recruit child soldiers and they have the fake exploitation of women. have been radicalized. designer. this is al jazeera. this is the news from doha the impeachment trial of u.s. president donald trump is beginning right now in washington d.c. we have live extended coverage also ahead u.n. experts demand investigation into evidence that saudi arabia hacked into the phone of the washington post. plus. that's why this. was full of. protests descended to riots and street battles

in lebanon's capital beirut where people have rejected the new government and the world health organization considers whether it is a clear global emergency for a virus that's killed 17 people in china and is spreading. it watching al-jazeera extended coverage of u.s. president all trump's impeachment trial i'm stan grant it's 18 g.m.t. right now that's 1 pm in washington d.c. where proceedings are resuming after a long 1st day and night dominated by squabbling over the rules of the trial the democrats' efforts to obtain evidence and ensure witnesses a hood were rejected by the republican controlled but now opening arguments are beginning h. side will get 24 hours to state their case broken up of the no more than 6 days and

u.s. senate minority leader democrat chuck schumer has spoken just ahead of the proceedings he's warning at the republican controlled senate is setting the stage for a trial rigged in trump's 5. the very 1st thing the american people saw when they tuned into the impeachment trial of president trump was republican senators voting against having a fair trial with relevant evidence. it's clear that the american people overwhelmingly support a fair trial and overwhelmingly support witnesses and documents so it was a dark day and a dark night for the senate as a consequence the impeachment trial of president trump begins with a cloud hanging over a cloud of unfairness. well trouble such as the impeachment proceedings what's going calling the ball to describe castro joins us live from capitol hill in washington d.c.

what else is on the trial but decides he was leaving davos to head back to the u.s. . will stand he gave a press conference in which he kind of waffles on whether or not he could he said he could live with the idea of witnesses being subpoenaed but here on capitol hill senators have been walking the halls and still really reeling over the developments from yesterday we saw that long and heated hours of debate that stretched into the wee hours of the night and we saw every amendment submitted by democrats to subpoena documents and witnesses defeated mostly along partisan lines almost pure partisan lines in every effort so what we have now are these senate impeachment rules that are drafted solely by republicans and that postpone this question of whether or not to call for their witnesses until after we've heard these opening

arguments yesterday we also saw quite a interesting moment when the chief justice roberts rebuked senators this was really in the middle of the night by that time and he called for decorum saying that the aggressive tone that the 2 sides have taken against each other the partisanship that we've seen really be the context of all of this impeachment proceedings he said that the senators needed to be aware and remember that this was in his words the greatest deliberative body that they were making these arguments in so expect more of that to come as the democratic house managers now for her prepare to make the opening arguments the 1st day of those arguments in which they're trying to convince their very skeptical republican senator. that trump abuses power and obstruct congress thus meriting being removed from office now of course heidi the expectation here and most people would seem to think that there is

an inevitability about donald trump being acquitted in the senate because it's controlled by the republicans but there is a trial to be had you touched on what the democrats may want to bring up here and the strength of their case how will they present that case how persuasive could that be and what impact would that have on the country actually how to just hold that thought we're going to go to the senate because it is beginning now. or you are all powerful and know our thoughts before we form them as our lawmakers have become jurors remind them of your admonition in 1st corinthians 1031 that what ever they do should be done for your glory help them remember that patriots

reside on both sides of the aisle that words have consequences and that something is said that can be as important as what is that give them a civility built upon integrity that brings consistency in their beliefs and actions we pray in your powerful name. please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to the flag. when we knew that

it was just to prayer now that the pledge of allegiance while we wait for this to really begin i got back to you heidi and and that question really about how to swayze of the democrats could be given the donald trump's defense team is saying there was no criminality yes. that's right and you know it's interesting because the lead house manager of a prosecutor as you could see in this case adam schiff he just gave a news conference in which he said he is fully aware that he is making an argument to 2 juries here there are the political jurors of course who are the 100 senators who have this power to decide whether or not trump remains in office and who we know are the majority of them are republicans who are very tall order for that argument to see but that 2nd jury that adam schiff referring to is the american public and he says that outright he is trying to make this as compelling of a case as possible to the voters who are watching. hollywood just like the wife knew there of course is

