Receive the managers of the house of representatives to exhibit the articles of impeachment against Donald John Trump, president of the United States. The president pro tempore the hour of 12 00 noon having arrived and a quorum being present, the sergeant at arms will present the managers on the part of the house of representatives. The sergeant at arms mr. President and members of the senate, i announce the presence of the managers on the part of the house of representatives to conduct proceedings on behalf of the house concerning the impeachment of Donald John Trump, president of the United States. The president pro tempore on the part of the house will be received and escorted to the well of the senate. The president pro tempore the sergeant at arms will make the proclamation. The sergeant at arms hear ye, hear ye, hear ye all persons are commanded to keep silent on pain of imprisonment while the house of representatives is exhibiting to the senate of the United States articles of i
Approved to date. I am aware of one senator present who was unable to take the impeachment of last thursday. We please rise and raise his right hand and be sworn . Do you solemnly swear that in all things pertaining to the trial of the impeachment of Donald John Trump, president of the United States, now pending, you will do impartial justice according to the constitution and law, to help you god . I do. The secretary will note the name of the senator who has just taken the oath and present the oath to him for signature. The sergeantatarms will make the proper proclamation. Hear ye hear ye hear your, all persons are committed to keep silent on pain of imprisonment. The senate of the United States is sitting for the trial of the articles of impeachment exhibited by the house of representatives against Donald John Trump, president of the United States. The majority leader is recognized. I would like to stay for the information of all senators the trial briefs filed yesterday by the parti
He spoke to president zelensky of ukraine by telephone, President Trump had the upper hand. Ukraine had been invited by russia. Zelensky had only recently been elected. He badly needed our help. He needed it in the form of military aid, already appropriated by congress, because of our National Security interest in ukraine. And he needed help in the form of an oval office meeting, so he could show the world that the United States stands with him against russian aggression. President trump should have focused on americas National Security, and on the interest of the American People on that call. Instead, he completely ignored them in order to push his own personal political interests. President trump asked for a favor. He wanted ukraine to announce to bogus investigations, one into former Vice President biden, his leading opponent in the 2020 election, and another, to advance a Conspiracy Theory that ukraine, and not russia, attacked our elections in 2016. These were not legitimate reque
If i could say in response to the whole line of questioning. The president of the United States was given the opportunity to call any witnesses that he wanted, any of the 17 witnesses who appeared before the House Intelligence Committee and oversight and in Foreign Affairs and could have been called by the president , and he would have had the opportunity to crossexamine any of them, but of course he did not want to, because all of them told different pieces of the same story which is that the president executed this shakedown of president zelensky to come to get involved in our campaign at the expense of that is not holding water. I cannot say this again. Going back to the calendar and the clock and when i talked to the chairman himself, and asked him lert letters asking for th witness day, and he did not build it in for the calendar to accept one of our witnesses much less the white house, and dont tell me that they would have accepted it, because it was never on the calendar. These
[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] we recessed about to hear from mr. Castor, you are recognized for 45 minutes. Good afternoon chairman and Ranking Member collins, members of the committee and the staff, thank you again for having meto back. And giving me the opportunity to testify about the evidence gathered during the impeachment inquiry. At the outset let me say the evidence does not support the allegations that my democrat colleagues have made. I dont believe the evidence leads to the inclusion they suggest. I am hopeful that some important perspective and context to the facts under discussion today. The chief obligation as a Democrat Impeachment inquiry is trying to assess over the last 76 days is this, whether President Trump abuse the power da his office through quid pro quo, bribery, extortion or whatever by withholding a meeting or Security Assistance as a way of pressuring president zelensky to pressure the