To have very different worlds. We certainly will. This is a moment that a lot of people have been waiting for. Well see what happens. We will have special live coverage throughout the night, of course. Thanks very much for watching. Im wolf blitzer in the situation room. Our special impeachment coverage continues right now with erin burnett out front. This is cnn breaking news. Good evening. Im erin burnett. Out front tonight, the breaking news, just moments from now, you see the room. The House Judiciary Committee will begin debate on two articles of impeachment against donald j. Trump. This is only the fourth time in American History that a president has faced articles of impeachment and this is live what is happening in that room. Members are getting seated. This is prime time, the first time that any of these hearings have happened during this time. This is the debate and this is how they are choosing to start it. The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee jerry nadler is about to gavel the hearing into session. I want to go straight outside
the hearing room to manu raju. Man manu, youve been seeing everyone come in. What do you expect . A contentious fight, theyll make the case on why the president deserves to be impeached on these two counts and the republicans, contend this process as unfair and theyll argue that the president did Nothing Impeachable and demand that they should have their own witness e es, as well. Expect that to be from the top. They each will get a chance for five minutes to make their case to the public about why they believe the president should or should not be impeached and this is a formal consideration of those articles of impeachment. Sorry, manu to interrupt you. Chairman nadler has gavelled the session. Pursuant to Committee Rule 2 any house rule 11 clause 2, the chairman may postpone further proceedings today on the question of approving any measure or matter or adopting an
amendment for which the ayes and nays are ordered. Today we meet to begin the articles of empeachmeimpeachmen donald j. Trump. As i informed the Ranking Member i believe that for such an important and solemn occasion as this, it would be appropriate for all members to have an opportunity to make an Opening Statement. Before we begin i want to note the absence of our colleague ted liu who acquired a medical procedure monday evening and will be unable to attend this markup. I understand he is in good spirits and plans to be back at work next week. His statement will be made part of the record, and i know that all of my colleagues join me in wishing him a speedy recovery. I will now recognize myself for an Opening Statement. Today we begin two articles of
impeachment against president donald j. Trump. The first article charges that the president used the powers of his Public Office to demand that a Foreign Government attack his political rivals. The second article charges that the president obstructed the congressional investigation into his conduct. Other president s have resisted congressional oversight. President trumps stonewall was complete, absolute and without precedent in American History. Taken together, the two Articles Charge President Trump with placing his private, political interests above our National Security, above our free and Fair Elections and above our ability to hold Public Officials accountable. This committee now owes it to the American People to give these articles close attention and to describe their factual basis, meaning and importance. I believe that three questions should frame our debate. First, does the evidence show clearly that the president committed these acts . Second, do they rise to the level of Impeachable High Crimes And Misdemeanors . Third, what are the consequences for National Security, for the integrity of our elections and for our country if we fail to act . To the first question, there can be no serious debate about what President Trump did on july 25th of this year, when he spoke to president zelensky of ukraine by telephone, President Trump had the upper hand. Ukraine had been invaded 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
interests in ukraine. And he needed help in the form of an Oval Office Meeting so he can show the world that the United States stands with him against russian aggression. President trump should have focused on Americas National security and the interests 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 two bogus investigations, one into former Vice President biden, his leading opponent in the 2020 election, and another to advance a Conspiracy Theory that ukraine, not russia, attacked our elections in 2016. These were not legitimate requests. Neither was supported by the evidence. One investigation was designed to help President Trump conceal
the truth about the 2016 election. The other was designed to help him gain an advantage in the 2020 campaign. Both were divorced from reality and from official u. S. Policy. The evidence proves that these requests were not related to any real interest in rooting out corruption. President trump eagerly does business with corrupt governments every day. The evidence shows that President Trump did not care if investigations took place. A Public Announcement that the government of ukraine was investigating his rife will val have been enough for him to release the aid whether or not an actual investigation ever took place. After the call, President Trump ratcheted up the pressure. He dangled the offer of an over wil Oval Office Meeting. He withheld 391 million in military aid. His personal lawyer traveled to
pressure the ukrainians directly. The president deployed other agents outside the official channels of diplomacy to make his desires clear. By september, president zelensky was ready to comply to announce the two fake investigations, then the scandal broke into the open. Caught in the act, the president was forced to release the aid. When the house of representatives opened an inquiry into the president s actions, President Trump did everything in his power to obstruct the investigation. He declared across the board resistance. He ordered every official in the federal government to defy all subpoenas related to the inquiry. At his command, the administration also refused to produce a single document related to the inquiry, not one. To put this obstruction into context, during the watergate hearings, president nixon turned
