Much . Maybe but i dont think hes going after it the way he should. Maybe he was telling us less about clinton than he was revealing about himself, donald trump. All in with chris hayes starts right now. Good evening from new york. Im chris hayes. Were in the midst of the House Judiciary Committee markup of the two articles of the president of the United States. This is a standard part of the legislative process, thats the markup. It happens all the time. But tonight is obviously quite different in the stakes and import because it is the most serious constitutional undertaking this committee where are the Judiciary Committee can pursue. Tonight the committee will be hearing different amendments and debating the two articles before them. And we expect them to be voted on by the full committee tomorrow. Weve already heard Opening Statements from House Judiciary Chair jerry nadler and ranking
member doug collins. Heres how the chair presented tonights meeting. Taken together the two Auricles ChargePresident 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 our National Security, for the integrity of our election and for our country if we fail
to fact . For the rest of the night we expect to hear five minute Opening Statements, which is not normal. Usually its just the chair and Ranking Member. Theyll be alternating the next few hours between the democratic and republican member of the party. Usual athey go through the bill and mark it up with amendments. This is little different than a normal markup boss its not a long big piece of legislation. Its an argument to impeach the president of the United States. And there are just two articles, abuse of power and obstruction of congress. The whole thing just nine pages long. We expect there will be some votes from articles presumably all from republicans because the democrats have already unified behind the language thats presented. Mostly its an opportunity for the various members of the committee to make arguments for impeachment. Joining me now is zerlina
maxwell and maya wiley. Ive been struck just as weve been watching in the first hour the tone is a little bit different in prime time than it has been during the day, slightly less clownish and antic ridden and a bit more serious. Thats good. Its about time the republicans take this seriously because this is serious. I think you dont see the historonics because they assume there might be a few more people paying attention because we have the articles of impeachment officially on paper and now theyre going to give their five minute statements as to why the case has been made. The thing that always percolated in my mind ever since really the Mueller Report is that donald trump is a cheater. And you have to stop a cheater. And when were talking Ability Something as saked as ocred as
elections there is no hesitation from stopping cheating in our elections. People died to vote and there is nothing more sacred in our country. I agree with zerlina what this moment means. I think what we were seeing from republicans in the daytime their efforts to get the sound beats that were going to be shown on eveningative. Now theyre on evening tv so its a very different animal for them. And to zerlinas point and to your point too, chris, the evidence is the evidence. So theres no real debate about changing the articles except to make arguments whether or not you think theres sufficient evidence. This is why you heard chairman nadler saying, look, the question is what the president did whether you think its impeachable and what this means to the nation. I want to just actually take some of the statements ted
deutsch of florida is speaking. Take a listen. At this moment and they responded almost immediately, and they told me what they were feeling and what their friends were feeling. And they confirmed the worst. Their faith in our democracy is shaken. One of my kids said trump has made me feel like our country is failing. Hes taken away americas common sense. Another said if our democracy is fragile enough to be mimtanipuld by the president then i worry for our future as a country. Why is our democracy so fragile . Well, the president smears the press as the enemy of the people. He attacks verifiable facts and calls them fake news. He attacks his opponents in the
ugliest and in the most hateful ways. He degrades diplomats, and he lashes out at law enforcement. He questions the patriotism of those who have bled on our battlefields. He questions americas leadership in the world. He believes russia over our intelligence community, russia over our nato allies, russia over ukraine. All these things break long held american positions of leadership in the world, and theyll all be a part of the next election. But were here at this moment to protect that election. The president s ongoing attacks on the 2020 elections and his effort to cover it up, that is why were here tonight. The president s abuses of power
