the wind, he was everything perfect right out of connecticut. and he started talking, and by the time he finished, i said, you just made a trillion dollars. the market went up 250 points. i said, larry, what the hell did you say? and i didn't matter. we were even. we went from being a trillion down to even. larry, you've been fantastic. thank you very much. appreciate it. [ applause ] and, by the way, i just see in the audience our great ambassador to china, governor. we had the governor of iowa and he loves china. and he's the longest-serving governor in the history of your country. 24 years. and i called him. i said, governor, you have to do me a favor. i remember one conversation i had with him, i was making a speech before the election, and he said, sir, please don't say anything bad about china.

it's the first time anybody ever said that to me. and i said, who is this guy? he's the governor of iowa. he just said don't say bad about china. i had to rip up about half of my speech, right? and i said why? he said we do a lot of business. i've been dealing with china for 35 years with corn and all of the different things. and he told me a story that was amazing. he said, you know, 35 years ago when i started, i met a man nam named xi. it was a young man. and the governor came back and told his wife, this is 35 years ago, and it's documented. he said i just met the future president of china. and nobody thought much about it. and you know what, 28 years later, you turned out to be right and you have been an incredible ambassador and they like each other so much. so when it came time to pick the important position of ambassador, i said haven't you

had enough after 24 years of being governor of iowa? he said, if you want me to do that. and you've been a great help. thank you very much, ambassador. appreciate it. another great job. [ applause ] >> nobody could have done that job better. a man, i can go on the opposite side of the spectrum, perhaps, from the governor, his attitude is a little different. our trade adviser peter innavar. we have all types. a deputy chief of staff, chris ladell has been with us a long time. commerce secretary, legend on wall street, wilbur ross. where is wilbur? thank you. [ applause ] >> a man who knows agricultural as well as anybody in the world. we were looking for an

agricultural person and we wanted to go political and sonny came in and it was over. i learned more in that half-hour about agriculture than i could have ever learned. sonny perdue has been incredible and we're taking care of our farmers. sonny, thank you very much. [ applause ] >> thank you. and a woman, transportation is going very well. she's done an incredible job. we're getting approvals down now from 20 years, 21 years to two years and it may get rejected for environmental or other reasons. but we have it down to about two years, a highway which would have taken 19 to 20 years to get approval. we have it down to two. if it doesn't say, we're going to say, build it. you're not going to wait 22 years to find out you can't build the highway. she's been fantastic, secretary

of transportation, elaine chao. thank you, elaine. so we have tremendous numbers of people here and i'm saying do i introduce them? but i think i should. this is a big celebration. by the way, some of the congressmen may have a vote. it's on the impeachment hoax. if you want, you can go out and vote. it's not going to matter because it's going very well. i would rather have you voting than sitting here listening to me introduce you. they have a hoax going on over there. let's take care of it. any of you guys want to leave, we will -- where is kevin mccarthy? the great kevin mccarthy. i'm glad. can i be honest? i'm glad. i like it much better that way. and the house, folks, 195-0 and we got three democrats and one of them actually left the democratic party and came over republican. what a job you've done.

i just want to thank you all. really tough. i love that. we have some incredible people in the audience and i would just like to introduce a few. a very good friend of mine, two very good friends of mine, sheldon adelson, merriam adelson. they've been tremendous supporters of us and they're great people. a man who always liked me, because he's smart, so smart, the great lou dobs. then a few weeks ago and somebody told me, he's got a very important show, actually, tremendous audience and everybody in this room watches, but he said he's the greatest of them all. and i said does that include washington and lincoln? and he said yes.

i don't know if he was for real. but that's okay. thlo dobbs, thank you very much. thank you. [ applause ] >> great show. and a man who everybody knows. he knows more than probably everybody in this room put together. he's seen it all and he made a statement to jared. jared came in and said, you know, henry kissinger told me how did the president ever pull this off? i said, can i quote henry on that? because henry is outstanding. and when henry is impressed with something, then i'm impressed. and henry, we're impressed with you. thank you very much for being here. [ applause ] >> thank you, henry. thank you. and michael pillsbury, thank you very much. you've been saying some fantastic things about china and about us and we have a good partnership. this is going to be something that's going to be very special. we're going to talk about it in

a second. a friend of mine, steve schawarsman is here. but steve has done a great job and very good relationship wh china and very good relationship here.s. hi, nelson. what are you doing sitting all the way back there, nelson? how is general electric doing? he'll straighten it out. you'll straighten it out. he came in nice and late. he didn't get in too early. hank greenberg is there. if they took care of hank, they wouldn't have had the problems that they had. where is hank? [ applause ] >> if hank had stayed there like he could have, you wouldn't have had the problem that we had with our economy. it's great to have you, hank. thank you very much. we have some tremendous senators here and some really incredible

