inquiry on c-span.org. search for video on demand for the briefings and hearings as well as the administration's response during the impeachment inquiry process. impeachmentr inquiry webpage at c-span.org/impeachment. your way to watch unfiltered coverage, anytime. on the c-spanay networks, the u.s. house resumes up9:00 a.m. eastern to take a resolution reaffirming the impeachment inquiry and setting up the next steps for the investigation including the transfer of evidence to the house judiciary committee. we will have debate and the vote starting at 9:00 a.m. eastern. the u.s. senate continues work on 2020 federal spending. on c-span3, house speaker nancy pelosi holds a weekly briefing. for the next two hours we will

houseur reaction to the impeachment inquiry against president trump. laying out the next steps in the investigation. washington journal is next. " is next. ♪ host: good morning. it is thursday, october 31, 2019. one of the most consequential dates in the impeachment inquiry yet. procedures for future closed-door and public hearings. with the house set to gavel in at 9:00 a.m., we will spend two hours getting your thoughts ahead of today's vote. give us a call on phone lines as usual split by political affiliation. for republicans, it is 202-748-8001. democrats, 202-748-8000.

independents, 202-748-8002. you can also send us a text message. that number, 202-748-8003. if you do, please include your name and where you are from. otherwise, catch up with us on social media. on twitter it is @cspanwj. on facebook it is facebook.com/cspan. a very good thursday morning to you room you can start calling now. it is a wet washington, d.c. this morning. we are on the house side of capitol hill overlooking the house of representatives and that is where the action will take place today. the resolution being voted on es660.is hr it is about 8 pages long. the lead sponsor is jim mcgovern, the chairman of the house rules committee. he will be on the floor managing the resolution. he talked about the resolution yesterday during the markup,

here is what he had to say. [video clip] >> no one runs for congress to impeach a president, but the facts compel us to. there is evidence the president may have violated the constitution. no special prosecutor has been named to investigate president trump on this, there is no single report from which this congress can make a decision whether or not to impeach president trump on his dealings with ukraine, that is why the intelligence committee has been gathering evidence and hearing testimony. reasonable confidentiality has been paramount so accounts could not be coordinated and witnesses were not unduly influenced. it is a process, by the way, that even trey gowdy, who chaired the benghazi committee, has endorsed. he said "if you are going to have private investigations with unlimited time for questioning, that is a good thing. i agree.

i am proud of our process so far. continue gathering evidence, they are preparing to prevent -- present their findings as we enter the public facing phase. i introduced a resolution yesterday to ensure a clear path forward. we are marking up that resolution here today. i don't know whether president trump will be impeached, only the facts and how we respond to them will dictate that. this process of determining whether he should be impeached will be open to the public view just as it should be. i know some republicans are resistant to investigating the president at all, but that will not stop the american people from hearing the facts. host: congressman jim mcgovern yesterday in the house rules committee ahead of today's floor vote. he will be managing the resolution on the floor on the

republican side, managing their response to the resolution will be tom cole, the ranking member of the house rules committee and he spoke at yesterday's markup. [video clip] >> today's resolution fails to give the president the right to due process that presidents clinton and nixon enjoyed and fails to preserve the right of the minority to participate in the proceedings. it also differs from the nixon and clinton resolutions in another key way. both of those resolutions were written in a bipartisan manner. we are not involved in any way in the construction of the resolution we are considering today. it was dropped on us with 24 hour notice. thise simply presented to -- this resolution, frankly, is not bipartisan and done with

full consultation with the minority. it was written only by democrats without even a pretense of consulting republicans. i did not even see a copy of this resolution until it was released publicly. we can certainly do that or than that and better then we are doing today. when president nixon, president clinton impeached, the process was a collaborative one and the minority was able to participate. the president was given the right to have counsel present and participating and that preserve the rights of the minority, the president, and insured due process was the touchstone in the house. without due process or a fair process, i do not believe the american people lagardere this process as legitimate. a legitimate process offers protections for everyone's in -- everyone involved. this will be seen as just another partisan exercise the majority has been pushing for

since the first day of the 116th congress. yesterday.ole you will be seeing more of him on the house floor along with jim mcgovern starting in two hours when the resolution gets voted on. the debate will begin in two hours. we are looking at a vote between 10:30 eastern and 11:30 eastern. getting your thoughts on phone lines as usual. 202-748-8001 for republicans. 202-748-8000 for democrats. .02-748-8002 for independents the impeachment inquiry continuing today despite that vote on the resolution taking place. here is the story from npr on the individual testifying behind closed doors, his name is tim morrison, scheduled to testify in that impeachment inquiry, set to leave his white house post

imminently according to sources who talk to npr and verified by other news organizations. morrison writes -- who has served as the senior director for european and russian affairs on the national security council had been working on arms control and bio defense issues when he was elevated to the russia portfolio by trump's then national security advisor john bolton. he started in that role in july, overlapping with his predecessor, fiona hill, who announced her plans to leave the white house earlier this year. john bolton, mentioned his name in that npr story. house investigators looking to talk to him as well. a lot of moving parts even as the resolution gets voted on today. we are getting your thoughts on all of it. florence up first out of philadelphia, democrat.

your thoughts this morning ahead of that vote on that resolution. caller: good morning. host: good morning. caller: good morning. this is a long time coming. this -- to say this president is as crooked as a dog's hind leg insults the dog's hind leg. has been caught red with his own words, his own efforts and the excuses these republicans and americans continue to support this guy, stop being l your head out. stop being three monkeys that don't three -- see any evil, hear any evil. the kool-aid is a bitter flavor because they are bitter people. treat people anyway, abandon the

kurds. he brags about our success killing baghdadi and embellishes stories like he said schiff did about his record or whatever letter that was that they hid. let's be for real. host: that is florence in philadelphia. our line for republicans, coral out of california. your thoughts this morning. caller: i don't think there will be any serious impeachment coming out of this at all. as far as drinking kool-aid, i get a fresh breeze from the ocean here and i think very clearly. i think what is coming down the strzok,er for peter john brennan, james clapper, hillary's bunch and obama is not going to look good and this is all a bunch of hooey to be

pushed into the eyes of the american public by using the media constantly trying to assault us and lie to us and create an opinion which puts the polls down enough that it scares republicans. this is not going to happen because he has not done anything wrong. i hope he investigates all the bidens. i hope he investigates why's pelosi -- why pelosi's son served on the board. we need to straighten it out and president trump is the first one to be able to do it, for some reason. i don't understand why previous republicans have not done it and charged in. i think everybody was getting along too well in washington and it was about time to stir things up and i appreciate what the president is doing. host: to our independent line,

nelson in upper marble, maryland -- marlboro, maryland. good morning. caller: i support the impeachment process. i think this president has committed more crimes than any person in recent history and republicans keep saying he is trying to drain the swamp. to us.ght the swamp i am a supporter of this. i think he is insulting our veterans. that is a disgrace. for someone to say he supports america first and he denigrates john mccain -- it is a disgrace. all republicans supporting this guy, let's wait and see after the impeachment. host: that is nelson in maryland. the house will gavel in at 9:00 a.m. and that is when we will end washington journal.

