Against President Trump. We will also hear from members of congress who serve on the House Judiciary Committee. Washington journal is next. Is next. Host for only the third time in our countrys history, the u. S. House of representatives is slated to vote on articles of impeachment. President trump faces abuse of congress. 216 housesi needs members to vote yes to then send the impeachment articles to the senate for a trial. Our coverage begins this morning with all of you letting lawmakers know how you think they should vote today and why and the house gavels in at 9 00 a. M. Eastern time. We will bring you gaveltogavel unfiltered and uninterrupted coverage of the house debate and vote. Cspan, onch here on our website, cspan. Org, or download the app. Republicans, 2027488001. Democrats, 2027488000. Independents, 2027488002. ,oin us on twitter at cspanwj facebook. Com cspan, or text us at 2027488003. We will get to your calls in a minute. More on the rules of the road today in the house. Want to help viewers advocate what will be navigate what will be a busy day. Withgins as any other day the prayer and the pledge of allegiance before the house moves then to the business of the impeachment of president donald trump. That business begins with what will be a debate on the rule governing the Impeachment Vote, is what the official resolution of impeachment is called after an hour debate on the rule, there will be a vote and they will turn to the actual debate on impeachment. That willhour debate take place equally divided on the floor of the house by republicans and democrats. That debate controlled by the two dish eric Committee Chairman and Ranking Member or their designees expected to be Jerrold Nadler, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and doug collins. Although Jerrold Nadler off the hill yesterday as we found out reportedly for an illness relating to his wife. We will see if he is back for the debate on the house floor. Around 6 30 or 7 30 p. M. , we expect two separate votes on the impeachment resolutions, one on the abuse of power and the second on obstruction of justice. After those votes, which could take place when President Trump is expected to be taking the stage for a rally tonight in michigan. He is expected to start around 7 00. After the votes, the house could turn to a resolution authorizing the managers who would then argue the impeachment case on the floor of the senate. Some reporting on whether they would take that up tonight. This from the wall street journal noting steny hoyer told reporters the house might not immediately send up articles of impeachment to the senate after passage today, a move that could delay the senate trial. Suggested Speaker Pelosi should delay sending over martic the articles to maintain leverage. Democrats have held off on naming managers for the senate trial. House managers must be named in order for the trial to begin, that from the wall street journal. Is 216,id the number the magic number for impeachment, want to go over that math, there is usually 435 members of the house, there are 4 absences, that means there is currently only 431 members of the house. All it takes is a majority for an Impeachment Vote, 216. That is the magic number today. Plenty of tracking by the various news outlets about where the members stand on their votes. I want to point to two of them. The New York Times believes nancy pelosi and democrats have 219 votes 218 of them democrats, one independent justin amash. Just one undecided democrat right now and 12 who have not responded to the New York Times tracking. One other subgroup being watched is democrats who hail from. Istricts donald trump won this from the Washington Post on the 31 democrats. Of them, 27 expected to vote today for the impeachment articles. Jared golden of maine expected to vote for just one of those articles, the abuse of power article, but not the obstruction of congress article. Yet and has not said Collin Peterson and jeff van resolutions. The we will all find out together about 12 hours from now. Host our coverage on cspan, on web, facebook. Com cspan, on the web, cspan. Org, and the app. Bob in florida, democratic caller. Do you know who your congressman is . Bob, good morning to you in florida. Say it isst wanted to about time to be impeached, one year or two years ago committing crimes bigtime. The bottom line is i cannot they cannot Say Something like let me look at my notes, the democrats cannoted witnesses i comprehend the decision to say the article, number 1 or number 2, i agree with that, but number 3, it is bribery and the fourth one should be corruption. Corrupt in american history, if we look back in hetory, andrew jackson, fired a member of his cabinet and trumpet fired so many people. Host do you know who do you know who your congressman is . Is in floridaknow , most americans in florida support democrats. It is corrupt. Make a new law, voting suppression. Host i am going to let you go so i can get in the republican collar. Good morning to let washington know what you think today on this impeachment day. Caller good morning. First and foremost, i want to his wife iser know in my prayers. I have been following this so closely and i hope not only do the house and the senate i hope they vote unanimously to not impeach trump, but the American People double down and , they rally behind him president , and he sweeps the whole country away, i hope. Host do you know who your congressman is . Who represents you in your district . Caller very gombert. Host you watched him in the House Judiciary Committee . Caller absolutely. Host and you agree with him . Caller 100 . I think this is a farce. Democrats have been trying to get President Trump out since before he even took office and obama