It concluded we need nothing more than the panel of very distinguished professors and the splended presentations by both the majority counsel and the minority counsel. We asked some questions. The republicans asked them questions. We heard their answers. Were ready to vote. Were ready to try this case in the high court of impeachment. What was being said in the sounds of silence was this. We dont have time to follow the rules. We wont even allow the house judiciary minority members who have been besieging us time and again to have their day. Just one day to call their witnesses. Oh, yes, that is especially provided for in the rules. Well break those rules. Its not liberty and justice for all. The great political scientists of yester year observed the power of the president is ultimately the power to persuade. Oh, yes, the commander in chief and yes, charged with the conduct and authority to guide the nations Foreign Relations, but ultimately its the power to persuade. I suggest to you
Violation of law. It was passed in an election president who has put his own year and we are sitting here on the day that election season interest above what was good for begins in iowa. It is wrong. All of us. Theres only one answer to that they will ask. They will want to understand. And the answer is to reject senators, we inherited a those articles of impeachment, to have confidence in the democracy and now we must American People. To have confidence in the result protect it and pass it onto the next generation. We simply cant give our of the upcoming election. To have confidence and respect children a democracy if there in the last election and not throw it out. President is above the law because in this country no one is above the law. And to leave the choice of the not me, not any of you, not even president to the American People and to leave to them also the this president. Accountability for the members of the house of representatives who did that. Thats what the constitution
Watergate scandal. But president Richard Nixon wasnt one of them. The watergate grand jury considered president nixon to be a coconspirator but as a sitting president no federal prosecutor ever charged him with a crime. Thats why it was such a crucial touchstone moment in American History when nixon stepped down as president and his successor gerald ford immediately pardoned him. It was a remarkably controversial thing. The country was in uproar. People were mad at ford about it for years and decades thereafter. It was something specific and important about nixon and about what the criminal law means around president s. Because nixon leaving office as president , him resigning meant that as soon as he was no longer president he could have been charged. He could have been criminally indicted. He might have ended up in prison. It is the fact that gerald ford pardoned him as soon as he left office, that meant nixon never was charged. So we have never seen a president sent to the pokey. Th
President no federal prosecutor ever charged him with a crime. Thats why it was such a crucial touchstone moment in American History when nixon stepped down as president and his successor gerald ford immediately pardoned him. It was a remarkably controversial thing. The country was in uproar. People were mad at ford about it for years and decades thereafter. It was something specific and important about nixon and about what the criminal law means around president s. Because nixon leaving office as president , him resigning meant that as soon as he was no longer president he could have been charged. He could have been criminally indicted. He might have ended up in prison. It is the fact that gerald ford pardoned him as soon as he left office, that meant nixon never was charged. So we have never seen a president sent to the pokey. The iran contra scandal in the 1980s where there were a ton of criminal indictments. 14 Reagan Administration officials were criminally charged in the scandal
And couldnt. One point i want to make is among the people who dont like that story are republican senators. Because they know where the money comes from. It comes from their projects. They also have projects that are in that application pipeline and they dont have an individual there whose job it is to cover their state in the transportation. To make sure that one states projects are not only stovepiped at the department so that they go right to the stop, they go right to the chief of staff of the department but also to make sure those patrons specifically are serving the political needs of one particular politician in that state who happens to be married to the cabinet secretary. I mean, this is the sort of thing you would find out was happening in some Banana Republic around the world and you would be like yeah, thats why they cant get state Department Funded blah, blah, blah. Theyre too corrupt. In this case, its Mitch Mcconnells family it is the department that operates most like t