there will be a few minutes of one minute speeches, the usual members making speeches and around 9:15 a.m. eastern is when the debate will begin on this resolution. s660. it is not technically a bill, it is a resolution. that expected to go between an hour and an hour and a half 30 a.m. 10:30 and 11: eastern. just to read you a little bit from that resolution being voted on today and by the way, you can read it yourself at c-span.org /impeachment. that is where we are putting all of our documents and coverage of the impeachment inquiry. this is what the resolution begins with, resolved that the permanent select committee on intelligence and the committees on financial services, foreign affairs, the judiciary,

oversight reform and ways and means are directed to continue their ongoing investigations as part of the existing house of representatives inquiry into whether sufficient grounds to the power tofor impeach president donald john trump. that is how that resolution begins. we will be going through that resolution a bit more this segment and talking about reaction to that resolution yesterday throughout the day on capitol hill. it senate majority leader mitch mcconnell speaking about it in his opening remarks on the floor of the senate yesterday, this is what he had to say. [video clip] >> speaker pelosi initiated a bizarre process starting with the fact she began with a press conference instead of a proper vote in the house. the process seems to be treating german schiff as if he were a to

prosecutor -- his strange behavior including fabricating a lengthy quotation and attributing it to president trump during an official hearing. at the house inquiry has been conducted behind closed doors and they denied republican counterparts privileges which clinton -- democrats received during the clinton impeachment when they were in minority and unlike during the inquiries around president clinton and nixon, they have denied president trump a sic due process rights and are cutting his counsel out of the process in an unprecedented way. the new resolution does not change any of that. it does not confer on president trump the most basic rights of due process or, seemingly, alter chairman schiff unfair process in the house intelligence committee in any way whatsoever. chairman schiff can continue

doing this behind closed doors without the president's participation so long as he holds one public hearing at some point. he is not even required to make all the evidence he obtains public. he alone gets to decide what evidence goes in his report. the resolution does not even give the president any rights in a public hearing that requires chairman schiff to hold. the resolution merely seems to contemplate that maybe, maybe some day in the future at some other phase of this due process in,t, might finally kick but only if the house judiciary committee feels like holding hearings and calling witnesses. in other words, no due process now -- maybe some later, but only if we feel like it.

somee process now, maybe later, but only if we feel like it. that is not even close to fair. no due process now, only some later if we feel like it should not be a standard applied to any american and it should not be applied here to the president of the united states. leaderenate majority mitch mcconnell, the senate in at 10:00 a.m. this morning, one of the pieces of legislation they are working on is a spending package to fund the federal government. that deadline coming up on the 21st of november, quickly approaching and we will be hearing more about that as the deadline gets closer. on the resolution on the impeachment inquiry into president trump, more discussion on the floor of the senate. this was chuck schumer. [video clip] >> yesterday, lieutenant colonel

alexander vindman testified before congress. wase his testimony announced, and especially in the past 24 hours, he has been vilified by individuals in the media and elsewhere. although he served our country for more than 20 years and he is recipient of the purple heart after being wounded serving in iraq, he has been called derogatory terms and some have gone so far as to call him a spy and question his loyalty to the united states. these attacks are unacceptable, outrageous, not unlike the attacks the president and his thees levied against whistleblower. the president publicly suggested the whistleblower is treasonous and a spy and public reports suggest a republican member of the house intelligence committee

is actively trying to expose and leak the whistleblower's identity. this is so, so wrong. disclosing or causing to be disclosed the identity of a whistleblower is such a breach of faith with our whistleblower laws, which are designed to see the truth gets out. everyone seeking the release of the whistleblower's identity is frustrating the truth and in violation of federal law. not only that, the disclosure of the identity may result in reprisals and threats to their personal safety and the safety of their families. i am sending a letter to the secretary and chief of staff of the army asking them to provide us with what actions the army is taking to ensure vindman is protections. whistleblowers like him are

standing up to the constitution print --e an oath to defend. their lives and families must not be put into jeopardy by an outrageous attack or disclosure. host: chuck schumer yesterday in the senate. the action will take place today on the house side, expected to get underway at 5:15 this morning. currently 432 members of the vacancies.ere are 3 one independent -- the magic number for democrats for this 217lution to pass would be democrats expected to easily achieve that number according to the reporting today. no republicans likely to vote for that resolution. michiganash from expected to vote for this

resolution, so some names to watch on the floor of the house. getting your thoughts on all of it. it democrats, republicans, and independents, this is glenn out of new jersey, a republican. caller: good morning. you are seeing a fight for the survival of the deep state vindman. state -- they have been trying to destabilize the middle east. they take the conflict energy -- you have got to get george webb on your television show. far downore we get too the conspiracy theory road. caller: it is not a conspiracy, these are facts that can be fined -- found out easily. is the fencing operation. host: talk about the resolution

being voted on today and the impeachment process. wentr: they knew when they into battle that they were going to throw everything they got. isis was created by our deep state and the man that called earlier was right. -- str, mccabe, struck zock, page. host: a democrat, good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i think donald trump is tired, he should go on getting impeached. he is in the early stage of alzheimer's. judged --when he was he voted loudly and clearly that our african-american citizens should be allowed free, open housing. we had an open housing

controversy. when it comes down to it, mitch will vote him out and that is all i have to say. maryland, is dave in independent, good morning. caller: good morning. c-span. to i really look for a nonbiased news source. what is going on right now with the president in the house -- i wish you guys would take a hippocratic oath or something because this is one of the biggest schemes -- this is bigger than joseph goebbels could ever dream up. we are about to take down an administration and there is no crime. they have been trying to find a crime for the last two years. now it is all behind closed doors. i read an article last night they could even bring

down pence, the vice president with no crime. that means pelosi would be president and she is the one spearheading all of this. in a democrats will call point to what they see is a quid pro quo in that phone call and the president's dealings with you cream ukraine. you see no crime? caller: i appreciate that, but the first whistleblower turned into a second whistleblower with third and fourth hand information. you can for anybody you want out and put people up there, but there doesn't mean there is any real merit behind what they are saying. when is it going to come out? something is not right about this whole thing in the sense that it is not a real

investigation. really, the whole thing seems like opposition research than anything else. host: you are concerned about closed doors, this resolution being voted on today says the chair of the permanent select anmittee shall designate open hearing or hearings, no specific time or how many hearings there could be, but directing adam schiff to have an open hearing at least and you heard mitch mcconnell a few minutes ago, his concerns about what that means, when that would occur and what that would look like. that is the resolution being voted on today. republican.regon, a citizeni believe as a we, the citizens, that don't believe what is happening should hisschiff for violating

oath of office. tom. give me an example, caller: just what he is doing, he has been after trump since he got in office. he has been wanting to go after trump for day -- since day 1. because they lost the election, they are throwing a tantrum. host: one of the big concerns republicans have brought up is there has been no formal vote to authorize the impeachment inquiry. caller: because they are wasting time and our money. they are wasting our tax money. host: do you think this resolution satisfies that? do you want to see everybody go on record today about that? or don't, yeah. no republican is going to vote for it, so it is a waste of time. host: this is alex out of ohio,

line democrats, morning. caller: enke for taking my call. because alle peach he has done against america and his foreign policy. trump has no experience in politics. he makes america look like an unreliable country. that had a bad effect on how our allies will look at us from now on. makes our enemies -- he ruined all obama had done to stop isis and now isis is getting powerful again. bffs because trump and his

-- impeachment is the only way to end the situation. eventually doing the right thing and impeaching him. host: that is alex in ohio. phone lines for democrats, republicans, and independents. we are talking to you this morning from the cannon house office building balcony overlooking the united states capital. you can see the scaffolding behind me. on the interior, that is where the house chamber is and that is 0 willthis resolution 66 be voted on today sometime between 10:30 and 11:30 eastern. you can watch it live here on c-span.

