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approve the article, president trump will become the first president in u.s. history to be impeached twice. we have the latest from capitol hill. hi, chad. >> this is the second time president trump will have been impeached in 13 months. right now, we're getting ready for the debate. what they're finishing up now on the house floor is the vote on the rule. in other words, if you're going to play baseball today, you have to agree on the rule. the rule is they are going to allow for two hours of debate on the article of impeachment. there was a lot longer section of time that was set aside back in december of '19 for president trump on the first impeachment. they were considering two articles of impeachment there. so they will approve this rule. if you look at the screen, the vote on the rule is passing pretty narrowly. there are a lot more democrats to vote. if you don't approve the rule, you don't get the play baseball later in the afternoon. that's the idea. you don't have anything by which to govern how you're going to do debate. if the rule were to fail on the

house floor, which is extremely rare, they would not bring articles of impeachment to the floor. 200-198. this is pretty narrow. but rarely does the majority party of either side, which ever side is in control of the house, lose a ruling. now, here's what will happen this afternoon once they get to that debate. we're expecting house speaker nancy pelosi to come to floor probably about 12:15 p.m. or so and make her case against the president. you will hear from jerry nadler, chair of the judiciary committee, who compiled this 76-page report about the mayhem that went on at the capitol yesterday and what the actual article of impeachment is. as i said, there were two article of impeachments two years ago. this article of impeachment is incitement of insurrection. so they would debate that and then probably vote to approve this later this afternoon. we want to see how many republicans might actually vote for this. so far we're up to five.

jamie herrera-butler, moderate, john katko from upstate new york, fred upton from western michigan, most significantly liz cheney. she is the chair of the house republican conference, the third highest ranking republican in the house of representatives, and she believes that the president's conduct contributed to this riot and she says he must be held accountable. she said, i will vote to impeach. so watch to see how many republicans break ranks. i was told it could go as high as 20, but i spoke with steve scalise this morning and he didn't think it would be quite that high. he thought it would be closer to the five number. the other thing to watch for, and this is confusing some of us on capitol hill. once you vote to impeach, you have to send to the senate who the managers are, the prosecutors, who will present the case. two years ago, last year i should say, it was adam schiff,

democratic from california. this time it will be jamie raskin. but what's unclear is when they would send the articles over. you can't start the senate trial until you get the articles of impeachment. nancy pelosi, the house speaker, she held the ball for almost a month. they impeached president trump last time on the 18th of december. the trial started on the 16th. the house majority leader the past couple days has been saying, i would think we would sent it over quickly. he started to walk that back slightly. he said, i don't know what to say. i don't want to say we would send them over today necessarily. i don't want to speak for the speaker. he indicates, my thinking though is it could be soon as possible. so once they send that over, the senate is kind of compelled to just start. they have to present, receive the managers and present what the actual article of impeachment is. then at that stage you're into the senate trial. does it start before joe biden

is inaugurated? that's the big question. >> sandra: please stand by. we'll check back in with you later in the hour. you're watching "outnumbered." i'm jillian turner in washington. kennedy, host ofst story, martha maccallum and joining us today is host of bill hemmer reports, bill hemmer. thanks to everybody for joining us this afternoon. bill, i'm going to come to you first because i want you to set the scene for us. talk about the moment we're in. we've got president trump with less than a week left in his term, now facing the prospect of a dual impeachment as of later this afternoon. vice president, president-elect joe biden gearing up to take office. washington, d.c. is in a state of lockdown today. >> i spent the morning on the phone with some people close to the president. i just want to go through, maybe point by point, subject by subject what they're trying to get out to the public here.

they did a poll over the weekend you may or may not have heard that. these are internal trump numbers in 17 battleground states. what they say in this poll they found 77% of all voters think congress should be more focused on covid right now and not impeachment. that's one message. when asked whether or not the president would address this today publicly, they said potentially, but not likely, but he certainly will before he leaves office next week. i would expect, based on the conversation i had earlier today, maybe monday or tuesday next week. that could all change. this is all happening in real time so we'll just hold off on that for the moment. with regard to this challenge about big tech, here is how the conversation went. he ran against the d.c. establishment and big tech, in their words, is what is silencing the president now, another example of the establishment hitting back. i think that's very interesting the way they characterize that. look for that to be a major