people and i want to just say the ones who are here, if i miss your name, stand up and i will promise to say it. because a lot of people wanted to be here. a senator who has been new to the game and he took it up so quickly and so easily and he ran a race that was undoable, the person he ran against was unbeatable. and then kevin kramer said i can debate her. and i think he won by about 12 points. and they said he's the only man in north dakota who can win. and i had him in my office three times. i said, kevin, you have to do it. and then he turned me down. he came back again, this time i. i'll call you back. but i never give up, do i? instead of being a congressman, he's a senator. and you've been great. thank you very much. kevin kramer. [ applause ] >> these are all warriors.

these are -- mike, thank you very much, mike. what a job you do. mike is one of those guys who goes unsung but behind the scenes is nobody sharper, smarter. we all respect you and love you. every one of these people, thank you very much, mike. appreciate it. steve dane. he's got an hell of a football team. >> good day. i want to tell you exactly what you're watching right now. the president of the united states speaking at the white house about to formally sign phase one of a china trade deal which addresses some of the escalating trade tensions, sometimes called the trade war with china. this event which has some significance though is expected to be widely overshadowed by what else you see on your screen, the historic action on the house floor today. congress is moments away from beginning the final public debate on an impeachment

resolution that will formalize and send the articles of impeachment against president trump and these new house managers over to the senate which is why we now expect the formalities of the senate trial to begin as early as this week. later this afternoon, speaker pelosi's seven impeachment managers will march those articles in the traditional process, physically, over to the united states senate and that will begin the next phase of the process, the trial of the president of the united states of america. what we're going to do now is dip back into the white house for a few more moments of the president's remarks as we expect this to conclude with the formal signing, a news worthy act for the american economy to be sure. as soon as the house action turns to the actual debate and passage of these articles, we will bring you that as it happens. we want to let you know exactly what's coming back. let's dip back into the white house ceremony. >> have you ever missed a vote?

>> since 1993. >> he was in my office a month ago and i thought it was very rude, he said, sir, i'm sorry, i have to leave. why? i said why? he said because i have to vote. and i've never missed a vote. i said how many years? 1993. i said, go leave. that's a good record to keep. he's a solid, reliable, unbelievable purpose and he's a friend of mine. thank you very much, chuck [ applause ] >> let them know about the ethanol, chuck. we brought home the ethanol. when you have those two calling, they were not nice about it. where is jerry? they were not nice about the ethanol. i want to say that. and jerry, with what he did, working together very closely together with the vets and it's incredible what's happened with what we approved on choice. it's made a big difference. you don't here complaints about the va anymore. they see a doctor. if they have to wait two months

or wait two days, they go out and see a doctor. jerry moran, folks. he did a fantastic job. rob portman. fantastic job. i just left ohio. they love you. they love you there and you've done a fantastic job and you are my friend. [ applause ] >> rob portman. thanks, rob. pat roberts, a man from kansas who's going to be leaving us. i cannot believe that you're not running again. you have at least another 12 good, solid years in the senate, if you wanted. you have to do it. are you sure? okay. he's made that decision. but, pat, thank you very much. this is very important to pat and to mike rounds because what's happened here, if you look, it's so much about everything you stand for, especially the farmers and the farmers are going to be so happy. where is mike rounds? stand up, mike. he's another one. he was brutal to me.

he would call, i got to get this done. thank you very much, mike. fantastic job. and dan sullivan from the great state of alaska. and i stop there every time i can, right? and i won by a lot. they like me in alaska, right? but they like you too, dan. and thank you very much. kevin mccarthy, as you know left for the hoax. we have to do that, otherwise it becomes a more serious hoax. and mark meadows, a friend of mine right from the beginning, thank you very much, mark. special guy -- >> the president continuing rather lengthy remarks here addressing many people in this crowd as he prepares to formally sign this phase one agreement with china that promises $200 billion in new sales. noteworthy as we watch the escalating action in the house where at any moment they will begin the formal discussion and debate of the final presentation of articles of impeachment to

move over to the senate as we've been covering. i would note that as we've been listening to the president, much talk about whether his remarks would be overshadowed by this impeachment. the president himself couldn't resist and actually made several oblique references to the ongoing impeachment matters referring to them as a, quote, hoax and addressing senators in the audience. as we watch all of this, i want to bring back geoff bennett who's been in the thick of this. had a good post position right outside of that formal announcement by the speaker this morning. what's happening in the house and what will happen on the floor? >> yeah, let me walk you through what we expect to see unfold over the next half-hour or so. any minute now, the house is going to begin debate on this house impeachment resolution. a quick debate. ten minutes split evenly between democrats and republicans and then they will proceed directly to the vote. the vote on this resolution is the trigger that then clears the way for the transmission of these articles of impeachment

