Country. The administration has worked with the Committee Staff to observe 11 cpb holding facilities, 13 i. C. E. Detention facilities and six state licensed that contract. Good evening, im Chris Matthews in washington where tonight were watching history in the making as the House Judiciary Committee debates articles of impeachment against donald trump. Votes are expected to take place any moment now. Lets listen in. The committee threatened witnesses that and i quote, any failure to appear, any failure to appear in response to a mere letter requesting their presence for a deposition shall and i quote constitute evidence of obstruction. This is just letters, not subpoenas. In letters to the State Department employees, the committee threatened to witnesses that if they insist on
having Agency Counsel present to protect the Executive Branch in their Confidentiality Interests or if they make any effort to protect Confidentiality Interests at all, these officials would have their salaries withheld. Withholding of salaries. The committees have not afforded the president basic protections such as the right to seal evidence, the right to president evidence, the right to call witnesses, the right to have counsel present at hearings, the right to cross examine all witnesses, the right to make objections related to examination of witnesses, or the admissibility of testimony and evidence and did not afford the president the right to respond to evidence and testimony presented. Thank you. I yield the remainder of my time. Gentleman yields back. What purposes does mr. Swalwell seek recognition . Move to strike the last word. The gentleman is recognized. At this moment the grave risk that the president will again abuse his power of the presidency to try and secure his reelection. We have reason to be concerned. The presidency gives him great powers to cause others to interfere in our elections, and the only protection we have is to act now. Because the president is cheating right now. And to any of my colleagues who ask why move on this right now . Its a crime spree in progress. And as chairman schiff said earlier this week, what are we supposed to do . Just let him cheat one more time, expect him to eventually do the right thing . And heres what high colleagues logic amounts to if we wait. It amounts to this, allow the building to burn, collapse, fall to the ground, and then you should call the fire department. This president has set our democracy on fire, and we must act to save it. And theres an urgency to act. And this president is not only being impeached because of what he has done. Its because of what he continues to do. We know what hes done, not really disputed. Abused his power, asked a Foreign Government to help him cheat, jeopardized our National Security, integrity of our elections for his own personal gain. But this is not a one off. Weve come to learn as ms. Demings just explained, this is what he does. In 2016 he said russia if youre Listening Hack my opponents emails, youll be awarded. Turns out, russia was listening. Turns out russia hacked his opponents emails. That day they sought to hack his
opponents emails. In that investigation he went to Great Lengths to obstruct it. So why is it so urgent we act right now . The president s lawyer was just in ukraine. The president s lawyer said in may im not meddling in an election. We not i we, donald trump and i are meddling in an investigation. And that meddling continues today. But the president s own words tell us about whiz current intent. On october 2nd the president said and you know wave been investigating on a personal basis on rudy and otherscru in the 2016 election. If theyre honest about it they should start an investigation into the bidens that simple. On october 3rd the president stood on the white house lawn and confirmed he wanted ukraine
to veinvestigate the bidens. But then he added a country because thats what he does, russia, ukraine. He said china should also investigate the bidens. My colleagues, we shouldnt have to hope and pray china wasnt listening when he said that. But fortunately people on this committee are listening. Americans are listening. People who know right from wrong, our children are listening. Are you listening . And what we hear deeply concerns us about what the president will do next. And were not helpless. And in fact we know that the courage to act is the only thing that has stopped this president. Thats not a leap of faith. You see, it was the courage of dr. Fiona hill and Lieutenant Colonel vindman to, quote, go to the lawyers when they heard that the president was conditioning the white house visit for investigations. It was the courage of the
whistleblower to come forward. Thats what got ukraine the aid. The president got caught. Then ukraine got the aid. If those people were not courageous and acted, ukraine would not have the aid today. So we must follow their Pattern Conduct and act. We have pattern evidence that not only donald trump acts corruptly but that when you show courage and act against him, you can stop him. Its actually the only way to extinguish his corrupt ways. If unchecked, my colleagues, donald trump does not get better, he gets worse. He gets more corrupt. And we cant wait until the next election to hold him accountable. Not when he is trying to rig the next election. So we must act to protect our National Security, the integrity of our elections and honor our
