department's inspector general, michael horowitz, testifies before the senate homeland security committee about his report on the origins of the f.b.i.? >>s russia investigation. that gets underway at 10:00 a.m. eastern. ♪ >> the house will be in order. c-span has been providing america unfiltered coverage of congress, the white court, andsupreme public policy events from washington, d.c. and around the country, so you can make up your own mind. created by cable in 1979, the span was brought to you by your local cable or satellite provider. c-span, your unfiltered view of government. coming up on washington journal, we'll get your reaction to the house debating and voting today on articles of impeachment

against president trump. we will also hear from members of congress who serve on the house judiciary committee. washington journal is next. is next. ♪ host: for only the third time in our country's history, the u.s. house of representatives is slated to vote on articles of impeachment. president trump faces abuse of congress. 216 housesi needs members to vote yes to then send the impeachment articles to the senate for a trial. our coverage begins this morning with all of you letting lawmakers know how you think they should vote today and why and the house gavels in at 9:00 a.m. eastern time. we will bring you gavel-to-gavel unfiltered and uninterrupted

coverage of the house debate and vote. c-span, onch here on our website, c-span.org, or download the app. republicans, 202-748-8001. democrats, 202-748-8000. independents, 202-748-8002. ,oin us on twitter at @cspanwj facebook.com/cspan, or text us at 202-748-8003. we will get to your calls in a minute. more on the rules of the road today in the house. want to help viewers advocate what will be -- navigate what will be a busy day. withgins as any other day the prayer and the pledge of allegiance before the house moves then to the business of the impeachment of president donald trump.

that business begins with what will be a debate on the rule governing the impeachment vote, is what the official resolution of impeachment is called after an hour debate on the rule, there will be a vote and they will turn to the actual debate on impeachment. that willhour debate take place equally divided on the floor of the house by republicans and democrats. that debate controlled by the two dish eric committee chairman and ranking member or their designees expected to be jerrold nadler, chairman of the house judiciary committee and doug collins. although jerrold nadler off the hill yesterday as we found out reportedly for an illness relating to his wife. we will see if he is back for the debate on the house floor.

around 6:30 or 7:30 p.m., we expect two separate votes on the impeachment resolutions, one on the abuse of power and the second on obstruction of justice . after those votes, which could take place when president trump is expected to be taking the stage for a rally tonight in michigan. he is expected to start around 7:00. after the votes, the house could turn to a resolution authorizing the managers who would then argue the impeachment case on the floor of the senate. some reporting on whether they would take that up tonight. this from the wall street journal noting steny hoyer told reporters the house might not immediately send up articles of impeachment to the senate after passage today, a move that could delay the senate trial. suggested speaker pelosi should delay sending over martic -- the articles to maintain leverage.

democrats have held off on naming managers for the senate trial. house managers must be named in order for the trial to begin, that from the wall street journal. is 216,id the number the magic number for impeachment, want to go over that math, there is usually 435 members of the house, there are 4 absences, that means there is currently only 431 members of the house. all it takes is a majority for an impeachment vote, 216. that is the magic number today. plenty of tracking by the various news outlets about where the members stand on their votes. i want to point to two of them. the new york times believes nancy pelosi and democrats have 219 votes -- 218 of them democrats, one independent justin amash. just one undecided democrat

right now and 12 who have not responded to the new york times tracking. one other subgroup being watched is democrats who hail from .istricts donald trump won this from the washington post on the 31 democrats. of them, 27 expected to vote today for the impeachment articles. jared golden of maine expected to vote for just one of those articles, the abuse of power article, but not the obstruction of congress article. yet and has not said collin peterson and jeff van resolutions. the we will all find out together about 12 hours from now. host: our coverage on c-span, on -- web, facebook.com/cspan, on the web, c-span.org, and the app.

bob in florida, democratic caller. do you know who your congressman is? bob, good morning to you in florida. say it isst wanted to about time to be impeached, one year or two years ago committing crimes big-time. the bottom line is i cannot they cannot say something like -- let me look at my notes, the democrats cannoted witnesses -- i comprehend the decision to say the article, number 1 or number

2, i agree with that, but number 3, it is bribery and the fourth one should be corruption. corrupt in american history, if we look back in hetory, andrew jackson, fired a member of his cabinet and trumpet fired so many people. host: do you know who -- do you know who your congressman is? is in floridaknow , most americans in florida support democrats. it is corrupt.

make a new law, voting suppression. host: i am going to let you go so i can get in the republican collar. good morning to let washington know what you think today on this impeachment day. caller: good morning. first and foremost, i want to his wife iser know in my prayers. i have been following this so closely and i hope not only do the house and the senate -- i hope they vote unanimously to not impeach trump, but the american people double down and , they rally behind him president, and he sweeps the whole country away, i hope. host: do you know who your

congressman is? who represents you in your district? caller: very gombert. host: you watched him in the house judiciary committee? caller: absolutely. host: and you agree with him? caller: 100%. i think this is a farce. democrats have been trying to get president trump out since before he even took office and obama helped. it is retarded. i cannot believe our country has stooped so low. it makes me mad. gohmert is on the house judiciary committee and expressed his opposition to impeachment. in texas, good morning to you. caller: good morning. good morning. host: how do you want the house to vote today? caller: to impeach. host: tell us why.

caller: the man is guilty. i am, i don't understand what is going on in america. i know he has divided the country. i have never seen this and i am 67 years old. i listened to most of the hearings and it was like the republicans, they were not listening. they screamed and bellowed like little children fussing. it democrats did not carry on like that. not even when they did bill clinton's impeachment. schumer is asking witnesses to come in. these are trump people. hide, man has nothing to why? why did he not allow these witnesses to appear before the congress.

he did what they said they did, holding aid back from ukraine, these people are getting slaughtered helping america because putin is invading their country. this man is in bed with putin. if america does not watch out, he will be running america. host: tell us where tyler, texas, is. caller: about 100 miles east of dallas. host: do you know who your member is in the house? caller: it is gombert. cannot stand him. theys a judge before redrew districting lines and he got in. he was a judge who was very racist. i don't think the man has a christian bone in his body. notis not for this, god is a liar, a thief, he is a person

who has respect for all people, no matter the race, creed, or color, he tells us to take care of the poor because he will be with us always. he is nothing that god would want up there. most republicans, i don't understand men and women. he got in by electoral votes, it was not the people. host: this is what house lawmakers will be voting on today, two articles of impeachment, abuse of power, using the powers of his high office, president trump solicited the interference of a foreign government into 2020 sosidential election ended -- and did so by soliciting the government of ukraine to publicly announce investigations that would benefit reelection, harm the prospects of a

political opponent and influence the election to his advantage. they will also vote on obstruction of congress. without lawful cause or excuse, president trump directed agencies and officials not to apply with subpoenas. president trump interposed the powers of the presidency against subpoenas and functions in -- yesterday, the house rules committee, which is the committee that decides the heldeters of house debate debate over the discussion of articles of impeachment. they approved them to go to the floor today by a 9-4 vote. before they voted, making the case for house judiciary democrats with jamie raskin of

mcardle because as john noted, jerry nadler was away due to his wife's illness. here is raskin making the article -- the argument for impeachment. [video clip] >> still awaiting the statement about investigating joe biden, already invited china to perform an investigation of its own, we can only ask what the 2020 election will be like or what any future election in america will be like if we let this misconduct go and authorize and license presidents to coerce, cajole, pressure, and entice foreign powers to enter our election campaigns on behalf of the president. who will be invited in next? the continuing course of conduct constitutes a clear and present danger to democracy in america. we cannot allow this misconduct