theme going forward within the republican party, etc, and as we reflect on the legacy of donald trump. back on the polling here with midterms 2022. they're suggesting that voters will be less inclined based on the numbers among the 17 battleground states to support any republican who votes for impeachment. we'll see how that debate plays out. with regard to the senate, i think this is perhaps one of the more open ended issues here because to be clear, the constitution doesn't talk about former presidents, they just talk about presidents. if mitch mcconnell is right about the schedule, it is uncertain how the senate would proceed. in conversations over the weekend, talking to some moderate republican senators, they had a big zoom call friday afternoon between republicans and democrats, really that moderate aspect of the senate to help put together last covid

package. here's what they told me. their discussion centered around an agreement on censure. if you get to a senate, could you then, with the likes of joe manchin or others who spoke their misgivings about this process, could you move toward a motion of censure? all of that is wide open and on the table. it is critical for viewers at home to understand, we have never been here before. we have no idea how this will unfold. >> bill, censure is something that a whole host of republican lawmakers who do not back impeachment are explicitly saying they are considering, they are giving thought to it. martha, i want to bring you back on that point really quick. i know you're following the scorecard here with hawkeyes. tell me the significance of these five republican lawmakers who are going to vote with democrats in favor of impeachment. >> it's interesting. they're talking about voting your conscience in this, the

leaders on the house side and the senate side say they're not necessarily whipping this vote. some whipping may be going on behind the scenes, but they are kind of standing back, letting people vote their conscience on this. when you look at the people who have so far declared they will vote for impeachment, they are in districts where that might be the right move for them. i doubt that you're going to see representatives from some of these swing states stick their neck out on impeachment. i think censure turns out to be something more palletable across the board when you're really looking at the political equation down the road for some of these members of the house and senate. for some of them, it goes beyond that. it's a vote that -- they're essentially voting where they think things will come down. whenever i look at these heated moments, where there is obviously a strong focus and an important one, i think, on the process here, because it's a

constitutional process. i thought brett tolman made a great point in the last hour. if i'm going to bring a case to court, i can't just say to the judge, i'm skilling the arguments and witnesses and jury because this is so important. it's not the way our system works. regardless of what we think of what happened on january 6th, there is a process to these things. and that is something president trump, or people he wants to support in the future as candidates across this country can look back to and point to. he could come out of this looking like someone who was wronged, maligned by the process. that could help him build his stature or rebuild his stature if he chooses to do so. it's always important to look at the moment we're in, but also to look ahead and see where these chess pieces are moving. everybody's making a bet on which side they should be on. some will be right and some will be wrong. >> martha, speaking of looking ahead, we don't have to look too far. bill, you mentioned in the polling, you cited 77% of

americans think congress would be better -- better spend their time focusing on coronavirus. other thing americans are concerned about is this presidential transition. there's only a week left until a new president comes into office. along with him, tens of thousands of government officials who are going to fan out. the pentagon will have new leadership. the state department's going to have new leadership. intelligence community will have new leadership. how does congress have time to impeach president trump and help joe biden get through his first 100 days in office? >> we were told by mitch mcconnell that the senate is required to take up the article of impeachment immediately. well, what if the house holds that back? i don't know what would come of that then. can you effectively hold it for 100 days and successfully pass it off to the senate and expect to get a guilty verdict? or then do you fall back on the censure agreement, talking about

april then. i think some of the images we have seen so far today. the national guard now in place, thousands and thousands of them. there's gonna be some serious questions as to where they were a week ago and under which orders were they operating? i was on the air yesterday afternoon when the fbi held that briefing. the head of the fbi wasn't there. these were two gentlemen, frankly, i was not familiar with. i don't know how many of the reporters covering the fbi, in all likelihood they do have relationships with them. but some of the reporter questions were pointed. i think the answer were not as forth coming as we need. it appears to me that we're at the very beginning of trying to understand and comprehend how the security lapse happened. i'll give you two examples of a question and answer from yesterday. was the information shared with capitol police? the answer was all was shared. well, what does that mean? is that a phone call? is that an e-mail? is that a text message? how could you detail that?

there was no opportunity for a follow-up to that question. we move further on. jake gibson from fox news said, did capitol security know of the fbi information? the answer was, we shared it electronically within 40 minutes. welsh there was no follow-up to that. well, if you shared it, how can you confirm whether or not it was received? and if it was received, how did people react to it? we know nothing was done. i think the question is why. they're talking about online threats over the past 48 hours. i would argue that those same online threats were out there a week ago and nothing happened because of it. one more point here. the fbi said, we need to determine whether this is key board bravado or an attempt to harm. well, that's their job, and we need to find out whether or not they did their job effectively. >> martha, it does seem, to bill's point, that washington is under siege this morning. we are now under the watch of 13,000 national guard troops,

