we lead by example. wrong is wrong, from your workplace to the white house. there's no time to spare here, no time to waste. this is a constitutional crime spree. that's why courage is so badly needed right here, right now. our national security and democracy are depending on it. i yield back. >> gentleman yields back. >> democrats have not only drawn different inferences from the fact, they have created facts to satisfy the obsession of their rage. it is a kind of mass hysteria, a cognitive dissonance, it's an alternative reality they created. one colleague said if the president were innocent, he would come forward and bring documents, give us all the documents we want and everybody would come. to where? to this committee? we can't even get a fact witness in here. there's no fact witness that comes in here. we get law professor and staff asking staff questions.

you want to go to schiff's bunker where he's holding secret hearings, selectively leaking material that's damaging to the president. is that where you want him to come if he's innocent? yeah, bring it to us, we'll scotch it. we're going to blast it, we're going to basically curb it and create the fact situation we want by misinterpreting everything you do. well, here's a for instance. they claim that the president publicly -- he wanted a public announcement of investigations, but the only witness who said anything about that was a guy named gordon sondland, who admitted that no one on earth told him that but he presumed it. he also said the only direct conversation he had with the president about these things was that the president said he wanted nothing from ukraine except to clean up its corruption. the best evidence is the transcript between president

zelensky and president trump. it shows no conditionality, no quid pro quo, no this for that. aid was never even mentioned on the call. subsequently the president of ukraine and various ukrainian dp government physicals said there was no pressure, there was no conditions. the most recent statement was about a week ago from the president of ukraine said it was fine, no pressure. what's the deal? well, president trump apparently and he did, he said, you know, if you do us a favor, find out what happened in the 2016 election and with the cooperation of the attorney general indicating he wanted a real investigation to determine the reason for the -- here we go. we're told by the democrats there was no attempt. that's been debunked and yet politico wrote in january of 2017, quote, they found evidence ukraine government involvement in the race in the 2016 race.

multiple media outlets concurred in those facts they claimed the focal point of the attack was joe biden. all the witnesses testified that was a legitimate kbirn the moco. the most notorious example was burisma who just happened to have on their board of directors, hunter biden. that's the abuse of power that's going on. they claim the only reason that president trump released the aid was because the hold on aid because public. the fact of the matter is they produced no evidence on that but some timeline from which they drew some inferences. the stronger inference is -- on

the same day it was released, two important anti-corruption laws, the eniding of immunity ad democrats have asserted president trump defied subpoenas to the house. he has allowed of number of employees to participate without retribution but has assertsed a valid constitutional privilege and instructed some to not comply with subpoenas he felt violated that privilege. you don't want to assert a remedy. you don't want to go in to court, you don't want to negotiate with an executive branch. you want to hurry and impeachment. if you took this to court and wanted to find out, a court would say the privilege is bad, privilege is overly broad and would narrow the privilege. you don't want that. you want impeachment.

that's all you want. and your case comes down to this, it rests on gossip, rumors and ind u end ow and innuendos. you don't have direct evidence. the abuse of power is not by president trump, it is by this body, who is trying to produce this preconceived, preordained result. i yield back. >> the gentleman yields back. >> mr. chairman, it was a republican congressman from maryland, larry hogan, who is the father of our current governor who in 1974 as a member of this committee articulated the task before us tonight. party loyalty, he said, must fall before the law itself. no man, not even the president of the united states, is above the law. and congressman hogan voted to impeach president nixon for two crimes our colleagues heard they've never heard of before, abuse of power and obstruction

of justice. the house had no choice but to impeach because under our constitution, the president's job is to take care that the laws are faithfully executed. if the president doesn't faithfully execute the laws but thwarts them to pursue his own political or financial games, if he commits high crimes and misdemeanors against democracy itself as richard nixon did, then impeachment is the people's essential instrument for protecting the integrity of our elections and maintaining self-government in america. today we bring our fellow citizens overwhelming and totally uncontradicted evidence of two high crimes and misdemeanors against the american people and we present this evidence to all the american people, not just the 63 million invoked by one of our colleagues, but the 65.8 million