to pass. it would be a sellout of our constitution, our foreign policy, our national security, and our democracy. given that he and his team are awaiting president zelensky's statement about investigating joe biden, given that he has already invited china to perform an investigation of its own, we can only ask what the 2020 election will be like or what any future election in america will be like if we let this misconduct go and authorize and license presidents to coerce, cajole, pressure, and entice foreign powers to enter our election campaigns on behalf of the president. who will be invited in next? the president's continuing course of conduct constitutes a clear and present danger to democracy in america. we cannot allow this misconduct to pass. it would be a sellout of our

constitution, our foreign policy, our national security, and our democracy. host: congressman jeremy raskin' yesterday. your calls on the impeachment vote in the house. the discussion gets underway at 9:00 a.m. eastern time. before that, your phone calls. keep dialing in. front page of usa today, president lashes out at pelosi and democrats. john mcardle with more. host 2: that lashing out coming in the form of a letter by president trump, and 6 page letter addressed to speaker pelosi, there it is on your screen, the president accusing nancy pelosi of providing no due process, saying more was afforded to those accused in the salem witch trials, here is how president trump ended that letter to nancy pelosi yesterday, he said you are making a mockery of impeachment and scarcely concealing your

hatred of me and the tens of millions of patriotic americans, it is time for you and highly partisan democrats to cease this impeachment fantasy and get back to work for the american people. while i have no expectation you will do so, i write this letter for the purpose of history and to put my thoughts on a permanent and indelible record 100 years from now when people look back, i want them to understand and learn from it so it can never happen again -- to another president again. that letter getting a lot of reaction among those on twitter and the newspaper headlines as well and the president offering high marks for his own letter in a tweet he posted late yesterday saying he is getting good reviews on his letter. she is the worst, the president tweeted, no wonder with people like her and crying chuck schumer d.c. has been such a mess for so long and that includes the previous administration who spied on my

campaign, that was the president last night before 11:00 p.m. on twitter, up and tweeting about fox news this morning and mead -- brian kill brian. it was a straightforward summary that provides an account of the unfair procedures by democratic leadership and the failure to substantiate any impeachable offense. this letter marks a historic night, the eve of the democrat's vote to undermine the election process and from the democratic side of the aisle, this is brian schatz. if you have a family member or friend who is undecided, please ask them to read the letter sent by donald trump. if they read it and they are still undecided, maybe they are not actually undecided. don beyer saying the letter is an embarrassment and this from the mayor of salem,

massachusetts. kim driscoll is her name saying learn some history to the president of the united states. in salem, there was an absence of evidence and powerless, innocent civilians were hanged or pressed to death. at the ukraine affair, there is ample evidence, admissions of wrongdoing, perpetrators are among the most powerful and privileged. we mentioned nancy pelosi sending out her own letter, it came in the form of a dear colleague letter to a democratic -- democratic members of the house and this is part of what she wrote, no member came to congress to impeach a president, but everyone of us stood on the house floor, raised our hand and usk a sacred oath that makes custodians of the constitution. the facts have made clear the president abused his power for his own personal, political benefit and obstructed congress as he demanded he is above

accountability, above the constitution, and above the american people. in america, no one is above the law. host: jacksonville, florida, republican caller, you are next. lloyd, good morning. caller: it is lloyd in jacksonville and it is a great day for republicans about to shed the chains of the democrat show they have been pulling for the last 2.5 years. our president is kind of like ali. he will come back down -- and knock you back down. we are proud of our president. host: who is your congressman? caller: rutherford. chief.n ex police host: how does he plan to vote, do you know? is ar: no, but he republican, so i am sure he is down the line with the other

ones. host: all the republicans it seems are standing by the president. according to the accounts we , you have justin amash, who was of her republican -- who was a republican and now an independent who looks like he will vote with democrats. go ahead. caller: what we need to do is get this thing over with and let's get this country back on track. i think it will be over tonight. in maine, independent, tell us your congressman if you know him or her. caller: chellie pingree in the first district. jerrod goldman in the second, but i am in the first. i look at emperor trump as being somewhat of a gift in that we have gone through 10 cycles of voting and this 11th one will be the culmination of it.

if, as predicted, the house , itach is emperor trump will be a catalyst, i believe, a coming to jesus -- a coming to rationalization of our democracy, protecting our democracy because it is the to the people. i don't care whether trump is impeached and removed or just impeached, but either way, it will lead to the people coming to the conclusion that they are aning in what appears to be empire and they have the singular and very obvious emperor trump, that is the role

he is playing and i don't think we will go through our 11th least-worst voting without the people being smart enough to realize they have to vote against empire and for democracy. a pivotal decision on the part of the people. i also support the idea of the people going into the street in large-scale protest like hong kong and against emperor trump, of course, and against empire in general. trump himself is just a symptom of our trendline toward being an empire from the beginning of imperial presidency with reagan voting10 cycles later in the tellingeived warning of an 11th cycle having to get rid of emperor trump and

getting rid of empire. we has to be -- we have to be true democracy, not an empire. host: what do you think of congressman goldman deciding to vote for only one article of impeachment, abuse of power? caller: i think it is a little weaselly. i did not know the man, i am not in his district, so i did not vote for him. i did not vote against him, either, but he is walking the middle of the fence. he better get his head together and realize you cannot judge whether somebody is an emperor -- acting like an insane emperor , they all were, including caligula, who most reminds me of emperor trump because of his philandering with women and missed treatment of women. nero burned down rome, trump will burn down america. congressmantes

jared goldman, freshman democrat as you noted, represents a district that president trump won in 2016. he said in a lengthy statement posted to facebook, trump's actions are a realization of the fear, willingest to leverage the powers of his office to benefit his own reelection, this action crossed a line and there is no doubt this is an impeachable act. for this reason, i will vote for article 1. resistanceresident's to investigative efforts have been frustrating, it has not reached to the threshold of high crimes and misdemeanors the constitution demands. kevin in washington, democratic caller, good morning to you. what do you think about today's impeachment vote? caller: i am all for it and i would like to do a quote after. i am roman catholic and i get

tired of these white evangelicals praising how great trump is, take a look at one of his campaign speeches, what a foul, inept man. yes, he has gotten caught holding up money for ukraine for political purposes. where people in a democracy, where their ignorance is telling me my knowledge that we should overlook this or it never happened. host: how do you respond to republicans who say the aide was released without any of these alleged preconditions? they are liars. they are out and outliers. host: how is that ally? --host: how is

that a lie? caller: because they were caught and they tried to do a cover-up. it just like nixon, it is not the actual crime, it is the cover-up. you are going to ask who my represented of is? host: yes, please. caller: he is a republican, dan newhouse and in the primaries, there are a lot of republicans that were against trump. shutewhouse kept his mouth like a good republican and after everything settled down, he came out for it. camecally, the republicans out for trump then because they want to hold their small base party line. may i give you my quote now? host: sure. caller: it is by their toe bright -- he wrote plays and he said a man

who cannot see the truth is but a mannd an idiot, who knows the truth, but calls that ally is a crook. donald trump, that crook out of the white house and all those idiot republicans can be put in a box. a look at what washington post put together on congressman dan newhouse, republican, as you said, trump .on that district by 23 points john mcardle has more on the political side of this debate. host 2: you won't be seeing any ads on c-span if you watch the impeachment hearings today, the impeachment debate ahead of the vote this evening. i did want to talk about the ad war taking place, this is the

headline from vice news saying republicans are waiting the impeachment ad war and waging why democrats don't care as much. publicans have outspent democrats by a huge margin on impeachment ads since the house launched the impeachment inquiry in late september with more than $15 million in total republican paid advertising on the topic compared to roughly 5 million on the democratic side. the numbers are even more lopsided, specifically on tv ads targeting races that will decide the house majority, roughly $12 million from republican groups compared to 1.5 million from democrats. want to play viewers one of the republican ads, this from the republican national committee, their latest add on impeachment that came out within the past couple days. [video clip] >> this has absolutely nothing to do with politics. >> i would like to impeach the bastard right now.