from the house to the senate. this resolution does a couple of things. first, it funds, pays for the senate trial and it also names the house impeachment managers, those seven house members who nancy pelosi in this very room today named. that group is led by adam schiff, chair of the house intelligence committee whose command is really unmatched when it comes to this impeachment case. you have chairman jerry nadler of the house judiciary committee, val demings of florida, second-term member of congress. the former orlando police chief. i covered her before she came to congress. she used to enforce the laws and now she makes the laws. you've also got zoe lofgren of california. she is the institutional memory of congress. she was a staffer back in the '70s during the nixon

impeachment trial. you have sylvia garcia of texas, jason crow of colorado. he was seen as a surprise pick given he's not on the two relevant committees. former army ranger. these are the folks who nancy pelosi has referred to as litigators. she says they're comfortable with the material. she says they're going to present the ironclad case against president trump. we expect to see opening arguments as early as next tuesday. >> geoff bennett prfeviewing wht will be one of the swiftest house debates we have having seen. i want to turn to the white house where kelly o'donnell that be tracking all of these developments. we were listening in early to the president's introductory remarks touting the phase one china agreement and referencing the other big story of the day, the progress on impeachment. what are you hearing?

>> reporter: well, the president has signaled to those house members in the room that if they needed to leave for votes, that that would be okay by him and the minority leader, kevin mccarthy has already done so. you pointed out and it's worth repeating that president trump is in this protracted thank you mode in the east room where he's going person by person through senators, members of his cabinet, business executives and personal friends. and that is in part a sign of how this path to any kind of a deal, even though this is phase one and it is limited in its scope, but a deal with china, how significant that is for the president, how much it is a story line of his time in office and how valuable he thinks it is politically in terms of what those lawmakers in the room can take home, what it means for his re-election bid, what it means for international relations and almost as if he's got that inner sense of we're watching both things at the end of pennsylvania avenue, watching

the house take its actions and the president holding the room here on the east room end of things to talk about china as his own sort of innate counter programming. that's part of what's going on here. you could have imagined that something as important to his presidency with members of the chinese delegation in the room as well, that he would avoid talking about impeachment. but he has peppered his remarks with comments about it. there is a formal statement from his press secretary and communications director stephanie grisham. it came in printed form. and there she also echoed some of the president's sensibilities saying that it is an impeachment sham and saying that speaker pelosi lied about the urgency of transmitting impeachment to the senate because of the holiday break, the sort of void that speaker pelosi allowed to happen by waiting to move those

articles of impeachment to the senate. democrats say that sort of period of time between the vote and now transmitting has allowed for some political space to be filled with additional evidence coming forward through documents and so forth that have been released in the weeks that we've seen. also pressure she says to be put on mitch mcconnell to run the senate trial and how will that play out in terms of would there be witnesses, would there be a pressure for impartiality in what is so much a partisan process. president trump today also signaled he will visit china, no dates or times or specifics given. but it is a sign of how important he feels any sort of trade agreement with china is for the country's economy and for his re-election. ari? >> thank you very much. as we await the house action, we have time to get to josh who have been following an explosive story that broke late in the day yesterday, josh. i think some viewers have heard bits and pieces. but there's so much to it.

when we think about all of those times during the mueller investigation or during this latest ukraine series of revelations, how you'd see a big story in a newspaper with a key letter or a key text or key piece of evidence, here house impeachment managers have unloaded a bunch of that all at once and people are still making sense of it. what do we know? >> hard to know where to start with all of the documents that came out last night. just when we thought we had learned everything there was to know about what happened behind the scenes in this ukraine saga, bombshell new revelations, new text messages, new documents, as well as a new character that we didn't even know was connected to all of this until these documents came out last night. these were documents unloaded from the iphone of lev parnas, an indicted associate of rudy giuliani. he had to turn those over to federal prosecutors in his campaign finance violation case

and the court let him then give those information over to house intelligence who released it last night. one key piece of information that came out of that we're paying close attention to is an undisclosed letter from may 2019 between rudy giuliani directly to president zelensky of ukraine in which he's requesting a meeting with the new ukrainian leader just after he's been elected. giuliani saying in my capacity as personal counsel to president trump and with his knowledge and consent, i request a meeting with you. that obviously very important because it pulls the rug out of any attempt by president trump to argue he wasn't aware of or consents to what giuliani had been doing there. also making it more difficult for the president to use this argument he's tried to make all along that when he was going after corruption in ukraine, calling for these investigations, he was doing it because that was u.s. foreign policy and it was in america's interests to try to root out

