Rep. Pelosi good morning, everyone. I recallolemn day, that the first order of business for members of congress is the toemn ask to take an oath protect and defend the constitution of the united states. Gratitude respect and that i think the chairs of the committee, the six committees, that have been working to help us honor our oath of office. I also want to thank the staff of those committees and the Committee Members for all of their work over this period of time to help us protect and defend. The chairman of the judiciary committee, mr. Nadler, the chair of the Intelligence Committee, mr. Schiff, chair of the ways and chairmen richie neil of massachusetts, chair engel, and chair of the Financial Services committee, Maxine Waters of california, the chair of the committee on government reform and oversight, congresswoman carolyn maloney. I also want to acknowledge the important work done by our dear and deported, may he rest in cummings, as chair of the oversight committee. Yield to mr. O nadler. Chairman nadler thank you, madam speaker. Over the last several months, investigative committees of the house have been engaged in an impeachment inquiry into president Donald Trumps efforts to solicit foreign interference in the 2016 election. Efforts that compromise our National Security and threatened the integrity of our elections. Throughout this inquiry, he has attempted to conceal the evidence from congress and from the American People. Our president holds the ultimate public trust. When he betrays that trust and , he himself before country endangers the constitution, he endangers our democracy, and he endangers our National Security. The framers of the constitution prescribed a clear remedy for president s who so violate their oath of office. That is the power of impeachment. Ofay in service to our duty the constitution and the constitution and to our country, the House Committee on the judiciary is introducing two articles of impeachment charging the president of the united trump, withld j. Committing high crimes and misdemeanors. The first article is for abuse of power. Fors an Impeachable Offense the president to exercise the powers of his Public Office to obtain an improper, personal benefit while ignoring or injuring the national interest. That is exactly what President Trump did when he solicited and pressured ukraine to interfere in our 2020 president ial election. Our nationalg security, undermining the integrity of the next election, and violating his oath to the American People. These are consistent with President Trumps previous invitations of foreign interference in our 2016 president ial election. Caught, and the house investigated, and opened an impeachment inquiry. President trump engaged in unprecedented, categorical, and indiscriminate defiance of the impeachment inquiry. This gives rise to the second article of impeachment for obstruction of congress. Here to, we see a familiar pattern of President Trumps misconduct. A president who declares himself above accountability, above the American People, and above congresss power of impeachment which is meant to protect against threats to our democratic institutions, is a president who sees himself as above the law. We must be clear. ,o one, not even the president is above the law. I want to recognize the great contributions of the investigative chairs, particularly Intelligence Committee chairman adam schiff, Foreign Affairs chairman adam engel, Committee Oversight former chairman, the late Elijah Cummings and the new chairwoman, carolyn maloney, Maxine Waters, and richard neal who helped lay the foundation for the articles we are introducing today. My do want to thank sherry Committee Colleagues who were critical and our work to hold the president accountable and in the drafting of these articles. Judiciary week, the committee will meet to consider these articles of impeachment, and to make a recommendation to the full house of representatives. We do not take this action lightly, for we have taken an oath to defend the constitution, and unlike President Trump, we understand that our duty first and foremost is to protect the constitution and to protect the interest of the American People. That is why we must take this solemn step today. The cornerstone of democracy and foundational to the rule of law. The integrity of our next election is at risk from a president who has already sawed foreign interference in 2016 and 2020 elections sought foreign interference in 2016 and 2020 elections. That is why we must act now. I will turn now to chairman schiff who will explain the evidence and why we need to act in such a urgency today. Schiff thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you madam speaker, and to my colleagues, good morning. The framers of the constitution recognized that some day, a president might come to office, betrayed the public trust, and undermine National Security to secure foreign help in his reelection. And who would seek to aggregate the power of congress to hold him accountable. They recognize this danger and they prescribed a remedy, and that remedy is impeachment. Extraordinary remedy and one that i have been reluctant to recommend until the actions of President TrumpGave Congress no alternative. We stand here today because the president s continuing abuse of his power has left us no choice. To do nothing would make ourselves complicit in the president s abuse that his high office, the public trust, interNational Security. The president s misconduct is as simple and as terrible as this. President trump solicited a foreign nation, ukraine, to publicly announce investigations into his opponent, and a baseless Conspiracy Theory promoted by russia to help his reelection campaign. President trump abused the power of his office by conditioning two official acts to get ukraine to help his reelection. The release of hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid that nation desperately needed and a white house meeting with an ally trying to fend off russian aggression. In so doing, he undermine our National Security and jeopardize the integrity of our next election. He does so, still. President s of the misconduct is on overwhelming and uncontested. How could it not be when the president s own words on july 25 i would like you to do us a hisr though, lay bare intentionss willingness to sacrifice the National Security for his own personal interest. And when the president got caught, he committed his second impeachable act obstruction of congress of the variability to make sure that none no one is above the law, not even the president of the united states. The evidence is every bit of strong that President Trump has obstructed congress fully, without precedent, and without basis in law. If allowed to stand, it would decimate congresss ability to conduct oversight of this president or any other in the future, leaving this president and those who follow to be free to be as corrupt, malfeasance, or incompetent as they would like was no prospect of discovery or accountability. Some would argue, why dont you just wait . Why dont you just wait until you get these witnesses the white house refuses to produce . Why dont you just wait until you get the documents the white house refuses to turn over . People should understand what that argument really means. It has taken us eight months to ruling thatcourt don mcgahn has no absolute right to defy congress. Eight months. For one court decision. If it takes us another eight months to get a second court or maybe a Supreme Court decision, people need to understand, that is not the end of the process. It comes back to us and we ask questions because he no longer has absolute immunity, and then he claimed something else, that his answers are privileged and we have to go back to court for another eight or 16 months. The argument, why dont you just wait, amounts to this. Why dont you just let him cheat and one more election. Why not let him cheat one more time. Why not let him have foreign help just one more time. That is what that argument amounts to. Misconduct goes to the heart of whether we can conduct a free and Fair Election in 2020. It is bad enough for a candidate to invite foreign interference, but it is far more corrosive for our president to do so and to abuse his power to make it so. Despite everything we having covered, the president s misconduct continues to this day, unapologetically and right now. , when he stood on the white house lawn, and he asked, what did you wantin the july 25 call, and he said the answer one. simple he still wants ukraine to interfere in our election to help his campaign. President sek, the lawyer back en in defy the sameg to debunked theory at the president s behest. Which gets to the most defiant and pernicious in the president s defense that the president can do whatever he wants under article ii, and we should just come to quote the president s chief of staff get over it. Ben franklin said we have a republic if we can keep it. The president and his men say, you cant keep it, and american should just get over it. Decidens do not get to american elections anymore, not by themselves, not without foreign help. For the members of congress, this is not a question of fact because the facts are not seriously contested. It is a matter of duty. The articles put forward today will give a chance to show that we will defend the constitution and that our oath mean something to us. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Speaker . Obstruction of justice, why include that . Thank you. The American People . [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, h