>> imposter. >> he really should be punished. >> that charlatan in the white house. >> i am not running for anything except the impeachment of trump. we cannot accept a second term for donald trump. >> if we do not impeach this president, he will get reelected. >> it has absolutely nothing to do with politics. that from the republican national committee, don't expect the ads to stop after the impeachment vote happens in the house, the new york times noting in their story about the ad war that michael bloomberg has todged to donate $10 million one of the major house political action committees to defend democrats on the issue of impeachment. they are likely to play out as we enter the 2020 sprint to november. one other ad, this from defend

american democracy, a pro-democratic veterans group, they spent about a million dollars on tv ads to target some 14 republicans headed into the 2020 elections and here is their latest add on impeachment. [video clip] >> i solemnly swear -- >> i will support -- >> and defend -- >> the constitution of the united states. >> stop putting politics ahead of our country >> and hold the president accountable for abusing his office and risking national security for his own again. >> tell your member of congress to put country first. >> no one is above the law. calls, donaldyour in michigan, independent, you get to tell washington how you think they should vote today. go ahead. caller: i think they should vote no on impeachment. the whole process they have

turned around and done is unconstitutional, they did not let donald trump defend himself, they ruled it the whole way they is danto, my congressman kelly, a democrat, which i have already heard him make the and i he wants to impeach am telling you when donald trump as elected in 2016, i had thought that god was pushing the right buttons, i prayed people would open their eyes and they did. democrats don't understand one thing, they don't understand that when donald trump was running --was everybody and everything wound

up and had that hillary the criminal was going to win. there was no way possible donald trump could possibly win. it proved them all wrong because he won and god is working through him. i have never heard presidents in godpast talk so much about to the people and stuff. he is promoting god's work. this is a travesty of what they are doing. the whole process the house did was unconstitutional. the process says you should be allowed to defend yourself and he was not allowed to defend themselves through him at all. he can turn around and say he did not put his defense up there, they would not let him

put his defense up there. i don't see how people are not theirg their eyes and ears and really grasping about what is going on and how the democrats have for the last three years, they have wanted to impeach him from day 1. they have done nothing but obstruct and resist, they have not passed any bills to help people until just now, now they are going to do the usmca and then,at stuff, but until everything he was trying to do, they resisted, so they are not working for the american people. they want all these immigrants to rush in and we will have to pay for all them immigrants and that will do nothing but tax the heck out of all of us. host: we heard you on

impeachment, you are in michigan, is it divided between dan kelly and paul mitchell? caller: i am not sure on that. host: dan kelly, who represents donald, that district bom by hillary clinton in 4 percentage points, paul mitchell is in a district president trump won by 32 points and he is opposing impeachment. roy in florida, democratic caller. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you? things are not going too good, this is a sad day in america to impeach a president, but it must be done. he has destroyed of the oath of the presidency. republicans in the senate are horrible. i never thought they would stoop so low. we have a dictator in charge and we will if they don't hold him

accountable, that is what makes me scared. they are acting like in iraq. not that bad, but they could, they are acting like trump loyalists and the rest of the parties are taking a nap somewhere, he needs to be impeached. he is a fascist and a dictator. if we don't do something to make him in account, i don't know what will happen. i think the president has too much power. i think the constitution needs to be possibly changed a little because he is holding everything up in the court. what do you think? mullaney -- mulvaney, none of his witnesses have testified and the republicans no if they come in, it will convict trump, that is why they have not called him in yet. host: is your congressman bill posey? caller: i don't call any of

these people because they are trump people. i call people like nancy pelosi or chuck schumer or people like that that can see my point of view. i guess val demings is the only one down here, i don't know. this is serious business and i have been in washington a long time. i worked in radio in frederick and i have never seen it like this. host: we are going to talk to val demings in a few minutes, get her perspective on the vote today and why she plans to vote in support of impeaching president trump and bill posey is republican of florida representing the eighth district in the president won his district by 21 points. listen to the argument made by republicans yesterday. here is doug collins, top house can on the judiciary committee and here he is arguing against impeachment. [video clip] >> 4 fax that will never change.

.here is no pressure the only one relied a lot -- is what in said that presumed -- was gordon sondland who said that is what i proposed it to be. when he said i had a conversation with mr. yarmuth, -- how can you put that much faith in mr. sondland when he has conditionally told stories to change and all the rest was hearsay? -- colonelhen men it is ok for a president to ask for a political investigation because it happens, he even said that. the ukrainians were not even aware with that shade was

withheld and 8 -- not even aware aid was withheld. has the president ever been impeached without votes from the minority party before? >> care has discussion with that with the johnson impeachment, but that is when congress set him up. era, this is aay partisan impeachment. host: a glimpse of today's debate from yesterday house -- yesterday's house rules conversation. if you miss that, you can view it at c-span.org. evening, 6kely this hours of debate on the actual articles of impeachment divided by both sides. keep your channel here, we will have gavel-to-gavel uninterrupted coverage today and through the day into the evening on c-span, c-span.org, and you can listen with the radio app,

you just have to download it onto your mobile device. jeannie in missouri, we are starting with your calls this morning. what do you think? how should lawmakers vote today on impeachment? caller: they should vote against impeachment. i am so sick and tired of hearing democrats saying this is such a sad day. if you look back at the hearing nadler was in, you can see him napping. they also have pictures of the computer where democrats were .atching golf on their computer it is a really sad day according to the democrats. they wanted him out ever since they keepo office and the election of trump was

basically illegitimate because russia had influence on it. 63 million people who voted for trump only voted on him because of posts put social -- channels like facebook? that is the only reason we voted for trump? we voted for trump because he talks like the common people, , as the the deplorables clinton people called us, deplorables and how we smelled in walmart. they wanted him impeached ever since he got in office. i don't know why people cannot see that. in sanet's go to art diego, independent. what do you think? caller: what i think is a waste of money.

he is going to get impeached. i am not for trump. --m inspired by john kinney john kennedy, a democratic party that does not exist anymore. this is a waste of money and my point is we have more problems at the border in mexico. we have whole cities from mexico coming to work in the united states, violating our tax laws and there is a lot of things at the border that need to be paid attention to. this thing is a waste of taxpayer money. host: john mcardle, what do you have? host 2: we mentioned the president is up and tweeting. the president asking can you believe i will be impeached today by the radical left? do nothing democrats and i did nothing wrong. it is a terrible thing, read the transcripts, this should never

happen to another president, say a prayer is what the president encourages his twitter followers. a big reason the president is likely to be impeached is because nancy pelosi was able to convince 31 democrats who sit in districts president trump won in the 2016 election to vote for impeachment. some 27 of them expected to vote today for impeachment. it could be more, there is at least one undecided, congressman ron kind, jared goldman of maine as you can see from the chart on your screen is voting for one of those articles of impeachment, not the obstruction of congress article. expected to vote against the articles of impeachment today. i want to run viewers through the thoughts of two of those democrats from trump districts that decided to vote for impeachment.