a very moved to feast we'll go back to the senate where the proceedings are now getting under way let's have a listen to what is happening no beauchesne no motions were filed this morning so we will proceed to the house managers presentation we will go for approximately 2 hours and talk a short recess when there is an appropriate break between prisoners. pursuant to visions of center resolution 483 the managers for the house of representatives have 24 hours to make the presentation of their case the senate will now hear you. mr chief justice senators counsel for the president and my fellow house managers i want to begin by thanking you chief justice for

a very long day for the way you have presided over in these proceedings and i want to thank the senators also we went well into the morning as you know. until i believe around 2 in the morning and you paid attention to every word an argument you heard from both sides in this impeachment trial and i know we are both deeply grateful for that. it was exhausting day for us certainly but we have adrenaline going through our veins and for those that are required to sit and listen it is a much more difficult task and of course we know our positions you have the added difficulty of having to weigh the facts in the law so i want to begin today by thanking you for the conduct of the proceedings yesterday and for inviting your patience as we go for we have some very long days yet to come so let us begin

when a man unprincipled in private life desperate in his fortune and bold in his temper but best of considerable talents having the advantage of military habits despotic in his ordinary demeanor known to have scoffed in private at the principles of liberty when such a man is seen to mount the hobby horse of popularity to join in the cry of danger to liberty to take every opportunity of embarrassing the general government and bringing it under suspicion to flatter and fall in with all the nonsense of the zealots of the day it may justly be suspected that his object is to throw things into confusion that he might ride the storm and direct the whirlwind. those words were written by alexander hamilton in a letter to president george washington at the height of the panic of $792.00

a financial credit crisis that shook our young nation hamilton was responding to sentiments relayed to washington as he traveled the country that america in the face of that crisis might descend from a republican form of government plunging instead into that of monarchy the framers of the constitution worried then as we worried today that a leader might come to power not to carry out the will of the people that he was elected to represent but to pursue his own interests a fear that a president would subvert our democracy by abusing the awesome power of his office for his own personal or political gain and so they devised a remedy as powerful as the evil it was meant to combat impeachment as centuries have passed our founders have cheve and almost mythical character we

are aware of their flaws certainly some very painful and pronounced indeed and yet when it came to the drafting of a new system of government never seen before and with no guarantee it would succeed we cannot help but be in all of their genius their precious even vindicated time and time again still maybe because of their brilliance and the brilliance of their words we find year after year more difficult to imagine them as human beings this is no less true of alexander hamilton notwithstanding his recent return to celebrity but they were human beings they understood human frailties even as they exhibited them they could appreciate just as we can how power can corrupt and even as we struggle to understand how the framers might have responded to presidential misconduct of the kind in character that we are here to try we should not imagine for one moment that they lacked basic common sense. or if used to apply it

ourselves they knew what it was like to live under a despot and they risked their lives to be free of it they knew they were creating enormously powerful executive and they knew they needed to constrain it they did not intend for the power of impeachment to be used frequently or over mere matters of policy but they put it in the constitution for a reason for a man who would subvert the interests of the nation to pursue his own interests for a man who would seek to perpetuate himself in office by inviting foreign interference and cheating in an election for a man who would be disdainful of constitutional limit ignoring or defeating the other branches of government and their co-equal powers for a man who believe that the constitution gave him the right to do anything he wanted and practiced in the art of deception for a man who believed that he was above the law and beholden to no one for a man in short who would be

a king we are here today in this hallowed chamber undertaking a solemn action for only the 3rd time in history because donald j. trump the 45th president of the united states has acted precisely as hamilton and his contemporaries feared president from solicited foreign interference in our democratic elections abusing the power of his office to seek help from abroad to improve his reelection prospects at home and when he was caught he used the powers of that office to obstruct the investigation into his own misconduct to implement this corrupt scheme president trump pressured the president of ukraine to publicly announce investigations into 2 discredited allegations that would benefit president trump's 2020 presidential campaign when ukrainian president