who voted for the president's major opponent and the millions who voted for other candidates and the millions more who have become voters since. first, president trump secret live conditioned a white house meeting and the release of hundreds of millions in security assistance that we had voted for ukraine on the ukrainian president's agreement to become a mouth piece for president trump's 2020 campaign. trump executed this scheme for one reason and one reason only, to get himself reelected. as official after official in his own administration came forward to report the president's misconduct and to testify under oath about it, he covered up his crime by categorically obstructing congress's investigation, blockading and intimidating witnesses and withholding all of the evidence that he could. now, the founders predicted a

corrupt president might drag foreign powers into our politics to promote the president's ambitions at the expense of the voting rights and democratic sovereignty of the people. they considered this a key impeachable offense. in america elections belong to the people, not to the president. and that's because the government belongs to the people. it doesn't belong to the president. the government is not the private property of the president or a royal family. here, as president gerald ford said, the people rule. here the people rule. the president's abuse of power and obstruction of congress are not only high crimes, they're crimes in progress right now. president trump declares his conduct perfect. indeed absolutely perfect. he says read the transcript when the transcript is proof positive of his guilt. he brags that article ii allows me to do whatever i want,

demonstrating his unfamiliarity with article ii section iv, which is all about impeachment. look, i've been a professor of constitutional law and election law for 29 years. i devoted my career to studying, teaching and defending the constitution of the united states. and my passion has been popular self-government and the democratic and voting rights of the people. and i confess that i am afraid if we allow presidents to invite foreign governments to participate overtly or covertly in our elections and this becomes in america a new normal. even our colleagues, would just one of them say it would be wrong for any president to commit the conduct this president is accused of? will any of them say that the presidents of the united states should not drag foreign powers into our elections?

ben franklin said i have observed that wrong is always growing more wrong until there's no bearing it but that right, however opposed comes right at least. so what must we do? stand by the constitution and take strong action for your country. let's stand strong, america, for our democracy. i yield back. >> the gentleman yields back. >> mr. chairman, nearly two years ago the house intelligence committee's minority under adam schiff issued its report on fisa abuse. it stated that, quote, fbi officials did not abuse the foreign intelligence surveillance act process or omit this vital tool.

the report contradicts every contention in mr. schiff's fisa report. there wasn't a shred of truth in it. monday chairman nadler announced this judiciary committee would blind live accept mr. schiff's latest report on impeachment without a single fact hearing of our own. no one disputes that joe biden's son was paid millions of dollars to sit on the board of a corrupt ukrainian oil and gas company, buris burisma, despite having no experience in oil or gas or ukraine and that biden threatened to withhold $1 billion in loan guarantees to the ukrainian government unless it fired prosecutor general victor shokin. now biden says he was merely carrying out administration policy and knew nothing of his son's affairs but shokin has testified in sworn affidavits that he was fired specifically because he was about to question hunter biden about his relationship with burisma. his successor soon shut down the

investigation giving credence to shokin's sworn testimony. he asked for help getting to the bottom of scandal that involved corrupt acts between officials of ukraine and the united states. there is no direct evidence that the president ever linked aid to an investigation. now, the constitution vests all executive authority in the president, gives him plenary responsibility to conduct our foreign affairs and commands him to take care that the laws be faithfully executed. among these laws is the foreign corrupt practices act that makes it a crime to secure business in a foreign country by offering something of value to a foreign official. and being a can't doesn't shield a person from scrutiny. just is candidate trump about that. also the national defense authorization act requires the administration to determine that ukraine is taking steps to combat corruption.

and just because the secretary of defense certified this in may does not relieve the president of his executive authority to review and maintain his administration's findings. now, within days of the zelensky conversation a handful of dissidents within our government hatched a plan to portray it as a solicitation to intervene in the election in exchange for foreign aid. this false narrative was laid out in a whistle-blower complaint. so far we've learned that the whistle-blower coordinated with adam schiff's office while concealing that relationship that he is said to be a protege of joe biden and is represented which by an attorney who tweeted coup has started, rebellion to follow. he vie hated no law. he exercised authority clearly granted him by the constitution. instead the democrats would

