President or were going to let some foreign power do it. You know who has the right to elect the american president , the citizens of this country and no one else. Men and women have died on the battlefield to protect our democracy. The least we can do is show the courage to stand up tonight and do our part to protect our democracy. With that i yield back. Gentleman yields back. Does anyone else seek recognition on the amendment . Mr. Armstrong. Gentleman is recognized. And im going to go back to the actual language of the amendment and in particular the removal from office and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust or profit under the United States. So at numerous points in times during todays debate have they my friends on other side of the aisle have held up a pocket constitution, waved it around. I think its interesting nobodys read from it yet and i think theres a reason for that. But im going to read from the constitution. You are joining our live coverage
Whether or not Speaker Pelosi votes. Its tradition the speaker doesnt often votes but on a day like today i would think she would want to lead from the front. Well see. It seems like unprecedented times. Hagar, felipe, congressman, thank you so much. Well hand off to ari melber. Good morning. Im ari melber reporting live from nbc headquarters with coverage of todays events on msnbc. The breaking news coming out of capitol hill, lawmakers in the house about to take their first ever formal votes on how to proceed with the Impeachment Inquiry of president donald trump. This new resolution maps out the blueprint and rules of the road
for what democrats say is the next public phase in this impeachment probe. Now many are expecting a Party Line Vote today. Lawmakers will vote on these ground rules which includes moving the closed door depositions of all of these key witnesses into public hearings. Weve seen squabbling over this process. Were expecting in our special coverage to hear from Spe
Devised a simple way to remove a president if you disagree with him. Its called an election. We have one coming up in less than a year. Lets let the people decide this next november and i yield back. Gentleman yields back. Gentleman from new york. Madam speaker, i yield ament to the gentle lady from michigan, mrs. Talib. Gentle lady is recognized for a minute. I rise in support of impeachment. I learn so much every day from my residents at home. Their common sense of what is right and wrong is centered why they oppose any person using the most powerful position in the world for personal gain. We honor our veterans in this chamber almost on a daily basis. But do we ever follow their lead . Where we serve the people of the United States and uphold the constitution not as republicans or democrats but as americans. We should learn from their sense of duty and responsibility to
country and democracy, not political party. Doing nothing here, madam speaker, is not an option. Looking away from
Called wafer thin evidence. This is where impeachment becomes the norm rather than the exception. Thats not how our Founding Fathers intended. They wanted impeachment to be rare. They set a high bar for impeachment. Alleged abuse of power, the first article is not a high crime or misdemeanor. In fact its not even a crime. Since there is no concise Legal Definition of abuse of power the Majority Party in the house can designate nearly any disagreement with the president are now in an Impeachable Offense. The second article produced a similarly dangerous precedent. Its a practice that began with George Washington and its not obstruction of congress. Rather its a function of the essential checks and balances contemplated under the constitution. It is what every Grade School Student in america knows but apparently House Democrats do
not. Let the third branch of government decide to come up they are the referees. The house has never, i repeat never, approved an abuse of Power Roi Obstructio
What does the president want to know . Did he ask about ukraines efforts to battle corruption . Of course not. Did he ask how the war with russia was going . Not a chance. On the phone, his voice loud enough, President Trump asked sondland, is hes going to do the investigation . The answer was clear. He ensured trump that the ukrainian president was going to do it and that he would do anything you asked him to. If that wasnt telling enough, my colleagues, in a conversation that followed, an american Diplomat Dining with sondland asked if it was true that President Trump didnt give a blank about ukraine, sondland agreed, saying the president cared only about big stuff. The diplomat noted that there
was big stuff in ukraine, like a war with russia. Sondland replied that the president cared only about big stuff that benefits him personally. Like the Biden Investigation that mr. Giuliani was pushing. In that short conversation, we learned everything we need to know about the 45th president