trump has abused the powers of the presidency in that using the powers of his high office, president trump solicited the interference of a foreign government, ukraine, in the 2020 united states presidential election. he did so through a scheme or course of conduct that included soliciting the government of ukraine to publicly announce investigations that would benefit his reelection, harm the election prospects of a political opponent, and influence the 2020 united states presidential election to his advantage. president trump also sought to pressure the government of ukraine to take these steps by conditioning official united states government acts of significant value to ukraine on its public announcement of the investigations. president trump engaged in this scheme or course of conduct for corrupt purposes in pursuit of personal political benefit. in so doing, president trump used the powers of the presidency in a manner that compromised the national security of the united states and undermined the integrity of

the united states democratic process. he thus ignored and injured the interests of the nation. president trump engaged in this scheme or course of conduct through the following means. one, president trump, acting both directly and through his agents within and outside the united states government, corruptly solicited the government of ukraine to publicly announce investigations into, a, a political opponent, former vice president joseph r. biden jr., and b, a discredited theory promoted by russia alleging that ukraine rather than russia interfered in the 2016 united states presidential election. two, with the same corrupt motives, president trump acting both directly and through his agents within and outside the united states government conditioned two official acts on the public announcements that he had requested, a, the release of $391 million of united states taxpayer funds that congress had proposed on a bipartisan basis for the purpose of providing vital military and security

assistance to ukraine to oppose russian aggression and which president trump had ordered suspended, and b, a head of state meeting at the white house which the president of ukraine sought to demonstrate continued united states support for the government of ukraine in the face of russian aggression. three, faced with the public revelation of his actions, president trump ultimately released the military and security assistance to the government of ukraine but has persisted in openly and corruptly urging and soliciting ukraine to undertake investigations for his personal political benefit. these actions were consistent with president trump's previous invitations of foreign interference in united states elections. in all of this, president trump abused the powers of the presidency by ignoring and injuring national security and other vital national interests to obtain an improper personal political benefit. he has also betrayed the nation by abusing his high office to enlist a foreign power in

corrupting democratic elections. wherefor, president trump has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with self governance in the rule of law. president trump thus warrants impeachment by trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold any office of honor, trust, or profit in the united states. article 2, obstruction of congress. the house of representatives shall have the sole power of impeachment and the presidential be removed from office on impeachment for and conviction of treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors. in his conduct of the office of president of the united states and in violation of his constitutional oath, faithfully to execute the office 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 j. trump has directed the defiance of subpoenas issued by the house of representatives pursuant to its sole power of impeachment. president trump has abused the powers of presidency in a matter offensive to and subversive of the constitution in that the house of representatives has engaged in an impeachment inquiry focused on president trump's corrupt solicitation of the government of ukraine to interfere in the 2020 united states presidential election. as part of this impeachment inquiry, the committees undertaking the investigation served subpoenas seeking documents and testimony deemed vital to the inquiry from various executive branch agencies and offices and current and former officials. in response, without lawful cause or excuse, president trump directed executive branch agencies, offices, and officials not to comply with those

subpoenas. president trump thus interposed the powers of the presidency against the lawful subpoenas of the house of representatives and assumed to himself functions and judgments necessary to the exercise of the sole power of impeachment vested by the constitution in the house of representatives. president trump abused the powers of his high office through the following means. one, directing the white house to defy a lawful subpoena by withholding the production of documents sought therein by the committees. two, directing other executive branch agencies and offices to defy lawful subpoenas and withhold the production of documents and records from the committees in response to which the department of state, office of management and budget, department of energy, and department of defense refused to produce a single document or record. three, directing current and former executive branch officials not to cooperate with the committees in response to which nine administration

officials defied subpoenas for testimony, namely mick mulvaney, robert blair, john eisenberg, michael ellis, preston griffith, russell vought, michael toughie, and t. ulrich brechbuhl, part of the president's efforts to encourage foreign interference in united states elections. by these actions the president sought to arrogate to himself the right to determine the nature of an impeachment inquiry into his own conduct as well as the unilateral prerogative to deny any and all information to the house of representatives and the exercise of its sole power of the impeachment. in the history of the republic no president has ordered the complete defiance of an impeachment inquiry or sought to obstruct so comprehensively the ability of the house of representatives to investigate high crimes and misdemeanors. this abuse of office served to cover up the president's own

repeated misconduct and to seize and control the power of impeachment and thus to nullify a vital constitutional safeguard vested solely in the house of representatives. in all of this, president trump has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as president and subversive of constitutional government to the great prejudice of the cause of law and justice and to the manifest injury of the people of the united states. wherefore, president trump by such conduct has demonstrated he will remain a threat to the constitution if allowed to remain in office and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with self-governance and the rule of law. president trump thus warrants impeachment, trial, removal from office, and disqualification to enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit of the united states. >> pursuant to house resolution 767, the amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by