to cheat americas voters and threaten our National Security, he welcomed russian interference in the 2016 election. He solicited interference by ukraine and by china in our 2020 election. The ongoing pattern of this president s abuse of power is obstruction of investigations. Refusing to turn over even one document. Thats what requires us to act now. This is a moment that the president has forced upon us. These are the high crimes that violate the supreme law of our nation, the constitution of the United States. When my kids were younger we taught them to tell the truth. We all teach our kids to tell
the truth. If youve got nothing to hide, honesty is the clearest path to putting trouble behind you. You know thats true. Everyone does. If the president had not abused his power, if everything he did was truly perfect, he would have asked, no, he would have demanded that everyone who works for him come forward and tell the truth and bring all of their documents with them. Let them speak. Let them all speak. But instead of ordering his staff to tell the truth, he silenced them. What message does that send the next generation of American Voters . The next generation of american leaders . The president violated his Oath Of Office to defend and protect
the constitution. We cannot allow our children to believe that the abuse of power by the strongest leader in our country is acceptable or that its normal. Yesterday my daughter sent another text. She said it feels like were losing the battle to get people to care about democracy, im worried we wont be able to fix it. President trumps violations threaten to break the foundation of our democracy. Impeachment and removal from office is the only way to fix it. I yield back. Gentleman, yields back. Point of order. Gentleman will state his point of order. We started this proceeding tonight and we on the Minority Side do not have the current amendment in nature of substitute h res 755 because the one we have says the abuse of
powers article i and the other is obstruction of congress and we keep hearing about crimes. We should be able to have the amendment that includes the crimes youre talking about. The gentlemen will suspend. That is not the point of order. Mr. Buck. Thank you, mr. Chairman. How will history judge this impeachment . I believe the American People will remember this impeachment effort unkindly. Instead remembering democrats have been resisting and looking for an excuse to impeach this president since the day he was elected. There were false charges that protrump russians had shutdown the power grids in vermont. A frivolous lawsuit was filed claiming Voter Machines were rigged in three states. More than 50 House Democrats boycotted President Trumps swearing in ceremony including the chairman of this committee. The Washington Post ran an article titled the campaign to
impeach President Trump has begun on january 17, 2017. Strangely enough the article was posted at 12 19 p. M. While the inaugural ceremonies were still happening. The aclus Executive Director stated we think President Trump will be in violation of the constitution and federal statutes on day one. And then the genre of assassination and personal harm began with Cathy Griffon posing with a model of trumps severed hand, an actor Robert De Niro using his tony awards speech to say f trump. Id like to punch him in the face. Then came the efforts to impeach based on the Emoluments Clause and calls to remove trump under the 25th Amendment due to insanity. And then democrats and obamas appointees began to run rough shot over the institution. On march 1, 2017, representative waters tweeted get ready for impeachment. On may 16, to17, representatives from this committee began or a representative from this committee became the second member of the house to raise the topic of future Impeachment Proceedings. Representative brad sherman and al green represented the first Democrats Resolution in july of 2017. Representative cohen, then the Ranking Member on the subcommittee of Civil Justice introduced five articles of impeachment against President Trump in november of 2017. Representative tlaib said were going to impeach the blank. During a january 3, 2019 swearing in ceremony. What about may 6, 2019, when representative al green said im concerned if we dont impeach this president , he will get
reelected . Then democrats could not let go of the russian collusion story even after special Counsel Robert Mueller stated in his report that the Trump Campaign did not coordinate with russia. In fact when representative green enforced a vote 94 colleagues of ours voted in favor of proceeding to impeachment on july 17, 2019. 16 of our democratic colleagues on this committee voted for that. Its clear that my democratic colleagues have prejudged this case. They have ignored the president s right to assert executive privilege. Asserting that a court case to determine the bounlds of the president s privilege will take too long to serve justice to the American People. Democrats are so righteous in their belief that President Trump must be impeached that they ignore plain facts. Professor turley was right when he said this impeachment, quote, will be the shortest investigation producing the thinnest record of wrongdoing for the narrowest impeachment in