corruption in a partner country in the former soviet union. giuliani making clear that this meeting he wanted with zelensky to talk about the bidens was in his capacity representing trump on his personal interests. the other bizarre part of this that we just learned about as these documents came out has to do with a character named robert hide. he's a current republican congressional candidate in connecticut, a major republican donor and there are messaging between him and lev parnas in which they appear to be discussing a surveillance operation on marie yovanovitch. hyde telling parnas that he knows her whereabouts, describing that she's near the embassy, that she hasn't used her phone in a few hours, that her computer is off, and describing the steps he's taking to track her whereabouts and

whether she would be moved into a higher security environment. we know from the -- >> let's pause on that just because that is an interesting piece. what do you see as the significance of that to the impeachment trial? on the one hand through proper channels, the united states keeps tabs on all sorts of individuals, both within our own government if they're worried about their security, unauthorized disclosures, et cetera, and yet this was not u.s. government surveillance. what was it? >> it was two private citizens apparently discussing tracking the whereabouts of a senior u.s. diplomat within the capital of the former soviet union nation. this is raising some major alarm bells today among house foreign affairs committee, among yovanovitch's attorneys and among diplomatic security officials at the state department. >> the big question is what will the house managers do with it. thank you. we turn to someone with insights

on that now, kathryn clark who's vice chair of the house democratic congress working closely with nancy pelosi. i know it's a busy time as we're awaiting the debate and vote. thank you for squeezing us in before you go back there. walk us through what you think of these house managers, what is the speaker saying with these selections? >> i think the managers are excellent and they represent the deep bench that we have in the house democratic caucus. and really have been chosen for their expertise and experience in courtrooms and in litigation and they will do an incredible job of continuing to put the truth before the american people. and the american people know that if you have a trial, it has to have two components, it has to be fair to the accused, the president in this case, and it has to have documents and witnesses so there is a fair

hearing of the evidence. and what we've seen from mitch mcconnell is he is committed to being an accomplice with the president, working and coordinating with him to keep the evidence out of view. that is called a cover-up and that is what we're seeing from mitch mcconnell. >> when you look at what we're about to see on the house floor, what should americans take from it as well as what we were just discussing, this new evidence, apparently, unavailable earlier, but now will the managers be using that as well? >> yes. the new evidence that has come to light underscores what we already saw and put before the american people in the impeachment process in the house. it underscores that there is a direct line between the president and trying to get ukraine to just announce a

political investigation in order to help the president in his re-election. this is a breach of the oath of office. it endangered our national security and it can no longer just be denied by erecting barriers to the truth from coming out. the truth is funny that way, it has a way of finding the way to light and to justice. and what we are seeing is that the evidence is mounting against this president and is really exposing mitch mcconnell as just part of the cover-up that the white house is so desperate to have the senate continue in order to keep the facts from the american people. >> congresswoman clark, thank you so much. very interesting to hear directly from you about what's happening and we'll let you get

back to the house floor. as you can see on your screen, the president continuing to give his lengthy opening remarks here on the china trade deal. what my colleague referred to as a protracted round of thank yous. and we are not taking that as sound anymore. but when the actual action happens, we will report it, the formal signing of the deal. on the house floor, they're still in regular business, but any moment will proceed to that very quick, ten-minute debate over impeachment and we also have seen speaker pelosi herself come onto the house floor, a sign that they're getting very close to that action. i want to tell you exactly who is with us as we try to take stock of what happens happening on this historic day, the march towards the trial of the sitting president. something that as you know because you've heard it from our historians and experts is a very rare thing in american life and history. to help us unpack all of it, former democratic senator from

missouri claire mccaskill, david jolly, a former civil prosecutor and former managing editor of "time" magazine. in watching the house floor, you'll notice we have jerry nadler, who was just named the house impeachment manager. let's listen in. >> the clerk will report the resolution. >> house resolution, 798, resolved that mr. schiff, mr. nadler, ms. lofgren, ms. garcia of texas are appointed managers to conduct the impeachment trial against donald j. trump, president of the united states. that a message be sent to the senate to inform the senate of these appointments and that the managers so appointed may in connection with the preparation and the conduct of the trial exhibit the articles of impeachment to the senate and take all other actions necessary which may include the following,