the committee on judiciary is adopted. the resolution shall be debatable for six hours equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking member of the committee on the judiciary or their respective designees. the gentleman from new york, mr. nadler, and the gentleman from georgia, mr. collins, each will control three hours. the chair now recognizes the gentleman from new york, mr. nadler. >> madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous material on h. res 765. >> without objection, so ordered. >> i recognize the speaker of the house. >> the distinguished gentlelady is recognized. >> i extend my gratitude to chairman schiff who will be

presiding later in the day. my colleagues, this morning and every morning when we come together, members rise and pledge allegiance to the flag. every day all across america, children in school, members of the military, officials and those civically engaged, also pledge allegiance to the flag. let us recall what that pledge says. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic, to the republic, for which it stands. one nation, under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the republic for which it stands is what we are here to talk about today. a republic, if we can keep it. we gather today under the dome of this temple of democracy to

exercise one of the most solemn powers that this body can take, the impeachment of the president of the united states. no member regardless of party or politics comes to congress to impeach a president. but every one of us as our first act as a member of congress stood on this historic house floor before our beautiful american flag and raised our hands in this oath. i do solemnly swear that i will support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and domestic, so help me god. for 230 years, members have taken that sacred oath which makes us custodians of the constitution. when our founders declared independence and established a new nation, they crafted a system of government unlike one ever seen before, a republic, starting with the sacred words

"we the people." for centuries, americans have fought and died to defend democracy for the people. but, very sadly now, our founders' vision of a republic is under threat from actions from the white house. that is why today as speaker of the house i solemnly and sadly open the debate on the impeachment of the president of the united states. if we do not act now, we would be derelict in our duty. it is tragic that the president's reckless actions make impeachment necessary. he gave us no choice. what we are discussing today is the established fact that the president violated the constitution. it is a matter of fact that the president is an ongoing threat to our national security and the integrity of our elections, the basis of our democracy. hundreds of historians, legal scholars, and formal prosecutors, regardless of

party, have stated that the president committed impeachable offences. since today is a national civics lesson, though a sad one, i submit these documents for the record and commend them for students to study. >> without objection, so ordered. >> thank you, madam speaker. what we are discussing today is the established fact that the president, again, violated the constitution. it is a matter of fact that the president is, again, an ongoing threat to our national security. and the testimony of decorated war heroes, distinguished diplomats, and patriotic career public servants, some of the president's own appointees, over the past weeks, have told us this. the president used the power of his public office to obtain an improper personal political benefit at the expense of america's national security. when a president weakens a democratic ally that is advancing american security interests by fighting an

american adversary, the president weakens america. this abuse of power also jeopardizes the integrity of our elections. all americans agree that american voters should choose our president, not some foreign government. the founders understood that it is profoundly corrosive for our democracy for a president to invite interference in our elections. as george washington, our nation's patriot under whose gaze we stand today, warned, history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government. george washington. sadly, the american people have witnessed further wrongs of the president which necessitate the second article of impeachment, obstruction of congress. when the president's wrongdoing was revealed, he launched an

unprecedented, indiscriminate, and categorical campaign of defiance and obstruction. never before in the history of our nation have we seen a president declare and act as if he is above the law. the president even goes so far as to say and act on this absurdity when he says, article 2 says i can do whatever i want. no, it doesn't. that recklessness is a profound violation of the constitution and our republic which endured because of our system of separation of powers, three co-equal branches, each a check and balance on the other, a republic, again, if we can keep it. the founders' great fear of a rogue or corrupt president is the very reason why they enshrined impeachment in the constitution. as one founder, william davey of north carolina, warned, unless the constitution contained an impeachment provision, a president might spare no efforts

or means whatever to get himself reelected. another founder, george mason, insisted that the president who procured his appointment in the first instance through improper and corrupt acts might repeat his guilt and return to power. we in congress, article 1, the legislative branch, must stand up and make clear to the american people and to all people that this body still stands by the principles enshrined in the constitution and defended by generations of americans. last week, in observance of the 75th anniversary of the battle of the bulge, members traveled to that hallowed ground to express our gratitude to the heroes of freedom who sacrificed everything to secure victory of freedom over tyranny, not just for america, but for the world. the veterans of that battle, who

were there, in their 90s, told us how after the war was won, the europeans whom they liberated would ask, why did you risk for us, you don't know us, and give your lives to save us? we're not americans. and our men would say, we came here to fight for you, not because you are americans, but because we are americans. as our beloved chairman elijah cummings, our north star, said when announcing this course of action, quote, i want history books to show that i was among those in the house of representatives who stood up to lawlessness and tyranny. he also said, almost prophetically, when we are dancing with the angels, the question will be what did we do to make sure we kept our democracy intact.