did not immediately assent president trump withheld 2 official acts to induce the ukrainian leader to comply. a head of state meeting in the oval office and military funding both were of great consequence to ukraine and to our national interest and security but one looms largest president trump withheld hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to a strategic partner at war with russia to secure foreign help with his reelection in other words to cheat in this way the president used official state powers of vailable only to him and unavailable to any political opponent to advantage himself in a democratic election his scheme was undertaken for a simple but corrupt reason to help him win reelection in 2020 but the effect of his scheme was to undermine our free and fair elections and to put our national

security at risk it was not even necessary that ukraine undertake the political investigations the president was seeking they merely had to announce them this is significant for president trump had no interest in fighting corruption as he would claim after he was caught rather is interest was in furthering corruption by the announcement of investigations that were completely without merit the 1st sham investigation that president trumped desired was into former vice president joe biden who had sought the removal of a corrupt ukrainian prosecutor the previous during the previous u.s. administration the vice president acted in accordance with the us official policy at the time and was supported unanimously by our european allies and key global financial institutions such as the international monetary fund that shared

the concern over corruption despite this fact in the course of this scheme president trump. and his agents pressed the ukrainian president to announce an investigation into the false claim that vice president biden wanted the corrupt prosecutor removed from power in order to stop an investigation into barisan holdings a company on whose board biden's son hunter sat this allegation is simply untrue and it has been widely debunked by ukrainian and american experts alike that reality mattered not to president trump to him the value in promoting a negative tale about former vice president biden true or false was its usefulness to his re-election campaign it was a smear tactic against a political opponent the president trump apparently feared remarkably but predictably russia too has sought this. to support this effort to smear mr

biden reportedly hacking into the ukraine an energy company at the center of the president's this information campaign only last week russia almost certainly was looking for information related to the former vice president's son so that the kremlin could also weaponize it against mr biden just like it did against hillary clinton in 2016 when russia hacked and released e-mails from her presidential campaign and president trump has made it abundantly clear that he would like nothing more than to make use of such dirt against mr biden just as he made use of secretary clinton's hacked and released e-mails in his previous presidential campaign which brings us to the other sham investigation. that president trump demanded that the ukrainian leader announce this investigation was related to a debunked conspiracy theory alleging that ukraine not russia interfered in the

2016 presidential election this narrative propagated by the russian intelligence services contends that ukraine sought to help hillary clinton and harm then candidate trump and any computer server providing this fiction is hidden somewhere in ukraine that is the so-called crowd strike conspiracy theory this tale is also patently false and remarkably it is precisely the inverse of what the u.s. intelligence communities unanimous assessment was that russia interfered in the 26000 election in sweeping and systemic fashion in order to hurt hillary clinton and help donald trump nevertheless the president evidently believe that a public announcement lending credence to these allegations by the ukrainian president could assist his reelection by putting to rest any doubts americans may have had over the legitimacy of his 1st election even as he invited foreign

interference in the next to the degree that most americans have followed the president's efforts to involve another foreign power in our election they may be most familiar with is in treaty to the ukrainian president on the now infamous july 25th call to do us a favor though and investigate biden and the 2016 conspiracy theory but that call was not the beginning of the story of the president's corrupt scheme nor was it the and rather was merely part although a significant part of a months long effort by president trump and his allies and associates who plied significant and increasing pressure on ukraine. to announce these 2 politically motivated investigations key figures in the trumpet mr ation were aware or directly involved or participated in the scheme as we saw yesterday one witness

a $1000000.00 donor to the president's inaugural committee put it this way everyone was in the loop after twice inviting ukraine's new president to the white house without providing a specific date for the proposed visit president trump conditioned this coveted head of state meeting on the announcement of these sham investigations for ukraine's new and untested leader an official meeting with the president of the united states in the oval office was critical it would help bestow on him important domestic and international legitimacy as he sought to implement an ambitious anticorruption platform actual in apparent support from the president of the united states would also strengthen his position as he sought to negotiate a peace agreement with russia's president vladimir putin seeking an end to russia's illegal and it's a sion and continued military occupation of parts of ukraine but most pernicious