oath to the constitution. I yield back. Gentleman yields back. The question is on the amendment. Those in favor say aye. We have someone asking for time. I didnt see a request. You stopped. Youve now recognized me. I recognize mr. Gaetz. Move to strike the last word. Gentleman is recognized. Theyre right they cant wait until the next election. The reason they cant wait until the next election because they have taken a look at their Candidate Field and theyve fundamentally changed every standard theyve set for themselves for the American People. Whether you like President Trump or dont like President Trump, it would be at least worth acknowledging democrats have moved the goal posts on what it would require to bring us to this point and to harm our nation and distract us so much from the critical needs of American People who probably wonder why were not focused on them right now. First they told us this has to be bipartisan. Now, i get folks watching at home i think that im somebody who really likes the president and id probably be a hard vote for them to get for impeachment. But its not just they cant convince the president s supporters to abandon him, they cant even convince the president s critics to abandon him. I mean jeff van drew, collin peterson, two members of congress, two democrats, theyre not fans of the president. Theyre critics of the president , and yet they didnt vote with democrats. They voted with republicans. Weve even got some republicans, my colleague will hurd from texas, he didnt mind being a critic of the president , and he was honest and told them this is not impeachable conduct. They told us that the process would be fair. And yet even when members of this committee sought the opportunity not to read a transcript or see someones second performance of their testimony but to see their firsthand account, how they
reacted, how they were breathing, did they fidget when they responded, we wanted to see those things and we were excluded by the Intelligence Committee. Democrats said that to put our country through this it would require compelling and overwhelming evidence. And each and every time they try to cast doubt on the president s conduct we are able to show a legitimate concern the president had in corruption. We are able to cite the transcript that demonstrates no conditionality. And time and again democrats say theres no factual debate about what the president did. The factual debate comes from president zelensky. They said oh, Well Zelensky might not have known, but yermak, he knew. Sondland talked to yermak and conveyed this shakedown. And the very day they introduced articles of impeachment, yermak gives an interview and says we never perceived this is an
exchange for military aid for any one thing. Time and again they let us down in their claims. But one thing we know for certain is that this was a sad inevitability. I had someone ask me recently do you feel some sense of history, some sense of moment youre about to vote on impeachment . And sadly i knew this time was coming since the democrats took control of the house of representatives. Because they didnt lay out a plan to appropriate for the budget, work can us on critical generational issues. They setout a plan for impeachment. How do we know that . When the chairman himself campaigned for the lead democrat role for the Judiciary Committee. He didnt say pick me because im a great legislator around some issue set, he said pick me because i will be the person who can lead our caucus through a potential impeachment. Theyve had a blood lust for impeachment. It has been an obsession, and its deeply saddening to us. We take absolutely no joy in the
fact it is consuming. But here we stand on the verge of it, and my expectation is that this new standard in the second article with just the, you know, the notion of obstruction of congress is their excuse for not being able to prove Obstruction Of Justice. Public reporting has been to say the chairman went to the Democratic Caucus and sought support to bring an article for Obstruction Of Justice and couldnt get their support. So now here were with obstruction of congress, sort of the low Energy Version of the Obstruction Of Justice claim that they wanted. They hoped theyd be able to convict and accuse and evidence some claim on bribery. Thats what their pollsters and pundits told them would be best as they solemnly tell us this is sad to them. They were out polling what lexicon, what word choice would help make the case to the american public. So they settled on bribery. You heard them on every show talking about this is the new
standard, Speaker Pelosi speaking in this and instead of bribery, instead of treason, extortion you have Abuse Of Power, the low Energy Version. Im disappointed in my colleagues. But probably even those Who Dont Support the president would share that disappointment in this very moment. And i yield back. Gentleman yields back. Mr. Chairman i have the unanimous consent request. I recognize for the purpose of a unanimous consent request. Thank you, chairman. I ask unanimous consent to enter the letter i referenced which is the letter from Chairman Engel to John Sullivan in which he says that officials who assist on counsel will have their salary without objection. Thank you. A question now occurs on the amendment. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed no. And in the opinion of the chair the nos have it and the amendment is not agreed to. The roll call is requested. Mr. Nadler votes no. Ms. Jackson lee. No. Mr. Cohen. No. Mr. Cohen votes no. Mr. Deutsch votes no. Ms. Bass. Ms. Bass votes no. Mr. Jeffreys votes no. Mr. Sill leany votes no. Mr. Swalwell votes no. Mr. Lieu. Mr. Raskin. Mr. Neguse votes no. Ms. Mac bath votes no. Mr. Stanton votes no. Ms. Dean votes no. Mr. Escobar votes no. Mr. Collins, aye. Mr. Chabot votes aye. Mr. Gomer votes aye. Mr. Buck votes aye. Mr. Ratcliffe votes aye. Mr. Johnson of louisiana votes aye. Mr. Biggs votes aye. Mr. Kline votes aye. Has every member voted who wishes to vote . Clerical report . Mr. Chairman theres 17 ayes and 23 nos. The amendment is not agreed to. I have an amendment at the desk. I reserve a point of order. The clerk will report the amendment. The amendment to the amendment offered by mr. Jordan of ohio, page 4 strike line 23 and all that follows, page 8 strike lines 10 through 17. And the gentleman is recognized for the purpose of explaining his amendment. I withdraw my point of order. Point of order is withdrawn. This simply strikes the last eight lines in article 1 and the