nullify the election because they imcompute to him impure motives. this is precisely the abusive impeachment the american founders feared, that the power to overrule a national election would devolve into a weapon of partisan warfare. reducing the president to serving at the pleasure of congress and destroying the separation of powers at the heart of our constitution. the second article charges the president with obstruction of congress, another made-up crime because he sought to defend in court his constitutional right to maintain the confidentiality of policy discussions, the same confidentiality that this congress enjoys. they say this is prevented them from securing proof for their charges. yet the democrats have suppressed nearly every witness republicans have tried to call in the president's defense. in free societies, the defendant is allowed to assert his constitutional rights and

prosecutors are not allowed to decide what witnesses the defense may call. this second article turns these principles upside down. now i have every confidence the president will be acquitted and will be reelected. it's not damage to the president i fear, it is damage to the presidency, to the congress, to the constitution, bill of rights that the democrats do today by establishing dangerous precedence and principles that are antithetical to the rule of law and the fundamental architecture of our constitution. i yield back. >> gentlewoman from washington was recognized. >> when i was just 16 years old, i came to this country by myself. my parents made the ultimate sacrifice of placing an ocean between them and their beloved child because they believed that america was worth it. two decades later i raised my

hand and i swore my oath to country and to constitution for the first timie when i became a american citizen of the greatest nation on this earth. for naturalized citizens like me, being an american is a conscious choice and a granted privilege, a dream we chased across deserts and seas to join the larger american story, one of generations overcoming every challenge and every obstacle because america is worth it. why? what's so different about this shining city upon a hill? it is three words. we, the people. america is a bold vision, rooted in a fragile idea of a democracy in which power is derived not from the blood lines of monarchs

but from the votes of people. ours is a nation of imagination and faith, all of us engaged in this great experiment of democracy. we take our power and collectively through our elections we entrust it to a president who must always act in our interest, not in theirs. the framers believed in the promise of america, but they also knew the dangers of power unchecked and so they gifted us the constitution of the united states, the protective and connective tissue that functions as the highest law of this land and which entrusts this body, the people's house, the solemn responsibility to hold the executive accountable. and that is what we confront today. the facts are clear. donald trump abused the power of the office of the presidency to

pursue his own personal political gain and leveraged critically needed congressionally approved military aid to coerce a fragile foreign ally to interfere in our elections. this is not hearsay. the president was the first and best witness in this case. the president admitted to his wrong doing and corrupt intent on national television. the president is the smoking gun. his obstruction of congress and blanket directive to deny us even a single witness, a single document is unprecedented, and yet, in spite of that obstruction, multiple patriots came forward and provided damning corroborating testimony. understand the seriousness of what this means. president trump has solicited

foreign interference before, he is doing it now and he will do it again. the smoking gun is already reloaded. and whether or not he gets fiitd is up to us. it the highest of constitutional crimes and gravest of betrayals. if we allow this president to put himself above the law, we allow all future presidents to be above the law. we submit then to the fact that we will no longer be a democracy, we will be a monarchy or a dictatorship. this moment is a test. it is a test of the vision of our framers, the resilience of our constitution and the character of our elected officials. as we cast our votes, we must reflect on our responsibility to

our children and our children's children. we must summon the courage to do what is right and to defend our democracy. for this reason i will vote to impeach donald j. trump, soberly shouldering the responsibility that was given to me by my constituents and honoring my oath to protect and defend the constitution of the united states of america. mine is not a vote against any person. it is a vote for the constitution and for we the people because america is so deeply worth it. >> the gentle woman from arizona is recognized. >> thank you, madam chairman. if anyone is guilty of abusing

power and obstructing congress around here is the democrats, not the president this is the most corrupt, rigged railroad job i've seen in my entire life. first, we now have proof that obama's fbi-doctored evidence and used knowing opposition research paid for by the democrats and hillary clinton to spy on the trump campaign. then obama's administration started an investigation against trump that lasted nearly two years based on false claims by adam schiff and other democrats that trump colluded with russia. they issued 2,800 subpoenas, 500 warrants and spent over $25 million of taxpayer dollars and came up with nothing. in fact, the mueller report determined that no american citizen, let alone the president of the united states colluded