one, employing legal, clerical and other assistance and incurring expenses as may be necessary to be paid from amounts available to the committee on the judiciary under applicable expense resolutions or from the applicable accounts of the house of representatives. two, sending for persons and papers and filing with the secretary of the senate on the part of the house of representatives any pleadings in conjunction with or subsequent to the exhibition of the articles of impeachment that the managers consider necessary. >> pursuant to house resolution 767, the resolution is debatable for ten minutes equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee. the gentleman from new york, mr. nadler, and the gentleman from georgia, mr. collins will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the

gentleman from new york. >> i yield myself for two minutes. the resolution before us today appoints managers to prosecute the senate impeachment trial of president trump. this trial is necessary because president trump gravely abused the power of his office when he strong armed a foreign government to announce investigations into his domestic political rival. he betrayed our country when he used the powers of his office to pressure that government to help him win re-election. he invited foreign interference into our elections, again. he jeopardized our national security. he did all of this for his personal political gain and then he violated the constitution by stonewalling congress's efforts to investigate, ordering a blockade of evidence. despite that, the house was able to uncover powerful evidence that demonstrates beyond a doubt the president's betrayal and violations of the constitution.

but we still have not heard the whole truth because the president had refused to allow a single document turned over to the house. and he has frechprevented us fr hearing key witnesses as well. this is unprecedented. above all, a fair trial must include additional documents and all relevant witnesses. the american people have commonsense. they know that any trial that does notice allow witnesses is not a tr on this point has gotten results. just yesterday, we received critical new evidence from the trump's scheme to pressure ukraine to go after his personal political opponents. new witness testimony has become available as well including john bolton's announcement that he would honor a senate subpoena. under today's resolution, the managers also have broad authority to submit to the

senate any additional evidence the house may require and we will do so. the senate is on trial. we will see whether they conduct a fair trial and allow the witnesses or conduct the cover up. today's resolution is the next step -- >> the gentleman's time has expired. >> i urge my colleagues to vote yes. >> gentleman from georgia. >> this impeachment process has been flawed from the outset. it resembles not a congressional action. it resembles more a dr. seuss book. on september 24th, the speaker declared the house was conducting an impeachment inquiry. however, to the contrary, we were all of a sudden in an impeachment inquiry, the house did not authorize the impeachment inquiry until october 31st. it is just said just a moment ago that the speaker has been leading the fight for a fair trial in the senate, i wish the speaker had been leading for a fair hearing in the house

instead of trashing our rules. for those 71 out of 78 days from the time it was announced to the time we finished, the president was not permitted to participate in these meetings. 71 days out of 78 in which we did something on impeachment. he was not presented the ability to cross-examine fact witnesses, no due process at all in those 71 days. when presented with the opportunity when it came to the judiciary committee, instead of the judiciary committee stepping up and acting like the judiciary committee, we punted. we had a couple of -- it was some law professors who had their basic talking points. he could have cross-examined them. we could have had staffers who testify, again, a lot of good. where were the fact witnesses instead of the rubber stamp that we were warned about 20 years by the current chairman. we became the rubber stamp.

they wrote to this day, we will pass this out in violation of house rule 660. they used inflammatory rhetoric because this is what they had to do. one said we have a crime in progress. we have an emergency that d is going on right now. but my favorite in december, it's a crime spree in progress. oh, the hyperbole reeks in this room. if it was such an emergency, why did we hold this for almost a month? we've been told that it's to help a senate fair trial. be damned the house inappropriate process we had. but even know that the process was bad, i'm going to make sure the facts are here because they still haven't changed. a phone call that was put out in a transcript in which no pressure was applied. there was no conditionality on anything given in that call or sense to do that. there was also nothing given by

the ukrainians to actually get this money that was released before it was actually statutory led line of september 31st. they did nothing. they got the money anyway. but they want the senate to do their job for them. that's not how it works. you see the speaker and what i've heard today even from folks is that this is all they wanted. it was a political impeachment. they have said he's impeached for life. this shows the true motivation i believe of the other side. it is their dislike for this president and the good work he is doing. so before i reverse here for a moment, this has always been a political impeachment. even today on the floor, the talk of the president being forever impeached, i hope this ends this political impeachment and this body never sees it again. i reverse. >> gentleman reverses. gentleman from new york. >> i yield one minute to the distinguished chairman of the intelligence committee, the gentleman from california, mr. schiff. >> the gentleman is recognized