president trump condition hundreds of millions of dollars in congressionally appropriated taxpayer funded military assistance for the same purpose to apply more pressure on ukraine's leader to announce investigations. this military aid which is long enjoyed bipartisan support was designed to help ukraine defend itself from the kremlin's aggression more than 15000 ukrainians have died fighting russian forces and their proxies 15000 and the military aid was for such essential oils as sniper rifles rocket propelled grenade launchers radar night vision goggles and other vital support for the war effort. most critically the military aid that we provide ukraine helps to protect and advance american national security interests in the region and beyond america has an abiding interest in stemming russian expansionism

and resisting any nation's efforts to remake the map of europe by dint of military force even as we have tens of thousands of troops stationed there moreover as one witness put it during our impeachment inquiry the united states aid ukraine and her people so that we can fight russia over there and we don't have to fight russia here now when the present scheme was exposed and the house of representatives properly performed its constitutional responsibility to investigate the matter president trump used the same unrivaled authority at his disposal as commander in chief to cover up is wrongdoing in unprecedented fashion the president ordered the entire executive branch of the united states of america to categorically refuse and completely obstruct the house's impeachment investigation such a host cell obstruction of uncrushed congressional impeachment has never before

occurred in our democracy and it represents one of the most blatant efforts at a cover up in history if not remedied by his conviction in the senate and removal from office president trumps abuse of his office and obstruction of congress will permanently alter the balance of power among the branches of government inviting future presidents to operate as if they are also beyond the reach of accountability congressional oversight and the law on the basis of this egregious misconduct the house of representatives return to articles of impeachment against the president. 1st charging the president trumped corruptly abuse the powers of the presidency to solicit foreign interference in the upcoming presidential election for his personal political benefit and 2nd the present trump obstructed in the pietschmann inquiry into that abuse of power in order to cover up

his misconduct the house did not take this extraordinarily extraordinary step lightly as we will discuss impeachment exists for cases in which the conduct of the president rises beyond mere policy's disputes to be decided otherwise and without urgency at the ballot box instead we are here today to consider a much more grave matter and that is an attempt to use the powers of the presidency to cheat in an election for precisely this reason. the president's misconduct cannot be decided at the ballot box for we cannot be assured that the vote will be fairly one incredibly using his office to gain a political advantage in abusing the powers of that office in such a way to jeopardize our national security and the integrity of our elections in obstructing the investigation into his own wrongdoing. the president has shown that

he believes that he's above the law and scornful of constraint. as we saw yesterday on the scream that an article 2 he can do anything he wants moreover given the seriousness of the conduct at issue and its persistence this matter cannot and must not be decided by the courts which apart from the presence of the chief justice here today are given no role in impeachments in either the house or the senate. being drawn into litigation taking many months or years to complete would provide the president with an opportunity to continue his misconduct he would remain secure in the knowledge that he may tie up the congress in the courts indefinitely as he has with don began rendering the impeachment power effectively meaningless we also took this step with the knowledge that this

was not the 1st time the president solicited foreign interference in our elections in 2016 then candidate trump implored russia to hack his opponent's e-mail account something that the russian military agency did only hours later only hours later when the president said hey russia if you're listening they were listening only hours later they hacked his opponent's campaign and the president has made it clear this was also not be the last time asking china only recently to join ukraine in investigating his political opponent over the coming days we will present to you and to the american people the extensive evidence collected

during the houses impeachment inquiry into the president's abuse of power overwhelming evidence notwithstanding his unprecedented and wholesale obstruction of the investigation into that misconduct you will hear and read testimony from courageous public servants who upheld their oath to the constitution and their legal obligations to comply with congressional action despite a categorical order by president trump not to cooperate with the impeachment inquiry these are courageous americans who were told by the president of the united states not to cooperate not to appear not to testify but who had the sense of duty to do so but more than that you'll hear from witnesses who have not yet testified. like john bolton and that will veiny mr blair and mr duffy and if you can

believe the president's words last month you will also hear from secretary pompei oh you will hear their testimony at the same time as the american people that is if you allow it if we have a fair trial during our presentation you will see documentary records those the president was unable to suppress that expose the present scheme in detail you will learn of further evidence that has been revealed in the days since the house voted to impeach president trump even as the president and his agents have persisted in their efforts to cover up their wrongdoing from congress and the public and you will see dozens of new documents providing new and critical evidence of the president's guilt that remain at this time in the president's hands

and in the hands of the department of defense and the department of state and the office of management budget even the white house you will see them and so will the american people if you allow it if in the name of a fair trial you will demand it these are politically charged times tempers can run high particularly where this president is concerned but these are not unique times deep divisions and disagreements were hardly alien concepts to the framers so they design impeachment power in such a way as to insulated as best they could from the crush of partisan politics the framers placed the question of removal before the united states senate a body able to raise rise above the fray to soberly judge the president's conduct or misconduct for what it was nothing more and nothing less in federalist