last eight lines in article ii. Weve been through these facts many times. Ukraine didnt know aid was held up at the time of the call, but the democrats assert that President Trump was Pressuring Zelensky on the call to investigate the bidens in order to get the aid that he didnt even know was on hold. Thats their argument. And, oh, by the way Down The Road president zelensky says there was no pressure on the call, no pushing, no linkage whatsoever. But you have a rigged and rushed process when you dont have the facts. You have a rigged and rushed process when you cant accept the will of the American People. Speaker of the house pelosi, nancy pelosi called the president an impostor just three weeks ago. The democrats have never accepted the will of the American People, and thats why theyve been out to get this president since even before he was elected. And of course you have a rigged and rushed process when youre afraid that you cant beat the
president at the ballot box. When youre nervous about next falls election, you have this kind of process, a rigged and rushed process. This is not about the kernel this is not really about the concern mr. Swalwell talked about earlier, concern somehow the president was going to do something wrong and try to influence the election, no, no, this is about their concern they cant win next year based on what the president has accomplished in the past three years. Its an amazing record in spite of the democrats being completely against the president , in spite of the main stream press being against the president. Its amazing whats been accomplished. The economy growing at an unbelievable rate, lowest unemployment in 50 years, 266,000 jobs added last month alone. 54,000 in the manufacturing sector. Mr. Gorsuch, mr. Kavanaugh on the court, a lot of other federal judges confirmed. Out of the Iran Deal In Jerusalem and new nafta going to be voted on next week. Its a rigged rushed process because you guys are worried about next november. Mr. Green says we have to impeach him because hes going to win the election. We know what this is ability. I think about this president this is why the American People like him so much because he is doing what he said he would do. Every president ial election ive been able to participate in, both candidates republican and democrat candidate, when they campaigned for the job they tell the country if you elect me im going to move the embassy to jerusalem. Republicans, democrats, they all campaign on it, and then they get elected and come up with a million reasons they cant do what they said they were going to do, more importantly but
this president said, no, im going to do it. Even though the same interagency consensus weve heard so much about in this Impeachment Inquiry, even though this interagency consensus was probably against him in that move, this president said im going to do it. And its been a good thing. And thats what the American People appreciate, and thats why weve got this rigged and rushed process because its really about next november. Theyre all afraid. Some of their colleagues have said it straight up, theyre all afraid that cant beat him at the ballot box so theyre going to do this rigged, rushed and wrong Impeachment Process. I would yield the remanldinder my time to the gentleman. I wanted to ask the gentleman of ohio a question. Based on the standards asserting here if someone is in the house running for president and they support or push impeachment of
the president , would they be subject to being excelled for abusing their position, just curious. Well, i think ill let my colleague answer that question, but what i do know is i think my colleagues on the other side of the aisle as i said nervous about their prospects next november against President Trump based on his amazing record of leadership in the last three years. With that i would yield back. Thank you. Gentleman yields back. I would recognize myself to speak in opposition to the amendment. I think that the facts amply demonstrate the charges in these two articles of impeachment. Namely that the president put his own interests in front of the interests of the country. That he sought to use the power of the presidency to with hold aid, military aid from an ally and to extort that ally into
making an announcement of a Bogus Investigation of a political opponent of him for his own personal benefit, and that he obstructed congress by refusing all information and instructing the Executive Branch not to cooperate with congress in the Impeachment Inquiry. This amendment this amendment simply takes the last two paragraphs out of each article. It takes the paragraph where it says where for the president should be impeached. And takes the force and effect of the articles entirely away. It is sillily if you believe that the president is guilty of what the articles charge him with, you should vote for the articles of impeachment. If you believe he is not, you should vote against the articles of impeachment, but to try to have this amendment that simply renders the articles, catalogs
of bad acts and takes out the effective sentences is silly. So i urge a no vote on this amendment, and i will then urge of course that we adopt the articles of impeachment. I yield back the balance of my time. Mr. Chair . What purpose does mr. Collins seek recognition . Move to strike the last word. Gentleman is recognized. Its interesting how you just described this because this is what weve seen the entire time. The facts here is really what you have. You keep throwing around these bad facts you dont like. And you finally got to it. It took a bit to get there but the catalog of bad acts you dont like, and this simply takes away the punishment if you would or what the end route will be. This is what the Democratic Party and majority have done all year. In fact they did it one time on the floor of the house when the Speaker Of The House broke the rules of the house on the floor, and instead of owning up to breaking the rules of decorum on
