And one that once again will work with the president to get things done for you and your family, then join with us in rejecting this baseless impeachment. Thats whats wonderful about this system of ours. We are a government of, by and for the people. Always remember we work for you, not the other way around. Now i will say this stronger and with more conviction than i have ever said it before. In this time of great trial and tribulation, may god bless america. I yield back. [ applause ] gentleman from california is recognized. House will be in order. Gentleman from california. Madam speaker, i recognize myself for the remainder of our time. Gentleman is recognized. Madam speaker, my colleagues, after eight hours, let us return to where we began with the articles themselves. Article one charges the president of the United States with abusing the power of his office by coerce an ally into cheating in a u. S. Election on his behalf. It charges the president of the United States it charge
obstruction of congress. i anticipate that there will be a similar vote. there could be some differences. some democrats might vote for article one but not necessarily for article two. i suspect all the republicans will oppose. it will be a very similar vote. we know a democratic congressman from maine who won a trump district has said he will vote against article two. this is the one obstruction of congress. the idea that the trump administration, white house did not share any documents and also blocked witnesses from testifying before congress, which is true. the counter argument has been, then you are supposed to go to court and have the judicial system figure out the remedy. the democrats have said that would take too much time and would result in nothing more than what s going on right now. they want to get this done. we do expect a very, very similar outcome. maybe one or two votes fewer in favor. let s take one moment to acknowledge the fact that president trump has now just
power will be impeached. it s a moment of immense gravity, solemnity and history. this is the third time in the history of the republic this happened, 1868 against andrew johnson. most americans if they know that about him, that s all they know is that he was impeached. the last time was in 1998, almost 21 years to the day as of tomorrow. and now donald john trump, the 45th president of the united states will join that group of presidents who have been impeached. presidents about whom the house of representatives is saying this person should not be president. we want to remove him from office. they have 15 minutes to vote. this should go relatively quickly. the democrats clearly have the majority. you can see 125 democrats have voted in favor of this first article of impeachment, abuse of power. it probably won t be very long
believe that what has taken place is obstruction of congress and it s unprecedented? i do. every president has had a dispute with congress over producing some witnesses, over producing some documents. but no president in history has ever said, i will not cooperate at all. that s what this article is about. that s what happened in this impeachment investigation. and this vote is the result. 194 now is the yea. needing to reach 216. tim? the founders were nervous about putting too much power in the hands of one person. there was no elected commander in chief or head of state or head of government in the world in 1787. the united states would produce the first. so they decided that they would also give congress power to remove that president if that president should ever misuse power, commit a crime. in our history, 44 individuals
been formally impeached by the house of representatives for abuse of congress. the gavel has come down. we noted abuse of power. when they reached 216 votes, they reached the threshold. we now have this incredibly grave moment where the house of representatives is saying to the world yes, it was a partisan vote. but guess what? democrats control the house. that s how it is. just like republicans control the senate. they will have their say. this is a very grave moment where the house of representatives is saying, president trump needs to be removed from office. he was impeached for abuse of power. as we just saw. now they are voting on obstruction of congress. anderson, back to you. we will watch that. it s at 187 right now. 216 is the threshold that the vote needs to get to on the yea. tim, i m going to continue with you. jeff, in terms of the article they are voting on, article two, obstruction of congress, you