over recordings of his conversations in the oval office. Later, president clinton handed over his dna. President trumps obstruction was, by contrast, absolute. Those are the facts. Theyre overwhelming. There is no denying them. Having reviewed the evidence, we come to our second question, is the president s proven conduct impeachable . The answer is simply, is simple, absolutely. Under article 1 of the constitution, the president can be impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors. The highest of high crimes is abuse of power. It occurs when a president uses his official powers to serve his own personal selfish interests at the expense of the public good. To the founding generation that had fought a king and won our freedom, it was a specific welldefined offense. The first article of impeachment
charges President Trump with abuse of power. The article describes President Trumps conduct and lays out two aggravating factors that we must consider. In pressuring ukraine for a personal favor, President Trump both betrayed our National Security and attempted to corrupt our elections. When the president weakens an ally who advances americas Security Interests by fighting an american adversary, the president weakens america, and when the president demands that a Foreign Government investigate his domestic political rivals, he corrupts our elections. To the founders, this kind of corruption was especially pernicious. Free and Fair Elections are the bedrock of our democracy. If our elections are corrupt, everything is corrupt. The president faces a second article of impeachment for his ongoing efforts to obstruct a lawful investigation into his
conduct. We have never, in the history of our nation, seen a president categorically defy congress in this manner. If the president can first abuse his power, and then stonewall all congressional requests for information, Congress Cannot fulfill its duty to act as a check and balance against the executive and the president becomes a dictator. Later tonight, you will hear more about both articles of how they describe a pattern of behavior that President Trump seems determined to repeat again and again. My colleagues will also address various procedural objections that have been raised in the president s defense, but there is one of those objections that i wish to address right away. Some ask why not take more time . Why is this necessary now . Why do we need to impeach the president . Why not let the next election
handle it . This brings us to the third and final question. What is the risk if we do not act . Over the past 94 days since the house investigation began, indeed, over the last three years, one indisputable truth has emerged. If we do not respond to President Trumps abuses of power, the abuses will continue. We cannot rely on an election to solve our problems when the president threatens the very integrity of that election nor can we sit on our hands while the president undermines our National Security and while he allows his personal interests and the interests of our adversary russia, to advance. The president s personal lawyer was in ukraine again just last week. That was not three years ago. That was not three months ago. That was saturday. President trumps continuing abuses of power jeopardize our
security and our elections. The threat is urgent. If we do not act now, what happens next will be our responsibility as well as his. I will close with a word to my republican colleagues. I know you. Ive worked with many of you for years. I consider you to be good and decent public servants. I know this moment may be difficult, but you still have a choice. I hope every member of this committee will withstand the political pressures of the moment. I hope that none of us attempt to justify behavior that we know in our heart is wrong. I hope that we are able to Work Together to hold this president or any president accountable for breaking his most basic obligations to the country and to its citizens, and while you think about that choice, please keep in mind that one way or the other, President Trump will not be president forever. When his time is past, when his
grip on our politics is gone, when our country returns as surely it will to calmer times and stronger leadership, history will look back on our actions here today. How would you be remembered . We have each taken an oath to support and defend the constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. I hope to be remembered for honoring that oath. I hope you feel the same, and so with a heavy heart, with clear duty to my country, i support these articles of impeachment. I urge my colleagues to support them as well. I yield back the balance of my time. I now recognize distinguished Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee, the gentleman from georgia, mr. Collins for his Opening Statement. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I find it amazing, at best, hilarious, i guess at worst that we come to quote a solemn and
amazing moment. Weve been on this path since november 2016. This is not new. Weve been trying this for almost three years if youre a Majority Member of this party. The only thing that has changed is the opportunity from last november when you became the majority. The only thing that changed in your desire to impeach this president was that you became the majority, and we have spent all year in this committee trying to impeach the president. We have occasionally had markups on bills, most of which so partisan they cannot even go forward in the senate. Most of which they do not address any issue that weve talked about, but it is amazing to me that were taking it now as such a solemn oath that weve made up something to now come to this point and say this is very solemn like it snuck up on you. Its like the holiday season. It doesnt sneak up on you when youve been expecting it the whole time and thats what weve been doing. What has been amazing to me was is some things that we have seen, so lets take some perspective here for a little while. What has our committee, this Great Committee, come to . Thats the question for us. Lets just take it for just a moment inside these Impeachment Hearings. This is our third, ill count it into tomorrow for three. Three hearings in this committee of impeachment and thats all were having. What did we get out of those three hearings . We had a bunch of law professor, three of which who Cannot Stand The President , who cannot stand his voters and cannot stand the fact that hes still in office telling us why he should be impeached and that inferences were okay to find impeachment. We had a hearing just two days ago from staff lecturing us on whats relevant and not relevant and what they found in the report while the member that