$65.00 hamilton wrote where else than in the senate. could have been found a tribunal sufficiently dignified or sufficiently independent what other body would be likely to feel confident enough in this own situation to preserve an auden uninfluenced the necessary impartiality between an individual accused and the representatives of the people is accuser it is up to you to be the tribunals that hamilton envisioned it is up to you to show the american people and yourselves that his confidence and that of the other founders was rightly placed the constitution in trust you to responsible to the sponsibility of acting as impartial jurors to hold a fair and thorough trial and to weigh the evidence before you no matter what your party affiliation or your vote in the previous election or the next our duty is to

the constitution and to the rule of law i recognise early times during the trial that you may long to return to the business of the senate the american people look forward to the same but not before you decide what kind of democracy that you believe we ought to be and what the american people have a right to expect in the conduct of their president the house believes that an impartial juror upon hearing the evidence that the managers will lay out in the coming days will find that the constitution demands the removal of donald j. trump from his office as president of the united states but that will be for you to side with the weight of history upon you and as president kennedy once said a good conscience your only sure ward in drafting

our constitution the framers designed a new and untested form of government it would be based on free and fair elections to ensure that our political leaders would be chosen democratically and by citizens of our country alone. have been broken free from a king with unbridled authority you often places own interests above that of the people the framers established a structure that would guarantee that the chief executive power float only from his obligation to the people rather than from a sovereign whose power was conferred on him by divine right in this new architecture no branch of government or individual would predominate over another in this way the founders ensured that their elected leaders and their president would use the powers of office only to undertake that which the people desired and not for their personal aggrandizement or enrichment what did those who rebelled and

fought a revolution desire no different than what we the generations that have followed desire that no person including and especially the president would be above the law nothing could be more dangerous to a democracy than a commander in chief who believe that he could operate with impunity free from accountability nothing that is except a congress that is willing to let it be so to ensure that no such threat could take root and subvert our fledgling democracy the framers divided power among 3 co-equal branches of government the executive the legislative and the judicial branches so that ambition may be made to counter ambition they provided for presidential elections every 4 years and the framers required that the president swear an oath to faithfully execute the law and to preserve protect and defend the constitution of the united states even with these guardrails in place the framers understood

that individual could come to power who defied that solemn oath who pursued his own interests rather than those of the country he led for that reason the framers adopted a tool used by the british parliament to constrain its officials the power of impeachment. rather than a mechanism to overturn an election impeachment would be a remedy of last resort and unlike in england the framers applied this ultimate check to the highest office in the land to the president of the united states impeachment and removal of a duly elected president was not intended for policy disputes or poor administration of the state instead the framers had in mind the most serious of offenses those against the public itself hamilton explain that impeachment was not designed to cover only statutory or common law crimes but instead crimes against the body politic hamilton wrote the subjects of its jurisdiction are those offenses

which proceed from the misconduct of public men or in other words from the abuse or violation of some public trust they are of a nature which may with peculiar propriety be denominated political as they relate chiefly to injuries done immediately to society itself in other words impeachment would be confined to abuses of people's trust and to the society itself this is precisely the abuse that has been undertaken by our current president when he withheld money and support for an ally at war to secure a political benefit the punishment for those crimes would fit the political nature of the offense as james wilson a delegate at the constitutional convention and a future associate justice of the supreme court reasoned impeachment sir confined

to political characters to political crimes and misdemeanors and to political punishments that punishment the framers determined would be neither prison nor fines but instead limited to removal from office and disqualification from holding future office. the framers chose to undertake impeachment for treason bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors to underscore the requirement of an offense against society in this phrase high modifies both the crimes and the misdemeanors in that both relate to a high injustice a transgression committed against the people and to the public trust the framers had 2 broad categories in mind those actions that are facially permissible under the president's authority but are based on corrupt motives such

