Been reached and passed now democrats and republicans together face a test before constituents are countryman and our creator the New York Times on october 18th summarized the question now posed to house and Senate Republicans and democrats compromised by compromise donald trump has hammered away at what republicans once saw as foundational virtues decency honesty responsibility and yes even civility but on to say will they commit themselves and their party wholly to mr trump embracing even his most anti democratic actions or will they take the 1st step toward separating themselves from him and restoring confidence in the rule of law madam speaker we have seen republican courage throughout our history. From the civil war to the cold war in 1950 Margaret Chase smith the senator from maine a republican spoke bravely against the cancer of mccarthyism in our party leaving 6 several republican colleagues in a declaration of conscience against their own leadership we are republicans they dec
Bears a sacred duty. Passed down to us through generations and afimmed in our oath of office to preserve and protect our constitution. Madam speaker, our nations framers recognized that this republic is fragile. And that extreme partisanship can be among the most severe threats to its survival. That is why in federalist 65 Alexander Hamilton wrote, quote, there will always be the greatest danger that impeachment, that impeachment decision will be regulated more by the comparative strength of parties than by real demonstrations of innocence or guilt. Here, madam speaker, our democratic colleagues have been working to remove this president since the day he was elected. Searching for an offense on which they could impeach. Failing to find one, madam speaker, they have decided to assume one. Rather than attempting to enforce their subpoenas in court, they have also decided to declare it a high crime and misdemeanor when the president of the United States asserts his constitutional privileg
[applause] ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming out on yet another rainy day in kentucky in 2019. Let me take a moment to ask you to take your time now to check your cell phones and make sure it is turned off. Thank you all for coming out today to another historic moment for the history of the Mcconnell Center here at the university of louisville. Ive decided to handle it this way. I will not call you out. Thank you for bringing her today out in the rain or dragging her through the rain here today. This is a historic moment for the center, one of many in our history. I was thinking about it this week the very roman statesman, one of those important and one of the most important statesmen of all time in his book on duties as it seems if we were going w to live in a free socie, we would have duties. One it seems to me is to remember, to learn from our past and pass on to the rising generation. The two authors today have done that with the buck that we launched to the world. We also
And could forever weaken the remedy of impeachment. To again quote professor turley, it is the democrats rush to impeachment on these grounds with unfair procedures that is an abuse of power. History will write that. Madam speaker, as i said at the beginning, we face a choice. Do you trust the wisdom of the people . Or do you deny them a say in their government . Fortunately the people will have the opportunity to speak up and render their verdict in 11 months, to my fellow americans. To my fellow americans, if you prove of the approve of the way this house has conducted its business, if you want to see your tax dollars go forward end toless investigations, support this impeachment. To endless investigations, support this impeachment. But if you want to restore a working Congress Like the Previous Congress that listened to you and worked to bring the best economy in this country and ountry has ever seen one that once again will work with the president to get things done for you and you
Conditionality. And the reason you know they lack that evidentiary basis is because they have to keep changing their language. When pollsters and pundits told them to call it bribery, that was the message of the week. Bribery was on every one of their lips. We asked the witnesses, did you see any bribery, were you part of any bribery . The answer was no, so they have to keep evolving the claims because there is no factual predica predicate. Also heard my colleague from new orleans say that this hearing would be informed by our understanding of regret, would be this deep sense of regret. My friend is from a deep blue district, so he probably wont be the one regretting it the most. The folks that will be regretting what theyre doing are the democrats in swing districts who probably arent coming back. I tell them for the upcoming year, rent, dont buy here in washington, d. C. And so today, the only question that we are left with when we conclude this hearing is whether or not as we move i