with russia, but that didn't stop the democrats. oh, no. next it was obstruction of justice, then quid pro quo, then bribery, then extortion, then witness tampering, then treason and the list goes on and on. it would be laughable if it wasn't so serious. on top of that democrats rigged the process from the start. first, contrary to all previous impeachment hearings, speaker pelosi moved to fact witness hearings to chairman schiff where the president had no due process rights to listen to or cross-examine witnesses. schiff conducted closed door hearings in a basement room where he repeatedly blocked republican congress members from entering, including me, rejected republican witness requests, silenced republicans when they tried to ask witnesses questions and constantly leaked selective

details to the press. not until the hearings reached the judiciary committee did the democrats allow the president to even have a chance to hear or cross-examine witnesses, but by then it was too late because chairman nadler blocked the president from any due process by refusing to bring forward any fact witnesses the president could cross-examine and chairman nadler refused to schedule a minority hearing, again violating house rules. here are the facts -- there is no evidence the president committed any impeachable offense, not one democrat fact witness was able to identify a crime. not one democrat witness established that the president committed bribery, treason or any high crime and misdemeanor as required under the constitution. democrats have been determined to impeach the president since

he was elected. in fact, 17 out of the 24 democrat members on this very judiciary committee voted in favor of impeachment even before the president's phone call and before any one of these impeachment hearings took place. in closing, there is no evidence that the president committed an impeachable offense. but don't take my word for it. tack t take the words from a constitutional attorney who says he does not support the president and did not even vote for him. in his testimony he said, and i quote, this would be the first impeachment in history where there would be considerable debate and in my view not compelling evidence of a commission of a crime. this impeachment not only fails to satisfy the standard of past impeachments but would create a dangerous precedent. well, folks, the democrats have done what they set out to do. they're going to impeach the

president come heck or high water. it doesn't matter that they have no proof. it doesn't matter that 17 out of 24 democrats on this committee already voted in favor of impeachment. democrats don't seem to notice or care that it is not the president that has committed abuse of power or obstruction of congress, but it is them. it's time for my democratic colleagues to look themselves in the mirror. and i yield back. the gentlewoman afrom floria is recognized. >> this is a defining moment in our history and a challenging time for our nation. but america has been through tough times before, and i am sure that we will go through tough times again. so i do not fear this moment or

this time. i grew up in florida. i am the youngest of seven children. my mother cleaned houses for a living and my father was a janitor, but he also mowed lawns and picked oranges. my dad used to go to work seven days a week to make ends meet for our family. i grew up poor, but my parents were good, decent, honest people who taught me to be decent and respectful. they taught me to work hard and play by the rules and treat others the way that i want to be treated. you see, i was the first in my family to go to college, and after graduation, i joined the orlando police department and started out as a patrol officer working midnight shift. but the story does not end

there. i had the awesome opportunity of working my way up through the ranks to become orlando's first woman chief of police. and now i am privileged to serve in congress. but hear me clearly, i believe that only in america can a little black girl, the daughter of a maid and a janitor growing up in the south in the 60s have such an amazing opportunity. so regardless of the spirited, sometimes painful political debate, no one can make me give up on america. you see, i believe in the promise of america because i've seen the promise of america. i come before you tonight as an american dream realized because

america is great and decent and our democracy complete because we live in a government of the people. i've taken four oaths in my life time, two as a law enforcement officer and two now as a member of congress. different oaths, different times and different places, but each oath stated that i will protect and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and domestic. my oath was not to an individual, it wasn't to a political party or institution. my oath was to the united states constitution. and i come before you tonight as an african-american female, i come before you tonight as a descendent of slaves, slaves who

knew they would not make it but dreamed and prayed that one day that i would make it. i come before you tonight proclaiming that in spite of america's complicated history, my faith is in the constitution and i say that today with perfect peace. i've enforced the laws and now i write the laws and i know that nobody is above the law. but the law means nothing if the accused, whether the man who breaks in your house or the president can destroy evidence, stop witnesses from testifying and blatantly refuse to cooperate in the investigation. i ask you to name somebody in your family or in your community who can do that. the president is the commander in chief, and his responsibility is great.

however, our president put his personal interests above the interests of the nation, corrupting and cheating our democracy and he shall be held accountab accountable. the framers were so concerned about a president abusing his power that they gave us the power of impeachment. george washington was particularly concerned about unprincipled men finding their way into the white house. well, those times have found us, and we only have one option and that's to hold this president accountable because you know what, nobody is above the law. thank you. and i yield back. >> we've heard some great speeches tonight but let's not forget this is a political hit job. democrats just know they can't beat president trump in 2020.