elijah, as you know, has since passed on and now he is dancing with the angels. i know he and all of us here are proud of the moral courage of our members who want to honor the sacrifice of our men and uniform to defend our republic and the aspirations of our children to live freely within it. today we are here to defend democracy for the people. may god bless america. i yield back the balance of my time. [ applause ] >> the gentlelady yields back. the gentleman from georgia. >> thank you, madam speaker. and we are here today to enter into a debate that should

surprise no one. this has not been a surprise and it's not even something that we would have not thought about. from the very moment that the majority party in this house won, the inevitability that we would be here today was only a matter of what date they would schedule it. nothing else. in fact, how it even began to look even further was on september 24th the speaker announced an impeachment inquiry before even seeing the call transcript that we're going to hear so much about today. you know, it's not about what this body can do. and its constitutional oath. there's been a lot of constitutional and founders thrown around and will be all day today. but there's one thing i will mention all along and that is the founders were very concerned about a partisan impeachment in which politics of the majority and have their strength can do what they want to do irregardless of any facts. in fact i said it before and i will say it again. i do not believe no matter what was said today and even what has been said, this is not a solemn occasion. when you go looking for

something for three years and especially this year since january, you ought to be excited when you found it but they can't because i know what is now happening, it took me last night but i was thinking about it, why do we keep calling this a solemn occasion when you've been wanting to do this ever since the gentleman was elected, mr. president came forward and did what he thought fit for the american people but yet they wanted to impeach him. it hit me, and now i know, now they realize what i've been telling them for the last few weeks, that the clock and the calendar are terrible masters, the clock and the calendar are terrible masters, they do in the care about anything except getting the time done and the calendar fixed, they do not care about facts, they do not care about time, and one day the clock and the calendar will hang along this body in a very detrimental way. how do i know this? one of our members, ms. tlaib, said on the night she was inaugurated, we're going to

impeach. you know the rest. al green said if we don't impeach the president, he'll get reelected. there's a reason behind this impeachment. and even speaker pelosi said it would be dangerous to leave it to voters to determine whether president trump stays in office. really? after we just said the pledge of allegiance, we go back to the speaker's own words and said it would be dangerous to leave it to the voters. i will tell you right now, madam speaker, we on the republican side have no problem taking our case to the majority and to the people of this country because they elected donald trump and it is a matter for the voters, not this house, not in this way, not in the way this is being done. it has trampled everything this house believes in. i said it yesterday and i believe it to be as true today. i will fight this on process which has been deplorable, to use a word of the majority. it has been awful. the calendar and the clock make it impressive that we actually do it quickly. we don't care about rules.

we don't care about minority hearing days. we don't care about giving the opportunity for witnesses to be called because the chairman gets to determine what is relevant. wow, that's pretty good. let the accuser determine what is relevant to the one being accused. the people of america see through this. the people of america understand due process and they understand when it is being trampled in the people's house. you see, it's also not a matter of process which will be discussed today. it's a matter of actual facts. i will fight the facts all day long because when we found here today is a president who did not do as being charged in fact they had to go to abuse of power, this amorphous term that you're going to hear many, many arguments about how that abuse of power, except for one thing, the call itself, the two parties say no pressure, nothing was ever done to get the money, in fact they didn't even know the money was held. but there is something that very much bothers me about the facts. they were five meetings. elwha hear about those today in which there was never a linkage

made. there was one witness depended on 600 times in the majority's report that in the end after questions had to say, well, that was my presumption of what was happening. you see, this is an impeachment based on presumption. this is a poll-tested impeachment on what actually sells to the american people. today is going to be a lot of things. what it is not is fair. what it is not is about the truth. what is true today, and i just heard it a moment ago, in the articles themselves, where it said, and the speaker i believe actually talked about about this, is the president weakened a foreign leader. you know what the truth of the matter is? the most interesting and deplorable thing i've heard over the last few weeks is the actually attack by the majority on president zelensky, because they realize their whole crux of their case is if he was not pressured, their house of cards falls. and by the way, it's already fell. but if we can't pressure -- show pressure, then we either have to call him a liar, a world leader,