they have been coming out this week be it facebook or statements, tweets explaining what their boat decision was and this is from kendra horn. she sits in the oklahoma city-based district president trump won by 14 points in 2016. this was her tweets from yesterday saying it is with a heavy heart, but clarity of conviction i have made my decision. took thank -- oath i requires a vote for impeachment. both.cts substantiate inviting foreign interference strikes at the heart of our democracy, threatens security, and is an abuse of power. confusing to comply and prohibiting officials from testifying. she tweeted i did not come to congress seeking impeachment nor do i agree with the extreme is

on either side, but we must act to protect our constitution and our national security. shera horn of oklahoma and won in perhaps one of the most surprising spots in the 2016 election, that deep red part of oklahoma. one other democrat from a trump district, this is anthony brindisi from upstate new york in the 22nd district in a seat president trump won by 15 points. he wrote an opinion piece at syracuse.com explaining his decision to vote for the articles of impeachment and this is how he ended that piece. i believe there is insufficient evidence to move forward with a trial in the senate and it will be their job to decide whether the president should be removed from office. no one spends hours away from their young family with the goal

of impeachment, but if we care about the rule of law, the scales of justice, and future generations, we must put our faith in the arc of history and our constitution. two democrats expected to vote for impeachment today. host: a third joining us from capitol hill, val demings. previous impeachments have been based on a crime. what is the crime president trump committed? what laws did he break? guest: good morning. let me first of all say it is really not a good day for our country, it is really a sad day. as many of my colleagues have, we took an oath to defend the constitution and we will demonstrate we are going to do just that. abuse of power and obstruction of justice, let's look at abuse of power congress.

the framers considered it the highest of crimes and when we look at the president past behavior, there are quite a few things that would fall under that category. the special counsel's investigation was totally centered around inviting a foreign power to interfere in one of the most precious rights we have, the right to vote in our elections. on july 25th, the president during the phone call with the ukrainian president violated that fully and blatantly invited a foreign power to investigate one of the president past -- the president's political rivals and we look at the president with much-needed military aid was not just all about ukraine. we know ukraine possibility to fight russian aggression is directly tied to our ability to fight russian aggression.

to hold that over president zelensky's head, if you don't do this, i am not releasing the aide, clearly the president tried to bribe the ukrainian president into meeting his demands. and we certainly know how the president obstructed congress, would not obey lawful subpoenas and even those who are no longer in his administration direct them not to cooperate. he refused to present documents under subpoena and so today, on this sad and solemn day, we are going to hold the president accountable. host: on abuse of power, as you know, jonathan turley testified before your committee and said under the common-law law definition, bribery remains relatively narrow and consistently defined. he said the concept of bribery

is an inducement in influencing the performance of a function to be exercised and he said aid,dents use foreign military aid for domestic and international influence and that does not ride to gratuitously exercise. guest: god bless professor doley, i think he tried to what he was invited to do by my republican colleagues, but let me say this, we know presidents in the past certainly have used the power of the office to push national interest, to push america's agenda, not their own personal agenda. every time i hear that question asked or hear you or others repeat what professor turley somehowsuggest there is

a correlation between the president using his authority for his own personal benefit and using his a 30 -- his authority for our benefit is ridiculous to me. host: on obstruction of justice, why not let the third branch of government, the courts decide on this issue like they did in the nixon impeachment? got to give it to the framers and when i look at our complicated history in america, let me say it is quite complicated. the framers have the right idea, they created a government for the people, by the people so we would not live under a dictatorship and we would not have a king or a monarch. they created three equal branches of government so that one branch could check the behavior of the other branch. it was simply brilliant.

in order for that system of government to work, you have to have good men and women willing the document of the highest law of the land, the -- we states constitution would expect the president of the united states to not refuse to give evidence and cooperate with an equal branch of government, the president has chosen to do that and we are going to hold him accountable. host: are you concerned today's vote will be along party lines? oath ithis is the fourth have taken, two as a law-enforcement officer and two as a member of congress. i am concerned about today

is living up to my responsibility as a member of congress and having the courage to do that -- it is a shame we have 435 members in the house of representatives and we will talk about the 100 in the senate later, but we all took an oath we would protect and defend not an individual or our party, we would protect and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies foreign and domestic. i am not concerned about party lines because i did not take an oath to my party. i would pray my republican colleagues remember they did not either. host: what have you been told about when you will vote today? give us a look at how it will all play out on the house floor? guest: i wish i could give you a timeline. we know at 9:00 this morning, we will officially begin our floor

debate as we do with the majority -- the overwhelming majority of resolutions that come to the floor. that will be a spirited, lively debate on both sides of the aisle and let me say this as i askwith this, i would everybody who is paying attention today and i know not only are the majority of people around the nation paying attention, but i think the world, all eyes from the world are on us today and i would ask that everybody pray for our nation. we have the greatest democracy in the world, other countries see us as a beacon of hope and we need to protect that. host: congressman val demings, thank you for spending some of your time with us this morning, we appreciate it. let's get back to your calls.

in oklahoma, a democratic caller. how do you want the house of representatives to vote today on these two articles of impeachment against president trump? caller: i don't believe they should impeach him because i don't think he did anything wrong. host: why not? 202-748-8002 caller: -- caller: he did not need russia's help to beat hillary and he did not need ukraine's help to beat the bidens. i think he has the right to ask for help with corruption for the united states and i think he continues to want america to be great. i love trump. i am 70 years old and i believe what you see is what you get and he talks the language of the common man. i understand what he is saying when he is talking and half of congress, i don't understand. i believe what the previous caller said about the prayers

going up during the election of 2016. i had a friend asked me if i believed in the power of prayer and i said i sure do and he said why? i believe only god can take him down. and it isreat nation based upon religious principle regardless of what anybody thinks and i believe trump is trying to do the best for america and if he gets voted in again, so be it. if he doesn't, that is the vote of the people. host: michael in dover, delaware, republican. you have to turn the television down. talk and listen through your phone. we are listening. caller: i think trump should not be impeached.

impeachment process is embarrassing to the united states. president trump did not get a fair share. i think trump has done a good job, but it is embarrassing to see the democrats taking over everything, especially with shifty shift back -- shifty shift bang -- shifty schiff. host: we are approaching the top of the hour, 8:00 a.m. on the east coast and at 9:00 a.m., one our eastern time, the house will gavel in their session for today.

they will move right away to the impeachment, we will have a debate on the rules and they will go to the debate on the articles of impeachment followed by a vote. we are looking at hours of coverage on our website, listening along with the radio app. john mcardle with us as well, good morning. host 2: you began the program talking about the historical significance. talkt to take a moment to about the history of presidential impeachment. when members vote at sometime , it won't be the first time for many of those members voting on the issue of a presidential impeachment. 55 current members of the house will -- were around for the lenten impeachment efforts, were members back then. 13 republicans. 1998 whenheir vote in

the articles of impeachment were voted on on the house floor. 13 current senators were members of the house in 1998. 6 democrats and 8 republicans and there was one member of congress around -- was a member of congress during the nixon impeachment inquiry. that is congressman don young, republican of alaska. wanted to show viewers some of the front pages of newspapers in 1998 during the clinton impeachment vote. this from the green bay press gazette the day the impeachment debate was taking place on the house floor calling it a -- and two of the headlines after the articles were passed, this from chartingngton post perjury and obstruction and from the new york times on december 20, clinton --

floor of the house, jerrold nadler expected to play a key role in leading the 6 hours of debate split evenly between democrats and republicans and expected the chairman of the house judiciary committee will be managing that time for the majority for democrats as viewers know, he was away from capitol hill, the washington examiner reporting yesterday he was away because of his wife, joyce miller's illness, but he is expected to return to washington, d.c. either late is expected to be on the floor today. jerry nadler playing a big role as the articles of impeachment move through the committee, but republicans cited his comments

in the clinton impeachment and his arguments against impeachment. just want to play viewers a clip from 1998. this is part of what republicans have pointed to in their arguments. [video clip] isthe effect of impeachment to overturn the popular will of the voters. except tonot do this defend our constitutional liberties against the dire threat and without an overwhelming consensus of the american people. there must never be a narrowly voted impeachment or eight impeachment supported by one political party and opposed by the other. will call into question the very legitimacy of our political institutions. the american people have heard the allegations against president and overwhelmingly impose -- oppose impeaching him.