the floor, she had everybody come back down on the Majority Side and vote on her right to speak even though she blatantly broke the rules. Dont give me this High And Mighty oh, were taking Awayal The Rules and having a list of ideas here. Thats what weve been doing all year. I told the group just the other day that you can always judge many things by what you spend time and spend money on. Spend time on, spend money on. Ive said already this is a impeachment of clock and calendar, and i believe that to be true because were seeing it tonight. Two hearings and a markup. Thats all were doing here. The rubber stamp in this committee is out, so its a time issue because theyve been told and i understand this is the the leadership wants this to happen. This is why its happening. Theyve got no choice. I feel for the chairman in that
regard because he doesnt have a choice in this. But it goes back even firth this is time and money issue, this is calendar and clock issue. Because the committees, the Intelligence Committee and injudiciai the Judiciary Committee decided early onto spend money to bring outside help in to prepare for tonight. They didnt know exactly it was going to be like this in january and december when they did hire that extra help to come in, but they knew they were going to get to it somehow. They just didnt know how. And they kept waiting and waiting so they hired extra outside counsel and did it because all they wanted to do was investigate the president , and they did. The only thing i can say on that part is congratulations they finally made it to what they always wanted to do, and thats what were seeing right here. But to describe it as it was just described is simply taking away the punishment and just listing a lot of bad acts i could do that that in on the
majority all year in these investigations. Theyve basically gotten to scream at administration witnesses and basically offer no solutions. It is mindboggling and dehumanizing as one of my colleagues said when we were talking about immigration. Now today to again come before this committee to take all this and never have a fact witness, i think it was really interesting what my friend from florida said is actually there is a purpose to see how they would actually answer questions, and in this committee that would have been a good thing, but we dont have that. But to say with a straight face, and i appreciate this, to say at the endall they were doing here is taking away the punishment because you have a list of bad actors when the majority have done that all year and especially in the classic case of the speaker on the floor of the house breaking the rules on the floor and having the majority come down and restore her rights just simply because they didnt like the fact she had broke the rules. You see, this is where were at. Its a money and time issue. It would be nice if it was high and noble. It would have been nice except for all the crimes they talked about extortion, bribery. It would have been nice if they actually found facts to put that into an article. They couldnt. They wont. Why because they cant. Maybe because theyre having trouble explaining those because poll testing wasnt good enough and theyve members who need to go back to their districts and say oh, my i was forced to do this but really the president is a bad guy and this is Abuse Of Power. Again, say it long enough and someone might believe it, but this is where were at. And its really interesting again from obstruction of congress to watch this congress, this Majority Work is just truly, truly amazing. And to say this when no facts put together, Abuse Of Power, obstruction of congress, this is all theyve got, all they have to make this excuse . Good luck. That Dog Aint Hunting anymore. Nobody is. Just aint working. With that i yield back. Gentleman yields back. Does anyone else seek recognition . Mr. Chair . Thank you, mr. Chair. I think its an appropriate time i move to strike the last word. Gentlewoman is recognized. Thank you, mr. Chair. I think its an appropriate to recognize again of your own words that were stated just a few months ago last year. During an interview on msnbcs Morning Joeing on november 26, 2018 Chairman Nadler outlined a three prong test that he said would allow for a legitimate impeachment proceeding and now i quote Chairman Nadlers remarks. There are really three questions i think. First has the president committed Impeachable Offenses . Second, did those offenses rise to the gravity thats worth putting the country through the drama of impeachment . And number three because you dont want to tear the country apart, you dont want half of the country to say to the other half for the next 30 years we won the election, you stole it from us. You have to be able to think at the beginning of the Impeachment Process that the evidence is so cleat of offenses so grave that once youve laid out all the evidence a good fraction of the opposition, voters will reluctantly admit to themselves they had to do it. Otherwise you have a partisan impeachment, which will tear the country apart. If you meet these three tests, then i think you do the impeachment. Now, lets see if Chairman Nadlers three prong test has been met. First, has the president committed an Impeachable Offense . No. There has been no witness, no
democrat witness, fact witness that can prove that fact. Second, do those offenses rise to the gravity thats worth putting the country through the drama of impeachment . Absolutely not. And third, have the democrats laid out a case so clear that even the opposition has to agree . No. You and House Democrat leadership are tearing the country apart. You said the evidence needs to be clear. It is not. You said offenses need to be grave. They are not. You said that once the evidence is laid out that the opposition will admit that they had to do it. Well, that hasnt happened. In fact, polling and the fact that not one single republican voted on the Impeachment Inquiry resolution or the schiff report and i doubt that one single republican will vote on these articles of impeachment tonight or on the floor of the house of representatives, reveals that the opposite is in