or we have to make up names to call him. and that's exactly what happened in judiciary committee when a member of the majority actually said he's acting or they're comparing him to a battered wife. that is below the dignity of this body, to take a world leader and when he doesn't make your case for you, to belittle him, especially, as is often said by the majority, that they're in the middle of a hot war with russia. you see, president trump actually did give them offensive weapons. president trump did nothing wrong. we went on process and we went on facts. why? because the american people see through this. but before i close this first part, i will have to recognize that even the senate, the minority leader in the senate recognized that the house did not do their job, because he can't make the case to his own members so he's having to ask for witnesses, ask for more time. you see, and even yesterday, it's sort of funny, i thought it hilarious that the minority leader in the senate went out and did a press conference and said, they denied my witnesses, they denied my requests. well, welcome to the club, mr. schumer, that's exactly what's happened over here for the last

three months. so today, we're going to talk a lot about impeachment. we're going to talk a lot about our president. and we're going to talk about two articles of impeachment. abuse of power, because they can't actually pin anything of factual basis on him, the president did nothing wrong in this issue. and they're going to talk about obstruction of congress. you know, obstruction of congress, is like petulant children saying we didn't get our way when we didn't ask the right way and didn't try to make a case. you know why, madam speaker? the clock and the calendar are terrible masters. and the majority will own that problem today because to the clock and the calendar, facts don't matter. the promises to the base matter. and today is a promise kept for the majority. not a surprise. a fact. and with that i reserve. >> the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from new york. >> madam speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. >> the gentleman is recognized. >> madam speaker, the house of

representatives must now consider two articles of impeachment against trump. the first article charges that the president used his public office to coerce a foreign government into attacking his political rival. the second article charges that the president took extreme and unprecedented steps to obstruct our investigation into his conduct. taken together, the two articles charge that president trump placed his private political interests above our national security, above our elections, and above our system of checks and balances. after months of investigation, there can be no serious debate about the evidence at hand. on july 25th, when he spoke to president zelensky of ukraine, president trump had the upper hand. the president through his agents had already demanded that ukraine announce an investigation of his political opponents. ukraine needed our help, both military aid, which had been

appropriated by congress because of our security interests, and an oval office meeting to show the world that the united states continues to stand with ukraine against russian aggression. president trump should have been focused on the interests of the american people on that call. instead, he prioritized his private political interests. president trump asked president zelensky for a favor. he wanted ukraine to announce two bogus investigations, one into former vice president biden, then his leading opponent in the 2020 election, and another to advance a conspiracy theory that ukraine, not russia, attacked our elections in 2016. neither request was premised on any legitimate national security or foreign policy interests. one was intended to help president trump conceal the truth about the 2016 election. the other was intended to help him gain an advantage in the

2020 election. after the call, president trump ratcheted up the pressure. he deployed his private attorney and other agents, some acting far outside the regular channels of diplomacy, to make his desires clear. there would be no aid and no meeting until ukraine announced the sham investigations. to our founding generation, abuse of power was a specific well-defined offense. a president may not misuse the powers of the presidency to obtain an improper personal benefit the off the record shows that president trump did exactly that. for this alone he should be impeached. but the first article also identifies two aggravating factors. when president trump conditioned military aid on a personal favor, he harmed america's national security. and when he demanded that a foreign government target his domestic political rival, he took steps to corrupt our next election. to the founders, these offences

clearly merited removal from office. the president faces a second article of impeachment for his efforts to obstruct our investigation of his misconduct. the constitution grants the sole power of impeachment to the house of representatives. within our system of checks and balances, the president may not decide for himself what constitutes a valid impeachment inquiry, nor may he ignore lawful subpoenas or direct others to do so. many presidents including president trump have asserted privileges and other objections to specific subpoenas. but only president trump has ordered the categorical defiance of a congressional investigation. the automatic rejection of all subpoenas. the president is not above the law and he should be impeached for this as well. congress cannot wait for the next election to address this misconduct. president trump has demonstrated a clear pattern of wrongdoing. this is not the first time he has solicited foreign

interference in an election, has been exposed, and has attempted to obstruct the ensuing investigation. we cannot rely on the next election as a remedy for presidential misconduct when the president threatens the very integrity of that election. he has shown us he will continue to put his selfish interests above the good of the country. we must act without delay. by his actions, president trump has broken his oath of office. his conduct continues to undermine our constitution and threaten our next election. his actions warrant his impeachment and demand his removal from office. i urge my colleagues to support these articles and i reserve the balance of my time. >> the gentleman from georgia. >> thank you, madam speaker. my pleasure at this time to yield three minutes to the gentleman from wisconsin, mr. sensenbrenner. >> the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. >> madam speaker, i rise in opposition to impeaching the president. the constitution says that any civil officer including the

president may be impeached for treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors. unlike the nixon and clinton cases, there are no allegations that the president has committed a crime. we have had almost three years of nonstop investigations. we've had the mueller report. we've had the schiff investigation. we've had the nadler investigation. and at no time is there any evidence that indicates that donald j. trump violated any criminal statute of the united states. so why are we here? we're here because the majority caucus, the democratic caucus, has been hijacked by the radical left. they have wanted to reverse the course of the 2016 election ever since donald j. trump won that election. so let's go look at these two phony articles of impeachment.