helped. It is retarded. I cannot believe our country has stooped so low. It makes me mad. Gohmert is on the House Judiciary Committee and expressed his opposition to impeachment. In texas, good morning to you. Caller good morning. Good morning. Host how do you want the house to vote today . Caller to impeach. Host tell us why. Caller the man is guilty. I am, i dont understand what is going on in america. I know he has divided the country. I have never seen this and i am 67 years old. I listened to most of the hearings and it was like the republicans, they were not listening. They screamed and bellowed like little children fussing. It democrats did not carry on like that. Not even when they did bill clintons impeachment. Schumer is asking witnesses to come in. These are trump people. Hide, man has nothing to why . Why did he not allow these witnesses to appear before the congress. He did what they said they did, holding aid back from ukraine, these people are getting slaughtered helping america because putin is invading their country. This man is in bed with putin. If america does not watch out, he will be running america. Host tell us where tyler, texas, is. Caller about 100 miles east of dallas. Host do you know who your member is in the house . Caller it is gombert. Cannot stand him. Theys a judge before redrew districting lines and he got in. He was a judge who was very racist. I dont think the man has a christian bone in his body. Notis not for this, god is a liar, a thief, he is a person who has respect for all people, no matter the race, creed, or color, he tells us to take care of the poor because he will be with us always. He is nothing that god would want up there. Most republicans, i dont understand men and women. He got in by electoral votes, it was not the people. Host this is what house lawmakers will be voting on today, two articles of impeachment, abuse of power, using the powers of his high office, President Trump solicited the interference of a Foreign Government into 2020 sosidential election ended and did so by soliciting the government of ukraine to publicly announce investigations that would benefit reelection, harm the prospects of a political opponent and influence the election to his advantage. They will also vote on obstruction of congress. Without lawful cause or excuse, President Trump directed agencies and officials not to apply with subpoenas. President trump interposed the powers of the presidency against subpoenas and functions in yesterday, the house rules committee, which is the committee that decides the heldeters of house debate debate over the discussion of articles of impeachment. They approved them to go to the floor today by a 94 vote. Before they voted, making the case for house judiciary democrats with jamie raskin of mcardle because as john noted, jerry nadler was away due to his wifes illness. Here is raskin making the article the argument for impeachment. [video clip] still awaiting the statement about investigating joe biden, already invited china to perform an investigation of its own, we can only ask what the 2020 election will be like or what any future election in america will be like if we let this misconduct go and authorize and license president s to coerce, cajole, pressure, and entice foreign powers to enter our election campaigns on behalf of the president. Who will be invited in next . The continuing course of conduct constitutes a clear and present danger to democracy in america. We cannot allow this misconduct to pass. It would be a sellout of our constitution, our foreign policy, our National Security, and our democracy. Given that he and his team are awaiting president zelenskys statement about investigating joe biden, given that he has already invited china to perform an investigation of its own, we can only ask what the 2020 election will be like or what any future election in america will be like if we let this misconduct go and authorize and license president s to coerce, cajole, pressure, and entice foreign powers to enter our election campaigns on behalf of the president. Who will be invited in next . The president s continuing course of conduct constitutes a clear and present danger to democracy in america. We cannot allow this misconduct to pass. It would be a sellout of our constitution, our foreign policy, our National Security, and our democracy. Host congressman Jeremy Raskin yesterday. Your calls on the Impeachment Vote in the house. The discussion gets underway at 9 00 a. M. Eastern time. Before that, your phone calls. Keep dialing in. Front page of usa today, president lashes out at pelosi and democrats. John mcardle with more. Host 2 that lashing out coming in the form of a letter by President Trump, and 6 page letter addressed to Speaker Pelosi, there it is on your screen, the president accusing nancy pelosi of providing no due process, saying more was afforded to those accused in the salem witch trials, here is how President Trump ended that letter to nancy pelosi yesterday, he said you are making a mockery of impeachment and scarcely concealing your hatred of me and the tens of millions of patriotic americans, it is time for you and highly partisan democrats to cease this impeachment fantasy and get back to work for the American People. While i have no expectation you will do so, i write this letter for the purpose of history and to put my thoughts on a permanent and indelible record 100 years from now when people look back, i want them to understand and learn from it so it can never happen again to another president again. That letter getting a lot of reaction among those on twitter and the newspaper headlines as well and the president Offering High marks for his own letter in a tweet he posted late yesterday saying he is