follow if there's continuing obstruction of congress and continuing violation of the law. we'll make that decision when it comes. reporter: what happens with your committee now -- >> watch c-span3 thursday. acting director of national intelligence joseph maguire justifies before the house intelligence committee chaired by the democrat from california adam schiff. on the handling of the whistleblower complaint involving president trump. live coverage thursday, 9:00 a.m. eastern on c-span three.

online on c-span.org. or listen on the free c-span radio app. house republican leaders held a news conference resizing nancy pelosi and democrats for launching an impeachment inquiry without first looking at the memo of the conversation between president trump and uniqu the ukrainian president.

ms. cheney: good morning, everybody. thank you for being here this morning. we have just come from our conference and really focused on the discussion about what the speaker of the house and the house democrats did yesterday. you know, we have watched now ever since president trump was elected the house democrats have been careening from impeachment theory to impeachment theory. they've careened from target to target a while. 10 days ago they were focused on impeaching justice kavanaugh. now president trump. what we have seen is a complete lack of focus on, concern about evidence and facts and what speaker pelosi did yesterday really was the worst we've seen yet. where she announced an impeachment inquiry without any evidence, without seeing the transcript of the phone call at issue, without seeing any details from the supposed whistleblower, and when you think about what that does, both from the perspective of our constitutional obligation and from the perspective of our national security, it ought to give every american grave concerns that they're dealing this in a way that's absolutely so -- such a flagrant disregard of their constitutional responsibility.

when speaker pelosi announced there would be an impeachment inquiry, our president was at the general assembly in new york having meetings as presidents do during those sessions, bilateral meetings with other heads of state, there was no justification to launch this impeachment inquiry at all, no reason she had to do it yesterday. one can only get that she did it because she was trying to weaken the president, weaken his hand dealing with crucial issues of national security with our allies. it was an absolute disgrace. we are in a situation where not only have they hurt national security, but they are fundamentally abdicating their constitutional responsibility. impeachment is a very solemn, grave responsibility we all have. for this speaker to be going down this path and for the democratic caucus to be going down this path before they have seen any evidence at all is

something that i think is absolutely unprecedented in our history. i would like to turn things over to the republican leader of the house judiciary committee, mr. collins, to discuss this further. mr. collins: thank you. what we are seeing is a continuation of just complete, utter disrespect for this house. what we have seen over the past little bit, especially with the speaker yesterday, jumping to conclusions. it's amazing what we are seeing coming out of this is taking hearsay, stuff you have not read, and say there will be an impeachment inquiry. i have news flash for the speaker, she's not doing an impeachment inquiry, she's not doing the stuff it takes. it's another decision by this speaker and the house democrats to disregard over 200 years of precedent in this house. where we actually have rules. things that matter. they are so bent on getting at this president, especially while he was in new york doing exactly what he's supposed to be doing. it's amazing to me.

i'm going to say this, they are more like plinko. this is the way they treat impeachment. they drop the thing in and says which way it bounces, first it was mueller, this, trying to hit imaginary target of getting rid of a president they don't like. you don't do it this way. what we saw on the house floor -- in the house yesterday and the discussions around that, when people talk about an impeachment inquiry, they talk about a speaker that's lost control of her own conference. a speaker who lost control of the facts. we talk about a speaker who no longer can honestly stand before the american people and honestly be a voice for party or for reason. what they are supposed to be doing they are not doing. when they actually attack on a hearsay, when they attack with not even seeing, it shows how desperate they have become. when they become that desperate it leads to a dysfunction in our committees. we have seen that. i know leader jordan will speak from his committee. we saw this a week ago the

democrats allowed -- democrat donor, a large democrat donor to break the rules of this house and question corey lewandowski for 30 minutes. it was almost in crickets it was ok? it's not ok when you break the rules of the house. when you go against that because you are so desperate to pin everything on the president that's when it becomes a disgrace. the democrats have fallen to a disgraceful status. they need to explain to the american people why they chose to trash the house instead of build up the american people and help this president when he's wanting to put america first. mr. jordan: let me just say conference chair cheney was exactly right. to see the speaker of the house do what she did about a document she hadn't seen. my guess is it's because they are so focused on attacking the individual the american people made president of the united states that they are looking for anything and everything. the michael cohen hearing didn't work for them.

the john dean hearing didn't work for them. the mueller report and mueller hearing didn't work for them. the lewandowski hearing didn't work for them. let's do a press conference and let's talk about something we haven't even seen because maybe that will work. that's how desperate and ridiculous this has gotten. i think the american people see through it. they see clearly the job that this president has done and they appreciate that and they think what the democrats are doing is ridiculous. frankly, the precedent it sets is dangerous as well. look, we'll look at the document. but i think the facts are that they got nothing else and they are doing the kind of things they did yesterday. 160-some democrats are wanting to move forward about something they haven't even read or seen. i don't know we have ever seen that in the history of the congress. with that, i'll yield to our leader who is doing a great job leading our team, that's chairman mccarthy.

