heard over the past four weeks or so. Especially over the past week, its been process, process, process. And he was trying to combat the patriotic speech and the patriotic message that House Democrats have been given, saying that its the opposite. And he actually, probably in a pretty clever way, took the speakers way on opening day about bipartisanship saying this is not acting in the bipartisan way that you said you would. If i was the speaker watching that, i would say, yeah, its not bipartisan because you guys are not coming along with me to investigate this president who even many republicans say did something so inappropriate that at least there should be an inquiry, which is all this vote is. But what you saw there was Kevin Mccarthy not willing to conseat that point, right . He essentially called the president s actions legitimate actions and the notion that the president still wont get due process in this procedure that the house will soon vote on. And we dont yet fully know where the American Public will land on this. We see there has been some movement in terms of people being more open to removing this president through the impeachment process, certainly open to an impeachment inquiry itself. But we also see that in some of the swing states, right, that this might not be such a good idea. I talked to some democrats about this essentially saying, listen, are the politics good for you in terms of this and they said, listen, they dont necessarily care about the politics. This is something they want to put a marker on and say this kind of behavior that state Department Officials and white house officials and even the president himself is saying that he can engage in is something that cannot be tolerated from an american president now or in the future. So that is where democrats are. They are saying this is about a principal and not necessarily politics. And theyre voting now on this first resolution, the procedural resolution. Theyve got 15 minutes to vote. All 435 members of the house of representatives are presumably, whoever is there, will vote. You need 218 for the majority of the democrats have more than enough to get this passed. A quick question, michael. With the democrats and this new resolution are calling for, is that consistent with the legislative process, the legal process, that went before the impeachment process got going with president nixon and later with president bill clinton . Theres a lot of similarity. But we also have to remember the context makes all the difference. So the different facts here, the different situation, the committee is on a different posture now when they did their investigation. Something to also keep in mind is something that the constitution tells us. The constitution says the house has the sole power to impeach. You hear the president insisting he has a role here. That he can try to shut this down. No, this is a process thats meant as a check and balance against whatever the president s arguing. How do you see it, susan, because in the impeachment process against president nixon and later against president bill clinton, there were democrats who went away from bill clinton and as far as nixon was concerned, there were republicans who voted against him in favor of impeachment. Well, thats right. Look, in the end, there were i believe 31 democrats who voted with republicans to begin the impeachment inquiry against bill clinton. Nobody thinks were going to see those numbers today. That reflect aes shift in our politics not only radically since the watergate era, but the clinton era. What you hear this morning in the speeches by pelosi and mccarthy was a tale of different nonintersecting americas. There was never the possibility for a bipartisan impeachment proceedings against donald trump. Frankly, probably no matter what he does. Because there is no possibility of meaningful bipartisanship in the system as we have it right now. I think thats what were going to see today. And that is striking the proceeding despite that, not because of it. Except republicans can point out the same rules were virtually used in nixon and clinton, not here. Everybody stand by because they are still voting on this procedural vote right now. About 12 minutes left. Democrats, 96 yea. Republicans 61 neighs. Were going to continue to watch this. Were getting ready for the second vote, the historic vote that will formally open an inpeachment inquiry against the president of the United States. dramatic orchestra performance comes in lots of flavors. Theres the ampedup, overtuned, feedingfrenzyof sheetmetalkind. And then theres performance that just leaves you feeling better as a result. Thats the kind lincolns about. Too many afterparties. New neutrogena® bright boost with dullnessfighting neoglucosamine. Boosts cell turnover by 10 times for instantly brighter skin. Bright boost neutrogena®. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. Im wolf blitzer in washington. Were following breaking news. This is the first of two votes on the floor of the house of representatives. This is a procedural vote that will allow the second more substantive vote to go forward that will publicly call for an impeachment inquiry, an investigation of the president of the United States. Walk us through the process right now, the legislative process how its unfolding. What were seeing right now is that procedural vote were going to s
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