getting good reviews on his letter. She is the worst, the president tweeted, no wonder with people like her and crying Chuck Schumer d. C. Has been such a mess for so long and that includes the Previous Administration who spied on my campaign, that was the president last night before 11 00 p. M. On twitter, up and tweeting about fox news this morning and mead brian kill brian. It was a straightforward summary that provides an account of the unfair procedures by democratic leadership and the failure to substantiate any impeachable offense. This letter marks a historic night, the eve of the democrats vote to undermine the election process and from the democratic side of the aisle, this is brian schatz. If you have a Family Member or friend who is undecided, please ask them to read the letter sent by donald trump. If they read it and they are still undecided, maybe they are not actually undecided. Don beyer saying the letter is an embarrassment and this from the mayor of salem, massachusetts. Kim driscoll is her name saying learn some history to the president of the United States. In salem, there was an absence of evidence and powerless, innocent civilians were hanged or pressed to death. At the ukraine affair, there is ample evidence, admissions of wrongdoing, perpetrators are among the most powerful and privileged. We mentioned nancy pelosi sending out her own letter, it came in the form of a Dear Colleague letter to a democratic democratic members of the house and this is part of what she wrote, no member came to congress to impeach a president , but everyone of us stood on the house floor, raised our hand and usk a sacred oath that makes custodians of the constitution. The facts have made clear the president abused his power for his own personal, political benefit and obstructed congress as he demanded he is above accountability, above the constitution, and above the American People. In america, no one is above the law. Host jacksonville, florida, republican caller, you are next. Lloyd, good morning. Caller it is lloyd in jacksonville and it is a great day for republicans about to shed the chains of the democrat show they have been pulling for the last 2. 5 years. Our president is kind of like ali. He will come back down and knock you back down. We are proud of our president. Host who is your congressman . Caller rutherford. Chief. N ex police host how does he plan to vote, do you know . Is ar no, but he republican, so i am sure he is down the line with the other ones. Host all the republicans it seems are standing by the president. According to the accounts we , you have justin amash, who was of her republican who was a republican and now an independent who looks like he will vote with democrats. Go ahead. Caller what we need to do is get this thing over with and lets get this country back on track. I think it will be over tonight. In maine, independent, tell us your congressman if you know him or her. Caller Chellie Pingree in the first district. Jerrod goldman in the second, but i am in the first. I look at emperor trump as being somewhat of a gift in that we have gone through 10 cycles of voting and this 11th one will be the culmination of it. If, as predicted, the house , itach is emperor trump will be a catalyst, i believe, a coming to jesus a coming to rationalization of our democracy, protecting our democracy because it is the to the people. I dont care whether trump is impeached and removed or just impeached, but either way, it will lead to the people coming to the conclusion that they are aning in what appears to be empire and they have the singular and very obvious emperor trump, that is the role he is playing and i dont think we will go through our 11th leastworst voting without the people being smart enough to realize they have to vote against empire and for democracy. A pivotal decision on the part of the people. I also support the idea of the people going into the street in largescale protest like hong kong and against emperor trump, of course, and against empire in general. Trump himself is just a symptom of our trendline toward being an empire from the beginning of imperial presidency with reagan voting10 cycles later in the tellingeived warning of an 11th cycle having to get rid of emperor trump and getting rid of empire. We has to be we have to be true democracy, not an empire. Host what do you think of congressman goldman deciding to vote for only one article of impeachment, abuse of power . Caller i think it is a little weaselly. I did not know the man, i am not in his district, so i did not vote for him. I did not vote against him, either, but he is walking the middle of the fence. He better get his head together and realize you cannot judge whether somebody is an emperor acting like an insane emperor , they all were, including caligula, who most reminds me of emperor trump because of his philandering with women and missed treatment of women. Nero burned down rome, trump will burn down america. Congressmantes Jared Goldman, freshman democrat as you noted, represents a district that President Trump won in 2016. He said in a lengthy statement posted to facebook, trumps actions are a realization of the fear, willingest to leverage the powers of his office to benefit his own reelection, this action crossed a line and there is no doubt this is an impeachable act. For this reason, i will vote for article 1. Resistanceresidents to investigative efforts have been frustrating, it has not reached to the threshold of high crimes and misdemeanors the constitution demands. Kevin in washington, democratic caller, good morning to you. What do you think about todays Impeachment Vote . Caller i am all for it and i would like to do a quote after. I am Roman Catholic and i get tired of these white e