mr. scalise: yesterday was a low point in nancy pelosi's speakership. when you see a speaker of the house come forward and accuse a president of the united states of breaking the law to the level that it should meet the definition in the constitution of high crimes and misdemeanor without even being able to name the crime, without having even read the report that she's basing this wild and irresponsible accusation on is the height of irresponsibility for speaker of the house to do that. unfortunately, we have seen this drumbeat towards impeachment from her conference since the day donald trump got elected. they made it clear first with the resist movement they didn't want to acknowledge he was elected. he was duly elected by the people of this country. there is an election next year where we can hash out who is going to be the next president. and when donald trump's re-elected, who knows if they'll continue to go down that road,

but the fact that they are using this majority to try to undo the results of the 2016 election is disgraceful. they can't name a high crime and misdemeanor. if you are going to base it on a press report from a secondhand person that thinks they heard something, that's the most you've got, to claim that crimes were committed, this is a serious responsibility that the congress has. only three times in the history of our country has the house of representatives brought forward articles of impeachment. yet jerry nadler, when he took the chairmanship of the committee, just a few weeks ago, said that he wants to bring articles of impeachment to the house floor by the end of this year. when you ask them what are those articles of impeachment, they can't name a single one. they thought the mueller report was going to produce impeachable evidence. and it didn't. in fact, it showed the president didn't collude. so instead of dropping it and

actually focusing on the real problems this country faces, instead of bringing the usmca bill to the floor, which would pass and create over 160,000 new jobs in america, which has broad support, republicans and democrats, labor unions, and trade groups, instead of doing those kind of things, lowering prescription drug prices, when we brought bills out of committee unanimously to lower prescription drug prices, which is a major problem that families are facing, those built could be -- those bills could be signed into law today creating new jobs and lowering drug prices for americans, but instead nancy pelosi is wasting her speakership trying to undo the results of the 2016 election by impeaching the president with no basis. now, if you look at the constitution, it gives the house of representatives the ability to impeach a president for crimes. it's a check on the executive. instead nancy pelosi is using impeachment as a check on the

electorate because she doesn't agree with the results of the 2016 election where people elected donald trump president. there is going to be an election next year and we can litigate all of the differences between conservative, pro-business approach to free market justice department prize versus socialism. clearly they are moving towards socialism. but to abuse the power of the house and the speakership by trying to go after a president even when there is no basis of fact that she can name. she cannot name one high crime and misdemeanor. yet she still wants to move forward with impeachment. it's disgraceful. with that, i'll bring up our leader, kevin mccarthy. mr. mccarthy: thank you, steve. normally in a normal congress we'd come here and talk to you about what's going to be on the floor. what legislation is passing through committee. what problem we are going to solve. our ability to work.

let's see the facts of this congress. democrats have voted three times to impeach the president. twice they voted before the mueller report even had one word public. i just watched the speaker yesterday demean the office of the speakership. i understand members when they want to be political, but the power of the speaker is a much different place to be. i listened to the speaker claim that the president violated the law based on nothing that she had read. based upon a whistle blower that wasn't even listening to a conversation. with an i.g. saying that the whistleblower has political bias. i listened to nancy pelosi, the speaker, promise the american public if they trusted the democrats with the majority that they would be different. that they would be different

this time. that they would work to solve problems. at the same time i watched congressman nadler run for chairmanship of judiciary. he promised this conference that he would impeach the president. the democrats lied to the american public, but chairman nadler kept his promise to the democratic conference. make no mistake, yesterday was a dark day for america. it was a dark day for the rule of law that the speaker of the house would claim a president violated the law without ever having any information to judge it on. it was a dark day for national security that you were willing to jeopardize the national security of our country today and in the future because of your own political bias. name me one world leader, regardless who sits in the oval office, of how honest of a

conversation they are going to have if they are fearful that the transcripts are going to become public to the world. it was a dark day for the rule of law. that a president's going to be held guilty without any proof in the process. it's a dark day for the rule of law when we watch a former vice president tell the public that he did quid pro quo. he told another country he would hold up $1 billion if they would not fire a prosecutor that was looking into his own son that he flew on air force 2. that if they did not fire them in six hours, he was leaving. it is a dark day for the congress, for the actions of this speaker, more importantly for the action of this majority party.

they promised the american public they would be different. but usmca is not coming to the floor. they promised the american public they would work together, but when we have a bipartisan prescription drug bill, they put a poison pill so it can't become law. they promised the american public they would protect them, but they will not improve the immigration system of america to solve the problem. they promised they would be different and they have not. i'm not speaking to you as a republican leader, i'm speaking to you as an american. that's disgusted with what's taken place by the speaker of the house and the action of this majority party who is only driven because they not like the outcome of a 2016 election. it is time to put people before politics.