2,000 of them spending the night sleeping in and around the capitol. they are on 24-hour rotation right now. there is a sense among people who live in d.c. that this is all very tragic. all of this is great and needed ahead of inauguration, but it was really needed seven days ago. >> i think it's tragic on many levels, jillian. one of them is that we didn't have this kind of protection on january 6th. and i think that the conversation you both are having about what we knew beforehand is really essential. and do you know what? the evidence about what the fbi knew beforehand and how that information was relaid is directly germaine to the question of impeachment. there is this sweeping notion that the president incited this riot and that he must be removed because of it. now, there's a lot of emotions flying around the country right now. and i understand all that. but there is a way of

approaching these things. we do need to know if he's going to be convicted on that charge of inciting insurrection, whether or not there was information in the fbi intelligence services that would have prevented that beforehand in order to decide whether or not there's a direct link between these two things. the other level that it is tragic on, to me, is, you know, as someone who has watched these events unfold over all of the years of covering politics and even as a child watching the inauguration on tv. the people who climb the trees to watch what's happening. this is a historic moment. covid was the first battle to even get some semblance of a normal inaugural and transition of power in this country. now you have a complete lockdown of the united states capitol. keep in mind that there was a time during the civil war when abraham lincoln was president when people, regular citizens like you and me, could line the halls at the white house and line up and wait for a chance to

speak to the president or to speak to someone about a grievance they had. just go over to the white house and do it. think about how far we are from that kind of participation. it has to be peaceful. what we saw last monday is not the way that can work. those were violent crimes. police officers were beaten and dragged down the steps. that's not what i'm talking about. we have gone so far away from being able to witness these events in the way that i'd wish and hope americans can some day again. >> i can tell you based on my experience getting to work this morning. you can't walk within a half mile of the white house this morning. we don't know how long that will last. at least until inauguration. kennedy, professor jonathan turley called this a snap impeachment and there's really a growing sense among house republicans that this is indeed the case. if president trump is impeached later today, it will have happened without any interviews, without any public hearing. they're making the case now that

this is not what the founding fathers had in mind when they organized the impeachment clause. >> that's right. this is what alexander hamilton warned against, was the removal of the president on purely political grounds. as martha rightly said, you may despise the president. whether you like him or hate him, this is not the best means by which to remove a president. i was thinking about something bill said when he was citing that internal polling from the administration, which is 77% of all respondents are wondering why on earth congress is focusing on this right now when the president is done and gone in a week? when they still don't have their lives back on track. they don't have an answer to vaccines and relief and when schools are going to be open. that's a failure of government on a number of levels. but when you have the sort of

hyper politicalization that's the cradling madison and hamilton warned against with two party factions in charge. it doesn't appear that these parties will be able to work together in the grand scheme for the betterment of our country. what happened last week was heart breaking, and now it's scary looking because you have national guard troops in the capitol and you have rumors about what might happen between now and inauguration. on top of that, you're going to have the shadow of the 45th president completely blocking out the first 100 days of the biden presidency. all of it makes you just scratch your head. none of it makes sense. it all feels wrong. i think we're on the wrong course here. >> tommy, house speaker nancy pelosi is saying this has got to be rushed because president trump is a security threat to the nation and he poses a direct

threat to an ordinarily transition of power. she's also said in recent days that the real reason they're moving forward with this process is so that president trump can, in their minds, hopefully not seek re-election in 2024. >> yeah. democrats and many republicans are terrified of president trump. not because they're afraid he's going to incite new violence. i don't think that's the case. they're terrified of him because they know they have president trump still enjoying the support of 75, 80 million americans out there. republicans and democrats, majority of them i will say in d.c., have forgotten who their base is. they've forgotten who the american people are. they talk about this as if this is of the utmost importance to them. the average americans in places where i'm from, midwest, the south, places not on the coast, they care about real things and they're wondering why the democrats and some republicans have made this their priority and not them, not reopening

their business, not reopening their schools. they feel neglected. those americans that were out there last wednesday, the ones that peacefully support their president and peacefully support election integrity, they have been completely betrayed. but they aren't going anywhere. these are still our fellow americans. i am one of those americans who wants to know what the democrats have to offer me and have to offer our fellow republicans and millions of americans across this country want to know why this is their priority. we're going to ask them and keep asking them before big tech completely shuts out that question, too. >> can i just say one thing about that? >> yeah. go ahead. >> i saw the poll that bill is referring to. i looked over those polls as well. i understand that it's showing the american people's priority is for covid attention and a smooth transition. i would just point out that those are two things that the