cindy is waiting in tennessee, a republican, good morning. cindy, are you with us this morning? caller: excuse me. host: go ahead, cindy. caller: i cannot wait to see what they are going to do after he wins the next election. what kind of tricks they are going to come up with then to get him out. it is ridiculous. i am tired of hearing the democrats call us all kinds of names. weare deplorables, ignorant, don't know what is going on, it is crazy. i cannot wait to see the tricks they are going to pull next year and the year after that. host: why is this ridiculous? the resolution today is something republicans have been calling on democrats since the beginning to hold a vote on the house floor to put members on the record about it. caller: why are they doing it

now? what happened in the last three weeks? why didn't they start this off in the very beginning? take vote in the very beginning. why has it been behind closed doors? host: this resolution today laying out procedures for future hearings. there will be more closed-door hearings, but the resolution calling for at least one open hearing about this. here is more from that resolution on the procedures for future hearings. the resolution talking about procedures in the intelligence committee and investigations happening right now when it gets to the house judiciary committee . resolution says -- authorizes the committee to conduct proceedings pursuant to the procedures for printing --

including such procedures to allow for the participation of the president and counsel. a lot of discussion about that point yesterday about when the president and his lawyers can participate in the ongoing impeachment inquiry. it was discussed in the house rules committee yesterday and this is rob woodall talking about it yesterday with tom cole amid the debates over the resolution and here is a bit of what they had to say. [video clip] >> is the president represented in the judiciary committee? is that true? >> in the majority draft -- only judiciary --

to president has no ability ask any questions -- is drafted, mentioning financial services, foreign affairs, judiciary, oversight reform, ways and means and intelligence, the president has no ability to participate in any way in any of those committees. >> my best recollection or knowledge, was that the case with president clinton or president nixon? where they represented in the committee of jurisdictions of what committees were taking place? >> your vision is mine. passed bysed by -- the republican house only names one committee of jurisdiction and gave the president and his

counsel full ability to participate. as i recall, there were only four hearings held. one of them was held at president clinton's request calling only president clinton's witnesses. >> that would not be possible under this procedure? >> it would be impossible in all of those committees. >> before i yield -- if i remember correctly, ken starr did the investigation and that was sent to the judiciary committee. here, the intelligence committee is doing the investigation. caller: that was the -- host: that was the scene in the house rules committee. you can go to our website where we have accumulated all of our coverage of the impeachment congressionalwith briefings, you will see responses from the trump administration.

our segment from the washington journal about impeachment. congressional tweets and now a tally of each house democrat and where they stand on the impeachment inquiry although we will certainly know for sure coming up in less than two hours as the debate gets underway on this resolution. r660 is being voted on today and we expect that vote to come between 10:30 and 11:30 eastern time. you can join us as usual for gavel-to-gavel coverage. taking your phone calls until the house gavels in also showing you the latest about what the president and others are saying about this resolution and the impeachment inquiry. the president has not tweeted yet today, this is what he said yesterday morning, publicans are unified and energized on our -- the impeachment hoax and now going after the substance even

more than the fair process because a casual reading leaves everyone to see the call with the ukrainian president was an appropriate one. is anmpeachment nonsense investigation of the witchhunt -- continuation of the witchhunt hoax. republicans, go with substance and close it out. we will let you know if and when hear fromtoday as we you on the washington journal. mike out of florida, a democrat, good morning. caller: good morning. i believe trump should be impeached because he is abusing power -- behind all of these

-- trying to rely on needs to bee trump impeached and removed. host: sue out of massachusetts is an independent. good morning. caller: how are you doing? host: i am doing well. caller: first of all, people houseo consider what the has been doing similar to a grand jury -- hearing. the person who they are investigating does not have counsel, does not have the right to question witnesses, it is an investigation. between whate happened with nixon and clinton -- in this case, the house is doing the investigating. in this case, as far as the

republican secrecy, there are republicans on all of these committees and as far as i am concerned, what republicans are aing is trying to cause distraction. last but not least, if you are trying to investigate biden and saying he announced on tv he was withholding millions of dollars, inspector or whatever in the ukraine had already stopped investigating. the one that replaced him restarted the investigation. biden did not do his son any favors and that money was withheld in a joint agreement with the imf, the e.u., and the united states.

biden happened to be the spokesperson. host: you begin by talking about equating this investigation to a grand jury investigation, i want to play another scene from yesterday in the house committee rules hearing. this is a democrat from colorado talking about what he had to say. [video clip] >> let's go back to basics, civics 101. the impeachment is the complaint against the president. senate inis not the which the senate creates its own rules in which it will determine whether the president is getting due process or not getting due process. the complaint, the impeachment, the indictment against the president is what we do. to the degree you want to have more to process, due process is part of the trial.

listening to everybody talk .bout it is not fair what has been happening because this is something like a grand jury coming up with a complaint and indictment, it allows for republicans to ask questions and inocrats to ask questions -- an area where it seems like national security is really at of thend issues intelligence community is at stake. arehe degree my friends duelaining that there is no process, that it is not fair, republicans are getting to ask questions, democrats are getting to ask questions, it is in an intelligenceng the

committee and there will be a trial if impeachment is senate.ed in the i would also suggest to my friends they be taking up some of their questions about due process in the senate where the trial actually takes place. host: that was congressman ed perlmutter yesterday. that debate taking place yesterday afternoon ahead of what will be on the floor for the houseboat today expected to happen between -- somewhere 11:30 eastern.nd formalize the impeachment increase of the president and establish procedures for future hearings on it. one member who will be on the floor today and voting on the

resolution, katie hill announced she will be stepping down from congress officially tomorrow. she is set to deliver her final house floor speech following that vote later this afternoon on the resolution taking place. we will hear from her and that is why the number -- magic number is 217. three vacancies right now, it will be 4 when the congresswoman steps down. gordon in wisconsin, good morning. caller: thanks for taking my call. i would like to say i don't agree with the process that has been taking place so far, especially when you hear about adam schiff's office and his aides coaxing the so-called whistleblower. i think there should have been red flags right then and there.

that would be like the da bringing a wetness -- witness in an coaxing him what to testify to and how to draft anything he is going to write. thisrats go ahead and push as far as they want because they think all it is doing is shooting them in the foot and the american people see it and it will hurt them at the polls. i don't agree with how they are conducting any of this. they are not affording anybody any due rights. they are holding everything in secret. that is the way they are doing it under the guise they are trying to protect whistleblowers and people who have secondhand knowledge. what about the people who

call for open hearings in this resolution as well? caller: that would be interesting to see. are they going to be able to control what questions can be asked and what can be answered? i heard a republican ask one of the witnesses come in that adam schiff went ahead and said i will not allow the witness to answer that question. if they are going to control the whole thing and not allow anybody to cross-examine and answer questions because adam isiff has the say so -- how that a fair process? host: stick on the line, this is what we know a little bit more from that 8 page resolution. it does not specifically speak to what you are saying, but to the ability of republicans to call their own witnesses to subpoena their own witnesses. this is what the resolution says about the impeachment inquiry continuing in the intelligence committee. to allow for the full evaluation

of minority witness requests, the ranking member may submit to the chair in writing any request for witness testimony relevant to the investigation. any request shall be accompanied by a detailed written justification of the relevance of the testimony of each requested witness to the investigation described. it goes onto say the ranking minority member of the select committee of intelligence is authorized with the concurrence it goes on to say if adam schiff disagrees, that the ranking member, the republican on the committee who cansking for that witness appeal to the vote of the full intelligence committee. with that in the resolution, your thoughts. >> that is allowing adam schiff

to go ahead and control the entire narrative of the hearing. aey can go ahead and submit list of witnesses and all adam schiff has to say is i am not going to allow it. and might as well go ahead -- lou dobbs asked one of the ranking republican members why are you even participating in this sham. they should get out and walk up and not even participate until they are going to hold the hearings the way they were held for clinton and nixon. host: that is gordon in wisconsin on the line for democrats. this is jeffrey out of virginia, your thoughts on what we were talking about with gordon. jeffrey, are you with us? caller: yes, i am there.