fact true. In fact, what you and your democratic colleagues have done is the opposite of what you said had to be done. This is a partisan impeachment, and it is tearing the country apart. And with that i yield back. Mr. Chairman. Gentlelady yields back. Does anyone else seek recognition . Mr. Chairman, seek recognition. What purpose does mr. Johnson seek recognition . Strike the last word. Gentleman is recognized. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I am just rising to speak in support of this amendment and i think its really appropriate. I dont think were asking for anything extraordinary here because im reading this resolution as its drafted and the language, this jumps off the page. This is this is really personal. The lines hes seeking to strike with this amendment should be struck. I mean, the vitriol, the hatred
just drips. Listen to what it says right here. This is right here on the page the lines we want to strike. It says in part, President Trump warrants impeachment in trial, removal from office and disqualification to enjoy any office of honor or trust or profit under the United States. Look, they dont want to remove him from the oval office, okay . They want to crush him, they want to destroy donald trump, they want to banish him from the marketplace. Its so over the top. Professor turley is only witness that has been allowed. We got one witness in the process, and he was not a donald trump supporter. He came in famously and said i dont vote for him, Didnt Support him but i came to give objective analysis because my
loyalty is to the constitution. He got death threats. He had to publish an oped a few days later there was this outcry, a call for him to be removed from his teaching position. Death threats because he gave an objective view of the constitution. The vitriol, the def con level, its so crazy because of language like this in the resolution that is pushing this. Ill tell you what Professor Turley said, a couple of kpur s excerpts in his summary. As i have stressed, it is possible to establish a case for impeachment based on noncriminal allegation of Abuse Of Power, right. But although criminality is not required in such a case, clarity is necessary. That comes from a complete and comprehensive record that eliminates the problem is this is an exceptionally narrow impeachment rest ogen the
thinnest possible evidentiary record. Even under the most flexible impeachment model there remained an expectation impeachments couldnt be based on presumption or speculation on key elements if the underlying allegation could be noncriminal, the earlier impeachment followed a criminal trial including calling it witnesses and all the rest. He says the history of american impeachment shows restraint even when there are substantive complaints against congress. Some of our greatest president s could have been impeached for acts, but it didnt happen because cooler heads prevailed in the congress. This misuse Professor Turley continues, this misuse of impeachment has been plain during the Trump Administration. Members have been called for removal. Representative al green of texas filed a resolution in the house for impeachment after trump called for players kneeling during the National Anthem to be
fired. I common orb you dont like his political positions great but you cant impeach a president because you dont like him. Were in a constitutional republic. There are rules here, there are standards. You dont get to make that decision. The voters in this country do, and we have an election coming up in about 11 months. Let the people decide. You dont have the right to do it. Youre not following the proper procedure. Youre not doing this the right way. Its a rarely used constitutional device in our country. Its supposed to be. He said, quote, despite my disagreement with many of his policies and statements impeachment was never intended to be used as a midterm corrective action for a divisive or unpopular leader, unquote. We get it, you dont like him. That doesnt mean you can banish him from the marketplace. You dont get the right to do that. The people of this country do. We live in a republic. Im just sick of this. I yield back. I dont yield back. I yield to the gentleman, mr. Jordan, you want the time . Ive got 30 seconds. Look, in 2016 democrats had the insurance policy. Peter struck and lisa page, that was their deal in 2016. The fbi, 2020 its impeachment. 2020 theyre going to use impeachment. Insurance policy didnt work in 2016, impeachments not going to work in 2020 because the American People appreciate what this president is getting done on their behalf. I yield back. Gentleman yields back. Does anyone else seek recognition . Mr. Chairman. What purposes move to strike the last words. Gentleman is recognized. Thank you. It really is amazing. Weve heard over and over this was all about the bidens, all about getting information on a
president ial candidate, the bidens. But if you look at what the president said, hes talking about this country our country has been through a lot, and ukraine knows a lot about it. I would like you to find out what happened with this whole situation with ukraine. They say crowd strike. Its news to me, but my Democrat Friends will know better. I Didnt Know Biden was involved with crowd strike. I didnt know he was involved with the dnc server being hacked. I didnt know that was all part of his thing, but thats what the president s asking about because theres been information there were some people in ukraine that knew something ability that, and thats what hes asking about. So i appreciate the revelation from our friends across the aisle. Biden was in the middle of all that and i guess you have one of your wealthy people, the server they say ukraine has it. Again, i Didnt Know Biden was