president could have focused on since november 3rd. he could have said, look, i'm going to take these next two months and do my absolute best to make sure that millions and millions of americans get vaccines. i don't want them to stop at the door of the states, because the states can't handle it well. i want to make sure more americans are helped in the time that i have left. he could have all focused on the transition. he decided -- obviously, it's his decision to do whatever he wants. to pour his focus into the election and continue to rouse these concerns about the legitimacy of the election. there are very legitimate concerns about aspects of the election, about legal questions decided in those months before the election. but that is where he put his focus. that was a decision that could be made either way by the president as well. >> now there's a lot of could have, would have, should have. we're looking live at the house floor, just to make sure our viewers are up to speed. any moment the house is going to

reconvene. they're going to conduct about hour and a half, two hours of debate on whether or not to impeach president trump. that will be followed by later in the afternoon by the formal vote. all of this happening. we're going to kick off live on the house floor as soon as they start speaking. bill, i have a question about national security here. we all know a presidential transition is a very vulnerable moment. not just for the entire nation, but specifically for the u.s. federal government. i know from working on the transition at the white house from president bush to president obama that our foreign adversaries laser in on this specific time period as one that is rife for attack, rife for meddling. we feel like we have this combustible situation waiting to explode. >> hopefully, it stays calm next week. everybody has been put on

notice. perhaps that's the silver lining in this. we're at a different posture from where we were a week ago today. with regard to the covid talks, my uber driver this morning here in new york city, he had one customer all day. me. after he dropped me off, he said, i'm going home. i said how many have you had before me? he said none. he said everybody is either working from home and there is no business. now, what chuck shumer said two days ago that the first order they will do is a covid relief package and within that package you'll get $2,000 checks, among who knows what else. democrats are going to say relief's coming. with regard to the polling we mentioned, it is true 3/4 of the trump team talked ability covid and not about this. my point is, there is a real need on behalf of millions of

americans to get help now. you may not get that impression in oklahoma or texas or florida, but you come to manhattan and the need is everywhere. building after building and store after store has yet to reopen. these people need to find relief and they need to find work and they need to find money. the longer it goes on, the more you open yourself up to more problems within our cities and within our states. we really need to get this done now. >> we're looking live here at the house floor. they have closed the vote. we are now about to hear from chairman nadler first. they are going to debate the resolution to impeach president trump. let's listen in on the house floor for a moment. >> -- united states article of impeachment being house of representatives of the united states of america in the name of itself and of the people of the

united states of america against donald john trump, president of the united states of america and maintenance and support of his impeachment against him for high crimes and misdemeanors. article i, incitement of insurrection. constitution provides that the house of representatives shall have the sole power of impeachment and that the president shall be removed from office on impeachment for and conviction of treason, bribery or other crimes. 14th amendment to the constitution prohibits any person who has engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the united states from holding any office under the united states, in his con tkubt while president of the united states, and in violation of his constitutional oath faithfully to execute the office of the president of the united states and to the best of his ability preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the united states and in violation of his

constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, donald john trump engaged in high crimes and misdemeanors by inciting violence against the government of the united states in that on january 6, 2021, pursuant to the 12th amendment to the constitution of the united states, the vice president of the united states, the house of representatives and the senate met at the united states capitol for a joint session of congress to count the votes of the electoral college in the months preceding the joint session, president trump repeatedly issued false statements asserting the presidential election results were the product of widespread fraud and should not be accepted by the american people or certified by states or federal officials. shortly before the joint session commenced, president trump addressed a crowd in washington, d.c. there he reiterated false claims that we won this election and we won it by a land slide. he also willfully made

statements that, in context, encouraged and foreseeably resulted in lawless action at the capitol, such as, if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country. thus incited by president trump. members of the crowd he had addressed in an attempt to, among other objectives, interfere with the joint session solemn constitutional duty to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election. unlawfully breached and vandalized the capitol, injured and killed law enforcement personnel, menaced members of congress, the vice president and congressional personnel and engaged in other violent, deadly, destructive acts. president trump's conduct on january 6, 2021 followed his prior efforts to subvert and obstruct the certification of the results of the 2020 presidential election. those prior efforts included a phone call on january 2, 2021 during which president trump

urged the secretary of state of georgia to find enough votes to overturn the georgia presidential election results and threatened the secretary if he failed to do so. in all of this, president trump greatly endangered the security of the united states and its institutions of government. he threatened the integrity of the democratic system, interfered with the peaceful transition of power and impair reuled a co-equal branch of government. he thereby betrayed his trust as president to the manifest injury of the people of the united states wherefor, donald john trump, has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to the national security, democracy and the constitution if allowed to remain in office and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with self-governance and the rule of law. donald john trump does warrant impeachment and trial, removal from office and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of