they elected him and we have no right to overturn the judgment of the american people. mr. speaker, the case against the president has not been made. there is far from sufficient evidence to support the allegations, and the allegations even if proven true, do not rise to the level of impeachable offenses. this is clearly a partisan railroad job. the same people who tell us we must impeach the president for lying under oath voted to reelected -- voted to reelect the speaker who just admitted to lying in a hearing. the american people are watching and will not forget. you may have the votes and the muscle, but do not have the legitimacy of a national consensus. this partisan coup d'etat will go down in infamy in the history of this nation. [end of video clip] host: jerry nadler will be

leading the floor debate today in the impeachment of president trump. we will continue for the next hour, leading up to the beginning of that debate, and we will continue on c-span with our coverage throughout the day, uninterrupted. we will bring you the debate and the vote. the house is voting today on impeachment. tomorrow they are supposed to vote on the usmca, the nafta 2.0 trade deal. before today's vote, the house approved the 4.8 trillion -- $4.8 trillion spending bill, appealing obamacare taxes. encourage i the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell -- encouraged by the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell, the president could sign it into law this week. it is your turn to tell

lawmakers how you want them to vote. mike in thorndale, pennsylvania, independent. if you know who your congressperson is, let us know. caller: my congressperson's are susan wild, a democrat, and chrissy houlahan, democrat. you cannot have two. wildr: it would be susan and my senator is patrick toomey, a republican. regarding this impeachment ,ersus the clinton impeachment this is my observation. the first thing i am hearing continuously is that the democrats have been after this president since before he was elected. in the first impeachment, in the

clinton impeachment, excuse me, it all began with whitewater. investigating the clintons. that went on for years, and whitewater happened years before bill clinton was even a candidate for president. say this there and investigation, they have been after him since the beginning, is just not an argument. then when they couldn't get anything on him on whitewater, kenneth starr went after him for infidelity. that was the crux of the entire impeachment process. host: well, perjury was the law that the president broke. caller: right. actuallking about the following of the investigation. that was the article of impeachment, was perjury, or one of them, but that is how we got

there. justice,obstruction of ok, fine. bill clinton deserved to be punished. i feel like he did, but that is not my point. the republicans held the party line. onre were eloquent arguments both sides, but regardless of what the facts were, that went ahead. , so there was that and then we are saying that this doesn't look wise, there was no crime. both sides are saying repeatedly that an actual crime does it need to be committed in order for it to be an issue recognized

for impeachment. in my opinion, a crime has been committed. host: what is the crime, in your opinion? caller: that he attempted to bribe a foreign official. host: the solicitation? caller: yes, even though it didn't actually happen. it definitely was attempted. have beents that repeatedly shown are there. host: do you think this should more in a senate trial? do you think there should be witnesses like john bolton and mick mulvaney called into the well of the senate to testify? caller: of course. just as has been said, if they have evidence to bring to the table, it should be heard.

i want to show you and others what the majority leader, mitch mcconnell, who is supposed to negotiate later this week with the minority leader, who has called for witnesses, this is what he had to say at a news conference when he was asked about the parameters for a senate trial. ♪ >> both of these cases are somewhat unique. what senator schumer is asking for is not the procedure we agreed to in the clinton impeachment. there were actually two. the first that we agreed to was before you even got to the question of whether to call witnesses or not, and it laid out a process that seems to make sense and hopefully he and i can agree on, under which you listen to house managers, the president's lawyers, then there was a period of time we could

send written questions -- senators are not allowed to speak -- through the chief justice to the lawyers in front. at that point, the partisan differences during clinton materialized over the issue of witnesses. i think it is pretty safe to say in a partisan exercise like this , people sort of sign up with their own ride. -- pride. what we may have felt 20 years ago may not be the same as today. you can quote virtually any of us who were here during that period, to be on the opposite side because of the nature of the process. i think we will get an almost entirely partisan impeachment. i would anticipate an almost entirely partisan outcome in the senate as well. [end of video clip] host: here is the minority

leader chuck schumer responding. [video clip] >> i am utterly amazed what mitch mcconnell said. mitch mcconnell said proudly he is not an impartial juror. do the american people want mitch mcconnell not to be an impartial juror in this situation? i would ask any one of my republican senate colleagues, are you impartial jurors or are you like mitch mcconnell, proud not to be one? second point, later mcconnell talked about a bifurcation. let's do the easy stuff first. no. the key issues here are witnesses and documents. we should decide those from the very beginning. in fact, many in my caucus have voiced a fear that mitch mcconnell would do, set up how

many hours each side has to discuss things and shut things down before we got witnesses. we should decide witnesses and documents from the beginning, and not put it off. they are the most important decisions we must make. [end of video clip] host: chuck schumer talking about the discussions that could get underway later this week after the house votes today on the two articles of impeachment, abuse of power and obstruction of congress. , democratic caller, how do you want the lawmakers to vote? caller: i am in favor of impeachment. what i would like to do is offer a few comments on things that i am not hearing over the airwaves. something a little different, anyway. -- i thinknterested

what is going to happen today is a foregone conclusion -- but i am much more interested in what is going to happen during the senate trial. i don't want this to be a foregone conclusion also, some i thought is maybe they could adjust the rules and call for a secret ballot for senatorial impeachment votes. a secret ballot would solve a lot of the partisan concerns during this senate impeachment trial, i think. senators could feel free to vote their conscience without fear of political blowback. that is my idea. i would like to see a situation where senators could vote their conscience without fear. there is a lot of fear these days. nobody fears more than senators and congressmen. i would like to see each

individual person have the freedom to vote their conscience. myron, the senate just takes 51 members to agree on the rules for the senate trial, how it will be conducted, but it takes two thirds, 67 senators to vote to impeach the president, something mitch mcconnell predicts will not happen. caller: that is why i am emphasizing that i would like to see the pressure taken off the senators, and that nobody would know how they voted. it would be a secret ballot. i think you could get a more honest vote that way. the other, and i would like to make is i would like to see us bring in somebody who is not an amateur into the white house. i like joe biden or amy

klobuchar. they have the experience to do the job and they know how to comport themselves as a representative of the united states. deborahwant to get in in louisiana, republican caller. boy, i don't even know where to start. trump voters have been called kkk, uneducated. since he got into office, he should have charged them with slander. grandchildren, everyone have been thrown through the mud . i want this to be over. i hope mr. kennedy, mr. collins, this gets into the senate. i am a military mom. it is time to move on to other issues. this is supposed to be people. they have no evidence.

callinge tv ads of him russia and the ukraine. i can google if i want to talk to ray uranian or russian. it makes no sense. host: ted, irvine, texas, independent. good morning. caller: i don't think they should, never should have got this far. i think the democrats are just disingenuous. host: disingenuous in what way? thing, well, for one they basically only hear what they want to hear. .hey have a they are not very freethinkers, and they just kind of listen to what cnn or whatever says, and take it as the word of god, and it is really not.

