Power of the office to obtain an improper personal benefit while ignoring and injuring the national interest. Or acts in ways that are grossly inconsistent with and undermine the separation of powers that is the foundation of our democratic system. Now, these this question of whether president engaged in abuse of power came up before when this congress considered the impeachment of president nixon. And after action was taken, president nixon famously said if the president does it, it is not illegal. And this body rejected that because thats not so. That goes directly contrary to what the founders said. But President Trump has said the same thing in responding to the prior investigation by Department Of Justice and defending his conduct. Here is what he said then i have an article, too, where i have to write to do whatever i want as president. That he has the right to do
whatever he wants as president. That is as wrong as when president nixon said a similar thing. That is not what the c
president trump s actions. nothing more and nothing less. the three investigating committees ran a fair, professional and thorough investigation. we followed the house rules for depositions and public hearing, including the rule against agency counsel being present for depositions and members and staff from both parties had equal time to ask questions and there were no substantive questions that were prevented from being asked and answered. this investigation moved swiftly and intensively as all good investigations should. to the extent that other witnesses would be able to provide more context and detail about this scheme, their failure to testify is due solely to the fact that president trump obstructed the inquiry and refused to make them available. nevertheless, the extensive
mr. armstrong. no. mr. armstrong votes no. mr. stuby votes no. how am i recorded? mr. bigs you are not recorded. i said no. mr. bigs votes no. every member vote who had wishes to vote? the clerk will report. mr. chairman, 24 aye and 15 no. parliamentary inquiry? mr. caster is recognized. i will not recognize parliamentary inquiry at this time. good morning, chairman nadler, ranking member collinss and members of the staff. my name is steve caster. i m a congressional staff member. i served with the oversight committee on the republican staff with mr. jordan. i m also for purposes of this investigation i m a shared staffer with judiciary committee and mr. collins and the house permanent select committee on intelligence and mr. nunes.
president. this record also does not support a conclusion that president trump obstructed congress during the impeachment inquiry. for many of the procedural defects i touched on earlier. additionally, as a factual matter, the only direct testimony the investigation has obtained about the president s reaction to the inquiry is from ambassador sondland who testified president trump told him to cooperate and tell the truth. president trump also declassified and released the summaries of his two phone calls with the president zelensky. president trump has said that he would like witnesses to testify but he s been forced to resist the unfair and abusive process. i believe strongly in the prerogatives of the congress. it s awful to hear president turley s testimony from last week when he critiqued the house from proceeding on impeachment so rapidly on such a thin record.
proceedings. sometimes the threat of a contempt proceeding gets you a different result. sometimes the witnesses choose to appear when contempt is on the table. democrats even withdrew a subpoena to one witness who asked the federal court to resolve conflicting orders from congress and the executive. either because the democrats did not want to wait for the court to rule or they didn t like the presiding judge, judge leon. instead, democrats made their demands and refused to budge. democrats told witnesses at the outset that their refusal to cooperate in full would be used against them and the president. democrats threatened federal employees that their salaries could be with held for not meeting committee demands. these tactics are fundamentally unfair and counterproductive for gathering investigation in any serious inquiry. this rushed and take it or leave it approach to investigating is