honor, trust or profit under the united states. >> the resolution shall be debatable for two hours, equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on the judiciary. the gentleman from new york, mr. nadler, and the gentleman from ohio, mr. jordan, will each control one hour. the chair recognizes mr. nadler. >> i can unanimous consent that all members may have five days in which to revise and extend their results and add extraneous material. >> without objection. >> madam speaker i yield one minute to the speaker of the house, the gen lady from california, miss pelosi. >> thank you, madam speaker. i thank the gentleman for yielding and for his leadership. madam speaker, in his annual address to our predecessors in

congress, in 1862, president abraham lincoln spoke of the duty of the patriot in an hour of decisive crisis for the american people. fellow citizens, he said, we cannot escape history. we will be remembered in spite of our ourselves. no personal significance or insignificance can spare one or another of us. the fiery trial to which we cast will light us down in honor or dishonor to the latest generation. even we here, he said, hold the power and bear the responsibility. in the bible st. paul wrote, think on these things. we must think on what lincoln told us. we, even here, even us here,

hold the power and bear the responsibility. we, you and i, hold in trust the power that derives most directly from the people of the united states, and we bear the responsibility to fill that oath that we all swear before god and before one another. the oath to defend the constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, so help us god. we know that we face enemies in the constitution. we know webgs paoerpbs the insurrection that violated the sanctity of the people's capitol and attempted to overturn the recorded will of the american people. and we know that the president of the united states incited this insurrection, this armed rebellion against our common country. he must go. he is a clear and present danger to the nation that we all love.

since the presidential election in november, an election the president lost, he has repeatedly lied about the outcome, showed self-serving doubt about democracy and unconstitutionally sought to influence state officials to repeal reality. and then came that day of fire we all experienced. the president must be impeached and i believe the president must be convicted by the senate constitutional remedy that will ensure that the republic will be safe from this man who is so determined to tear down the things that we hold dear and that hold us together. it gives me no pleasure to say this. it breaks my heart. it should break your heart. it should break all of our hearts when your presence in this hall lowed chamber is testament to your love for our

country, for america. to create a more perfect union. those insurrectionists were not patriot. they were not part of a political base to be catered to. they were domestic terrorists, and justice must prevail. but they did not appear out of a vacuum. they were sent here, sent here by the president with words such as a cry to fight like hell. words matter. truth matters. accountability matters. as public, the president saw the insurrectionists as the foes of freedom, but as a means to a terrible goal, the goal of his personally clinging to power. the goal of thwarting the will of the people. the goal of ending in a fiery and bloody clash nearly 2 1/2

centuries of our democracy. this is not theoretical and this is not motivated by partisanship. i stand before you today as an officer of the constitution, speaker of the house of representatives. i stand before you as a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a daughter, a daughter whose father proudly served in this congress, one of the first italian americans to serve in the congress. i stand here before you today as a noblist of things, a citizen of the united states of america. with my voice and my vote with a plea to all of you, democrats and republicans, i ask you to search your souls and answer these questions. is the president's war on democracy in keeping with the

constitution? were his words insurrectionary mob a high crime and misdemeanor? do we not have the duty to our oath to do all we constitutionally can to protect our nation and our democracy from the appetites and ambitions of a man who has self evidently demonstrated he is a vital threat to liberty, to self-governance and the rule of law? our country is divided. we all know that. there are lives abroad, spread by a desperate president who feels his power slipping away. we know that, too. but i know this as well. that we here in this house have a sacred obligation to stand for truth. to stand up for the constitution, to stand as guardians of the republic. in a speech he was prepared to give in dallas on friday

november 22nd, 1963, president john f. kennedy was to say, we in this country, in this generation are by destiny rather than choice the watch men on the walls of world's freedom. we ask, therefore, that we may be worthy of our power and responsibility. that we may be worthy. president kennedy was assassinated before he could deliver those words to the nation, but they resonate more even now, in our time, in this place. let us be worthy of our power and responsibility that what lincoln thought was the world's last best hope, the united states of america, may long survive. my fellow members, my fellow americans, we cannot escape history. let us embrace our duty, fulfill our oath and honor the trust of

our nation. we pray that god will continue to bless america. thank you, madam speaker, and yield back. >> gentleman from new york. the gentleman from ohio is recognized. >> madam speaker, 19 minutes. 19 minutes. four years ago on inauguration day january 20, sident trump's administration at 12:19 p.m. the washington post headline was campaign to impeach president trump has begun. and now with just one week left, they're still trying. in seven days there will be a peaceful transfer of power just like there has been every other time in our country, but democrats are going to impeach president trump again. this doesn't unite the country. there's no way this helps the nation deal with the tragic