they can't beat the president on his merits. so they've taken some thoughts and feelings and assumptions from some unelected bureaucrats and decided to impeach a dual live elected president. let's just take a step back and assess where we are. we have two articles of impeachment against the president -- abuse of power and obstruction of congress. let's just dissect each one. let's start with abuse of power. abuse of power is at this point just a vestige of quid pro quo. this was what they are calling it with groups before they find out that bribery was more compelling. now they've dropped bribery and accused of president with abuse of power that's because the

crime of bribery, quid pro quo, this for that, simply did not take place. chairman nadler and cohorts cannot make out what lawyers call a a prima fascia case. the democrats simply cannot make out what we call a prima fascia case. president zelensky has repeatedly said there was no pressure. the call transcript, the primary evidence we have, not rumors and conjecture of bureaucrats, the documents show there was no link ooj between aid and the investigation. ukrainians were not even aware that aid was on hold when the president spoke. and ukraine ultimately never had an investigation, yet they

received lethal aid, javelin missiles. so simply put there was no quid pro quo. if the democrats really want to charge somebody with abuse of power, they should look no further than chairman schiff. the chairman used his subpoena power to subpoena individual phone records, then went through those records, singled out devin nunez attempt to smear a ranking mel. how about dropping 8,000 pages of documents on judiciary republicans less than 48 hours before our last hearing. that's an abuse of power. if this were a court of law, chairman shipp would be facing sanctionings and defending his law license. let's talk about obstruction briefly. let's deconstruct that. our government has three branches of government. when there's a disagreement between the executive and

legislative branch, that's when the courts step in to resolve this. that's what happened when republicans had an issue with president obama during fast and furious. that issue went to the courts. but now democrats refuse to g to the courts. and why? it's simple. because it doesn't fit their political time line to get to the senate before christmas. the only obstruction here is that of the democrat party. let's not foredebt that last week judiciary democrats voted down my motion to subpoena the whistle-blowerer on part i be a let's not forget that chairman nadler refuses to have chairman schiff testify here under oath. that is obstruction of congressand let's not fear get that the other side still refuses to pring any fact before

this family. so in conclusion, do we have abuse of power? ia yeah, adam shift. do we have abuse of congress? >> yes, how democrats. so let's call this for what it is, a political hit job. thank you and i yield back. >> mr. core aia. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i was elected to congress to work across the aisle with democrats and republicans, to ensure that the voices of my constituents were heard loud and clear. they sent me to work for good jobs, education, health care, safe streets and housing among other issues. as a son of immigrants, my election to congress is an example of the american dream and how hard work can make the american dream come true. my mom cleaned hotel rooms for $1.60 an hour when i was growing up. and today her son is a member of

congress. yet sadly on my way to congress in 2016, the presidential election was tarnished by foreign influence, a danger our founding fathers warned us about. then later on we ask sadly the answer is yes. as a member of the homeland security committee, i know firsthand the dangers and threats that first and when a naegs gained its independence, the framers viewed the power of the presidency as a public trust. the presidency is a public trust. the constitution, the highest law in the land, created a

system of checks and balances to prevent the creation of a king. congress is a co-equal branch of our government, equal with a presidency. let me repeat, congress is equal with the presidency, with duties that are given to us by the framers of our constitution, and congress has the job to investigate the allegations of misconduct of the executive branch, including our president. i don't take impeachment lightly and i've had the opportunity to vote on it under resolutions, to impeach the president on the floor and every time i have voted no. today i have listened and studied the evidence presented in these hearings, and i'm here to do my job as a member of congress and to protect the

american dream. it's my constitutional job to ensure that no one, no one is above the law, and i need to assure that our nation is secure from all threats, foreign and domestic. and as my fellow californian, president ronald reagan once said, america is a shining city upon a hill whose beacon light guides freedom-loving people everywhere. and i'm here today to ensure that america continues to be that shining city of democracy and rule of law. [ speaking foreign language ]