can you hear me? host: yep. caller: ultimately, you are not going to change the minds of any republican. what can theis president due for any republican to say he is wrong or that he evend be put to account or be impeached. there is nothing this president can do for all of your publican callers -- republican callers, there is nothing he could do that they would point out as an error or a misstep. we are in the process of impeaching our president. that is not something taken lightly by any politician. host: do you think democrats have misstep in this process at all? the concern was they did not vote to begin,

it was nancy pelosi in a press conference announcing the impeachment inquiry was beginning, that is why we are where we are. republicans also concerned about adam schiff in one of those hearings, mischaracterizing what was in the transcript that the white house released, do you think democrats have misstep at all?- misstepped at caller: i think there have been missteps by the president as far as letting it go this far. when we go back to the point the president was elected and every single issue that has come up -- isince he was elected don't understand why it is every single week -- every single week since this president has been in office, it has been found he has done something either semi-

illegal or scandalous. what president have we ever had from day 1 from before they were elected had scandals? we elected a guy that had scandals from his beginning and now everything being scrutinized is saying democrats should have done this and that -- we never should have had this guy in the office. host: this is sylvia, pennsylvania, republican. good morning. caller: hello. host: go ahead, sylvia. caller: yeah. after these hearings take place, first it was russia. everything they tried to pin on trump. it has been four years almost. after this impeachment hearing fails, i am going to find me a

out lawyer and sue the crap of the congresspeople because there are jobs there to do and we, the american people, pay them to do a job and that job is to take care of their communities instead of being on a witch hunt from day 1 since this guy was elected. yes, maybe people don't like the way he talks. he is an outsider, that is the question, he is an outsider, he knows the corruption that is going on. wagesive themselves 16% and medicare people $2.50 extra. they turn around and give themselves blue cross, blue shield for the rest of their lives yet they want obamacare. if obamacare is good enough or the american people, it is good enough for the congressman and the senators. tohink president trump ought

put that to them on the floor. host: in terms of this resolution talking about the process, how the hearings are going to work going down the road -- caller: i think it is terrible. fallsare folks in beaver talking about this? our people following the process of the impeachment inquiry in beaver falls? caller: they are following it all over the country. you know what they are saying? forget the democrats, they are done. for four years, all they have done is try to get this guy out of office. when it comes time for elections, these guys in the different places that have voted and run after -- they are going to lose their job. trump isn't going to lose his job, they are going to lose their job for the people that

don't vote for them. host: sylvia in beaver falls. democrats leading this effort behind the scenes and on the floor is the democratic caucus chair akeem jeffries of new york, he spoke on the house floor about the impeachment inquiry, here is what he had to say. [video clip] >> earlier today, president trump urged his republican defenders to focus on substance. that is exactly what house democrats have been doing from the very beginning of this impeachment inquiry. we will continue to proceed in a serious, somber fashion. that is what the constitution requires at this moment. house democrats will continue to follow the facts and present the truth to the american people. president trump said focus on

substance. what is the substance underlying this impeachment inquiry? , on a bipartisan basis, allocated $391 million in military and economic aid to ukraine. at a time when ukraine is under attack by russian backed separatists. ukraine is a friend, russia is a fellow. ukraine is a democracy, russia is a dictatorship. the united states is the only thing standing between letter mayor pugh between vladimir putin -- we allocated that money because it is in the national security interest of the united states of

america. what happened to it? in february, the trump administration wrote to congress and say the -- said the aid is on the way, but it never showed up and in may, trump's department of defense wrote to congress again and said the aid is on the way and all necessary preconditions to release the aid the been met, including implementation of anticorruption protocols. that was a letter written by the inmp department of defense may, that is the substance. twice, mitch mcconnell during the trump called up administration and said where is the aid? mitch mcconnell could not get a good answer. ofy 19, we know the office management and budget in the white house held a meeting where

it was made clear the reason the had been held up is because of a directive by the president of the united states. a week later, on july 25, the president made a phone call to the ukrainian leader and pressured a foreign government to target an american citizen for political gain and solicit foreign interference in the 2020 elections. that undermines our national security. the american people have a right to ask, is that an abuse of power. that is what the impeachment inquiry is all about, that is the substance. it doesn't look good, no one is above the law. congressman hakeem

jeffries yesterday on the house floor and he will be back on the house floor along with his republican and democratic colleagues. the resolution is hr 660 expecting a vote around 10:30 eastern time and the event expected to get underway around 9:15 a.m. eastern, the house coming in at 9:00 a.m. and that is when we will take you there live for gavel-to-gavel coverage, getting your thoughts about the resolution to formalize the impeachment inquiry into president trump. 202-748-8001 for democrats, democrats.0 -- for 202-748-8001 for republicans. 202-748-8002 for independence. ts. jeremiah. caller: good morning. i really appreciated the guy from wisconsin, the guy from

virginia earlier, i think they had genuine comments. personally, being a republican, i am find my mind is being changed a little bit about trump pressure.ng the to myself, chuckled something republicans have prided themselves on is trump is -- i have never bragged in the summer, balancing the tires on my car, it is not something -- normally you hire someone to do the job because they have experience, they have been doing it for a long time and i would expect that as a businessman, to pull on resources potentially thinking outside the box. it goes against the constitution

-- goes against the fabric of our nation. you have a whole house, a whole committee of senate to look into if you really thought there was foul play, you could use our national resources to do that. are the democrats following due process? i don't think so. making anancy pelosi public -- the inception of the momentum of this impeachment hearing was made public and everybody got the brief last-minute. i was watching a minute ago. the senator from oklahoma said they had not even seen the full briefing from day of or day before. host: tom cole of oklahoma is the ranking member of the rules committee, he will be the one on the floor leading the pushback from republicans to this

resolution. caller: yes, thank you. host: you said one of your concerns is you don't think democrats are giving republicans due process. do you think what this lays out about the investigation -- do we get more toward due process with this resolution? caller: i think what is going to help is if both sides can own up to what we have failed to do in due process before and work towards gaining due process. we can both own to our own faults, that is what it will take to bring this together and stop polarizing. you see all over social media, all over television, it is something i got sad about during the last election, everybody stopped coming adults and i think what would be great is if we took some pride in each other, some pride in our neighbors and immigrants and the rights of man on a very basic

concept. we, the people, that is the beginning phase of the constitution. that is important we recognize the value in each other as a nation, in congress, in the senate, and the average day to day person. that is what is going to be important. host: you mentioned you see it all over social media, i want to get your thoughts on other canlars can way -- callers weigh in as well. twitter yesterday banning political ads ahead of the 2020 election, this is what the associated press wrote, twitter reacting to growing concern onut misinformation spread social media banning all political advertising and striking contrast with facebook, which continues to fend running paid political ads.