up to his eyeballs in that, but there are a lot of things that went on, the whole situation and i think youre surrounding yourself with some of the same people. I would like to have the Attorney General call you and your people and get to the bottom of it. That was the whole thing about the 2015, 2016 election but according to our Friends Biden was in the middle of all of this mess. Anyway, its interesting. But my friend from ohio has a brilliant amendment. They say its not personal, that this isnt just about an election, that this is trying to undo the unfairness of the prior election even though it turns out there was no russia collusion, and it sounds like that there was despite what the media is saying, we know the
ukrainian ambassador came out l lambasting trump. Clearly that would not have been done without official okay. They were all in for hillary clinton. Thats why it was reported that they were figuring after the election that trump had won, maybe we better try and warm up to trump. But theres been so much made of the fact that President Trump did not ask the former corrupt administration for help in rooting out corruption. That is almost unfathomable that point would continue to be made all day today. In 2019 you had the election of a man in ukraine, zelensky, that said he was going to fight corruption. And President Trump heard from our own people we think hes sincere, we really think hes going to try to fight corruption. So of course this is the first time that he talks to ukrainian
leader because he knew he Couldnt Trust the other ones. They were supporting hillary clinton. They were corrupt. Why would he talk to them about helping root out the corruption . So to say this was all about biden, for heavens sake thats ridiculous. But my friend from ohios amendment puts our friends to the test. Is it really about trying to correct what you say was an unfair election, which we know now from the horowitz report it was unfair but it was from the democrats side, from the trump ed had a haters side. So if thats really the case lets strike the part that says he cant run for office again or be reelected again. Wouldnt that be helpful for democrats if you made it reasonable like that, or do you want to continue to persist in making it so personal that its walk off the plank time for anybody that tries to be reasonable about whats going on here . So we will see, but its a good
amendment. I would encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle. Help some of your Vulnerable People out. Vote for mr. Jordans amendment. Youll be better off, the country would be better off because i feel sure hell be reelected. And the scary part for me, though, is that bar has been set so low i am really afraid no matter what party is in the white house if theres an opposing party in congress, theyre going to use this tactic to try and take them down. One silver lining, though, its been hard to know who all The Deep State people were especially in the State Department. By our friends going through this, we now know who the people are that dont want the swamp drained, and we can deal with that. I yield back. Gentleman yields back and i recognize myself. Oh, im sorry, for what purpose does mr. Swalwell seek recognition . I yield to the chairman. Thank you. Impeachment was put into the constitution because the framers recognized that a president might arise who posed such a threat to the country, to our democratic system, to our free elections that we couldnt wait until the next election to cure it. Thats why impeachment was put into the constitution. Lets look at now weve heard a lot of very distracting facts about what Hunter Biden May or may not have done, about all kinds of things that our maybes may or may not have said three or four years ago. All that is irrelevant. Whats relevant is that ample facts demonstrate is that President Trump put his personal interests above the interests of the country and citizens in the constitution. This is the highest of constitutional crimes and Abuse Of Power. Abuse of power is the preeminent
crime which the framers even in the federalist papers talked about as high crimes and misdemeanors for the purpose of impeachment. In President Trumps Abuse Of Power he did it in two ways. Number one, he endangered our free elections by inviting foreign powers to interfere to influence our elections twice. He invited the russians in 2016. Remember the russians if youre listening please find the emails. That was a direct solicitation, and in fact they tried to hack into the emails of the democrats that very night. And then he tried to cover it up. And then for 2020 he invited in the ukraine he asked the ukrainians to announce a Bogus Investigation of the person he perceived as his Major Political opponent in the 2020 election. And basically admitted Mick Mulvaney said we did it. The president is on the transcript shows very clearly that he did it. The circumstances of the withheld aid shows very clearly there was a quid pro quo. Yes, we know that eventually the aid was released, and he said the president said there was no quid pro quo. Both of those things happened after he was caught and it was public. Obviously the Bank Robber Caught in the act afterwards says i didnt mean to rob the bank. But he was in fact caught in the act. He tried to cover it up again. He obstructed congress by directing the entire administration, everybody in the Executive Branch, do not answer any questions. Do not testify, do not give any documents. Fundamentally different from what other president s have done on occasion, which is to oppose certain subpoenas and grounds of
privilege. He didnt assert any privilege. He just said nobody should cooperate. I will decide whether its a valid Impeachment Inquiry. I will take the function of congress to myself because i dont recognize congress as right. That is a throat to the separation of powers and a threat to our liberty. Its note wrkworthy that member the minority speak about every other subject but hardly bothered to dispute the facts of the case, which are clear. Thats why youve heard so much today with distracting and irrelevant issues. Even i would say other things. It is clear that it is an Abuse Of Power for the president or any member of congress, for that matter, to condition official actions for their own personal gain. And i was startled i was startled to hear mr. Radcliffe
