if we do not hold the president accountable today, we ll live in addi a dictatorship. today every member of this chamber faces a choice whether to do a constitution demand that the evidence requires or turn a blind eye of high crimes and misdemeanors. to my friends on the other side of the isle, this is not about making history. this is about holding a lawless president accountable and the way our framer intended. this is our time to put our country over your political party. do not seek of the high grass of the vote against these articles. we are all americans. show the american people your devotion of the country more powerful of your loyalty to the political party. we can defend our country from all enemies, foreign and domestics. all you have to do is look at the evidence because it will leave you with only one answer. the president of the united states must be impeached.
we needed an amendment to change that. but the senators were supposed to be the wise old men, they were all men in those days. the wise old men who would serve as a check, even within the legislative branch on the elected members of the house of representatives. there is a debate whether or not to perhaps put the removal of the president and the supreme court. but some of the framer said no that would not be right because you could try a president after he s been impeached for the crimes. and if you did that it would not be fair to have the same institution, the courts try him after they ve already impeached him. so they decided to put it in the hands of the united states senate. levin: i want to ask about this issue of subpoenas. through most of our history, if congress issued a subpoena or the equivalent of a document for request. the branches would work it out somehow someway. we ve now reached a.where we have a committee of congress, the house intelligence committee, before that th
testimony from vice president mike pennce s aide. i look forward to reading the material now that we have it. it was just transmitted and has to be kept in a secure location because it is not yet declassified. adam schiff says there s no reason for it to be classified. i take it you haven t read it yesterday? not yet. my understanding it was just sent over. what do you hope to communicate in your opening statement later tonight? as you ve been reporting, it s likely the only third time we will impeach somebody with the articles out there. it s a sad thing we do for the country but a necessary thing for the country. the framer put things like
allowed elections to serve as a crucial means for ensuring presidential accountability. second in the british system, the king could do no wrong. and no other parts of the government could check his misconduct. and in our constitution, the framers developed the concept of separation of powers, which consists of checks and balances, designed to prevent any branch, including the presidency, from becoming too radical. third in the british system, everyone but the king was impeachable. our framer s generation pledged their lives and fortunes to rebel against the monarch whom they saw as corrupt, tyrannical and entitled to do no wrong. in our declaration of independence, the framers set for atmosphere series of impeachable offenses that the king had committed against the american colonists. when the framers later convened in philadelphia to draft our constitution, they were united around a simple, indisputable principle that was a major safe guard for the public. with at the people, against
as well as foreign aid. the witness just testified, ukraine needs our support to defend itself against russian. i heard directly from witnesses how important the visit and the aid were particularly from ambassador taylor. these weapons and this assistance is allows the ukrainian military to deter further incursions by the russians against ukrainian territory. if that further incursion, further aggression, more ukrainians would die. professor karlan, does the president s decision to withhold such official acts, in order to pressure president zelensky relate to the framer s concerns about abuse of power and entanglements with foreign nations? it relates to the abuse of