uh, first of all, abuse of power. the phone call in question had the president say, our country has been through a lot. i want you to do us a favor. not me a favor. us a favor. and there he was referring to our country, the united states of america, not a personal political gain. he was not afraid to let this transcript go public. and he released the transcript almost immediately after the call. now, the second article of impeachment, obstruction of congress, it basically says that unless the president gives us everything we want and when we want it, then he's committed an impeachable offense. that's a bunch of bunk. the president has certain individual and privileges by virtue of his office. whenever there has been a dispute between the executive

and legislative branches heretofore, they've gone to court. and the supreme court a couple of weeks ago said they would take jurisdiction over deciding whether the president had to comply with one subpoena relating to his tax returns. now, here the democrats have been bent to impeach the president of the united states before the court decides this. and this means that there is a rush job to do this. and why is there? because they want to influence the 2020 elections. and they spent three years doing it. they spent millions of taxpayers' dollars including the mueller report, putting together this impeachment, and they also have had this congress wrapped around impeachment and not doing their jobs until the dam broke this week. stop this charade, vote no.

and i yield back. >> the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from new york. >> mr. speaker, the gentleman from wisconsin full well the president asserted no privileges here. he simply ordered complete defiance to the impeachment inquiry. i now yield two minutes to the gentlelady from pennsylvania, ms. scanlan. >> the gentlewoman is recognized. >> thank you, mr. speaker. it's with profound sadness that i stand here today in support of these articles of impeachment. president trump's behavior is exactly what our founders feared most. though knew that with the awesome power of the presidency came the risk of a president abusing that power for personal gain. they were particularly concerned about an executive who became entangled with foreign governments, corrupted our elections, or sought to avoid consequences for his own

misconduct in office. that is why they included impeachment in the constitution, to protect our republic. our colleagues across the aisle have claimed that we're impeaching the president because we don't like him, because, uh -- but this moment is about more than disagreements with the president's policies or personality. those issues belong in the voting booth. our task is here not to judge the president himself. instead, we must judge his conduct and whether his actions have undermined our constitution. the president has committed the highest of high crimes under our constitution. he used the highest office in our government and taxpayer dollars to pressure a foreign country to interfere in our elections. he undermined our national security. and when he got caught he tried to cover it up, obstructing our investigation and refusing to produce subpoenaed documents and witnesses. a government where the president

abuses his power is not of the people. a government where the president pressures a foreign country to undermine our elections is not by the people. and a government where the president puts his own interests before the country is not for the people. this isn't complicated. you know it, i know it, the american people know it. president trump's wrongdoing and the urgent threat that his actions present to our next election and our democracy leaves us no principles alternative but to support these articles of impeachment. our constitution, our country, and our children depend upon it. i yield back. >> the gentlelady yields back. the gentleman from georgia. >> thank you, mr. speak of her as the gentlelady just said, i wish they would exam the factual conduct but i guess that's not going to happen. at this point i yield two minutes to the gentleman from louisiana, mr. johnson. >> the gentleman is recognized. >> i thank the gentleman from georgia.

the founders feared single party impeachment would bitterly and perhaps irreparably divide this nation. the truth is there has never been a single party fraudulent impeachment process like the one being used today. our democrat colleagues have weaponized the impeachment provision of the constitution to nullify the votes of 63 million americans who elected president donald j. trump. this is not about a phone call or ukraine or even his use of the executive privilege. you have to remember that 95 of the democrats on this floor today voted to impeach donald trump before the july 25th phone call ever happened between president trump and president zelensky. and not only is this a single party impeachment, it's also evidence-free. after all their herculean efforts they could only come up with two short articles of impeachment. on the first, the democrats know there is zero direct evidence in this record of these proceedings to show that president trump engaged in any abuse of power. as you'll hear today, their entire case is based on hearsay,