history, end of quote. At the end of the day i want to invoke the words of my colleague from the Rules Committee Congressman Alsy Hastings who said during one debate that the majoritys efforts would backfire. He said you will lose, this will cost you the majority next year, and some of you arent going to be here in the next congress. I hope youve had your fun. Well, i tell my colleagues, go ahead. Vote to impeach President Trump tomorrow. But when you walk out of this hearing room call your Freshman Colleagues and tell them theyre not coming back and you hope theyve had their fun. Say goodbye to your majority status, and please join us in January Of 2021 when President Trump is inaugurated again. I yield back. Gentlemen yields back. Mr. Chairman, this is sad day in u. S. History when we to vote on articles of impeachment because donald trump has abused the power of the office of the presidency in his attempt to cheat his way to reelection. This evening we will begin the process because of the uncontested facts President Trump directed millary aid approved by congress be withheld and until a vulnerable ally Publiclia Nounced an investigation of the president s top opponent in the upcoming election. Fortunately he was caught in the act by a brave patriot who took the risk of anonymously reporting and Military Assistance was finally released. However, during the eight weeks President Trump withheld military aid from our ally, at least 13 ukrainians died in the field. I know ukraine is farl away and it might be difficult to imagine how and why this country should be of any concern to us here. In part it is a matter of us honoring our commitments, but it is more than that. When countries arent stable, they can collapse, Blood Alcohol Content failed states and be
taken over by governments hostile to the u. S. Or become fertile grounds for terrorist organizations. Military assistance was withheld from ukraine that left this country vulnerable to a neighbor that had already invaded its territory. As a member of the Foreign Affairs committee i regularly meet with heads of states and i often have to apologize for some embarrassing statement or tweet the president has made. Since the ukraine scandal ive faced questions from leaders around the world. They ask, what is going on here . Is this presidency just an anomaly or has the u. S. Presidency been permanently diminished, weakened, corrupted . Has something fundamentally changed in the u. S. . The world is watching how we handle this crisis. There are many nations attempting to reestablish or create democratic governments after decades of autocratic or corrupt rule, and they are looking to the United States. When members of congress travel
we emphasize importance to the rule of law and conduct free and Transparent Elections that are fair to their citizens. Now members of congress have to acknowledge the challenge we face in our country. But we explain because of the u. S. Constitution and bill of rights, when efforts are made to Eare Strilkts and limit the right to vote, we are free to speak out and challenge our government. We preach Good Governance and transparencies. We insist countries fight corruption, and one of the best ways to counter abuse is to encourage people to come forward and report. But to ensure when people do come forward, they are protected and remain anonymous. We explain in the u. S. There are specific laws that protect people who come forward. Congressional delegations come and go, but there are thousands of federal employees who live and work around the world from the state department, usaid. These patriots work in difficult conditions. What message does it send around the world when they see the president and his supporters attack and attempt to reveal the identity of the patriot who took the risk that exposed trumps
abuse of his precedency, his abuse of power . What message does it send when the world witnesses the president and his supporters denigrate, disrespect and harass a patriot . This is another example of why the action of this president threatens u. S. National security. The president s defenders shout coup, hoax and demonstrate their 150 loyalty to the president while offer the record acknowledge his wrongdoing. People from around the world understand this as autocratic behavior. They know if they step out of line they might lose their lives or in this instance they might lose their election. The president has forbidden everyone in the administration from guantanamoing even when subpoenaed, leaving the only tool available to us, impeachment. This is not a coup, and its irresponsible to label a constitutional process a coup. It is the responsibility of this committee to follow the constitution. The world is waiting to see if we will hold ourselves to the democratic principles we there cyst others up hold. When we demonstrate our ability to peacefully hold our leaders accountable, we have an opportunity to show the world how a mature democracy handles the crisis. We have the opportunity to show the world our democracy remains strong and it is this president that an anomaly. We have an opportunity to demonstrate in the world and in the United States no one is Above The Law including President Trump. This is why we must adopt articles of impeachment and take the First Step Towards relieving our nation and the world of this presi