as seeking to obtain a personal benefit through public office. and those that far exceed the president's constitutional authority or violate the legal limits on that authority in article one we deal with the 1st evil which the framers wish to guard against that is cases in which a president corruptly misused the power otherwise bestowed on him to secure a personal reward guarding against a president who undertakes official acts with a corrupt motive of helping himself is that the heart of the impeachment power as one scholar explained the president's duty to faithfully execute the law requires that he undertakes actions only when motivated in the public interest rather than in their private self-interest efforts to withhold official acts for personal gain countermand the president's sacred oath and therefore constitute impeachable behavior as it was conceived by the framers in article 2 we also deal with the 2nd

evil contemplated by the founders who made it clear that the president ought not operate beyond the limits placed on him by legislative and judicial branches. impeachment was warranted for a president who usurp the power of the constitution that was not granted to him such as to defy congress the right to determine the propriety the scope and the nature of an impeachment inquiry into his own misconduct the framers fashioned a powerful chief executive but not one beyond accountability of law when a president wields power in ways that are inappropriate and seek to distinguish the rights of the congress he exceeds the power of his constitutional authority and violates the limits placed on his conduct obstruction of a separate and co-equal branch of government for the purposes of covering up an

abuse of power not only implies a corrupt intent but also demonstrates a remarkable antipathy towards the balance of power contemplated and in shrine in our constitution it is a betrayal of the president's sacred oath of office and of his duty to put the country before himself. on september 24th 2019 speaker of the house nancy pelosi announced that the house of representatives would move forward with an official impeachment inquiry into president donald j. trump the announcement followed public reporting in the united states and ukraine that the president and his agents sought ukraine's help in his reelection effort and revelations that the white house was blocking from congress an intelligence community whistleblower complaint possibly related to this grave offense the next

day on september 25th under extraordinary pressure the white house released publicly the record of the july 25th call between president trump and ukrainian president vladimir is the lansky. the call records reveal the president trump explicitly requested that the new leader undertake investigations beneficial to president trump's reelection campaign upon release of the record of the call president trump claimed at the call was perfect far from perfect the call record revealed a president who used his high office to personally and directly press the leader of a foreign country to do his political dirty work asking for a favor president trump insisted that presidents alinsky investigate a formidable potential political opponent former vice president joe biden as well as the baseless conspiracy theory that ukraine not russia interfered in the 26000

election to insert to assist then candidate trump's opponent witnesses who listened to the call as it transpired testified that they immediately recognized these requests did not represent official u.s. policy and instead were politically charged appeals not appropriate for a president to make key witnesses emphasized it was not necessary that ukraine actually undertake the investigations only that the ukrainian president announced them president trumps objective was not to encourage a foreign government to investigate legitimate allegations of misconduct or wrongdoing abroad made clear as well by the fact that the investigations he wanted announced have been discredited entirely or rather the president simply wanted to reap a political benefit by tarnishing a political rival and it tempting to erase from history his previous election misconduct to compel the ukrainian president to do his political dirty work

president trump withheld from present selenski 2 official acts of great importance that coveted white house meeting to which the president you look zielinski had already been invited and 391000000 in military assistance ukrainian had to fight the russians. for strategic partner of the united states in a hot war with a russian backed forces inside its own borders the symbolic support conferred on it by an oval office visit with the president of the united states and the lifesaving support of our military aid was essential as the house is presentational make clear and directly soliciting foreign interference and withholding those official acts in exchange for the announcement of political investigations beneficial to israel lection the president put his own interests above the national interests present

trump undermine the integrity of our free and fair elections by pressing a foreign power to influence our most sacred right as citizens our right to freely choose our leaders and he threatened our national security by withholding critical aid from a partner on the front lines of war with russia an aggressor that has threatened peace and stability on an entire continent in so doing the present sacrifice not only the security of our european allies but also our nation's core national security interests president trump undertook this pressure campaign through hand-picked agents inside and outside of government who circumvented traditional policy channels present trump intentionally bypassed many u.s. government career officials with responsibility over ukraine and advanced his scheme primarily through the effort of his personal attorney rudy giuliani