wrote the report hid in his closet somewhere, i guess, or in his office not wanting to come face the questions of this committee. That should be abhorrent to everyone here. So lets think about what weve seen and what weve not seen and again, Chairman Schiff is nowhere to be found. We understand this. We look forward. Tonight it has started again. We talk about a tearing down of National Institutions and we Start Talking about putting our security at risk that even in the chairmans Opening Statement we s. T. A. R. T. With the most amazing takedowns ive ever seen when they cant make the argument that the president pressured mr. Zelensky, they then attack mr. Zelensky and then say that he was pressured when mr. Zelensky on numerous occasions said ive not been pressured. Ive not being used and ive not been pressured to do anything and heres what the majority is saying. The majority is saying mr. Zelensky is a liar and we, in
this body, the democrats are tearing down a world leader in the eyes of those that dont like him and his own country and russia who is attacking him. Think about that one for just a second. Let that sink in when we cant make our case we tear down not only try to tear down the leader of the free world, President Trump, were tearing down the newly elected leader of the ukraine. This is amazing to me. You cant make your case against the president because Nothing Happened and when president zelensky confirms Nothing Happened we start tearing him down. I never thought we had crossed outside of the ocean to try to basically impugn the integrity of a world leader like we have been for the last two hearings. We have also found other things that we have found in our very minimal hearings in this body is that weve seen that other committees have used political vendettas against Ranking Members and others including
members of the press that are here tonight by putting Phone Records in. Naming names, you talk about getting nails. Mr. Sal minute on the four numbers that we looked at. Mr. Goldman and mr. Schiff, and they could have simply put in the record, congressman one, congressman two, reporter one, no they got what they wanted. They got their drive by and they got their political smear. Not a record of facts against this president a record of a Democratic Party who has lost all moorings of fairness and good taste. Thats what were seeing here, and we can have all of the flowery Opening Statements we want, but they cant get away from that fact. What is the big lie that is being perpetrated here on us . The big lie is this, and one of the democrats had told the American People, they have said this for three years. The big lie that were being
perpetrated tonight the end justifies the means. The lies that the sham impeachment is okay because the threat is so real and so urgence, aurgent and so imminent. History has shown that to be untrue and dangerous. The big lie is that adam schiff had gained evidence in plain sight. He said President Trump colluded with russia and special counsel muellers report and it continues to spread like a cancer every time we meet. The big lie is the impeachment and the facts are undisputed, the very fact that people in this Committee Dispute the facts make them disputed facts not undisputed facts. The problem were seeing here is when you get to the articles themselves, abuse of power. When you look at these articles and compare them to history. Im glad the chairman brought up history because i will not write history. It will be written at a later time because they will not always be the majority as he talked about the president not being president. I do believe hell be president for five more years, but at this time there will be a turnover at some point, and this is the articles that we wrote after all of these hearings and all these Grand Pronouncements and grounds in plain sight, we get abuse of power with no real dates on this is the abuse. Its just generic, vague statements. You know why i believe that is . Because the democrats cant come up with the argument for it. They dont know who knew it and when they knew it. Well give you abuse of power and pick something you dont like about the president and there is the abuse of power and this is about expediency as much as anything else and that should never be in articles of impeachment and anybody who does that is treading on very thin ice and then Obstruction Of Congress. The only obstruction weve seen here is obstruction of Chairman Schiff of this investigation. He did not turn over the documents as he was supposed to. We get those last saturday in a massive document after we already had a hearing and after we were getting ready for another hearing in which we were supposed to lay out the report and tonight tonight he sends a letter of Classified Information that has been classified over to us tonight. Dont think for a second, american public, that this majority wants you to find the truth. The obstruction has only occurred from adam schiff and the majority, keeping people from actually trying to find the truth and thats the only obstruction here and why dont we have that as an Obstruction Charge and it would be adam schiff and the minority and not adam schiff. Two articles like that, abuse of power and Obstruction Of Congress in 70something days . The only abuse of power here is the majority racing the fastest they ever have and the clock and the calendar determining what impeachment looks like. Thats the abuse of power is