speculation, and conjecture and there's not a single fact witness that can provide testimony to support their baseless allegations. the democrats' second claim is that president trump obstructed congress by simply doing what virtually every other president in the modern era has also done and that is to assert, mr. chairman, a legitimate executive privilege which protects the separation of powers. you know what, if they disagreed with that, the democrats could and should have just simply gone a few blocks away to a federal court and get an expedited court order, that's what's been done in the past. but they didn't do that here because these democrats didn't have time for it. they're trying to meet their own arbitrary, completely reckless and machiavellian timeline to take down a president that they loathe. the real abuse of power here is on the part of the house democrats. they have feverishly pursued this impeachment 20 times faster

than the impeachment investigation of bill clinton. they've tried to reach their predetermined political outcome and steamrolled -- >> the gentleman's time has expired. >> this must fail. >> the gentleman's time has expired. >> i yield back. >> the gentleman from new york is recognized. >> mr. speaker remember the gentleman knows that impeachment was put into the constitution as a defense of the republic in between elections. i now yield two minutes to the distinguished gentlelady from washington, ms. jayapal. >> the gentlelady is recognized. >> mr. speaker, this is a day of accountability and defending our democracy. the facts in front of us are clear. this president, donald j. trump, coerced a fragile foreign ally to investigating his political opponent and interfere in our elections, and he leveraged critically needed,

congressionally approved military aid to ukraine. the president's allies want to claim that he did this because he cared about corruption. but if president trump truly cared about corruption, then he would have listened to the talking points that were prepared by the national security council on anticorruption. he did not. in fact on those two calls with president zelensky, he never mentioned the word "corruption." he did not abide by the department of defense's own recommendation that ukraine had passed all the anticorruption benchmarks and he didn't listen to the unanimous conclusion of all of his top advisers that he must release that aid to ukraine. he did release the aid in 2017 and 2018 but not in 2019. why? because in 2019, vice president joe biden was running for preside president. because this is not hearsay, we have a responsibility. the president told us himself on

national television exactly what he wanted from the phone call with president zelensky. he came onto the white house lawn and he said, "i wanted president zelensky to open an investigation into the bidens." he solicited foreign interference before. he is doing it now. and he will do it again. the president is the smoking gun. our founders, mr. chairman -- mr. speaker, entrusted us with the awesome responsibility of protecting our democracy which gets its power not from the blood lines of monarchs but from the votes of we, the people. without that, we are no longer a democracy. we are a monarchy or a dictatorship. and so today, to uphold my oath to constitution and country, i will vote to impeach donald j. trump. i yield back. >> the gentlelady yields back. the gentleman from georgia. >> i also remind my chairman

impeachment is not to nullify elections when you can't win the next one. >> impeachment is the greatest item that we as congress can consider. the decision is so consequential, it's only been done three times previously. unfortunately many of my colleagues have diminished what should be a solemn and great proceeding into an absolute political circus simply because they don't like the man occupying the white house. the democrats have been intent on impeaching the president since the day he took office. this impeachment vote today is the next step in their plan to remove him from office. the hearings were held in a room designed to share classified information. nothing classified was shared during these meetings. but the result from this decision was that most members of congress and all americans were blocked from hearing the facts for themselves. chairman schiff repeatedly withheld crucial information from the republicans including

the ability for anyone but himself and his staff to speak with the whistle-blower that is at the center of the investigation. he was even called out by liberal media outlets for spreading misinformation falsehoods throughout the impeachment process. the public hearings were a complete disregard of the house rules. republicans were not allowed to call witnesses or make basic parliamentary motions. the only witnesses allowed to testify publicly were those who fit neatly into the democrats' narrative. we have not been presented any evidence that proves the president is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors. if there were criminal activity, as many of my democrat colleagues claim, then why are there no crimes listed in the articles of impeachment? we are photographforever weaken body by turning impeachment into a political weapon. this is nothing more than an attempt to conduct taxpayer-funded opposition research. the american people see right through this charade and are fed up. it's time for this madness to

stop ands f s fofor us to get b the important work the people sent us here to do. >> the gentleman from new york. >> i yield three minutes to mr. lieu. >> the gentleman is recognized. >> thank you, chairman nadler, for your leadership. let's start by making this very simple. no one in american could do what donald trump did and get away with it. no american elected official can call up a foreign government and ask for an investigation of a political opponent. no member of congress can call up a foreign official and ask for help in our reelection campaign. if we did that we would likely get indicted. no one is above the law. and the constitution is the supreme law of the land. i first swore an oath to the constitution when i joined the united states air force on active duty. the oath i took was not to the political party or to a president or to a king.