[ speaking foreign language ] [ speaking foreign language ] today i ask god for wisdom and

guidance in uniting our great nation. mr. chair, i yield. >> gentleman yields back. mr. klein. >> thank you. john adams said i read the constitution with great satisfaction, as an experiment better adapted to the genius, character, situation and relations of this nation and country than any which had ever been proposed, laid myself under the most serious obligations to support the constitution. what other form of government indeed can so well deserve our esteem and love. i love this country and this constitution, which is why i'm so disappointed to see that we are witnessing for the first time the constitutional power of impeachment being misused, not for the removal of a president for high crimes or misdemeanors, not for bribery, extortion or

campaign finance violations. the majority is trying to remove the president from office because they don't like his policies. the leaders of one half of one branch of government have decided that they, not the american people, should determine who their president should be, and while the constitution gives broad latitude to the house to set its own rules for impeachment, past congresses have understood that if it is to be viewed as legitimate by the american people, the proceeding must be as destroyed of politics as possible. in fact, speaker pelosi said herself that impeachment must be compelling, overwhelming and bipartisan. sadly, this process possesses none of these characteristics. throughout this partisan process, the judiciary committee sadly has been sidelined as

nothing more than a rubber stamp. when you sideline the judiciary committee, you sideline justice. while transcripts of most of the testimony in the intelligence committee were eventually made public, judiciary committee members were not able to watch the private proceedings, question witnesses or ensure the accuracy of the transcript. chairman schiff at times ordered witnesses not to answer republican questions, lied about contact with the whistle-blower and obtained phone numbers of members of congress and of the press and they refused to appear before this committee to defend his egregious action. putting aside the flawed process, they simply failed to establish a viable case for impeachment against the president. i have reviewed the evidence. i have read the transcripts and the proof of a high crime or misdemeanor is just not there. mr. chairman, you said in 1998 the president's accusers must go beyond hearsay and innuendo.

ambassador gordon sondland depends on which of his three testimonies you're reading. in all three direct messages from the white house was no quid pro quo. 16 other officials opted to testify in this investigation. moment, alexander vindman, kurt volker, fiona hill and the list goes on, all testifying to hearsay, opinion or speculation. but there are facts, no matter how the democrats try to spin it, there are four facts that will never change -- there was no pressure on the call, no conditionality of aid in the transcript, the ukrainians were not aware that the aid had been withheld. regrettably my democratic colleagues have proven time and time again that they aren't concerned about the facts. tonight the majority takes a step down a path that achieves a goal they have long sought, the removal of president trump from office but at what cost, at what

price? certainly the rejection and destruction of bipartisanship on this committee, the abandonment of the rules that have served this committee for two prior impeachments but it's come at a greater cost. the very fabric of this country depends on the respect of the verdict of voters. thomas jefferson said i note no safe depository of the ultimate powers of society but the people themselves and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome direction, the remedy is not to take it from them but to inform them their discretion by education. this is a sad day for the institution of congress, a blatantly political process and an abuse of power by the minority to achieve what they could not achieve at the ballot box. as i said, it's a sad day for america. >> the gentlemen yield back. miss scanlon. >> thank you. two years ago i never dreamed i would be sitting here as a

members of congress. the only officer i'd been elected to was school board in the small town where i lived just outside of philadelphia. i loved my job as a public interest lawyer and i loved volunteering with kids, helping them to get a good start and helping them to understand why our government and our laws are what make our country that shining city on a hill, a beacon of freedom and opportunity to the entire world. one of the schools where i volunteered is constitution high school. it l it's located just a few blocks from where our constitution was written. students at constitution high learn the importance of active citizenship, to be informed participants in our government and to put public service before self. i believe in those lessons with my entire heart. those lessons brought me to congress. when i took the oath of office just over a year ago, many of my students came with me. they looked down from the house

gallery as i chose to be sworn in on our constitution, this one right here. i took an oath to support and defend the constitution and to put our country before myself. the question we must answer today, not only as members of congress but as americans is will we accept a president who refuses to do the same? we wouldn't be here today but for the bravery and the active citizenship of ordinary men and women who also took oaths to support and defend our constitution and chose to put service to country before self. american citizens, look ambassadors bill taylor and maria yovanovitch, lieutenant vindman, david holmes and fiona hill. they demonstrated an unclouded understanding of right and wrong. they testified to congress

despite opposition from the president and at great personal risk. we expect these qualities in our public servants. we must demand them from our president. this president has failed that test of honor, of unselfish service to our country, of understanding the difference between right and wrong and above all of the need to put aside his personal interests when our nation's security and our values are at stake. this moment is about more than disagreements with the president's personality or policies. those disagreements belong in the voting booth. our task today is not to judge the president himself. instead we must judge the president's actions and whether they have undermined our government because it is the office of the president to which we owe our loyalty, not the man who occupies it. we must not turn a blind eye to the undisputed facts.