say its okay for a president to invite foreign interference in our elections. The urgency of this impeachment, the reason why we cannot wait for the next election is that the president has tried to rig the last election and this one, too. And hes repeating it. He goes out on the white house lawn and says, china, why dont you come in and try to rig the election . You have mr. Giuliani in the ukraine this past week trying to enlist assistance to rig the election. So the president must be impeached to safeguard the National Security of our elections and safeguard the separation of pows, both of which are essential to safeguard our liberties. I thank the gentleman for yielding. I yield my time back to him. Its mr. Swalwells time. I do not yield. I yield back. Gentleman yields back
who else seeks recognition . Mr. Chairman, i move to strike the last word. Gentleman is recognized. I yield to the gentleman from texas. I appreciate my colleague yielding to correct the record where the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee made a false statement. Said that i said that it was okay to solicit foreign interference in an election. I never used the word interference. Okay. I said foreign involvement in investigations, and i used as an example for that the obama administration. It was just a few hours ago, you may not remember i cant believe were sitting here at the end of this, an Impeachment Inquiry in the house of representatives. And i look at how all of this started. It started with a phone call, a congratulatory phone call between two president s, and the very next day someone contacted someone, and a week later someone walked into the office of chairman schiff. And that person walked out a week later, a whistleblower went to the Inspector General and filed a complaint where they falsely claimed that President Trump had made a demand of president zelensky. They made a false statement in writing, and then they made a false statement verbally in the course of what should have been an investigation. We sit here today about to vote on impeaching a president where neither the House Judiciary Committee, the house Intelligence Committee or any House Committee where the
democrats are in charge has asked a single question of a single witness about how this started. Because you go back to that phone call. And the two people that were on it, the only two people that know not just what they said but what they meant when they said it, and they both said it was a great call. So first let me say im sorry. Let me say im sorry to the president of ukraine. Im sorry that as a result of all this youve been labeled a pathological liar by my democratic colleagues, and im sorry they pretend to care about the ukraine, but theyve just made it incredibly hard and more difficult for your country ever to get military assistance. Im also sorry to the other
person that was on that call that knew what he said when he meant it, President Trump. Im sorry President Trump that youve tried to keep every promise. Youve given us a great economy, and you did it against incredible head winds where you were falsely accused of treason. You were accused of being a russian agent by the folks in this room. And when that failed, we sit here today because now theyre framing you because you said id like you to do us a favor though because our country has been through a lot. My last apology is to the American People. Im sorry. Im sorry youve had to view this spectacle. Im sortie to the 63 million of you that are so deplorable that as a result of this youre being
told your votes dont count. I yield back. I yield back as well. Gentleman yields back. Does anyone else seek recognition on this amendment . What purpose . Strike the last word, mr. Chairman. Gentleman is recognized. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Weve been here a while and i want it to be noted i have several other amendments for tonight. Speaking in support of my colleague gym jordanim jordans amendment but i think were getting too caught up in the weeds in particular. So wave got to zoom out and think about why were here. Were here because the democrats again are terrified the president is going to win reelection. Lets just go through the list of his accomplishments. Donald trump signed the Largest Scale criminal Justice Reform in decades, in decades. And i should add if it werent for this waste of time with impeachment, we could be working
on more bipartisan criminal Justice Reform. Particularly i have a Criminal Juls justice bill called clean slate that would expunge nonviolent Felony Offenses for hundreds of thousands of individuals. Shes a democrat, but i digress again. I was a Defense Attorney in the navy. I defended a navy seal and i can tell you that when our war fi t fighters are dragged into the courtmartial process they have to constantly second guess themselves on the battlefield. And finally we have a president that are recognizing war fighters are war fighters and they should be focused on capturing and killing targets, not worrying about wrongful
prosecutions back at home. Additionally the president has placed two conservative justices on the Supreme Court who will uphold the constitution. Additionally we are seeing a natural gas renaissance come to us from pennsylvania because were finally taking advantage of the Natural Resources we have, and we can use this natural gas for energy, for manufacturing, for chemicals. It is fantastic that were finally taking advantage of the Natural Resources we have. Additionally this president has done a lot for manufacturing, particularly the steel industry, which is coming back. And again just come to us from pennsylvania where Steel Manufacturing is coming back. Donald trump is also investing and focused in our Border Security and building a wall. Under this president s leadership we are enhancing our