for one minute. >> i rise in strong support of the resolution. the task before us is a grave one but one demanded by our oath. the impeachment inquiry undertaken by the house of representatives found that president donald j. trump abused his power and sought to cover it up with an unprecedented campaign of obstruction. he withheld hundreds of millions of u.s. dollars in vital military aid to ukraine, a close ally at war with russia and withheld a white house meeting critical to the ukrainian's leader international legitimacy until ukraine would committee to help president trump cheat, cheat in the next election. president trump put his own personal interests above the national interests, above our national security and if not stopped he will do it again. for that reason, he was impeached and for that reason the house managers will take the case to the senate and to the

american people. because the appropriate remedy, indeed the only remedy, is the conviction and removal from office of president donald trump. i yield back. >> gentleman from georgia. >> thank you. at this time i yield one minute to the gentleman from california, mr. mccarthy. >> the gentleman is recognized. >> thank you, madam speaker. back when this national nightmare began, speaker pelosi laid bare her intentions and partisan agenda. she told her caucus that they needed to strike while the iron is hot. this was always an exercise in raw partisan politics. contrary to the warnings of our founders and over the last month we saw the justification for running the fastest, thinnest, and weakest impeachment in american history crumble. instead of sending the articles of impeachment to the senate for trial, speaker pelosi held them

hostage to gain leverage that she did not and would never have. in terms of concessions, she got nothing. no control. no moral victories. in other words, another failed strategy. after a month of counterproductive and harmful delays, i have three questions for my friends on the other side of the aisle, the democrats. what happened to impeachment being urgent? what happened to congress being on the clock? what happened to saying the house would be in our duty. i guess it turns out, none of them are true. these tactics were self-serving, hypocritical and discrediting. but they made an important

omission. you approved a very big point, democrats do not even believe their case was robust enough to win in a trial. even the speaker's allies admit the delays undermine their case. these are those who are closest to her. senator feinstein, the senate democrat from our state of california and the hometown senator of the speaker said, the longer it goes on, the less urgent it becomes. and chairman adam smith, a confidant of the speaker said, it was time to transmit the articles to the senate. before these statements were made last week, before the senate speaker relented, they are significant because they were public and they were honest. i'm disappointed these individuals did not have the courage to stand by their initial comments. if impeachment was truly as

urgent as democrats claimed, the majority should not have waited for the speaker to choose a political convenient time. anyone could have recognized this ploy would not work. the house and the senate are different institutions. and at this point in time controlled by different parties. as james madison wrote in the federalist papers, the purpose of bicameralism is to guard against the dangers of encroachment and to stop toxic resolutions from taking effect. we saw separation of powers prevail against an abuse of power. just as the constitution intends. the idea of with holding a sloppy impeachment case to force the senate to change its rules is constitutionally and politically unheard of. frankly, it's just ridiculous. in article i, section five, the constitution clearly states each house may determine the roles of

its proceedings. it doesn't say the house may determine the roles of the proceedings in the senate. if anything, the speaker's actions have only persuaded members of the senate that evidence of impeachment was neither thorough or satisfactory. but you know what, let's be honest, this was never about persuasion. it was never about the rule of law. it was what alexander hamilton warned us, that one party would get control and just because of the animosity would demean the process of impeachment. and by selecting these particular batch of managers, the speaker has further proven she's not interested in winning the minds, the hearts or even following the constitution. let's take a look at the first three names speaker pelosi announced in her anticipated announcement earlier today.

chairman schiff, a man who is already taken on the role of judge, jury, and fact witness throughout the entire house impeachment process. chairman nadler, someone who campaigned for the chairmanship of the judiciary committee that's responsible for impeachment beginning as far back as december 2017, before you were even in the majority, on the notion that he would be the best person to lead the charge of potential impeachment against the president. you see, you get a chairmanship by your conference voting for you. you campaign for it. you put your best ideas out there of why you should be the chairman. in 2017 that was the campaign. congressman hakeem jeffries, a member who almost two years to this date voted in support of

impeachment. you know that was more than a year before the ukraine call even took place. those are just some of the managers. if you think about the members, there's people who were -- on the day they were sworn in to this body, to those who support them the greatest, said they were going to impeach him. as i've said in the past, there's an issue with fairness. but instead of looking to the senate, speaker pelosi should be looking within her own caucus. from the beginning, this investigation was marred by selective leaks to the media, a completely predetermined process. yes, we have been through impeachment before, but it was much different. we believed in the rule of law back then, that we would face our accuser, that you could cross-examine, that the minority could actually ask for witnesses. the day that impeachment was asked to come forward, i sent a

letter to the speaker laying out ten items, none that were made up, you know what they were? the fair process we've always used in the past. the answer was no. because they've been working on this for 2 1/2 years, they could not let fairness determine the outcome. any other prosecutor would be disbarred for such blatant bias, especially if that prosecutor was a fact witness in the case. the reason for this impeachment is the same reason it's taken democrats 30 days to send the articles to the senate. just spite. they wanted to stain the president's record without giving him a fair chance to clear his name. last year, we saw house democrats invert the burden of proof during their fair investigation. for every american watching, take for instance that this was your government, if you switched the burden of proof on you.