events of last week that we all condemned. republicans have been consistent. we've condemned all the violence all the time. we condemned it last summer. we condemned it last week. we should be focused on bringing the nation together. instead, democrats are going to impeach the president for a second time, one week, one week before he leaves office. why? why? politics and the fact that they want to cancel the president. the president who cut taxes, the president who reduced regulations, who prior to covid had the greatest economy, lowest unemployment in 50 years, got us out of the iran deal, brought hostages home from north korea, put three great justices on the supreme court, gave us a new nafta record, the covid vaccine and who built the wall. it's about politics. this is about getting the president of the united states. they spied on his campaign

before he was elected. 19 minutes into his presidency they started the impeachment push. three year mueller investigation, 19 lawyers, 40 acts, 2500 subpoenas, $40 million to find nothing. impeachment round one based on an anonymous whistle blower with no first hand knowledge who was biased against the president and who worked for joe biden. now impeachment round 2. always been about getting the president no matter what. it's an obsession, an obsession that has now broadened. not just about impeachment any more. it's about canceling the president and anyone that disagrees with them. ayatollah can tweet, the president can't. democrats can objection, but republicans aren't allowed to object on january 6, 2021. democrats say antifa is a myth. republicans condemn all violence all the time. the double standard has to stop.

frankly, the attack on the 1st amendment has to stop. do you have a functioning 1st amendment when the cancel culture only allows one side to talk? when you can't even have a debate in this great country, the greatest country ever? it needs to stop because if it continues, it won't just be republicans who get cancelled. it won't just be the president of the united states. the cancel culture will come for us all. america's a great country, the greatest country ever. it seems to me that we need to think about how great the people of this nation really are. think about what we've accomplished in the past and begin to come together as leaders who represent so many great folks across our districts. think about this. think about this. in 1903, kitty hawk north carolina two guys fly this thing they call a plane 100 feet.

barely got off the ground. barely got off the ground. amazing thing. 44 years later, chuck yeager breaks the sound barrier. in 44 years we go from two guys flying a few hundred feet to chuck yeager breaking the sound barrier, and 22 years after that another american steps on the moon. think about it. in one life time. in 66 years two guys flying 100 feet to putting man on the moon. that's what this country is capable of. that's what we can do. we, as the congress who represent the people who did that, should start leading. start understanding what really is going on here. i hope, i hope we defeat this. i hope we can begin to come together and recognize the greatness of the american people and focus on the things they want us to focus on. i yield back.

>> gentleman reserves. gentleman from new york is recognized. >> madam speaker, i yield myself three minutes. >> gentleman from new york is recognized for three minutes. >> madam speaker, we all saw it coming, months in advance. president trump was baselessly and deliberately whipping his supporters into a frenzy. weeks before the riot he used his bully pulpit to spread lies about the election. he told the reporters that the results were fraudulent. he implored them again and again to help him stay in power. and he convinced them that accepting the outcome of the election posed a threat to their families and their freedoms. we have a duty to observe, madam speaker, that racism played a direct role in this incitement. the president's violent rhetoric is always at its most fevered pitch when he is talking about the civil rights and civic

aspirations of black americans and other minority communities. january 6th at a rally that was large, angry and widely reported to be armed, the president's lies and violent rhetoric reached their crescendo. at that rally, the president took the stage. after reiterating the falsehood that, we won this election and we won it by a land slide, he told the crowd that, if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore. then he urged the mob to walk down pennsylvania avenue to prevent the congress from confirming the election of an illegitimate president. on that day, president trump unleashed the force of a mob on this, the people's house. he encouraged that attack with the explicit intent to disrupt the joint session of congress, an attack that threatened the safety of the vice president, the speaker of the house and the president protem of the senate,

the next three offices in the line of succession. look at what that violence has wrought. at least six dead, offices ransacked, the sanctity of our capitol breached for the first time in two centuries. a hallway glittered with broken glass, the battle flags of a long dead confederacy and the debris we've come to associate with the trump campaign. madam speaker, i have faith in the resiliency of our government. we will bring the rioters to justice. their accomplices in this house will be held responsible. but today we must focus on the gravest threat first, president trump, who incited this riot and who remains a grave danger to the nation. as we warned the senate when we tried him for his first impeachment, president trump has made clear, in word and deed, that he will persist in such conduct if he is not removed

from power. he poses a continuing threat to our nation, to the integrity of our elections and our democratic order. he must not remain in power one moment longer. not one moment longer. the danger is too great. we must impeach. i reserve the balance of my time. >> gentleman from ohio is recognized. >> thank you, madam speaker. i would yield two minutes to the gentleman from california. >> the gentleman from california is recognized for two minutes. gentleman from california is recognized for two minutes. >> four minutes, excuse me. >> the gentleman from ohio control of the time, which he yields four minutes to the gentleman from california, correct. >> yes. >> the gentleman from california is recognized for four minutes. >> thank you, madam speaker. i didn't like the president's speech on january 6th either. i thought he was wrong to assert that the vice president and congress can pick and choose which electoral votes to count.