the statement from jack dorsey, while the internet's advertising is powerful and effective for commercial advertisers, that power brings significant risk to politics where it can be used to influence voters to affect the lives of millions. that news i am sure you saw yesterday. when you say you see this all over social media, what are your thoughts on that? caller: i think it is trust for many reasons. initially think freedom of speech has been directly used. president trump has utilized twitter a lot. facebook, they, are continuing to use funded political ads -- like you areioned facebook, they

continuing to use funded political ads. how far is free speech free speech? are we allowed to be offensive? am i allowed to voice my thoughts honestly to another person without risking -- i'm trying to use some kind of deductive reasoning, thoughts and voicing them to you, and you voice back to me and we engage in conversation. how much censorship is too much? that is a hard one to answer. host: you say president trump uses twitter a lot. he has not used it yet today to talk about this resolution being voted on, although just after midnight the president tweeting out his congratulations to the washington nationals on a great season and incredible world thees, game 7 was amazing, president tweeted.

in bradenton, florida, a democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. republicans from complaining about the process. i am just wondering what is wrong with the process? what house rules are they breaking in the impeachment inquiry? i don't think they are breaking any rules. in case people don't realize, it is the republican rules they are following. when republicans bring that up, they are going to be allowed to call witnesses but only if adam schiff agrees that witness should be called, and if he disagrees it goes to a vote at the committee which is a majority democrat. that is one of the concerns about this resolution today. caller: that is one part of the process that people need to understand, impeachment, which many people do not understand,

is that impeachment is in the house of representatives. if the impeachment passes the house of representatives, it goes to the senate. it does not mean removal. the senate is where an open, public trial happens and that is where the public will get to see everything out in the open, and the president gets to defend himself with a proper trial process. people want to complain about the process but do not want to look into the facts and figure out the answers for themselves. they are asking why depositions are private. so they don't make a circus in public. if you have been paying attention for the past two years, any witness that goes before the house or senate in a bipartisan way, it goes very well. if it is a partisan way, it becomes a circus. if it becomes an impeachment process of president trump in a public hearing, that is going to

be a circus. that is why people are doing things in private. people need to look into why democrats are doing what they are doing. if you only watch fox news, i invite you to explore other avenues and look into the questions that you are asking every day. you complain every day, but you have the information, you just need to look. host: one follow-up, the closed door depositions. we may find out more about what happened in those depositions. this is from the eight-page resolution being voted on the house floor today. this is one of the things that requires when it comes to the impeachment process. the chair of the intelligence committee authorized to make publicly available in electronic form and transcripts depositions conducted by the select committee in furtherance of their investigations, with

appropriate reductions for classified and other sensitive information. rez 660 whichin h is getting voted today, along with the provision requiring the select committee to designate and open hearing or hearings. at least one open hearing, perhaps more than that. we will see as this process moves forward. brad out of lily, kentucky, independent. caller: i am glad to finally see they are taking an official vote on this. i suppose it will be the biggest gamble of nancy pelosi's career. don't as the call goes, i think there was anything untoward in the call that has not been accepted generally and without note as the general spoils of political victory. i suppose democrats would like us to give away our money for nothing, chicks for free, as the song says. at the end of the day, in

history, we will come to find john saidcomes from he could no longer warmonger i highly respect and admire you, and earlier you dismissed a caller as spreading conspiracy theory, and while he was off-topic, you said conspiracy theory. journalist,u, as a are fully aware of the assortednce services, image with radical islamic groups. , you --ng said host: one of the things i was asking the caller was to cite their sources, where are you reading that? .aller: i thank you for asking for the audience in your further

education, although i am sure it is not your further education as you are highly educated, i would cite a los angeles times article from 2016 that is titled "in ciaa: militias armed by the ," that will be a good place to begin. host: priscilla out of west hills, california, line for republicans. caller: good morning. but jeffrey mentioned the quid pro quo that supposedly donald trump did, but no one did, but no one ever -- he didn't say anything about joe biden who on his video said he had six hours to get on his plane and he was going to take the $1.5 billion back to the usa unless they fired the prosecutor.

money.said they got the no one said anything about that. what i really wanted to say this morning is that i can't believe -- and i'm ashamed, and shame on the democrats, americans -- it is a sad day for americans to watch. old,a taxpayer, 73 years and we are paying the salaries of these people who are sitting there doing nothing. shame on them. i voted for donald trump. what they are trying to do was say, we don't like the one you chose as president so we are going to nullify your vote. that is what we are doing to you today. it is a shame. shame on them. i can tell you this. yes? host: are you interested in seeing who goes on the record here?

if you are going to do this, if you are going to proceed, but the vote on the floor and put it on the record. caller: i was around when they impeached nixon and i was around every day watching the clinton impeachment. they had fair votes. host: what made it fair? caller: this one was supposed to be secret but every day what was said came out. why weren't we able to see these people be cross-examined? why wasn't it something that we americans who put him in, why couldn't we understand what people were saying? we have read the transcript. the transcript did no more than joe biden did, and yet they gave ukraine what they needed. i think the obama administration [no audio]-

so they best be very careful in america. we better be careful, and shame on democrats. host: that is priscilla in california. it is just after 8:00 a.m. eastern where less than an hour away, the house will gavel in for the day. we will take you live for gavel-to-gavel coverage when they do. after the usual one minute speeches, we are expecting five or so per side that debate on h 660 to formalize the impeachment inquiry and establish impeachment procedures for future hearings. the debate will get underway at about 9:15 eastern, somewhere between an hour and an hour and a half of debate managed by the two top members of the house

rules committee, jim mcgovern, democrat from massachusetts, the lead sponsor. the rules one leading committee yesterday and did the markup of this. tom cole will be leading the response for republicans on the house floor. tom cole, republican from oklahoma, the ranking member of the house rules committee. we are expecting a vote between 10:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. eastern in two parts, a vote to close the debates and bring the impeachment resolution to a vote, and then following that will be a vote on the passage of the impeachment resolution. that is how it will play out on the floor today. stay with c-span to watch it all live, gavel-to-gavel, and join us for about the next 45 minutes on "washington journal" to get your phone calls on this topic,

this resolution on the floor today. (202) 748-8000, democrats. (202) 748-8001, republicans. independents,-- (202) 748-8002. twitter is at c-span wj. dawn, oklahoma city, oklahoma, democrat. are you with us? caller: yes, sir. i think donald trump should be impeached for the way that he lied to the american people multiple times a day every day. no one can believe a word the man says, whether it is the american people, allies or enemies. that behavior would have likely been impeachable in our republic. allowing that behavior is insidious. if that is normal, the next thing is normal.

part of the irony of this whole thing is the mueller report, it seemed it and bolded the -- ldened trump about the ukraine. he made the call the very next day. all this talk about what the crimes he has committed, what about the basic way he misleads the american people on a daily basis, and says that for his own political gain? that is my comment. host: some of the republicans have called in concerned about being misled by democrats because so much has happened behind closed doors, and more will happen behind closed doors. another deposition set to take place today, even as this revolution -- resolution goes forward. why not hold all of these things in public view? why not hold all the hearings before the cameras? caller: as has been pointed out,

that will happen in the senate. this is just the investigation, and once they have a vote that goes to the senate, the president will have his attorneys and they will be able to cross-examine. i am sure after today when they have this vote, the hearings probably will be public. the judge is saying at least one of them will be. the president and his defenders will have their day. this is a process, and the house has the sole power of impeachment. democrats are in charge of the house. look at the consequences. it will play out. i hope he is impeached for the simple reason i said. nevermind all the rest of this. it all kind of greases the same loop. it is about donald trump using his power to benefit himself .olitically don in oklahoma

city, oklahoma. the top russian official on president trump's national security council is scheduled to testify in the impeachment inquiry. he is reportedly set to leave his white house post imminently, according to sources. we talked to npr. talk,ites -- conservative senior director for the russian affairs of the national security council has been working on arms control and bio issues and he was elevated to the portfolio by trump's then national security advisor john bolton. news from the intelligence committee, investigators interested in talking to john bolton, who stepped down from his post last month. that investigation continues even as the resolution is being voted on today.