professor turley said, but before i finish, i cannot stop without this. The real legacy of this Impeachment Hearing will not be the removal of donald trump as president. In fact, if anything, they see the majority for what they are. On a threeyear vendetta to get something that they couldnt beat and theyre desperate to do it before he beats them again this year. Heres the real damage. The institutional damage to this body. Its the institutional damage to getting information even after the hearing started from not having the rules and for having this committee as the chairman warned him about, 20 years ago this Great Committee and the Judiciary Committee would never accept the report from someone else without verifying it and having hearings to make sure it was there, unless as the chairman said we become a rubberstamp. I dont know about you, but im not a rubberstamp and i dont like what ive been forced to do, sit here and be lectured by Law Professors and a staff that does not wear a pin. Were the rubberstamp of the worst kind because we didnt even try to make a point. The minority hearing date, get ready and well talk about this more and well get it shot down tomorrow and rules committee will take care of it, but for reporters and media and people who have watched this body and the institution that ive loved All Of My Love and watched its since i was an intern up here being destroyed day after day is the minority has no rights and one day the majority will be in the minority and theyll be crying and screaming and ill point back in 2019 and say this is the year you put a dagger in minority rights. Justify the most basic obligations of this committee has been overrun. So tonight weve experienced, were in december after a year of trashing this institution, a year of trying to trash this administration and this president we come up with abuse of power and cant define it . We come up with obstruction of
congress after 72 days . I know theyre desperate. You know how i know it . Adam schiffs own words yesterday. We cant go to court. That would take too long. An election is coming, let me finish the last part of that sentence since he likes to put words into President Trumps mouth when he faked the call transcript. No, adam, what you need to continue to say is we cant beat him next year. The only thing we need is a 30second commercial saying we impeached him. Thats the wrong reason to impeach somebody and the American People are seeing through this, but at the end of the day my heartbreaks for a committee that has trashed this institution and this is where we are now. With that, i neeld back. The Gentleman Yields back. We will now proceed with fiveminute Opening Statements from other members of the committee. I now recognize the gentle lady from california, miss lofkin for five minutes. This is a serious moment for
our country. Ive worked on president ial impeachments as part of this Committee Twice before, and a third time brings me no joy. Members of the congress all take an oekt to uphold the constitution when a president violates a Constitutional Order we have an obligation to live up to our Oath Of Office to deal with that. Last week the committee got the president s actions undermine the integrity of the next election and is a violation of his oath. As a staff member to my predecessor congressman don edward, i watched his opening in the nixon impeachment and it rings true today. He said the value and beauty of our constitution and representative government, if its going to work, requires that we all respect and obey the constitution. Its the compact we have with each other and put simply, no one is Above The Law and the president of the United States must follow the constitution. President trump has not only abused his power for the upcoming election, he used a foreign power to do it. George washington would likely be astonished since he warned against the insidious weils of foreign influence. One of my most vivid moments of the impeachment was wiggins when he realize nd that nixon had li to him. Ive been bat ive been waiting, if it swims and quacks like a duck its a piano. Its understandable that republicans feel loyalty to the leader of their party, but loyalty to our country and our constitution must be greater. Ive reviewed what Republican Committee members said during the nixon impeachment. Larry hogan said its not easy for me to align myself against the president to whom i gave my enthusiastic support. I cannot, in good conscience, turn away from the evidence. Caldwell butler, another
pronixon republican said the misuse of power is the very essence of tyranny and that nixons lack of remorse for his misconduct and concern for his constitutional responsibility were a factor in supporting impeachment. That is a problem today as well. President trump continues his misconduct. Hes not contrite. He poses an ongoing threat. Representative butler said this about the republicans, its weeks, not the democrats who must demonstrate that we are capable of enforcing the high standard. Where are the caldwell bit leut and larry hogans today . I hope that every member here will vote their conscience. We are blessed to live in a wonderful, free country, an important thing that keeps us free is the constitution of the United States, and the generations of americans who have defended that constitution on the battlefield, in the
court, in the congress, the founders included the Impeachment Clause in the constitution purposefully and they Gave Congress the Sole Authority to impeach for a reason. If the president who had been granted vast powers abused that power, threatened the Constitutional Order then congress could and should act to try to curb that abuse. It is the foundation of our free society. The power to impeach is not to punish a president. It is to protect americans from a president who would abuse his power, up end the Constitutional Order and threaten our democracy. Regrettably, President Trump has engaged in the abuse of power. His failure does not permit us to fail to fulfill our oath. It is with considerable regret that i find our country faced with the need to impeach President Trump for his abuse of
power, but the future of our democracy and Constitutional Order require it, and i yield back. The gentle lady yields back. Mr. Sensenbrenner . Mr. Chairman, i agree with everybody that tonight is a vor sell very solemn night. Tonight is the first night in the last 45 years that this committee has sat through the articles of impeachment against the president of the United States. When were debating here, in my opinion, is the weakest case in history, and yet the democrats have decided to go full speed ahead again, because of the clock and the calendar with an incomplete record simply by using Hearsay Evidence and trashing the rules of the house every time they can in order to speed things up, with a