basically, they are just making a mountain out of a mole hill. host: do you know who represents you in the house? morer: you know, i am involved in national politics than i am local, so i don't know who my representative is. host: in the house of representatives? caller: like i say, the main thing is that the democrats are basically -- they see what they want to see and they make every fact -- not fact, but everything that is said, they twist it waynd to make it go the that they want it to go. this like everybody sees and they think that we don't think, that we are just kind of like -- and there are a lot of people that don't think. that is what they are going for, the people that don't think for their selves and just repeat.

like, they have all these lines they start saying and talking points, and you will hear it from the politicians, the newscasters, and it is the same words. you wonder, those people aren't thinking too much. thesere just following lines and saying words exactly. smart people can understand this, but unfortunately nowadays there is a lot of people that ain't so smart. i only hope the smart ones when. this is going to help strong in the long run because there are people who can see through all this stuff. host: kenny marchant i think represents you in irving, texas. he is a poached to impeachment. 2: you are caller a couple

of calls back was talking about pressure on senators as this impeachment likely moves towards a senate trial after today's vote. just wanted to offer up some news on that front, including this on one of those key senators who would likely be getting a lot of pressure, senator susan collins of maine, a key moderate senator, this from jeff bennett of nbc news this morning -- susan collins announces she is running for reelection, ending months of speculation. she refers to herself as a centrist who believes in getting things done through common -- compromise, collegiality, and bipartisanship. we will see how susan collins votes, as well as mitt romney and cory gardner. some news on that front from laura litman of bloomberg news, there was a lot of huddling underway yesterday on impeachment as senate

republicans held their weekly policy lunch. vice president mike pence and the white house director of affairs were in that room and -- democrats met in thune's office. romney said he was indifferent as to what would -- witnesses get settled early on. cory gardner when asked about witnesses said simply, will have a trial. after this vote today, the speculation turns on the whip count in the senate and some of those key swing voters that are being watched among the members of the senate. news to keep c-span viewers aware of from "the new york times" late yesterday, william

taylor, the top diplomat in ukraine who described what he , said yesterday he was stepping down from his post. in a brief email, mr. taylor said he would leave in early january because his temporary appointment is set to expire. under the vacancies act, political appointees in an acting position can hold office only for about 200 days. earlier in the day, people familiar with the planning had suggested he would leave by the end of december. keep viewers up to date on some of the latest polling on impeachment. gallup has had their tracking polling in the field throughout this process. this is their latest numbers. president trump's job approval ratings have inched up and are at 45%. his ratings have increased six

percentage points since the house of representatives open their impeachment inquiry earlier this fall. approval remains high among republicans at 89% and low among democrats at 8%. less than half of political independence approved of the butident's job performance, 42% is up from 34% at the start of the impeachment hearings and matches the highest ratings from trump so far. that is from gallup. letting viewers know what members are tweeting as they are headed to the floor, expected to be a crowded house floor at 9:00 a.m. this morning. these are a few thoughts -- annette barragan saying come on this impeachment even as i prepare to vote, i think about our founding fathers, the oath i we the people it,

of the united states in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice. how manyssie saying -- democrats will join republicans in voting against this caustic stunt? one more tweet from congressman mark pocan -- while the president trade his office, today we uphold hours. host: matt in chesapeake, virginia, democratic caller. how do you want lawmakers to vote? caller: i am a democrat, but here is my issue. they have parties, one side how they think, republicans think, and the democrats. actually if you go in here what is going on, i am totally ashamed to be a democrat.

if it comes up for reelection again, i will vote republican. the democrats, they are thinking narrowminded, even though i am a democrat. i am ashamed to be a democratic party. they are out to get the president, no matter what is said or done as far as the party. it started way back when he was running for election for being president. --lintons had it out for him the clintons had it out for him, obama headed out for him. i don't understand why people will not give us -- give him a chance. he is our president. people like -- people elected him to be our present. give him a chance to run the country and get it under control. do not down him because he is a republican or democrat.

he is our president of the united states. host: you are a democrat. caller: correct. host: did you vote for president obama? caller: yes, i did. obama, but president i did not vote for president trump. party, theyng the are just out for blood. it doesn't matter whether i am a democrat or republican. i look at what i see on the media, and i see what is happening. what i am asking the democratic party is to give the manage chance to do his job. no matter what he does, they are criticizing him for everything, anything. host: heard your point. donald mccutchen is your congressman and hillary clinton won that district by 21 points.

he is a yes for impeachment. ,avid in granville summit michigan, republican. good morning. caller: good morning. host: we are listening. caller: my representative is fred keller and my senators are senator casey and senator toomey. i believe there is an ongoing crime, but i believe it is being created by the democrats in congress with their abuse of power. creating articles of impeachment with no stated crimes is an abuse of power. the other point i would like to make is investigating possible corruption of the bidens does not just benefit president trump. exposing corruption benefits all americans. if vice president biden did nothing wrong, how is there any dirt to dig up? those are my comments.

host: frank keller is your congressman, and the president won that district i 36 points. eric, erie, pennsylvania, independent. aller: i say it has got to be yes vote on impeachment, unfortunately. it is a necessity. we are all realizing the futility of what the senate trial will be. it is right there in macconnell's bully pulpit remarks. this is going to be one of those ones that is going to be a generational question of being on the right side of history. the wayl be looked at we know nixon has been thoroughly reviewed and reviewed again. this will be subject to a lot of historical reviewing. one thing that is troubling to

me as i have been listening this morning, a lot of your republican callers are leading their remarks, their reasoning, their motivation, through a prism of their religion. in a democratic republic with the rule of law and a clear separation of church and state, i wonder at what point more americans won't start to become disturbed enough about that, that they have to remark to those folks and say, listen, it is great that you have your faith and whatever you believe in, but when you step into the public square to participate in our democracy, you need to have some reasoning that goes beyond god is speaking through mr. trump. thatis the kind of stuff historically has seen democratic republics slide into authoritarianism and other forms of governance.

you get motivations based on things like that and that is where you have true faction in that can-- factioning lead to civil strife and civil war. at the risk of sounding like some sort of snob, i am an uneducated guy, i don't have a degree. but this minimum level of sophistication that needs to be there with voters in a democracy, we have to have it. we have to start insisting upon voters and commentors and graduates of our schools, they theiro demonstrate that opinions are based in something that has at least some credibility that they can point to. it is getting scary, the paperthin basis that people are giving their rationalizations for things they support and don't support.

without a good reasoning, we will not long have a democracy. host: have you expressed your views to your representative? haven't, because i am in pennsylvania in a satellite way. i am a new yorker. this is trump country i am in. erie county voted for him and the commonwealth of pennsylvania voted for him. i have had some interactions with local folks and apropos of some of the things i was lamenting, interactions with these folks are scary. don't really find a lot of credit all -- credible and substantive debate. i just find fervent believers in the cult of this man. there is a lot of love for just being contrary to the people they identified. there is a lot of forgotten people syndrome in the

industrial midwest, and there is some legitimacy to that, but again, folks need to base their political opinions, as long as they are american patriots, they need to base that in something other than love or hate for an individual human, because they will be gone and the rule of law will remain. host: the washington post says mike kelly, republican who represents erie, will oppose impeachment. president trump won that district by 20 points. host 2: the house getting ready to gavel in just about a half an hour from now. i just want to remind viewers what will be happening on the floor and what will be a very busy day. it begins like any other day with a prayer and pledge of allegiance before the business turns to impeachment. that begins with a one hour debate on the rule governing the