it was to a document that has made america the greatest nation on earth and that document contains a safe guard for when the president's abuse of power is so extreme that it warrants impeachment. we're not here because of policy disputes. i acknowledge the president has a right to restrict the number of refugees entering our country. he has a right to limit environmental orders. he has a right to sign a bill that has given tax breaks to the wealthy. but the president does not have the right to cheat and shrift foreign interference in our elections. that sill legais illegal. it is not what the voters elected him to do. and we will not stand for it. the president's actions were particularly insidious because he also used our government for his private gain. he conditioned taxpayer funded military aid and a critical white house meeting with the ukrainian president on the requirement that ukraine publicly announce an investigation into his opponent and by harming ukrainian security, the president also

harmed u.s. national security. and then the president solicited foreign interference again on the south lawn of the white house when he again asked ukraine to investigate his political opponent and then he asked china, our peer competitor, to do the same. that abuse of power is not acceptable. whether or not the senate convicts, the house has an independent duty to do the right thing. that's why we passed over 275 bipartisan bills that are stuck in the senate. whether impeaching or legislating, we'll continue to be faithful to the constitution regardless what have the senate may or may not do. moreover, impeachment is a form of deterrence. our children are watching. no president ever wants to be impeached. and whether donald trump leaves in one month, one year, or five years, this impeachment is permanent. it will follow him around for the rest of his life. and the history books will record it. and the people will know why we impeached. it's all very simple.

no one is above the law. not our commander in chief, not our president. i yield back. >> the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from georgia. >> thank you, mr. speaker. at this time it is my pleasure to yield a minute and a half to the gentleman from north carolina. >> the gentleman is recognized. >> i thank my colleague. in 2016, 63 million americans went to the polls and elected donald trump president of the united states. house democrats have been trying to overturn the election ever since. in fact, they've tried five additional times to the one that's before us to impeach the president, including the vote in may of 2017, just five months into his term. in january of this year, house democrats took control of this chamber and they were faced with a choice. they could use the tools of the majority to pursue legitimate priorities of the american people, policies that can impact their lives, or they could use the tools to undo the 2016 election. they made their choice. since then, house democrats have

issued more subpoenas than bills have been signed into law. that tells us all we need to know about this congress. and that party. rather than launch a legitimate investigation, democrats turned to focus groups to workshop their language, to see if they could sell this to the american people. and the american people have rejected it. instead of negotiating with the executive branch, for instance, and allowing the courts to resolve any legitimate disputes, house democrats rushed an impeachment vote. so here we are, 12 weeks later, voting whether to impeach the president based off the thinnest record in modern history. it's no surprise that the senate is already asking for additional witnesses and more documents and real evidence. the body of evidence is weak and woefully insufficient for impeachment. and with that, i yield back on this sad day for this institution. >> the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from new york, mr. nadler. >> mr. speaker, i now yield two minutes to the gentleman from maryland, mr. raskin. >> mr. raskin is recognized.

>> thank you, mr. speaker. american elections belong to the american people, not the american president, and not foreign powers. no president may cheat the people by working with foreign governments to steal from us a free and fair election and no president who attempts it may cover up that cheating by systematically obstructing congress in our work. article 2 of the constitution does not authorize a president to do whatever he wants. the reason we have a constitution is to keep government officials from doing whatever they want. if we the people lose the certainty of free and fair elections to presidential corruption and foreign manipulation, then we lose our democracy itself. the most precious inheritance we have received from prior generations that pledged their sacred honor and gave everything they had to defend it.

the struggle for democracy is the meaning of america. that is why we remain the last best hope of a world ravaged by authoritarianism, violence, and corruption. we must act now to protect our elections and safe guard constitutional democracy for the enormous and unprecedented challenges that still lie ahead of us. i yield back, mr. chairman. >> the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from georgia. >> thank you, mr. speaker. at this time it is my pleasure to yield a minute and a half to the gentlewoman from west virginia. >> thank you. mr. speaker, i rise in opposition of hr 755. today is a disappointing day. it is the day my colleagues from across the aisle cast the vote that they have spent the last three years obsessing over. the vote to impeach our duly elected president. there are two charges claimed by house democrats and there is zero cause for either.

while president trump has led, our country has thrived and washington liberals have failed. despite the commitment of many of our colleagues to obstruct the obstruct the administration agenda at every turn, our country continues to succeed. we have not been able to deliver on what americans want and need. we still have not finished securing our border. the opioid epidemics still rages in our communities. our infrastructure is still in dwy dire need of an over haul. we still have not reached a bipartisan resolution on drug pricing. if congress had not spent the last year stuck in a divisive debacle, think of what we could have done. the lives could have been saved and the community that we could improve and the positive work we

should do for our country but we did not. all because of devivisive theatrical. >> i yield back my time. >> the gentleman from new york. >> mr. speaker, two-minutes from the gentleman from rhode island. >> i support the articles of impeachment against donald j. trump. no one runs from congress to impeach a president. president trump abused the enormous power of his office when he slit solicitilit tate - tried to cheat to win reelection. this was not an attack on vice president biden. this was an attack on our democracy.