preordained conclusion and that is a partisan vote for impeachment and something that both the speaker and the chairman of this committee rejected earlier on when they thought they could make this bipartisan. If they could have made it bipartisan, they blew their opportunity very early on with their trashing of the rules and the trashing of what is in the history of this committee. Now lets look at these two articles. Unlike the nixon and clinton impeachment, there is no crime thats alleged to have been committed by the president of the United States. There are Policy Differences, but i would submit that given the definition of treason, bribery and other high crimes and misdemeanors that does not mean that Policy Differences should be enough to remove a president from office. Theres no allegation of bribery in these articles. Theres no allegation of extortion. They have defined for themselves
what a high crime and misdemeanor will be. This bar is so low that what is happening is that a future president can be impeached for any disagreement when the presidency and the house of representatives are controlled by different parties and that goes back to establishing a parliamentary system which the framers explicitly rejected at the time of the Constitutional Convention and the United Kingdom or canada or other parliamentary democracies, if the government loses the confidence of a majority of the lower house, the governments out, and there either is a new government or a new election that happens. The framers didnt want that. We had an independent presidency. The president was independently elected. He did not serve at the sufferance of congress. He served for a fixed term and
was only, if he really obstructed the functions of government or was treasonous he could be impeached. Now lets look at Obstruction Of Congress. You know, again, in the past, whenever the executive and legislative branches or the United States have had a disagreement theyve gone to court and the third branch decides this difference. This committee and this majority are so high bound to their clock and their calendar that they will not allow the judicial process to work out. What brought Richard Nixon down honestly was the Supreme Court saying that he had to turn over certain documents and within two or three weeks after that the president knew his time was up. The republicans that convinced him of that and he resigned
mooting out the impeachment. So yes, the constitution is at stake. The framers of our constitutions enlightened decisions are at stake. We are not on the road to becoming a parliamentary democracy like england and canada are. The president should not have to suffer at anything that the congressional majority would throw at him and thats what the courts are for to figure that out and i would appeal to my chairman and the Majority Members of this committee to listen to what madison and hamilton had to say during the ratification of the constitution and during the debates at the convention. Put aside your partisan politics and dont listen to what pelosi, schiff and nadler are telling you because the future of our country and the viability of our
constitution as the framers decided are at stake. I yield back. The Gentleman Yields back. Miss jacksonlee. The constitution begins with we, the people of the United States, among other things pronopr promote The General Welfare and establish this constitution for the United States of america. The president of the United States, donald j. Trump, perpetrated constitutional crimes. Why does this matter today now in this moment on the journey of americas history . Because truth matters and where truth rests trust builds. The constitution is a plain language set of laws that americans for generations have adhered to and been protected by. It is a list of crimes and forbidden actions not to be taken by our governors. The Founding Fathers believe the
bill of rights is a living document, freedom of speech, ending slavery. So today my case will rest on truth and trust. I will ignore the politics of impeachment, but rather the facts and truth i must abide by, but congress has the power to impeach the president. The president can be impeached and removed from office for the convictions of treason, bribery, high crimes and misdemeanors. This is the law of the land. So here are the facts. First, President Trump violated his Oath Of Office by placing his personal and political interests above the National Interests by scheming to get ukraine to investigate a potential election opponent. Second, President Trump betrayed the National Interests by withholding vital security to a beleaguered and besieged ally facing armed aggression from russia, americas implacable foe. The scheme concocted by President Trump was to list a foreign country to help him fix the 2020 president ial election in his favor, the very type of
interference our framers most feared and then he blocked witnesses and documents, obstructing congress. These acts are precise and evidence based and must stand the test of truth and trust in a constitution that has been the foundation of this nation for centuries. The truth is this president did ask for a favor, though. Witnesses, the truth is the only goal of the president s acts harm the American People, violated his oath and promoted his 2020 election. Now truth raises the question again did the president fail his oath to take care that the laws were faithfully executed and the law of a besieged, small nation, those monies needed by ukraine. Many lives during the time of delay were lost in a country fighting for its survival yes, and was Americas National security in jeopardy . Yes. The bright light of this constitutional democracy dimmed because of his acts. The truth is no longer for all. It is for one man, donald j. Trump, his truth, his way. We must reject that abuse of power because this is not america. No one is Above The Law. Reminded of my grandfather who left his native land to join with his wife and to bring his aspirations and hopes to the United States. Im reminded that he died an early death because of lack of access to healthcare, but yet i am told he was still inspired by this nation, and im reminded that my widow grandmother watched eric, allen and samuel go off to war in world war ii. These are americas stories, families who believe and when the commander in chief violates his oath and abuses power, corrupts our democracy, it is a continuing threat to our National Security. The truth is it becomes like the leaves on a tree, it falls on the ground and the trust that is the cornerstone of our democracy shakes in the stare of a government no longer for the people and by the people, but a Government Led by a president who undermines our democracy