the president used the highest office in our government and precious taxpayer dollars to pressure a foreign country so that he could cheat on our elections. and then when he got caught, he tried to cover it up by obstructing our investigation and our courts. in doing so, i believe that he betrayed the american people. there is no higher crime under our constitution than that. this is exactly the type of behavior that our founders feared most. they knew that with the awesome power of the presidency came the risk of a president abusing that power for personal gain. they trusted us, the people, with our republic to safeguard thele have use they enshrined in our constitution. this is not the first time we tasted this trial. at another time when the future

of our country was at jeopardy, president lincoln charged the american people with the same responsibility, that we must dedicate ourselves to the great task of ensuring a government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth. a government where the president abuses his power is not of the people. a government where a president pressures a foreign country to undermine our elections is not by the people and where the president puts his own interests before those of the country is not for the people. this is not complicated. you know it, i know it, my constitution high students know it and in their hearts i believe that our colleagues across the aisle know it. we have no principled alternative but to support these articles of peeflt. our constitution, our country and our children depend upon it. i yield back.

>> mr. armstrong. >> thank you, mr. chairman. my democratic colleagues have tried to cloak this proceeding as a somber, serious process that they regret having to advance. but that is not the case. this has always been about the fact that these democrats hate this president. they have been focused on removing him since the day he was elected. and long ago they decided that impeachment was the remedy. they constantly and consistently marched ahead undeterred by facts. and make no mistake, this started long before a july 25th phone call. but the russia conspiracy theory bombed, and obstruction of justice was abandoned after the mueller hearings fell flat. campaign finance charges never got off the ground. they poll tested bribery, but that doesn't work because the alleged victim says there was no crime. but none of that matters because this was never about the truth. this was about politics. so here we are tonight on an

ambiguous abuse of power charge. prior to the election, a member of this committee launched a change.org petition regarding mental diagnosis of the president. and shortly after the election, our chairman stated he was legally elected but russian interference makes his election illegitimate. a press release from another member read, this president's semi-elect does not deserve to be president. and once president trump was sworn in, the democrats introduced articles of impeachment almost immediately. in three years, they have introduced ten resolutions related to impeachment, and 17 members of this committee have voted to consider impeachment. and every one of those votes occurred before the july 25th phone call. here are some statements made by members of this committee. cloud of treason means we must have a total shutdown of any potus agenda item. march, 2017, a tweet

accompanying a picture of president obama read, great to see our last real president enjoying life, april 2018. another member: i don't think this president was fit to serve even before he took office, april 2018. finally, an exasperated committee member wrapped it up, i think we just need to impeach the guy. there it is. that's what this hearing has always been about, and that's why we are all here tonight. the democrats just want to impeach a duly elected president. they want him gone. this began the day president trump was elected, and it's culminated here. but this never-ending march towards impeachment and overturning the results of the 2016 election has consequences because you are telling 63 million voters that you don't respect or honor their vote. these are voters in over 2,600 counties representing 84% of the geographic area of america.