skip out of kansas city, missouri. independent. caller: i just wanted to point out that on these closed hearings, the reason they are closed is because of national security. and the testimony that is being given is because of national security, it is being held in the sensitive compartmental information facility in the capital. democrats orat the the republicans are screaming is simply because they are not getting any information from the members that are supposed to be in those hearings, and those members, there is nine of them. nunez and conway and turner and stewart and crawford and heard ann radcliffe -- and radcliffe.

if anybody knows anything about politics, it is all smoke in mirrors. the other thing i wanted to make a comment, does anyone remember involved, the attorney -- roy cohn, the attorney involved in the hearings? he was a mentor of donald trump and his premise was, never admit to anything. you will notice, donald trump has never admitted to anything. he always deflects any kind of criticism away from him. that is just the way he has been brought up. that is just his personality. that is all i wanted to say. host: you were going through the minority members on the intelligence committee. that is one of the three committees conducting these insed door depositions, addition to the foreign affairs committee and the house oversight and reform committee.

the intelligence committee, the smallest of those three. members of all three of those committees have access to these hearings, these depositions, and the ability to see what has been said at those hearings. that universe of members larger than just the eight or nine you just mentioned, but thanks for bringing it up. ted in north carolina, republican. caller: good morning. i am wholeheartedly in support of donald trump. he has done nothing wrong. put inve him, he was there for a purpose. ,or the democrats to remove him they will seal the fate once they do that. be in hell ifably they take trenton out of office. host: what is god's purpose for

president trump? caller: he is for the united states. read the bible. there is the trump of god. the pictures tell about that. edward, baltimore, maryland, democrat. caller: good morning. host: good morning. caller: listen, my comment is very simple and straightforward. the office of the presidency of the united states is an honorable office. the senators in congress, they are supposed to be honorable. they have "honorable in front of their names -- "honorable" in front of their names. donald trump has disgraced the presidency. you showed a clip of hakeem jeffries laying out the case for this impeachment inquiry. it is pretty straightforward.

trump is not honorable. alone should be enough to have people more interested than just wanting to be blind support for him, then to look at what he did. he was an brazen by them mueller report because they did not do anything. we know the ukrainians are allies and the russians, every since i have been a citizen of the united states, as a little kid, the russians have been enemies. this cozying up, it just don't look right. saidcomey testified, he things had fuzz on them. that is the fbi term. donald trump is disgraceful and needs to be impeached. i hope and pray that he is impeached, and the people wake up. enke for your time.

-- thank you for your time. host: talking about hakeem jeffries on the floor of the house yesterday, just one of a few members who took to the floor of the house to talk about the impeachment inquiry. another was bradley byrne of alabama. this is what he had to say about the impeachment resolution being voted on today. [video clip] is a watershed moment of monumental historic significance. for the sake of our constitutional republic, we must start over and do it the right way. unfortunately, today the rules committee will meet today to mark up a resolution that does nothing to change our dark course. you not listen to democrat talking points. this is political coverage disguised as goodwill. this is not a vote for impeachment in a vote to validate and continue the proceedings. this permits the majority to continue holding proceedings in

secret whenever the majority arbitrarily decides to do so. and unlike previous impeachment facilities, the empty assurance to offer the right of subpoenas is a sham. the minority has only authorized the issue of subpoenas if adam schiff and the democrats agree with him, the exact same situation the minority currently faces. it gives the president no right of due process and instead, instructs the chair of the rules committee to determine down the road what the procedures will be for participation of the president and his counsel. in the resolution presented by the majority, the president is given no right to see evidence, present evidence, call witnesses, have counsel present, cross-examine witnesses, make objections related to the examination of witnesses, or the admissibility of testimony and evidence, or to respond to evidence in testimony. how can president trump defend

himself if he cannot see the evidence against him? how can the american people make an informed judgment? the house would deputize adam schiff and jerry nadler, handpicked by speaker pelosi, to be prosecutor, judge, and jury. the majority chooses what is seen and unseen by the american people. this is a star chamber proceeding reminiscent of some of the most egregious practices of dictators. [and a video clip] host: that was bradley byrne. the house vote will take place today where res. 660 will be voted on between 10:30 and 11:30. it begins with these words -- the permanent selected committee affairs,vices, foreign and ways and means committees are directing to continue their

ongoing investigations as part of the existing house of representatives inquiry into whether sufficient grounds exist for the house of representatives to exercise its constitutional power to impeach donald john trump, president of the united states. that is the resolution to formalize the impeachment inquiry taking place today, getting your thoughts about it for about another 35 minutes or so before we take you live to the floor of the house. nick, sarasota, florida, independent. disabled am a retired, veteran and monthly caller. i am going to point out, i'm going to save the result after my november 2020 call after election day. yes, the democrats are in the majority and will probably get the impeachment sent over to the senate. it will die, and trump will be rightfully reelected next year, and there is a high probability

republicans will retake the house. maybe we will get four years of being able to get something done. this has all been nonsense. everything they want to bring up about, he is trying to attack a political opponent and all this stuff. why don't they ask the simple question -- if hunter biden goes in, doesn't speak chinese or russian and doesn't even understand the alphabet, and he is put into a company where he is paid 80,000 a month with no credentials in the industry, and nobody finds that curious? is whengoing to happen the ag in connecticut, when he gets done with what he is doing and they get this cleared up, people want to see indictments. i got a feeling they will see a bunch of them. you have not heard nothing from becaused brennan and, there will be targeted in this.

we will get the real traders. 306 electoral college votes and this time it will be 320 plus. host: to follow up on that call, you think it will go to the senate and die. do you mean mitch mcconnell will not bring this up and hold a trial, or do you think democrats will not have the votes for conviction and removal in the senate? caller: the latter. there is no way they will get two thirds with the republicans. they are talking about impeachment before he was inaugurated. it is just one more. we have heard this, scam after scam after scam and making elephants out of fleas. the president is conducting the office like he should, and he is probably the best president we have had since teddy roosevelt. if people don't see that, we have a sincere failure in the education system.

we have to get the communist curriculum out of schools and have people be given reasons why to be proud americans. they need to have real american history with emphasis on the founding documents and what was done, not all the social justice , coping skills, and critical thinking skills, because there is too many stupid people. all you have to do is find out how many crazy people there are in america, see how many people voted for hillary clinton. host: you mentioned the investigation being run by john durham, the u.s. attorney under attorney general william barr, running their own investigations into the origins of the russia probe. that is recently shifting into the form of a criminal inquiry. we talked about that a few days back when that news came out, still waiting to see what comes of that investigation. peggy is in texas, republican.

thanks for waiting. caller: thank you for talking to me. host: go ahead. caller: i have been listening to all of the things that have been going on. and for8-year-old woman the first time, i am petrified on what is going on in america. i am not a card-carrying member of either party, but having watched the democrats, they think they death to could be in charge of anything. they talk about believing what the democrats are doing, but how can we when everything they have done from the beginning has been alive? it doesn't measure. i have got to come up with something else. is a scam from beginning to end because they

are going to have total charge of who they can interview, so why are we even bothering with it? it doesn't make any sense. it is already decided. care, iay that i don't will vote for the president rather than vote for a democrat. host: speaking of the president, we mentioned we would let you know when he was tweeting. he just tweeted out a four-part tweet. we will read you part of it, quote of laura ingraham a fox news. the president quoting some of what she had to say last night or in her latest broadcast -- "now is the time for republicans to stand together and the leader

of their party against the smears. if -- it will be one thing if there was any indication of an underlying crime but there is not." this is tom out of new jersey, democrat. guest: good -- caller: good morning. i got some points that have been coming in. i have been dealing with this nonsense for over three years. i am in my 70's. i have been schooled. it just seems that at the end of truthy, i felt as if the doesn't come out in the societynt, that our will become nothing. i was a democrat under kennedy. i really have no affixed the asian. i am from brooklyn. trump is from brooklyn.