we have a congress characterized this way, this new freshman of the majority, the president says he's innocent, so all we're saying is prove it. god forbid government accuses you as an average american and say you have to prove it. we just switched a fundamental belief as an american but only in this house do we do that. this guilty until proven innocent mentality was not about upholding justice or protecting the rule of law. now democrats have invented an even more destructive standard, you're guilty because they say so. our founders feared this day. alexander hamilton warned us of this day. i hope this day would not come. i would hope those who uphold

the constitution would believe in the rule of law instead of the spite of the dislike of an individual. like the kangaroo court on college campuses, one accusation is enough for a conviction. even as early as last sunday in an interview. speaker pelosi made that point very clear to all of us. asked what a senate acquittal would mean, she said i didn't matter, the president is impeached forever. is that what this is all about? just the personality, just an abuse of power that you have within a house that we all feared this country would never do. you could almost see on the speaker's smile as we spoke about this new standard, how incredibly solemn she was. madam speaker, when americans look back, they will see a

rigged process that damaged the reality of impeachment. speaker pelosi got nothing from the senate. but the american people got worse than nothing. they got stuck with the bill for a costly, what you pay for does not apply here. congress wasted time and millions of dollars on partisan impeachment. in return, taxpayers get nothing. democrats misaligned priorities have cost solutions that could have improved the quality of their life. there's no greater contrast than what we are doing right here today than what is happening at pennsylvania avenue. the president sitting down with another country of a leader and signing a trade agreement. something people said we could never get done. to make this country stronger, to make america the next century ours, but what are we doing

here? we are doing what this majority has worked their entire time for, before they're even sworn in. they campaigned for the position of chairman. for this moment, for this time, for the millions of dollars that are spent so they could say the president is impeached. that's a lofty history. those are lofty goals that you know have authorized more subpoenas than you created laws. but thank god we got a president in the white house that does not sit back. yes, he got the united states-mexico-canada trade agreement. think about how much stronger his hand would have been had that agreement taken place earlier when he got it. no, it was held. why? because we were impeaching. that's an amazing agenda but you promised people you would do it. this is not a moment this body

should be proud of. as speaker pelosi likes to say, impeachment is a national civics lesson, let's use this blunder as a teachable moment. i'll make this promise to the american public because the day will come that the majority will switch. we will uphold the constitution. we will listen to the words of alexander hamilton and just because somebody else is in an office that we may not like, we will not change the rule of law, we will not accuse them of breaking it and say they have to prove it. we believe america's more than a country. that america is an idea, an idea that would make students in iran rise up for the freedom of what

they know america to be. that the rule of law was so powerful, this is a moment and a civic lesson that we should learn. this that will teach your grandchildren that yes, more than 200 years ago, the founders crafted amazing country, but they warned us what abuse of power would look like. the sad part is we're witnessing it. what a contrast in a day and time. moving forward, we must not redo these same mistakes in congress. and my promise to you, if power was to change, the rule of law would come back. we'd have an agenda focussed on people, not on politics. we'd have a voice that you're innocent until proven guilty.

we would not abuse our power just for the shake of politics to say you're impeached forever because i dislike you. we are better than this. it's a sad day, but the great thing about america, it will all change, because the people have the voice. i yield back. >> members are once again reminded to address their remarks to the chair. gentleman from new york. >> i yield myself one minute. >> gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> two points. first my colleagues in the minority would rather talk about ything than try to defend what president trump actually did. because they can't. there is overwhelming evidence that the president pressured the ukrainian government to interfere in our election on his behalf. then he covered it up. these are high crimes and misdemeanors and we will prove that in the senate.