if we do not hold the president accountable today, we'll live in addi a dictatorship. today every member of this chamber faces a choice whether to do a constitution demand that the evidence requires or turn a blind eye of high crimes and misdemeanors. to my friends on the other side of the isle, this is not about making history. this is about holding a lawless president accountable and the way our framer intended. this is our time to put our country over your political party. do not seek of the high grass of the vote against these articles. we are all americans. show the american people your devotion of the country more powerful of your loyalty to the political party. we can defend our country from all enemies, foreign and domestics. all you have to do is look at the evidence because it will leave you with only one answer. the president of the united states must be impeached.

remember these facts. he tried to cheat, he got caught. he confessed and then he obstructed the investigation into his misconduct. for our democracy, for our constitution, for the people you represent and for all who'll inherit our country for us. i pray that you will do the right thing. i yield back. >> the gentleman from georgia. >> thank you, mr. speaker, i yield a minute and a half to mr. rogers from alabama. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today in complete and total support of president trump, it is based on a fundamental hatred of our president. it is a sham and a witch hunt against the president of the united states. it is a sad day for our nation when one political party and the mainstream media tried to hijack our constitution.

the democratic majority turning our process into a political weapon. something that republicans refused to do when our base was calling for the impeachment of president obama. it is time to put our nation first, that's what president trump is doing. the united states has record low on employment and historic performance on the stock market. he's rebuilding our military, he helps create space force and the list goes on. i yield back. >> gentleman from new york, mr. nadler. >> i am hearing a lot from my colleagues from the other side of the isle except for a defense of president trump misconduct which is in defensible. i yield two-minutes to the gentleman of florida. >> some say this impeachment is

about eight lines in a call transcript, there is so much more. this is about a scheme that lasted months and involving dozens of trump officials. look at the evidence, look at the direct evidence, text messages and calls and meetings, way back in may, the president told his team talk to rudy giuliani. the president's message, no white house meeting unless ukraine helped him in the 2020 election. ambassador sondland says there was a prerequisite investigation into the bidens. the most important thing for the ukrainian president to do was to commit an investigation of the bidens. just before the july 25th call. volker told the ukrainians assuming president zelensky convinces trump he'll investigate, he'll nail down a

date to visit washington. more calls and more texts, all with the same message. if ukraine did not announce the investigation into the political rival, they would not get the white house's meeting they promised and the aid they needed in their war against russia. american presidential power comes from the people through elections. the constitution requires that we protect those elections. but when the president abused his power to solicit foreign interference. he was cheating american voters before they even had a chance to vote. his action forced us to protect our elections and the constitution. i urge my colleagues to defend the constitutions and support these articles of impeachment and remind the world in america that no one is above the law. the gentleman yields back. the gentleman of georgia.

>> with that, i yield a minute and a half to the gentleman from florida. >> opposition to this political effort to remove president trump from office. i am not surprised this day has come but i am disappointed. this impeachment is based purely on partisan motives. speaker pelosi said we should not go down this path unless there is something compelling w how divisive it has been. failed to deliver bipartisan solutions that'll actually help improve the lives of americans. the american people see through this sad charades for what it

is. the transcript of the call shows no conditions replaced on the aid. president zelensky said there was no pressure. ukraine received the aid without taking any actions. the constitution is clear. nowhere in the two articles of impeachment brought today does it article that the president has committed treason, bribery or any crime under the law. this is not overwhelming. it is not compelling. it is not bipartisan. but the speaker she was right in one way, this is incredibly divisive and lower the bar for what the future president will face. i hope that we'll finally move pass this nightmare and get to work and deliver the results for the american people. i yield back. >> gentleman from new york. >> speaker the evidence is clear that president trump took advantage of ukraine's as a rule

yes vulnerability. this is this highest of high crimes. i yield two-minute to the gentleman of california. >> the gentleman is recognized. >> i thank you the gentleman for yielding. i know firsthand the dangers that foreign interference in our election present to our democracy. it is my sworn duty to ensure that our nation is secure from all threats, foreign and domestic. congress has a constitutional job to investigate allegations of misconduct by the executive branch including the united states president. the constitution is the highest law of the land, created a system of checks and balances to prevent the creation of a king. and congress is a grant of our nation's government equals with the presidency with duties given to us boo i the framer by the f

is a sad day, i do not take impeachment lightly. i am here to do my job as a member of congress. [ speaking spanish ]