it is time to run by the rule of law. it is time to uphold -- you look at evidence before you judge whether somebody is guilty. you know what? it is time to stop putting the american public through this nightmare. how many more months will we have to investigate? how many more millions will we have to spend to prove that they are wrong and the election is over? i know they are better than this. i'm just asking that they act like it. yes, sir. reporter: you talked a lot about constitutional violations. wanted to ask you could respond specifically to what speaker pelosi said yesterday when she cited what she believes is a violation. i'll quote from the transcript, she said the president has admitted to asking the president of the ukraine to take actions which would benefit him politically. the actions of the trump presidency revealed dishonorable

facts of betrayal of office and betrayal of national security, betrayal of integrity of our elections. two things to focus on there. mr. mccarthy: the president did not say he did that. you have not read the transcripts. what is being said about the transcripts, let's think what the democrats are saying. they are claiming the president did a quid pro quo. they are claiming the president brought up biden eight different times when no one has read the transcript, and the speaker of the house, the individual who is in line to be president if something happens to the president or the vice president, claims the violation of the law. based upon a whistleblower of facts she never read and whistleblower that was not even on the phone call. now the president of the united states is being put in a position that no other president in the history of this country has to do. that he's going to release a transcript of a conversation with another world leader so the entire world can see it.

simply because they want to impeach him. he has to continue time and time again. how many millions of dollars did we go through with the mueller report? this speaker that claims the president violated also nominated adam schiff, the congressman of our intel committee, that is a gathering for our national security, the same individual congressman adam schiff, who lied to the american public for the last two years, who looked into a camera and said he had proof. beyond circumstantial evidence. you know what? we spent millions of dollars, more than a year. we went around the world with our very best people from the f.b.i. and others and they found that was a lie. but he's still sitting at the helm of a chairmanship dealing with national security. and the same time the speaker sits there, she listened to a vice president in his own words say, that, yes, he did hold up money to ukraine unless they would fire a prosecutor that

worked for ukraine that was looking after his son's activities. not one word about that. i think what the speaker did was a dark day not only for this institution, but for the rule of law and she put this country in harm's way when it comes to national security and our view around the world. at the exact same time the leader of our country is sitting in the u.n. meeting with other world leaders, a challenge with iran, a challenge with china and others, and she stands before us , she's going to do a press conference all day long to say what's going to happen with impeachment and she claims he violated the law with no proof, no information, simply the fact that she does not like the outcome of the election. that questions her ability to even be speaker in my eye. reporter: two questions, first of all. do you believe that the white house should make this transcript and the whistleblower complaint public?

and second -- mr. mccarthy: they shouldn't have to but they are. reporter: do you think the white house would have done so had the speaker not taken the action she did yesterday? mr. mccarthy: first of all, naming any president should they have to release the transcripts of every conversation they have with another world leader, the answer should be no. but this president, based upon what this majority party has done, lying to the american public on what they would work on, you are sitting before us today where america could be stronger this month, not only our g.d.p. but more than 160,000 people at the lowest level would have a job. but you know what, we are not going to pass usmca. we have a crisis on the border. we have a challenge when it comes to technology. europe is acting -- all that falls under the judiciary committee. but nadler made a promise to his conference that he would impeach this president. we had an i.g. report that looked at the d.o.j. in any normal congress, they

would bring that inspector general before that committee that has jurisdiction to see what is going on. but, no, we don't have time for that. the only thing they have time for is try to change the course of the 2016 election. you know what this president has done? he's gone beyond what any president has done before. he is now putting forth the transcript so everybody in the world can read each word that he said to another world leader. and it changes a whole different standard for us. you know what? in the end it will make the country less safe by the actions of the speaker. reporter: how much do you think this impeachment incident is going to re-energize the trump base in the next election? mr. mccarthy: i'm not worried about energizing the trump base. i'm worried about what it's doing to the fabric of america. i'm worried about what is it showing to the rest of the

world. just as we went through the mueller report and the rest of the world had to watch as long as we, and it came back, we found out that adam schiff lied to us and that the president did nothing wrong, but the end of the day i think what the rest of the country wanted to know why did it start? why would any president in the future have to go through this? i want to know the answer to the origin of that. i want to make sure it never happens to anybody. what i'm concerned now is the speaker of the house change the course of that office for the history of this country. that a body that brings legislation, a body that represents the rule of law would change the course of what it actually means. to claim that a president had violated the law with no information, based on a whistleblower she does not know, that wasn't even on a phone call, to claim that the president did a quid pro quo and mentioned biden's name eight times.

but when this transcript comes out -- reporter: it's out. reporter: we have all read it. mr. mccarthy: at the end of the day the speaker owes an apology to this nation. i think it is even a question why she should stay in her job. >> the house will be in order. hasor 40 years c-span provided america unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and public policy events from around washington, d.c. so you can make up your own mind. treated by cable in 1979, c-span is brought to you by your local cable or satellite provider. c-span, your unfiltered view of government. thursday, the house

returns at 10:00 a.m. eastern for general speeches followed by legislative business at noon, when members will consider a senate passed resolution. on c-span two, the senate returns at 10:00 a.m. to take up a temporary spending bill passed by the house that would fund the government to november 21. senators will vote on the confirmation for the vice chair of joint chiefs of staff. and eugene scalia to be labor secretary. joseph mcguire, the acting director of national intelligence testifies about the whistleblower complaint involving president trump's communication with the leader of ukraine. portions will also be live on c-span throughout the day. >> president trump met with the ukrainian president on the sidelines of the general