over and over again and even looking forward to interfering with our election in 2020. It matters to the waitress on an early bus for the breakfast shift. It matters to the steelworker helping to build america. It matters to the teacher in her fifth grade social studies class. It matters to a mother kissing her young Military Recruit before they go off to their service and to this nation. It is important that we begin to understand that we cannot be stopped by distractions. This is the time when we rise and sacrifice so when the wheels of justice turn right. Our sacrifice is unselfish and our truth will set this nation free, for this reason i vote aye and must vote aye on the articles of impeachment, article 1 and article 2 for his truth is marching on, his truth is marching on. Impeachment cannot be walked by equivocation wrapped in doubt. It must be done both by the past and present and the question is the america that we know and
love, can it survive the pillars of abuse . No, it cannot, and that is why i put my faith in trust and truth and that is why we stand tonight for americas future. I yield back. The gentle lady yields back. Mr. Chabot. Mr. Chairman, as we consider articles of impeachment that if adopted by this commit e the full house and god forbid garners a twothirds vote would result in the overturning of a president ial election, it seems appropriate to consider how in the world we got here. We are witnessing, i believe, the most tragic mockery of justice in the history of this nation. We are witnessing an inexplicable rush to impeach a president who is disliked, no, loathed by most of my democratic colleagues and by their supporters and as a result of that loathing they see fit to abandon all basic 10es tenets ae
process guaranteed by every american under the constitution. After the farce in the Intelligence Committee we had dumped in our laps a report, recommending impeachment with no time to adequately consider and review the materials. So much for the rules allowing members of the Judiciary Committee or any committee, for that matter, to responsibly consider such materials especially if theyre involving something as important as the impeachment and potential removal of the president of the United States. The report from the Intelligence Committee was based largely on testimony taken in secret depositions in the basement of the Capital Building which was closed to most members of congress, closed to the media and closed to the American People. If thats not baddiv enough, Th Report Scandalously published the Phone Records of the president s personal attorney, a member of the media and a member of this body. Under what Legal Authority these Phone Records were obtained we
had no idea. Then last wednesday, the committee charged with handling impeachment held the first of two hearings in which we heard from exactly zero fact witnesses. On saturday, the democrats on this committee announced that they had, without precedent changed the requirements for impeachment so that the commission of an actual crime would no longer be necessary to satisfy the standard of high crimes and misdemeanors, and they announced that the president would not be permitted to press not a case in his own defense. Every school child in america knows that it is improper and unfair to change the rules in the middle of the game, mr. Chairman. Its an expost facto law and forbidden under the constitution, the flaunting of the law by the majority on this committee has been breathtaking. This past monday during our second hearing again, without any fact witnesses, we had the bizarre situation in which rather than members questioning witnesses, we had staff
questioning staff and even had a staff witness get up from the witness stand down there, walk over to this deus and begin questioning another staff witness. At the same time, republicans on this committee were denied the absolute right to have a minority hearing day which is guaranteed by this committees own rules. The chairman of this committee and the majority have seen fit to abuse this committees rules and ignore the rights of the minority with impunity. The majority should keep in mind that they may one day will be in the minority and theyre settings precedent where they one day will be the victims themselves. Now were debating artic else of Imfee Impeachment drafted by nancy pelosi and her cohorts without any consultation with the Minority Party and based on what constitutional scholar Jonathan Turley called waferthin evidence. Tomorrow, this committee will hold a vote to impeach a president without having heard
from a single fact witness and without allowing the Minority Party and the ability to call any witnesses and present any defense. What a travesty of justice. In summary, over the last several weeks House Democrats have actively participated in or acquiesced to the drafting of impeachment, articles collected in secret hearings, closed to the media and to the American People. Constitutionally prohibited expost facto rules were welcome. The rights under the constitution were ignored and the president s right to face his accusers and present a defense under the 6th amendment were also totally ignored. If George Orwell had written the script no one would have believed it. People would say that its ridiculously implausible and yet here we are. To satisfy their basic and extreme hatred of President Trump House Democrats have taken a blowtorch to house rule, the rule of law and the bill of the