impeachment resolution, better res fiveh rez 755 -- -- 755. it is six hours of debate, equally divided by the judiciary chairman and ranking members or whatever designee they decide for that six hour period. 27:30, theately 6:30 house will vote on -- 6:30 to 7:30 this evening, the house will vote. that vote could come at the exact time the president is expected to take the stage for a campaign rally in battle creek, michigan, expected to begin at 7:00 p.m. eastern time. we will see what is happening on the floor of the house. ine news about who will be

the chairs when this goes down, the denver post tweeting this morning that the denver democratic congresswoman will be in the chair presiding over the impeachment debate and vote. term degette is the 12th member of congress from colorado, former attorney and state public defender. she will be navigating that debate on the floor of the house. she sent a statement out to the denver post that reads -- i am honored that the speaker has asked me to serve as speaker pro tem in the house and preside over much of the impeachment debate. none of us came to congress to impeach a president but all of us took an oath to uphold the constitution. that is congresswoman diana degette in her statement. two other tweets from members just within the past 10 or 15 minutes, this from doug collins,

the ranking member of the judiciary committee who will likely be controlling the debate time on the floor for republicans. hourseted this morning -- before this sham impeachment vote, the best democrats can do to justify themselves is to dispense with the fifth amendment. democrats can't be trusted with the truth or apparently the constitution. a tweet from adam schiff -- president trump abused his power. the only question is will members honor their oath to uphold the constitution? history will remember the vote we take today. host: neil in california, democratic caller, good morning to you on this impeachment day. how do you want the lawmakers to vote? bothr: they should vote articles as yes.

my representative is row a rose -- raul ruiz. we are about 60% democrat. areaed to be a republican represented by sonny bono. i have a couple of points i want to make about corruption. if you listen to republicans, they want to say that trump has every right to go after corruption wherever it is, including in the ukraine, but i would remind the republicans that if you look at trump's history, for instance trump university where he was sued and lost, had to pay out millions of dollars, and even trump's charity where he was caught stealing, trump has a history of corruption. now we are somehow to believe he is a corruption fighter. he has very little credibility on that, and their argument falls flat.

the second point is i believe the democrats are going to have a short-term loss and a long-term gain. what i mean is there is no certainty that this impeachment will give any political advantage to the democrats. i think it is also a point of why the democrats are doing it. they are not doing it for political gain. they are doing it for long-term what is right, to fight for the constitution, and in the long term i believe democrats will be looked upon favorably for what they have done. mcardle pointed out, we will hear from the president tonight at the time the vote is taking place, so our coverage of the impeachment debate on c-span1, c-span2 is the president's rally in battle creek michigan -- battle creek, michigan. our websiteh it on

or listen on c-span radio and bounce back and forth. mark in michigan, republican. caller: good morning. how are you doing? host: doing well. how do you want lawmakers to vote? caller: i don't want them to vote it all. i think it is a sham. i don't think any offenses impeachable. they are going to vote their way and do what they are going to do, and i have heard a lot of people on the democratic side say things like i would like to see the representatives in the secret, and to me , this all started in secrecy and this is public -- we vote these people in for public transparency. to vote anything in, in private

would be to me unconstitutional. it has got to be public. all, this going after the president for his phone call , nowhere in his phone call did he ever ask for anything political in the 2020 election. none of this was said. he said "us." are, this isy "i hyperbole that got overused and they have to go somewhere with it. at this point, i think it will hurt the democrats. this guy said it will hurt them in a little bit but in the long run they are voting for our constitution. they are throwing the constitution under the rug. host: john mcardle? ost 2: the democrats need

216 votes to move to trial. that, there is usually 435 members of the house when the house is full. there is currently four absences. that gets the total number to 431. a majority is 216. that is why you should be looking for 216 as the number to watch for when the votes start coming in. i should note yesterday, delegate ellie -- eleanor holmes norton was trying to change the math a little bit. she went to the house floor for a vote on impeachment in the house floor. vote -- shely get a was heading to the house floor

to discuss the impeachment and why it is unacceptable the 700,000 residents of the district of columbia have no vote. that willes that's -- be changed because she is pushing for a d.c. statehood bill. back in 1998 at the very start of the floor debate of the clinton impeachment, eleanor holmes norton was the first want to speak on the house for and she was speaking about the same matter back in 1998, asking for a vote that she never got, back in 1998. here is congresswoman eleanor holmes norton 21 years ago. [video clip] >> this on behalf of half a million- half americans who pay federal income tax but do not vote. there one right mentioned in the constitution is the right to vote for president and vice president.

the decision to expel a president from our office is as important as the decision to elect the president to office. indeed, the decision to expel him is more momentous. there are no partial rights in the constitution. it is unconstitutional and irrational to interpret to the 23rd amendment to afford a vote for the president, but no vote on whether to impeach a president. let this process begin on a high ofe of fairness in the name the half million american citizens who happen to live in the nation's capital. i ask for the vote in these impeachment proceedings. [end of video clip] host: eleanor holmes norton, did not get a vote then, will get a vote -- will not get a vote today. ben cline, congressman of

virginia, will get a vote. guest: i will be voting against impeachment. the judiciary committee failed to find evidence of high crimes or misdemeanors through its limited hearings, no fact witnesses. chairman schiff did not appear. it was a disappointing series for the judiciary committee that lost a lot of clout and luster in this process. host: in the judiciary report that was released earlier this week, they noted that although president trump's actions need not rise to the level of criminal violation to justify impeachment, his conduct was criminal. fraudnti-bribery and wire statutes underscored the extent to which congress and the american people have condemned the use of a public position of trust for gain. nothing is more corrosive to the

fabric of government than bribery. your response? guest: it is typical for this judiciary committee and jerry nadler to accuse of crimes in their report that are not mentioned in the articles of impeachment. it was a ridiculous event when all throughout these hearings you had accusations of criminal violations, but they never put forward the evidence to prove criminal violations. what we have here for the very first time is the impeachment of a president, essentially the undoing of an election, putting 430 five members of the house in for thetheir choice president, it is a disappointing process for something that is not a criminal offense. the other impeachments all centered around criminal violations of the code. this does not, and it is a political event. that is what we are seeing here.

it is a disappointment and will lower the bar for impeachment in the future. host: they also wrote starting with the anti-bribery statute, bribery occurs when a person seeks or demands something in return for a political of fact -- act. did the president solicit a bribe when he asked the ukraine leader to investigate the bidens in exchange for the military aid and a white house visit? guest: there is no evidence to that fact, no evidence presented to the judiciary. it is beyond reason to think that the judiciary committee, which is made up of lawyers who know better, to argue that even though we can't prove the violation of a criminal statute, we are going to go ahead and accuse him of it throughout the report and let that stand on its

own. what you will see going forward is the use of impeachment as a tool in the tool belt of whoever is in the majority in the house against the president of another party, and it will happen with increasing regularity. the voters will see just how much this stops the train when it comes to getting the work of the people done. they will not appreciate it, so i think it will have ramifications in the fall. dot: did president trump anything improper involving ukraine? guest: the judiciary committee did not see any evidence of high crimes or misdemeanors committed. that is why i am going to be voting no. that is why the republicans i have spoken to will be voting no. democrat, is, a joining the republican party because he understands that using impeachment as a political tool against your political rivals is something that is not

what the founders intended. it is not what is right for this country and it is not what the voters want. we are going to see the senate respond appropriately and not likely convict and remove this president, because they theystand the voters, when spoke in 2016 through the electoral college, that is a very important event, one of the most important events this country undertakes. for a gruesome house -- group of , to say they will put themselves between the president and the voters who chose him, that will not go well with the public. host: should there be witnesses called for the senate trial? guest: i would have liked to have seen witnesses called in the house judiciary committee, so i will not speak to what the senate will decide, but throughout this process, witness testimony would have been

