Whatwe that means, its to use e power of the office to obtain an improper personal benefit while ignoring orfi injuring the national interest, or acts in ways that are grossly inconsistent with and undermine the separation of powers that is the foundation of our democratic system. Now, this question of whether the president engaged in abuse of power came up before when this congress considered the impeachment of president nixon. And president nixon famously said, if the president does it, it is notde illegal. And this body rejected that because thats not so. That goes directly contrary to what the founders said. But President Trump has said the same thing in responding to the prior investigation by the Department Of Justice and defending his conduct. Heres what he said. I have an article 2 where i have the right to do whatever i want as president. That he has the right to do whatever he wants as president. That is as wrong as when president nixon said a similar thing. That is not what
campaign against ukraine, president trump directed an unprecedented effort to obstruct congress s impeachment inquiry conduct. with that context in mind i would like toco turn to the evidence of president trump s conduct concerning ukraine. my colleague mr. castor just said it revolves around eight lines in one call record. but that sorely ignores the vast amount of evidence that we collected of a months long scheme directed by the president. but i do want to start with that july 25th phone call, because that is critical evidence of the president s involvement and intent. it was on that day that he held his second phone call with the new ukrainian president. thera first in april was short d cordial, following the ukrainian president s election success. but the second call would diverge dramatically from those