rights. This is a sad day in American History, mr. Chairman. The folks in the liberal media might be cheering you on, but i highly doubt that either history or the American People will judge you so lean yentsly, and i yield back. The Gentleman Yields back, mr. Comen. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Our constitution embodies the values and laws and the authority of the people expressed through free and Fair Elections. When President Trump for his own personal, political gain asked for a favor of a foreign leader he did exactly what our Founding Fathers feared most. He invited the influence of a foreign power into our elections. This is one of the primary reasons the founder placed impeachment in our constitution. Last week, professor carlen summed up his wrongdoing well when she stated when President Trump invited, indeed, demanded foreign involvement in the upcoming election he struck at the very heart of what makes this country the republic to
which we pledge allegiance. That demand constituted an abuse of power drawing a Foreign Government into an election process is an especially serious abuse of power because it undermines democracy itself. Its as if our founders could see into 2019 and when they did i that saw donald trump corrupting our democracy by saying to president zelensky of ukraine id like you to do us a favor, though. President trumps subversive and illegal action in seeking foreign interference are an a frontary to our constitution and free and Fair Elections. They are an affront to the founders and the suffragettes who fought for Voting Rights and the civil rights leaguer assassinated in jackson mississippi, theyre an affront to andrew goodman, james cheney and michael schwarner, civil rights workers murdered in mississippi during the Freedom Summer of 64 while registering
africanamericans to vote. Theyre an affront to a mother of five who was murdered by the ku klux klan, and theyre an affront to the memory of the Martin Luther king jr. Who championed the Voting Rights act in 1965. And theyra an a from the to every Service Member who has fought for our system of government for free and Fair Elections. President trumps attempt to subvert an election was an attack on america. The president got caught when the whistleblower expressed exposed the president s scheme. Then the president sought to cover up the scheme. He stonewalled congress as we pursued our investigation and he instructed staff and cabinet officials to do the same. Previous president s facing impeachment cooperated with congress, and President Trump has thumbed his nose at constitutional power and he refused to appear to defend himself. Congress is a coequal branch of
government and was foremost to the founders minds. They placed Congress First in article 1 of the constitution. President trumps Obstruction Of Congress is an affront to peter rodino who chaired this committee in the summer of 74 when congress investigated nixons betrayal of his Oath Of Office and hes representative Barbara Jordan who as a member of this committee, would not be sub version to the constitution and it is an affront to the memory of congressman Elijah Cummings who knew we were better than this and its an affront to the main patriots to the president s tyrannical attempt, ambassador yovanovitch, ambassador taylor, and Doctor Fiona Hill and further, a principal republican of the Judiciary Committee in 1964. He did not support inpeachment
and he listened and said for years, we republicans have campaigned against corruption and misconduct, but watergate is our shame. His sense of right and wrong was inviolent. When his mother washrned him th his future would go down the drain. However i feel my loyalty to the Republican Party does not relief me of the obligation that i had. His mother was wrong. Representative butler served for another decade and President Trumps Obstruction Of Congress is an affront to the citizens of my district, all members of congress and all americans who support free and Fair Elections. We, the peoples house have a duty to withhold the Oath Of Office, and those who want to turn a bliendz eye to President Trump, corrupting our democracy will try to get us to look away. We should not look away, i will not look away. I will remember our founders great plan for our great nation
and i will remember the rule of law, above all i will adhere to my Oath Of Office. I yield back the balance of my time. The Gentleman Yields back. Mr. Gohmert. This is truly a sad day for america, its a sad week for america. You want to know where the hogans and butlers are . Theyre right here they are people here willing to vote against our president , but a funny thing happened on the way to this hearing. We just got a report from obamas inspect or general, and his report confirms what we had a feeling was true, but we were willing to wait and hear what the truth was and that is the president nor his campaign committed any crimes for three years, weve heard from people that are now in the majority talk about the crimes of the president , and where are they . Well, they kept saying, mr. President , come in. Youve got to testify. Well be fair with you. Come tell us about the crimes, and heres the crimes youve committed. And where are they now that we have the articles of impeachment . A vague abuse of power, Obstruction Of Congress, the very things the majority has done in preventing us from having the witnesses that could shed light on this, not opinion, but fact witnesses. We needed to hear from those witnesses. People like sean missgo, abigail grace, devin archer, joe biden, ellie ore and Alexander Chalupa and many others. They dont want fact witnesses. Lets hear from professors who hate donald trump and who are willing to sell their education just to make a point against somebody they dont like. This is a dangerous, dangerous time in america. They talk about abuse of power,
but they were willing to obscure evidence in over a and over. Willing to bock witnesses from coming in here and testifying before congress. They are willing to obtain and publish Phone Records of people there is to probable cause. There is no crimes by any of these people. But it reminds me a lot of what happened under the Bush Department of justice when we a ig report that said there were probably over 3,000 National Security letters by subpoenas sent out on fishing expeditions. Out outraged. Here i am a hogan or butler and i was talking with senator schumer. I was outraged like he was. The report said of the abuses and i called the white house and i said, this is outrageous. The abuses of americans rights,