he was wrong to set such a confrontational tone in a politically tense situation. but what did he actually say? his exact words were, quote, i know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard, unquote. that's impeachable? that's called freedom of speech. now, he also threatened to oppose candidates in future elections. that was directed at republicans like me who resolve to uphold the constitutional process and protect the electoral college. well, so what? that's called politics. if we impeached every politician who gave a fiery speech to a crowd of partisans, this capitol would be deserted. that's what the president did. that is all he did. he specifically told the crowd

to protest peacefully and patriotically. and the vast majority of them did. but every movement has a lunatic fringe. depressing free speech is not the answer, holding rioters accountable for their actions is the answer. and we are. and if we prosecuted blm and antifa rioters across the country with the same determination these last six months, this incident may not have happened at all. now, short of declaring war, the power of impeachment is the most solemn and consequential act that congress can take. to use it in this manner, in the heat of the moment, with no hearing, no due process, many members phoning in their vote after a hastily called debate exactly one week before a new president is to take office trivializes this power to the point of caricature.

the democrats have won everything in site. the house, the senate and the presidency. in a republic, that calls for magmonimity. only in a banana republic does it call for srepbgance. ben franklin warned passion governs and she never governs wisely. in our passions this week we set some dangerous new precedents that will haunt us for years to come. yesterday we redefined intempered speech as a physical incasty in removal from office. today we define it as a high crime and misdemeanor. the moment any member of this body gives a passionate speech and the lunatic fringe takes license it from, be prepared to answer to this new precedent we established today. i could cite plenty of provocative speeches made by

democrats that directly preceded violence this summer. but we've already had enough of that. 600,000 americans perished in the civil war, abraham lincoln appealed to the better angels of our nature. he said with malice toward none, with charity for all, let us bind up the nation's wounds. those words were so important to the unity of our nation, they're enscribed in marble at the lincoln memorial. i cannot think of a more petty, vindictive and gratuitous act than to impeach an already defeated president a week before he is to leave office. president-elect joe biden's promise to heal the nation becomes a hollow mockery and a harsh reality of this unconstitutional act. god help our country. >> gentleman from ohio reserve.

the gentleman from new york is recognized. >> now yield one minute to the gen lady from california. >> gen woman from california is recognized for one minute. >> madam speaker, i'm the only member of congress who's been involved in all three of the last presidential impeachments. those were long proceedings. today we don't need a long investigation to know that the president incited right wing terrorists to attack the congress to try to overturn constitutional government. the actions were in public, plain of day. his actions are the most serious offense against our constitution and our country. they are impeachable acts. the founders devised the impeachment clause to protect against presidents who would threaten constitutional order. if we don't act now, the impeachment clause would essentially be meaningless.

faced with these facts, if we don't impeach to protect our country, we will fail our own oath to protect and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and, yes, domestic. we have no choice. we must -- >> your time has expired. >> god bless america. >> gentleman from new york reserves. >> i reserve. >> gentleman from ohio is recognized. >> i yield two minutes to the gentleman from arizona. >> it is with weariness and a certain unhealthy morbid curiosity that i watched the beast attempt to devour president donald j. trump again. the craving to crush president trump has never been satisfied, not through investigations, not through false allegations and not even through an impeachment that was without merit. the timing of this impeachment makes little sense. your candidate, your candidate, will take office in a few hours

and president trump will relinquish the levers of power to president-elect biden. your craving was never a biden victory, nor was it even a trump defeat. you believe your hunger will be appeased by impeaching this president. you don't seek victory, you seek obliteration of your nemesis. yours will be a victory for instead of stopping the trump train his movement will go stronger for you will have made him a martyr. surely you are aware of this. that is why your allies in the media sense to sensor conservative boards. same companies the left sreul tpaoeus, promise to starve republicans from receiving their donations. i bet the ground swell of support for president trump and his policies will not go away. you see, the movement he started is based on building an incredibly robust economy, on a foundation of lower taxes and few regulation that has the

