Whether you think thats good or bad and matches the abuse of powers is an open question. And then he goes through and argues he doesnt see what he calls a statutory crime. And well see that debate as well. There are people youre going to hear from who are going to say its got to be an actual felony and then there are going to be other people pointing out the constitution doesnt require that. It has words like treason, bribery and high crimes. So were going to get into the weeds here, but the big picture is keep your eye on which witnesses and exchanges are talking about the serious question of whats impeachable. The other noise you can try and tune out as with any hearing. Mr. Wiesman, your last words of advice as we settle in to watch the legal experts. I think its very important to keep your eye on the facts and the law. And i think one of the things that the public is rightly upset about is the rule of law not being applied. And so i think the quote you read is fun, its sort of catc
conduct. in 2016, the russian government engaged in a sweeping and systematic campaign of interference in our elections. in the words of special counsel robert mueller, quote, the russian government perceived it would benefit from a trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome, close quote. the president welcomed that interference. we saw this in realtime when president trump asked russia to hack his political opponent. the very next day a russian military intelligence unit attempted to hack that political opponent. when his own justice department tried to uncover the extent to which a foreign government had broken our laws, president trump took extraordinary and unprecedented steps to obstruct the investigation. including ignoring subpoenas, ordering the creation of false records, and publicly attacking and intimidated witnesses.
everything in his power to prevent the american people from learning the truth about his conduct. on july 24th, the special counsel testified before this committee. he implored us to see the nature of the threat to our country. quote, over the course of my career, i have seen a number of challenges to our democracy. the russian government s efforts to interfere in our elections is among the most serious. this deserves the attention of every american. close quote. ignoring that warning, president trump called the ukrainian president the very next day to ask him to investigate the president s political opponents. as we exercise our responsibility to determine whether this pattern of behavior constitutes and impeachable offense it is important to place president trump s conduct into historical context. since the founding of our country, the house of representatives has impeached only two presidents.
effect elections and abuse of office to compromise national security were further forms that were familiar to the framers. now, how does this language of high crimes and misdemeanors apply to president trump s alleged conduct? let me be clear. the constitution gives the house of representatives, that is the members of this committee and the other members of the house, quote, sole power of impeachment. it s not my responsibility or my job to determine the credibility of the witnesses who appeared before the house thus far. that is your constitutional responsibility. my comments will, therefore, follow my role, which is to describe and apply the meaning of impeachable offenses to the facts described by the testimony and evidence before the house. president trump s conduct as described in the testimony and evidence clearly constitutes
solicit a personal advantage in the next election. this time in the form of an investigation of his political adversaries by a foreign government. to obtain that private political advantage president trump withheld both an official white house meeting from the newly elected president of a fragile democracy, and withheld vital military aid from a vulnerable ally. when congress found out about this scheme and began to investigate, president trump took extraordinary and unprecedented steps to cover up his efforts and to withhold evidence from the investigators. and when witnesses disobeyed him, and career professionals came forward and told us the truth he attacked them viciously calling them traitors and liars, promising they will go through some things. close quote. of course, this is not the first time that president trump has engaged in this pattern of