Power like a weapon against his own people, erodes our decency, degrades our dignity. I dont yet know how they will tell the story of this era, but i want to tell you the story of this day. Let the record show that today justice won, that we did our job, that we kept our word, that we stood our sacred ground. Let the record show that we did not let you down. I love you. Listen to mom. Ill be home soon. Gentlemans time has expired. Gentleman from oklahoma. Thank you, madam speaker. Im going to reserve my time for the moment. Gentleman reserves. Gentleman from massachusetts. Im proud to yield one minute to the gentle woman from california, ms. Lee. The gentle lady is recognized for one minute. First let me say i taught my children that there are consequences if they broke the
law. I am saddened but im not shocked that we are here today considering articles of impeachment against President Trump. Im saddened, but im not shocked because of the pattern of corruption we have seen from this p
debate that has to be agreed upon so we can get out of here tonight. the history of this, even if it s a preordained conclusion as we can see both parties sticking together, going to be a party line vote, whenever it does happen tonight, but the history and the solemnity of this is really over powers because this is an impeachment of a president of the united states. one measure is despite all the support the president enjoys from his base, his party, his senators and house members, he is furious by all reports from our teams at the white house. he s certainly angry. you certainly saw this in this letter he wrote, the six-page letter with the help of stephen miller, one of his toughest domestic policy advisers, the language, the exclamation points, the personal attacks against the speaker of the house, that was all displayed. that is the anger.
about their votes. the simple reality here is that s not true. votes will be recorded here regardless. you ve had members from front line districts like elissa slotkin who has been out on television pounding the necessity of this vote. it tells you that republicans think they will ultimately be able to use this impeachment voted against their democratic colleagues come next november and by blocking her motion here, liz clain any can stand up and say, a-ha, see, democrats don t want their votes done in public. even though we re all going to watch this happen on national television. back with andrew mitchell. i m keep on how they ll use this politically. everybody watching wants to know this. if a local affiliate can show a suburban member voting on the floor for impeaching the president that that district may have voted for, that could be serious stuff coming up. we ll be right back about the politics of this, the constitution of this and, of course, the importance in our history of w
you have to. absolutely. the only way the previous question vote goes to the minority, is if majority isn t paying attention, if members caught their flight home or don t show up to vote. the rule vote is a party line vote. yesterday on the spending bills, where you might have republicans and democrats that might all vote together on the ultimate bill, sometimes whatever the minority party is will vote against the rule as a matter of principle and split their vote. neither of these votes should be particularly high drama affairs. expect them to fall largely along party lines. we re a little ahead of schedule on the day. you can see votes trickling in. i was in the gallery for most of the last hour. this is not a particularly well attended impeachment, at least thus far on the member side. the chamber was maybe less than a quarter full. galleries for visitors, members of the public were full, the press galleries were full. members are largely trickling in and out throughout the course
smaller number than i would have thought a year ago. i think republicans have come to believe that there largely is this deep state conspiracy, and on the question of impeachment, the democrats have really railroaded the president. i think republicans believe that. it shocks me to hear when a relatively measured member like tom cole says there was no quid pro quo and there are no fact witnesses when, in fact, gordon sondland testified yes, there was a quid pro quo and we were all in the loop. there were fact witnesses and they did say there was a quid pro quo. there s a denial of facts on the republican side. i think what you re seeing, chris, come into shape of the republican argument is ultimately an argument that supports donald trump s ability to claim tonight in michigan that all this was invalid. if you look at kevin mccarthy s earlier resolution condemning adam schiff for abuse of power and jerrold nadler for not following procedure, it was all around the fact that this was a sh