trump is cleaning up the swamp thell things historical newspapers -- all things historical. colleges,pers, immigration, they wanted open borders at a time when al qaeda and isis is around. washington post just wanted to print the isis commander who was killed, was a scholar. get -- also, they iff and pelosih and schumer and put them on the border and help them clean up border coming across our , like changing diapers, etc.

host: you say the president is cleaning up a swamp. nearly three years in, is the swamp less swampy? caller: the swamp is deep. look at how deep it is and how much it covers. the media is gone. the only media you have would be that station, channel five. every aspect of the media, everything that is spoken, one will have a catchphrase for the day and at the end of the day coming up with the same catchphrase. i cannot believe it. i am 73 years old. i am from brooklyn and no one knows trump comes from brooklyn. he is very sharp. who wants to do an association

with russia? we have been at russia since the cold war. when do we change? even though russia is russia, they could be of use. we can use them with the tariffs --tc. -- tara etc.fs, host: what you think about syria? caller: we shouldn't be there but we are there. syria, yemen, there is a whole new upbringing. there is a thing happening where we shouldn't pay off people, but that is what we do. it has been going on for so long. the thing i am afraid of is that , ithe truth doesn't come out withthe democrats, schiff

that homemade conversation that he said this is what trump would say, when i heard that, i thought i was in germany. host: that is tom in new jersey. mike in texarkana, arkansas, and independent. caller: good morning. -- how are you doing, my republican and democrat and independent friends? i am a disabled veteran from vietnam and don't know where to begin. the house impeachment inquiry rules, i wish you would have gotten a constitutional attorney or professor to explain articles one and two. the house has oversight over the executive branch of government, meaning you oversee and watch what they are doing. in the impeachment inquiry, there is no rules set in the constitution articles as to the process of inquiry. that is determined by the ruling

party, the chair. this is not a trial, it is a hearing. and ther mr. mcconnell other republican statements about not being due process, i am pretty sure to say this -- if mr. trump wants to bring his personal attorney, mr. giuliani, and make a deposition and questions and answers before the committee, i am pretty sure they would give him a chair. i have no doubt they would give him a chair to say his piece and answer questions from both sides of the party on those committees. this is not a one-sided event. you have republicans and democrats on these committees. they can ask any question they want to. as far as mr. schiff telling a witness not to answer a question, what was the genesis of why he did that? was there something dealing with national security? host: what about this part of

the resolution that allows the ranking member to request witnesses but only if they are essentially approved by adam schiff? caller: the republicans bring every tom, dick, and harry in as a witness to drag this out. it has to be governed in some manner. even in the trial, the prosecuting attorney cannot bring every witness off the street. ,his is mandated by mr. schiff to keep the republicans from bringing every person off the street or everyone who wants to voice their opinion and waste people's time. that is exactly why he did it. unfortunately, that is the perk of being the majority of the house. they called the rules. there is no rules set in article one and two as to how these inquiries should be proceeding. host: from arkansas this morning.

on the calling of witnesses, this is what is in that .ight-page resolution h 660 this is what it says about republicans calling their witnesses -- to allow for the full evaluation of minority witness requests, the ranking majority -- minority member may submit to adam schiff any request for investigation. any request shall be accompanied with a detailed written justification of the relevance of the testimony of each requested witness described. the ranking minority member of the select committee is authorized with the concurrence of the chair -- adam schiff -- to require as is necessary, subpoenas for the attendance of any of those persons. this hearing is also formalizing

some inquiry and that is set to take place between 10:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. in the house of representatives. the house of representatives currently encased in scaffolding for some work on the outside, but inside is where the chamber lies. kurt and montana, a republican, good morning. caller: hi, john. how are you doing? host: it is a little bit chilly, but at least it is not raining. caller: we had snow in montana. host: i should not complain about the cold to a man from montana. caller: i am also a vietnam veteran, and i'm disabled. really makes me any different than anybody else, it is just i think why the gentleman that called in before me and others were saying, because there era, they were

involved in the vietnam war and how things were then. the main reason i'm calling is takingst people are just democrats havehe been calling these witnesses who are getting their opinions, and it is not really fact, because nobody really knows the facts yet. kept ready will secret by kept ready will secret by schiff. schiff has been trying to impeach trump since day one. we all know where he is at and nobody can trust him. and id about collusion read this, i think they call it for their hearing in the senate. i guess it is in the house.

so, he is not trustful. i think that if everybody would just kind of wait for the inspector general, the attorney and i cannot remember the other attorney's name that is working with barr. host: durham, john durham out of connecticut. caller: he is a very well respected attorney, and i don't think that there is going to be thoseng really done until , i guess, until they get done with their work. that is really what i'm looking towards, to see what they find out. i think the thing that really bothers me is that this has been going on for almost three years, and they have been trying to impeach him and trying to find

something to impeach him on. to me, that really bothers me. if there was something that he , hedone in three years should have been able to find it by now. the phone call that gets pointed to so much, the president calling it perfect. do you think it was perfect? caller: i am not really sure just exactly what was said because it was -- it wasn't a call, it of the phone was a transcribed. host: correct. caller: i really don't think trump had any intention for a quid pro quo. i think he was concerned about what ukraine was doing when obama was president, because most of this stuff happened under obama's presidency.

i think he was wanting to know the very beginning of what took place, because if this was a thing where putin paid for the dossier and also established a connection with ukraine, she is areg exactly what they trying to recuse trump of doing now. host: withholding military aid amid a shooting war in the eastern ukraine a right way to do that? caller: i don't know how he done that, because they got paid. host: correct. caller: are we assuming that is what he was trying to do? we don't know that, and that is why i really want to hear what the legals that are coming, what they will have to say. that will make a lot of difference. if it is found out that -- we

already know what took place and the law firm that she sent money through to trump. the stuff on i think everybody is just so angry about anything that they're going to try to impeach him on anything. that is a lot of things trump does that i don't care for. but i just don't want the president to go through something that is not factual or something that he didn't do, and put this country through something that was nothing. host: that is kurt in montana. about 15 minutes left before the house is expected to come in. we will get to as many of your phone calls as we can. jody out of michigan, democrat. caller: thank you for taking my

call. i did read briefly through the resolution and what you were referring to as far as the chair having decision power basically, how the inquiry would be run. politicalf everyone's entrenchment on the democrat and the republican side, and since william barr did not want to appoint a special counsel, could the house have appointed a special counsel to start this process? spilledhe milk has been and things like that, but could they have done it? i just hope that everyone can realize that we want the truth on both sides, and there is just whenbias on either side you hear what is going on.