president trump carried out this scheme with the knowledge of senior administration officials including the president's acting chief of staff mick mulvaney secretary of state mike pompei o vice president mike pence national security council legal advisor john eisenberg and white house counsel pets a polonium. when the president became aware that the scheme would be uncovered he undertook an unprecedented effort to obstruct the house of representatives impeachment inquiry and to hide it from the public and from congress including all evidence related to his misconduct. that coverup continues today as administration has not provided a single document pursuant to lawful subpoenas by the house mr ation also continues to prevent witnesses from cooperating further obstructing the house efforts the president is no doubt proud of but which threaten

the integrity of this institution and this congress as a co-equal branch of power our ability not only to do oversight but to hold a president who is unindicted bill accountable but despite these efforts to obstruct our inquiry the house of representatives uncovered overwhelming evidence related to the president's misconduct through interviews with 17 witnesses who appeared before the intelligence oversight reform and foreign affairs committees many of these witnesses bravely defied white house orders not to comply with duly authorized congressional subpoenas and were not for them were not for the master mery of out of it she was the 1st through the breach. we may never have known of the present scheme oh you imagine for

a minute what kind of courage that took for a master of on which the subject of that vicious smear campaign to risk her reputation and her career to stand up to the president of the united states who is instructing her through his agents you will not cooperate you will not testify you will tell them nothing or bill taylor west point graduate vietnam veteran with a bronze star and something he was even more proud of the combat infant termes infantryman's badge. he knows what courage is showed

a different kind of courage in vietnam but also showed courage as did others in coming forward in defying the president's order that he obstruct to tell the american people what he knew but for the courage of people like this and kerr colonel 10 a colonel venom and a purple heart recipient but for their courage we would have known nothing of the president's misconduct nothing. when the president directs his i or towards these people this is why because they showed the courage to come forward now we held in the intelligence committee 7 open hearings with 12 fact witnesses separately the judiciary committee held public hearings with constitutional law experts and counsel from the intelligence house

intelligence committee as it sought to determine whether to draft and consider articles of impeachment the house also collected text messages related to the president's scheme from a witness who provided limited personal communications since the conclusion of our inquiry new evidence has continued to come to light through court ordered releases of administration documents and public reporting underscoring that there is significantly more evidence of the president's guilt which he continues to block from congress including the senate nevertheless the documents and testimony that we were able to collect paints an overwhelming and damning picture of the president's efforts to use the powers of his office to corruptly solicit foreign help in his reelection campaign and withhold official acts and military aid to compel that support over the coming days you will hear. remarkably

consistent evidence of president trump's corrupt scheme and coverup. when you focus on the evidence uncovered during the investigation you will appreciate there is no serious dispute about the facts underlying the president's conduct and this is why you will hear the president's lawyers make the astounding claim that you can't impeach a president for abusing the powers of his office because they can't seriously contest that that is exactly exactly what he did and so they must go find a lawyer somewhere apparently they could not go to their own attorney general who was just reported in a medal he wrote as part of the audition for attorney general which opined that a president can't be impeached for abusing the public trust couldn't go to bill

barr for that opinion couldn't go to even jonathan turley their expert in the house for that opinion no they had to go outside of these experts outside of the constitutional off to a criminal defense lawyer and professor and why because they can't contest the facts the president was the key player in the scheme everyone was in the loop he directed the actions of his team he personally asked a foreign government to investigate his opponent these facts are not in dispute ultimately the question for you is whether the president's undisputed actions require the removal of the 44th president of the united states from office because he abused his office and the public trust by using his power for personal gain by seeking illicit foreign assistance in his reelection and covering it up

other than voting on whether to send our men and women to war this is there is i think no greater responsibility before you than the one before you now the oath that you have taken to impartially weigh the facts and evidence requires serious and objective consideration decisions that are about country not party. about the constitution not politics about what is right and what is wrong after you consider the evidence and weigh your oath to render a fair impartial verdict i suggest to you today the only conclusion consistent with the facts and law not just the law but the constitution is clear as described by constitutional law experts testimony before the house if this conduct is not impeachable. then nothingness. let me take