second, our minority colleagues don't like our ongoing fight for a fair trial because it got results. new documents and additional witnesses have emerged that unmistakably point to the president's guilt and we have a have exposed the efforts in some in the senate majority to put on a sham trial. the american people understand a trial without witness and evidence is not a trial but a coverup. that will not stand. we must protect the constitution and the integrity of our elections. that is what this is about. we must remove this president to protect our country. i reserve the balance of my time. >> gentlemen from georgia. >> reserve. >> gentleman from georgia has 30 seconds remaining. gentleman from new york has one minute to new york. >> i appreciate that, madame speaker. is the gentleman from new york ready to close? >> gentleman from georgia is recognized. >> there's no other speakers. our closing is no other

speakers. >> i have one mr. speaker. >> you're not ready to close. i reserve. >> no, no. >> no. the gentleman is incorrect. the gentleman from new york has one remaining speaker who will close. gentleman from georgia is recognized for 30 seconds. >> i'll take it back. give me the time one more time. >> thirty-seconds remaining. new york, one minute. >> thank you for your work. the two facts that came out. we're going to hear in a moment. they are facts. the mics are not working on the other side. we've talked about the facts. there is no overwhelming evidence. we're discussed this over and over. it doesn't matter. this is a political impeachment. this has nothing to do with the facts. we've shown there was nothing done wrong, but that does not matter when the train is on the tracks, the whistle is blowing, impeachment matters, and the only thing that matters on time line, the only real emergency here is that there's a 2020 election in which the democrats can't stand to see the fact that this president is going to win

again. they can't stand who they have running. we impeach him as they said for life. that's wrong. vote no. i yield back. >> gentleman from new york. >> no defense. i yield one minute to the distinguished speaker of the house, the gentle lady from california. >> gentle lady is recognized for one minute. >> thank you. i thank the gentleman for yielding and for his exceptional custodianship of the constitution of the united states. for 13 years the top democrat on the constitution and civil liberties sub committee of the judiciary committee, and thank you for your leadership in protecting and defending the constitution. the oath we take as members of congress. as i enter into the conversation, i do want to thank the distinguished gentleman from georgia for his apology for his ridiculous remarks about me and house democrats. thank you. we accept your apology, mr.

collins. now, i want to go to the purpose of why we're on the floor today. my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, we are here today to cross a very important threshold in american history. on december 18th, the house of representatives passed articles of impeachment of donald trump. articles of impeachment for abuse of power and obstruction of congress. by his own admission, the president stated that yes, he had had that conversation with the president of ukraine, but he didn't see anything wrong with it. well, we don't agree with that assessment. and yes, it is a fact when someone is impeached, they are always impeached. it cannot be erased. so i stand by that comment, although i know you don't like

hearing it. i stand by this american flag, picture of the american flag as i did the day that we introduced the articles of impeachment on to the floor. because every day all over america in class rooms as well as courtrooms, and in this congress of the united states when we meet, we pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands and to the republic for which it stands. that is what our nation is. that is the genius, the beautiful exquisite genius of the constitution that we are a republic. that was the decision of our founders. their vision. they didn't want a monarchy. they wanted a republic, and when the -- benjamin frank lin came

out of independence hall and asked what do we have, a monarchy or republic, he said a republic, if we can keep it. i often wondered why he said that. why that would be in doubt. but we see why it is in doubt right now. when the president of the united states has said article 2 says i can do whatever i want. that's a monarchy. that is not a republic that we pledge our allegiance to every single day. here we are today with the articles of impeachment about to be transmitted to the united states senate. i was thinking this morning and mentioned in a previous public event the midnight ride of paul revere. listen my children and you will hear the midnight ride of paul revere. listen my children, you will hear about an assault on the constitution of the united

states undermining the republic for which our flag stands. by the president of the united states. the president of the united states in using appropriated funds enacted in a bipartisan way by this congress, funds that were meant to help the ukraine fight the russians. the president considered that his private atm machine, i guess, and said he could say to the president, he could make -- do me a favor. do me a favor? do you paint houses too? what is this? do me a favor? we have a situation that is very sad. don't talk to me about my timing. for a long time i resisted the calls from across the country for impeachment of the president. for obvious violations of the constitution that he committed. but recognizing the divisiveness

of impeachment, i held back. frankly, i said this president isn't worth it. but when he acted the way he did in relationship to withholding funds from ukraine in return for a benefit to him that was part personal and political, he crossed a threshold. he gave us no choice. he gave us no choice. so children, our constitution is a vision of our founders. they were so brave they declared independence. they did it in a timeframe when in the course of human events it becomes necessary. they declared independence, fought a war of independence and bravely succeeded. they wrote our founding documents of the constitution. thank god they made it amendable so that we could ever be expanding freedom in our country.

and that, my children, is what you pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic contained in that constitution of the united states. so we take that oath. and when we are members of congress or other public office, we take an oath to protect and defend that constitution of the united states. and the president of the united states takes an oath to preserve, protect, and defend the constitution of the united states. an oath that he has blatantly violated. and for this reason, he was impeached by the house of representatives. and for this reason, we thought it would be helpful to have not only the strong case for impeachment and removal that was put forth in this house but to know that more was to come. and we didn't make it come because we said we're going to wait until after christmas to