i was just wondering, what that have been a possibility that the house could have, since they can run the inquiry, to appoint a special counsel to do it? host: one other hypothetical for you since you have read through 660, that is only eight pages long and you can read it on our website. if this had come out a month ago, do you think that there aboutbe less discussion unfairness in the impeachment inquiry? if this is what they started with as opposed to something democrats have come up now in the last day of october after announcing the impeachment inquiry back in late september? caller: i think it might have helped, but i think that the way it has been run on either side as far as, i just feel there

needs to be some type of independence where a political party is not being influenced on either side. i just want the truth to come out. it is how they get to that. what i have seen on the democratic side and the republic , it is aepublican side lot of egos and, we are going to do it our way, instead of letting that drop away and let's get down to the facts and get about the business of voting, and not having this dissension going on in washington. host: who do you think has been the worst perpetrator of that ego you are concerned about, people defending their ego rather than getting to the facts? caller: [laughter] that would be tough. on any given day, i think it is

pretty evenly balanced, unfortunately. unfortunately, i think it is pretty evenly balanced. most americans -- i have been glued to c-span. i am retired now so i have that luxury to be able to do that, and i'm very thankful, but i think it goes both ways. democratic, but i see it in my party too, very much so. land,tony is in sugar texas, independent. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i want to talk about the sources that you were talking earlier about to one of the gentlemen sang a conspiracy. there is a great article from politico, january 11, 2017. 11,se google that, january

2017, politico, talk about what happened with ukraine and trump. then google senator markey and burisma. there you will find three to four articles, one by time , and we allm 2014 know that time magazine doesn't like our president. then you will find some articles from american thinker, washington post, and basically what these articles are saying, they are showing you the corruption that happens. they are showing you quid pro quo from the democrats. letterse links to the that three or four senators sent to the president of ukraine saying that if you don't cooperate with this investigation, you are not going to get our support for this money we were going to give you. then there is a letter from three to four senators, marquee

andsome others -- markey others where they support giving money to ukraine for this gas. then there is a gentleman name lieter who used to be the chief of staff of john kerry. firm, nl a lobbyist strategies. go to open secrets. burisma wasd that giving money to these senators -- shaheen, markey, and another senator. this is all tied -- host: do you think it is time for republicans, who controlled the senate, lindsey graham, to open their own investigation to investigate these things that you bring up, at the same time that democrats are conducting their impeachment inquiry? is that an avenue for your concerns? caller: i am an independent, but

i lean towards the right. i don't trust graham or none of the other senators because they are not going to investigate themselves. i trust barr or durham to maybe open up this can of worms and find out. host: why do you trust them more? caller: senators stick together. it is like the good old boys club, they stick together. just think about it. john kerry's grandson gets involved with charisma. -- burisma. son gets involved with burisma. people call in and give you things about russia and all, and half of them do not even investigate. in the morning, when you get a gentleman or a lady, i do backgrounds on them to see where they are coming

from. there is a great article this morning on roll call that leads up to what your question is today. roll call says there are loopholes the democrats can take away from trump. i don't see you even talking about that this morning. read state has a great article today that outs thei don't alled whistleblower. host: that is tony in sugarland, texas. we want to hear from you in the last 10 minutes or so before the house comes in at 9:00 and begins its debate on this resolution on the impeachment inquiry. dan is in wyoming, cheyenne, a republican. caller: good morning. how are you doing? host: doing well. go ahead. caller: adam schiff should not be running this impeachment because he has been compromised. he has been in contact with the

so-called whistleblower, so therefore he has to recuse himself, so therefore he has not recused himself, so he is actually breaking the law by not recusing himself. schiff, not shift, -- who should run the investigation? who would be trustworthy? caller: you want my honest opinion? none of them. i will be nice and i will call them democrats, but i have a different word for them. i don't trust any of them, because this is not an impeachment at all. -- to seeout to get if it can stick. if it doesn't stick, they will find anything. if trump ties his shoes wrong, they ought to impeach him over that. host: we are just trying to find

some of those stories the caller before dan was mentioning. this is the roll call story today, todd ruger is the author. democrats sees advantages in proposed impeachment rules, as the headline. house democrats dealt themselves several advantages inside the rules for the public portion of the impeachment, which could have big implications for the speed and fairness of the proceedings. under those rules, president trump's lawyers could not participate in hearings about the president's dealings with ukraine. as we have known it, the rules -- the resolution includes language about participating in the judiciary portion of impeachment proceedings. something we talked about already this morning, but todd ruger points to those points as well in his roll call story. james, albuquerque, new mexico,

you are next. james, are you with us? the partisanship from the very beginning, people talk about they wanted to impeach trump before he even got elected. if you go back to obama, you had are for obamathey think would be for it but are against it. committees, they should be nonpartisan. they should have a valid oath of nonpartisanship, and that goes with the speaker of the house too, a vow of nonpartisanship. allay all the fears of the republicans and the democrats. mitch mcconnell, he has got more power.

they can get a supreme court justice in. [indiscernible] the majority to vote is impossible because you can do away with a super majority vote by a simple majority vote. i don't see why you have to have partisanship. people look back at trump's past. it is no wonder people would question his motives today. service of bign money and always has been, and that is who he serves today. host: that is james in new mexico. speaking of voting today and what will be voted on today, an interesting story from the dallas morning news on the procedure for how that vote will take place. when it does happen, sometime between 10:30 and 11:30, the

vote will take place by electronic vote. this story from dallas morning by texascerns raised republican congressman brian batten, the house fears it's ones on the rules impeachment, he is pushing for a dramatic and rare procedure requiring each representative to stand and announce their votes. americans, we are elected and trusted on their behalf. they deserve to hear from our own voices, rather than a spreadsheet. congressman babb and wrote earlier to nancy report -- nancy pelosi. votes related to impeaching donald trump. dallas news.com with that story. a few minutes before the house comes in, ray, pleasant view,

tennessee. republican. caller: i was sitting and listening to a lot of people talk. this man from brooklyn that ande earlier, democrats liberals in congress in washington need to pay attention. this is what is going to happen -- america is not stupid. american people see and understand the swamp and we have seen it for years. now, it is being taken care of by donald trump and they don't like it. that is why all this repercussions is coming from. for instance, joe biden, he has got his son making money but don't know a thing about what he is doing. that is the swamp. that is what he is talking about. ,ohn kerry's son making money

that is all another part of the swamp. he is trying to clean it out and get these people halfway decent to go to washington. they need to pay attention. he is going to win this election and when he does, get your towels and start crying. host: ray mentioned callers from brooklyn. we have another one, alan in brooklyn, democrat. caller: it seems to me that if president obama had done any one of the dozens of things that are considered valid impeachable actions by this president, there would have been action by the republican senate and house to move to impeach him immediately. the problem we have now more than the details of trump's actions is a loss of focus on the constitution which does not include any reference to party as government structure.

we have balance of powers among the three branches and they should be competing with one another to make sure the others are honest. we have had mcconnell and company subordinate their to his to their bodies loyalty to party. when he agreed to block the nomination of garland without a hearing, just awaiting the election of a republican president of any name, he said, i'm going to wave my discretion to look into the relative merits of nominees and say whatever generic republican comes in, that will be a person whose nominee i support. that should be, on its face, deemed a violation of the constitutional structure. if people are saying, what are the origins of the investigation? ,hat about the fact that barr appointmentof his

-- telling the president how he would rule on issues the president cared about. he should recuse himself for compromising his independence and lobbying to the president, i will do what you like. these are actions that nullify the constitutional structure, and until we remedy these, we will not overcome any particular sins of any president friend impeachment process. we have to put national interests and separation of power over party. host: the house getting ready to come in just a minute or so. a reminder, this vote set to take place between 10:30 and 11:30. votes needed, 217 to pass that resolution. you can check out all our coverage on c-span and go to our website as well, for impeachment inquiry page,

c-span.org/impeachment, where you can find all the documents we have been talking about, this resolution being voted on today, and all of our coverage on this topic. we will take you live to the house floor for gavel-to-gavel coverage. the house getting ready to gavel in, in just a minute. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2017] which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]