wonderful effect of putting more people to work than ever. it is built upon a stropb military that is extra kated from endless wars. it provides border security, america first trade agreements, middle east peace and stability. those are the things the american people want. your four year appetite will be assuaged while you will no doubt continue to chase after leader of this movement. but your appetite will be unfulfilled. i urge you, please do not, i'm mixing metaphors, douse this fire with glasslene. >> gentleman's time expired. >> i now yield one minute to the gentleman from california, mr. schiff. >> gentleman from california is recognized for one minute. >> one week ago the president incited an insurrection against congress. it was the most dangerous moment

for our democracy in a century. today we invoke the remedies the founders provided for such a lawless president, impeachment. more important today we begin the long road to restoration. america has been through a civil war, world wars, a great depression, pandemics, now a trumpist and white nationalist insurrection. yet our democracy endures. it endures because at every juncture, every pivotal moment when evil threatened to overtake good, patriotic americans stepped forward to say, enough. this is one of those moments. to preserve this sacred place, this citadel of democracy or ourselves and for prosperity, let us say enough. enough. i yield back. >> gentleman yields back. gentleman from ohio is recognized. >> i yield two minutes to the

gentleman from texas. >> here's a quote. i just don't even know why there aren't more white uprisings all over the country, and maybe there will be. or sadly, the domestic enemies of our voting system and honoring our constitution are right at 1600 pennsylvania avenue with their allies in congress of the united states. we were called enemies of the state. those are all quotes from our speaker. on our side, we didn't take those to be impeachable because we didn't believe she surely meant that. but by the democrats taking this action, you're telling me when we say those, we actually mean to incite violence. that's what this action is saying. look, i just looked on the history channel. it says these words if the judiciary committee, talking

about impeachment, finds sufficient grounds, its members write and pass articles of impeachment which then go to the floor house for a vote. half of all the impeachments ever conducted, ever voted for occurred under this speaker. you're setting a precedent that says very clearly, because this impeachment isn't gonna work, but it is setting the precedent, unlike a year ago when we said, it shouldn't go through intel, it should go through judiciary committee. forget that. now the message is, if you have a whim and you want to just go after a president, just go straight to the floor. no investigation. no judiciary committee. go straight to the floor. use it as a political weapon, as you wish. this is so dangerous what you're doing. forgetting all the precedents.

yes, we can argue back and forth, but you're using this as a weapon and you're destroying this little experiment in self-government in a year's time. >> gentleman's time has expired. >> it needs to stop. >> the gentleman from ohio reserves to gentleman from new york. >> i yield one minute to the gen lady from massachusetts, miss clark. >> the gen woman from massachusetts recognized for one minute. >> abolitionist lucy stone said if we speak the truth fearlessly we will add to our number those who will turn the scale to equal and justice in all thing. the truth is president trump incited a violent attack against the united states government. the truth is, president trump spent his presidency enflaming hate, white supremacy, and violence. the truth is he was enabled by

all those who perpetuated the lie that the most secure election in our nation's history was stolen. these actions left five dead, our capitol besieged, our security threatened and our democracy hanging in the balance. and the truth is, a vote to impeach is our resounding declaration that the government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. >> gentleman from new york wishes to reserve. >> thank you, madam speaker. i yield one minute to the gentleman from california. >> the last speaker said for four years the president did all these terrible inciteful things including anti-semitism. i take exception with that. but i think it's important that

we embrace one thing that was said. yes, the president has been consistent for the last four years. during his campaign, i even, representing another candidate, said that the president had political tourette's. he said what was on his mind without a filter. i don't think that's being debated here today. we all know that's true. but being debated is whether with 167 hours left until he leaves office, is he a clear and present danger? he clearly isn't. the president has acted substantially the same for four years. he has rallied his base and he has, in fact, called for peaceful protests as he did just a few days ago. the fact is today we are trying to punish the president, some are, for four years of what he did, not for what happened last week. what happened last week was the

result of anarchists who came loaded prepared and with weapons. with that i yield back. >> gentleman from ohio reserves. gentleman from new york is recognized. >> i yield one minute to the gentle man from louisiana. >> gentleman from louisiana recognized for one minute. >> madam speaker, i arrived today for my last floor speech to do what i was sworn to do on the first day. to protect and defend the constitution. president trump put the domestic terrorists on notice by saying stand back and stand by. he then summoned them to d.c., directed them to march on the capitol and then he sat back and watched the insurrection. some of my colleagues, some of which may well be co-conspirators in their latest attempt to placate this unfit president suggest that we shouldn't punish trump for his actions in order to unify