somebody has to answer for this. And we need a new attorney general. And my mistake was not demanding a new director of the fbi because mueller stayed and he screwed it up even worse than it had been before. Some of us stand up and call it like it is no matter which administration is in office. And now we have heard from horowitz. We heard from barr and durham, all three years screaming about lies were the real ryes. And at some point i would think oh, oh, im a democrat, oh, oh the report says all the things we said were crimes didnt happen, didnt exist. All a fabrication and in fact all four warrants should never have been issued. I hope some of my friends across the aisle will join me in saying lets get rid of the fisa courts or figure out a way to make them better because they are so
abusive and have been. My party didnt want to fix it their party dont doesnt want to fix it if needs to be fixed. Let me just say this i came in here i did not want to get emotional. But and ive sat through trials that were hard to sit through. But nothing like sitting this week in this committee hearing. Indeed like jefferson, i tremble that god is just and his justice wont sleep forever. But the abuses, the Obstruction Of Congress have come from congress. I would have expected donald trump to just say, you came after me, my business associates, my family now im going back and im going to make billions of dollars to heck with you guys. But he has hung in there. Its amazing. At some point the majority has got to say probably wont were really sorry. There was nothing on which to base all those allegations of crimes on. And we are owe you indeed apology. Lets see the hogans a butlers in the exact party. Havent seen one yield back. The Gentleman Yields back mr. Johnson. Thank you, mr. Chairman until this investigation began i did not support impeaching President Trump. And id like to tell yall what changed my mind. America first. Weve heard those words a lot recently. We havent always agreed on what they mean. But we know this. Our founders created impeachment so that no president could place himself Above The Law. Impeachment gives congress the ability and the responsibility to put America First. I dont take that responsibility lightly. While i didnt vote for
President Trump, i respect the office that he holds. I didnt call for impeachment when the president shut down our government or tried to Rip Health Care from those with preexisting conditions, or embarrassed us on The World Stage or pardoned political cronies or took money from our troops to fund his wall, orrer to babies from mothers at the border. I didnt call for his impeachment then, not because i supported this president s actions, i simply felt that impeachment should be reserved for moments when our democracy itself is in danger. When the sign says in case of emergency, break glass, there better be one heck of an emergency. I did not call for impeachment before. But i call for impeachment today. Because this is one heck of an
emergency. The facts are clear. President trump undermined americas Foreign Policy to pursue what his own National Security staff called, a domestic political errened. He withheld military aid putting america National Security at risk in what his hand picked ambassador called a quid pro quo. President trump didnt just abuse his power with ukraine. He made them an offer they could not refuse. Help me get reelected, or you wont get the assistance you desperately need from the United States of america. And then he tried to cover it up. But fortunately we the people are not as dumb as President Trump thinks we are. If you break the law and withhold documents, we know its not because those documents make you look good. Maybe thats why more americans support impeachment now than at any time since Richard Nixons final weeks. Or maybe its because the American People understand how much is at stake. President trumps high crimes threaten our democracy itself im a black man representing georgia, born when jim crow was alive and well. To me the idea that elections can be undermined is not theory. They can tell what you its like when powerful men undermine fair and free elections. They know our democrat process is fragile. We are here because President Trump tried to sabotage that democratic process. He didnt want to let the voters
decide. He decided to cheat in the upcoming election. And he got caught. Let me remind my colleagues there is no such thing as attempted cheating. If a child copies off a test and a teacher catches them in the act, its not okay just because that child didnt get away with it. The cheater got caught. And President Trump got caught. We know there was a conspiracy, a crime and a coverup. There is only one thing we dont know. What will congress do about it . Will we hold the president accountable . Or will we serve as his accomplices. Were not voting on whether he should remain in office. Thats the senates job. Our job food is to decide whether the president crossed a line. If you truly believe President Trumps behavior was acceptable, then by all means give him the greenlight to undermine our
democracy again. But if you know what the American People know, that this moment is different and our very republic is at stake, then its not too late. Put the law above the president. Put your oath above your political ambition. Put the country we love above the interests of just one man. Put America First and i yield back. The Gentleman Yields back mr. Jordan. Theyre never going to stop. Congressman grown said yesterday if the senate doesnt convict it will not end. This is not ukraine facts are on the president s side. Zelensky said he wasnt pressured grurnging didnt know aid with was held at the time of the call and most importantly did nothing to get the aid released. This is about a basic fact. The democrats have never accepted the will of the American People. Three weeks ago nancy pelosi called the president of the United States an imposter and the attacks on the president started before the election
comparemela.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.