helpful. the whistleblower's testimony would have been helpful. adam schiff's testimony would have been helpful because he is a fact witness. he lied about having no contact with the whistleblower which in fact he had. i will leave it to the senate, but it should have happened in the house judiciary committee. host: should john bolton and mick mulvaney testify before house lawmakers? guest: i would have liked to have heard from as many fact witnesses as possible. the president decided to exert executive privilege and call it -- congress challenged that in the court. nancy pelosi put the president in a catch-22 where he wanted the third grant -- branch of government to decide what the extent of executive privilege was, and democrats said, we will impeach you rather than wait for the courts. they are supposed to wait for

the courts to decide. that would have made for a fair impeachment process, but they refuse to do that, and accuse him of obstructing congress, when we know the real abuse of power happened when nancy pelosi accused him of obstruction for going to the courts. host: describe for viewers what it has been like behind closed doors with your fellow republicans. what have those gatherings been like when you talk about impeachment? guest: it is very much a positive environment. we understand the facts are on the president's side, and the evidence is on the president's side, or lack thereof. the democrats are rushing this through and think about it, all these moderate democrats, by voting now, nancy pelosi is forcing them to support impeachment because she knows if they can get past their filing

deadlines for primary opposition, then they would be free to vote no as is their conscience. she is holding their feet to the fire and making them vote for impeachment because she knows that she can do it now, they would get a primary. cline, weressman ben thank you. guest: thank you. -- clinegressman kline voting no on impeachment, the house getting ready for debates in about 10 minutes. they will gavel in an debate on articles of impeachment. decide the rules of debated.and six hours john mcardle has more. : cnn reporting that in an

unusual move, speaker nancy pelosi has called on all of her colleagues to gather on the house floor this morning when the chamber convenes, in an effort to show that the democratic caucus views today's proceedings as somber and serious. cnn reporting that republican procedural objections are expected at the start of the proceedings on the floor. , plans at thes moment do not include endless parades of motions to seek to delay the inevitable impeachment vote. action,ackside of the at the end after what is expected to be the passage of the articles of impeachment, politico saying some on the left are calling for nancy pelosi to

hold off on sending articles of impeachment to the senate until democrats get a deal on a trial they like. pelosi can't hold on to the articles forever after they are passed, but she can for a short period of time and will likely have to to pass another resolution naming the impeachment manager. those are the folks arguing the impeachment. dana in bowing ham, washington, thank you for waiting -- bellingham, washington, thank you for waiting. caller: here i am way out on the west coast, very early in the morning, and i am up watching this because this is the third time in my lifetime that i have watched a potential impeachment or a national impeachment of a president. i want the impeachment articles to be passed. it from alooking at

historical standpoint because nixon was threatened with impeachment because of obstruction. bill clinton was impeached because of obstruction, and if nothing else, donald trump should be impeached because of obstruction. things that go on can argue back and forth as to whether clinton's infidelity was a basis for impeachment, regardless of what the articles came up with. you can probably have an argument about whether trump attempting to get foreign influence in our elections was a consideration for doing so. i find it hypocritical that democrats and republicans accuse other countries of interfering

in our elections and get all upset when we, for decades, have been interfering in the elections of governments of sovereign nations around the world, and they continue to fund those efforts to be able to do that. marsonesentative is rick , a democrat who has already declared he is going to impeach, but if we talk about the constitutionality of this process, impeachment and the trial are a political process. yes, there is going to be some element of partisanship that is going to be involved in this. this from watching some of the historic footage from clinton in 1998, the democrats are making the same arguments the republicans are making now, and the republicans were making arguments the democrats are making now, so it kind of flip-flops depending on whatever

your political viewpoints are. i personally would like to see the articles held for as long as possible while they continue to investigate the trump administration for violations of other things that are impeachable. as an example, he is violating international humanitarian law and people are dying and suffering on the southern border in concentration camps. host: we do want to get some other voices in before we bring you to the floor of the house of --resentatives for the only only the third time the president will have an impeachment trial. chris, republican. guest: good morning. i would like to talk to about how he put it out there on his he saidand stated that "we" as in the country. he did not say "me."

that is not a base to turn around and go after somebody. we have been for a long time on both sides of the aisle wanting to end corruption in this country. we finally got somebody who is trying to do that and granted, yes, there is corruption on both sides, but if we impeach this man for doing something we have been wanting for a long time, that shows how much corruption is in this country. that is about all i had to say about that situation. on the others of the aisle with obstruction, we have seen so tramps go on with the russian investigation, why withd he -- traps go on the russia investigation, why should he continue to let people go on with perjury traps? host: vanessa. , aser: today is truly

somber as it is, celebration of our united states constitution. the democrats would be derelict in their duties if they did not impeach this president today. as sad as it is today, donald trump and the republicans are only symptoms of our problem. the true problems are the ignorant electorate. they are the problem in this country. i am very sad they continuously allow the republican party to treat them as though they are idiots. instead of being offended, they cheer. as sad as it is to say, i believe this president should be impeached. i would hope to be removed. i don't think that is going to happen, but he should be impeached. host: between the house and senate chambers, there is a corridor that goes between the two chambers, and on your screen right now, statuary hall, that

is the connection between the house chamber and the senate chamber where the members can cross over back and forth. decided,e managers are and when they bring over the articles of impeachment, they will make this walk from the house chamber to the senate chamber. as john mcardle was telling us, it is not -- has not been decided when those managers will be announced. house we do know that the in about five minutes will gavel in for debate and a vote later tonight around 6:30 p.m. eastern time on two articles of impeachment against president trump. christopher in california, republican. caller: good morning. host: good morning. caller: this is really -- i am a united states servicemember in the reserves.

i have been serving on active duty or reserve status since 1991, so i have gone through the clinton impeachment era and others as well. this is the most politically charged atmosphere i have ever seen against the president. if the rules that i operate under are the united states code of military justice, if they were to apply the rules to president trump that they are applying in the congress, there is no way he would ever be impeached for anything he has done. so far. i am viewing it through that military lens of justice, the way that congress is viewing their congressional obligation, especially the democrats. i just find it one of the most detestable things i have ever seen politicians do in my lifetime. if you are listening to me, democrats, congressmen, please

think about what you are doing to this nation, what you are doing to our service members, and the position you are putting us all in because you lost power in an election to a man who beat you, and that is it. he did nothing more than that. lorde, i pray to you, jesus christ, do not impeach president trump. there will be hell to pay. utah,kathy in st. george, independent. caller: thank you. i am not independent. i am unaffiliated. i vote for the person. i do not align myself with any party. i am open and objective and my one vote is very powerful. i want to know what the intent was of this foreign power on our

election again. we have gone through the -- through it once and we are doing it again. it was found the russians had interfered in our election. why do we have this again in front of us today, is my question? the second part of that is, if we are a true democracy, why are we having these foreign powers interfere so much? ship on ourviet east coast spying on us, doing weird things right now. south korea is not getting funding for our troops being held there, hosted there. we have several other issues with our foreign allies, the people that join us in this

world, and they are being rebuked. these foreign powers are not helping us, that are being solicited. a third point -- host: let me leave it there, because the house will come in any minute. if you can make it quick. caller: i am just thinking about what some of the callers have said, because even though i am a democrat, i did vote for donald trump. i have already written my andressman lloyd doggett let him know how i felt about him voting for impeachment of our president. people seems so easy for like thet something phone call, the transcript of

, oh, hee call, and say is soliciting a bribe. host: i have to bring you to the house floor. they are about to gavel in.