voters in states like mine that not long ago sent democrats to congress, but in recent years have found no home in today's democratic party, who feel that their midwestern sensibilities have been replaced by liberal elitest ideology, who feel that partisan points are more important than practical solutions, voters who know that rather than working to win back their trust and their support, you would rather invalidate the results of the last election and abolish the electoral college to silence their voices in the future. your never-ending quest towards impeachment is a constant reminder to these americans that you don't trust their judgment, that you mock their way of life, and that you couldn't careless about the issues that matter most to them. and as chairman nadler so ominously stated in november of 2018, if you're serious about removing a president from office, what you're really doing is overturning the results of the last election. well, they were serious. they have spent the last three years talking about interference

in the 2016 election, unwilling to accept the results. i wonder if my colleagues recognize the irony that their impeachment vendetta is the greatest interference of all, and it's homegrown right here in the halls of congress. i yield back. >> the gentleman yields back. ms. garcia. >> thank you, mr. chairman. the american people and all of us in this committee will have to live with the decisions we make today. we are moving forward with articles of impeachment against the president of the united states for his abuse of power and obstruction of congress. this should weigh heavily on each one of us because the future of our democracy depends on it. i have raised my right hand and put my left hand on the bible more than once. i have sworn an oath of office to the american people and to the constitution of the united states. we have all taken this oath and

are bound by it to support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and domestic. this very action of taking an oath and giving your word is a powerful one. many of us take different oaths throughout our lives. from a young age, we develop our sense of right and wrong. we learn the golden rule, and for many of us, the ten commandments. we are taught that our word matters. and what happens when we go back on it. this is true for millions of young girls and boys across the country that have taken the girl scout or the boy scout pledge. as a country girl, i took the 4-h pledge. i still remember the parts that remain with me today. i pledge my heart to greater loyalty, my hands to larger

service for my club, my community, and my country. this pledge is meant to teach the value of fulfilling your promise to others, of loyalty and service. today's proceedings are about our pledge to the constitution and the future of the republic. this commitment was shattered by donald j. trump when he violated his oath of office. his promise of loyalty and service to the american people. the framers of the constitution included impeachment as a safeguard against a corrupt president whose ego and self-dealing could destroy the very foundations of our constitution. it's as though they had a crystal ball when they were writing the constitution, and when they looked at it, who did they see?

donald j. trump. a, abusing his power. b, betraying the nation. and, c, corrupting our elections. these are the abcs of impeachable behavior the framers feared the most. donald j. trump abused his power when he obstructed congress and ordered government officials not to appear before us. donald j. trump betrayed our nation when he declared "i have the right to do whatever i want as president," wrongfully using the constitution to argue that he is above the law. donald j. trump corrupted our elections when he asked a foreign government to interfere for his personal and political gain. i take no pleasure in the work of this committee today. i grew up poor in rural south

texas, one of ten children. i know the taste of commodity cheese and butter. i know what it's like to stand in line at a welfare clinic to get a shot. and i know what it's like to pick cotton in the hot, blistering texas sun. i never imagined that i would be a member of congress. even less, i never imagined i would be in a position where i would need to consider impeaching a president. yet last year i became one of the first two latinas alongside ms. escobar to be elected to congress from texas. i didn't come here to impeach a president. i came here to make a difference in the lives of my constituents and the american people and to make things better for our next generation of children. and here we are in the middle of a constitutional crisis. we must defend our democracy for

every little boy and girl in this country and show them that pledges they take matter and the promises they make do matter. democracy is a gift that each generation gives the next. we must act and we must impeach. thank you, mr. chairman. i yield back. >> the gentle lady yields back. mr. stubing. >> since this president has been elected, democrats have clamored for impeachment. on my first day of swearing in, democrats in my class were calling for impeachment on the day that we swore him. long before president trump made a phone call to the newly elected president of ukraine. for almost a year this democrat led congress has focused its efforts and energy on impeaching president trump. first the democrats theory of impeachment was russia collusion. after 22 months of investigations and millions in tax dollars spent on domestic lawyers investigating the president, they found nothing. no collusion.

-- testified there was no evidence the trump campaign colluded with russia. next it was obstruction of justice, but after searching diligently and find trying to find any evidence, democrats abandoned that theory. by comparison, clinton's impeachment in article ii had seven different incidents of obstruction of justice supported by the evidence collected by an independent council. then out of the blue after coordinating with democratic staff on the intel committee, a whistle-blower filed a carefully scripted complaint based solely and completely on hearsay. democrats' theory now turned to a quid pro quo, which i'm assuming because one of their own candidates for president clearly admitted to a quid pro quo on national television, and there is no evidence of a quid pro quo in the phone transcript president trump released, that they abandoned that theory as well. the process that ensued was anything but open, transparent, bipartisan or equitable, abandoning all past histori