National Security and going after terrorists who wish to do us harm. But again were here because the democrats dont want to talk about the Red Hot Trump economy. They dont want to talk about the lowest unemployment rates in 50 years. Were here because democrats dont want to talk about how President Trump has finally held china accountable for currency manipulation, for dumping steel and aluminum in american markets. Someone is finally Holding China accountable for ip theft and forced ip transfers. Thats President Trump whos doing that. President trump is also Renegotiating Trade deals to benefit American Workers and farmers. We should have passed usmca months ago, months ago but again we havent done it because were dealing with impeachment. The president has also worked on Free Trade Agreements with japan. Hes worked on Free Trade Agreements across south america. President trump has also reduced
regulations. You know theres only one way to increase revenue, and thats to increase gdp. Theres only two ways to increase gdp. You either cut taxes or you reduce regulations. You can do both, but this president supports both. Thats why you have such a strong economy. But again the democrats dont want to talk about this because instead were talking about impeachment because it distracts from the real agenda which includes such ludicrous ideas as banning airplanes, getting Illegal Immigrants tax funded health care, abolishing or defunding i. C. E. , banning fracking, banning fossil fuels. Good luck making a cellphone without petrol chemicals. They also dont want to talk about taking private Health Care Away from citizens. This whole process is a distraction, an attempt to hide a radical far left agenda, and its also an attempt to hide the facts. Again, the facts indicates there is no quid pro quo and theres no obstruction of congress. Gentleman yields back. I move to strike the last word. Gentleman is recognized. It seems important to remind my republican colleagues why we are here. While we have Policy Disagreements with the president , this is not about a poli policy disagreement. We all began our term of office by raising our righthand and promising to defend and protect the constitution. And were here because the president of the United States engaged in a scheme to drag a foreign power into our elections to corrupt our elections for his own personal benefit, and he used hundreds of millions of dollars of Taxpayer Money to attempt to achieve that objective. And think about this. There is nothing more sacred than protecting the right to
free and Fair Elections in this country. Its the Heart And Soul of our democracy. The president of the United States reached out to a foreign power in an attempt to drag them in to help them cheat and win an election in 2020. So when my republican colleagues say people are worried about the election, we are worried. But the person whos really worried about the outcome is clearly President Trump because hes reaching out to a foreign power asking them to help him cheat in the 2020 election. And we have a solemn responsibility to stand up and to protect our democracy and prevent this president or any president from attempting to corrupt our elections. And so if we dont do that, if we allow President Trump to get away with trying to cheat in 2020 particularly in light of what he did in 2016, we wont have a democracy. Well have a king or a monarch. The American People will lose their voice and to right to selfdetermination and to elect their own leaders. And so my republican colleagues should remember that Trump Administration officials, many of them saw this scheme and became very alarmed. The president s own ambassador, ambassador bolton called it a drug deal. Dr. Fiona hill and other donald Trump Administration officials called it a domestic political errand. The investigation began by the Intelligence Committee. 17 witnesses, a hundred hours of testimony, 260 Text Messages examined, transcripts of the president s own words on the call, email exchange between high level trump officials. And we know the direct evidence. The president put his three amigos in charge of this. The president refused to have a meeting or to release the funds that were put on hold until a public announcement of a Bogus Investigation. He told the Vice President dont
go to inauguration. He spoke to ambassador sondland and ambassador sondland testified it was a quid pro quo. The president hired his personal lawyer, rudy giuliani, to lead this effort. He smeared ambassador yovanovitch and then fired her because she stood in the way. She was an anticorruption champion, and she stood in the way of the president s scheme. And the president and those acting on his behalf demanded that zelensky president zelensky publicly announce an investigation of his chief political rival. And it should be remembered the American People should know that president zelensky the evidence is filled with examples of Trump Administration officials who say things like president zelensky is sensitive about ukraine being taken seriously not merely as an instrument in washington, domestic reelection politics. That ambassador taylor has a call with Mrtd Sondland saying during our call sondland tried
to explain to me that President Trump is a businessman and a businessman is about to sign a check to someone who owes him something, the businessman asks that person to pay up before signing the check. And i argue to both ambassador volker and ambassador taylor that donald trump isnt owed anything by the ukrainians. And i quote holding up Security Assistance for domestic political gain is crazy. So theres tremendous evidence in the record. The president of the United States attempted to leverage Foreign Military assistance to to ukraine to drag a foreign power, to corrupt our election and allow him to cheat in 2020. We cant allow this to happen. If we dont hold this president accountable and move forward with impeachment, we can have every confidence the president will continue to do this. Hes continuing to do it. Rudy giuliani was in ukraine last week. This is crime in progress. And either were going to do something about it and protect the rights of the American People to decide their own future and elect their own