a moment to describe to you how we intend to present the case over the coming days today you will hear the details of the president's corrupt scheme in narrative form illustrating the timeline of the effort through the testimony of numerous witnesses who came before the house as well as the documents and materials we collected as evidence during the investigation after you hear the factual chronology we will then discuss the constitutional framework of impeachment as it was in vision by the founders before we analyze how the facts of the president's misconduct and cover up lead to the conclusion that the president undertook the sort of corrupt course of conduct that impeachment was intended to remedy let me start with a preview of the president's scheme the details of which you'll hear during the course of this day. present trumps a month long scheme months long scheme to extract help in his 2020 reelection

campaign from the new craning president involved an effort to solicit and then compel the new leader to announce political investigations the announcement would reference reference to specific investigations one was intended to undermine the unanimous consensus of our intelligence agencies congress and special counsel robert muller that russia interfered in the $26000.00 election to help then candidate trump and another to hurt the presidency of former vice president joe biden the kremlin itself. has been responsible for 1st propagating one of the top 2 false narratives that the president desired in february 27th seen less than a month after the us intelligence committee released its assessment that russia alone was responsible for covert influence campaign designed to help president trump win the 2016 election president putin said.

as we all know during the presidential campaign in the united states the ukrainian government adopted a unilateral position in favor of one of the candidates in favor of one candidate more than that certain all the guards certainly with the approval of political leadership funded this candidate or female candidate to be more precise those were buttons words february 2nd 2017. of course this is false and is part of a russian counter narrative that president trump and some of his allies have adopted fiona hill senior director for europe and russia at the national security council described russia's effort to promote this baseless fieri based on questions and statements i have heard some of you on this committee appear to believe that russia and its security services did not conduct

a campaign against our country and that perhaps somehow for some reason ukraine does this is a fictional navas if this is being perpetrated in propagated by the russian security services themselves the unfortunate truth is that russia was the foreign power that systematically attacked our democratic institutions in 2016 this is the public competition of our intelligence agencies confirmed invite parties on congressional reports it is beyond dispute even if some of the underlying details masterman classifies this of course was not the 1st time the president trump and braced russian activity in this information on july 24 of last year special counsel robert mueller testified before congress. that russia interfered in the 2016 election in a quote sweeping and systemic fashion to benefit donald trump's political campaign muller and his team found that quote the russian government perceived that it would benefit from

a trump presidency and work to secure that outcome they also found that the trump campaign expected it would benefit a lector away from information stolen and released through russian efforts and just as he solicited help from ukraine in 20192016 then candidate trump also soliciting help from russia in his election effort as you will recall at a rally in florida he said the following russia if you're listening i hope you are able to find the 30000 e-mails that are missing i think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press see if that happens a. phone special counsel miller's testimony during which she warned against future interference in our elections did the president recognize the threat posed to our democracy and renounce russian interference in our democracy did he choose

to stand with his own intelligence agencies both houses of congress and the special counsel's investigation in affirming that russia interfered in our last election he did not instead only one day after special counsel miller testified boy before congress empowered in the belief that he had evaded accountability for making use of foreign support in our last election president trump was on the phone with the president of ukraine pressing him to intervene on president's trumps behalf in the next election let's take a moment to let that sink in july 24th. bob muller concludes a lengthy investigation he comes before the congress he testifies that russia systemically interfered in our election to help elect donald trump that

campaign understood that and they willfully made use of that help. 24th that's what happens the very next day the very next day he's on the phone president is on the phone with a different foreign power this time ukraine trying to get ukraine to interfere in the next election the next day that should tell us something that should tell us something he did not feel shamed by what the special counsel found he did not feel deterred by what the special counsel found he felt emboldened by escaping accountability for the narrative very next day he's on the phone soliciting foreign interference

again. now that july 25th phone call between president trump the president's lensky was a key part of president terms direct and corrupt solicitation of foreign help in the 2020 election the request likely sounded familiar to presidents alinsky who had been swept into office in a landslide victory on a campaign of rooting out just the type of corruption he was being asked to undertake on this call with our present selenski campaigned as a reformer as someone outside of politics who would come up and clean up corruption who would end the political prosecutions and the political investigations and what is his most empower important powerful picture.