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Majority Of House Votes To Impeach President Trump; Majority Of House Votes For Second Article Of Impeachment; House Passes Both Articles Of Impeachment; Trump Impeached Of Abuse Of Power, Obstruction Of Justice. Aired 8:09-9p ET
Aired December 18, 2019 - 20:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(END OF IMPEACHMENT DEBATE)
[20:09:27]
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: A moment of reckoning -- so now the moment of reckoning has begun for the president of the United States. A moment of reckoning, the first article of impeachment against the president of the United States, abuse of power. They are voting on that right now.
As you know, there are normally 435 members of the House of Representatives. Right now, there are only 431, four vacancies. So, as soon as that number gets up to 216, that's the magic number. A simple majority, Jake, in the House of Representatives.
And the president of the United States on article one abuse of power will be impeached.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: It is a moment of immense gravity, solemnity and history.
[20:10:05]
This is only the third time in the history of the republic this happened, 1868 against Andrew Johnson. Most Americans if they know that about him, that's all they know is that he was impeached.
Then, of course, the last time was in 1998, almost 21 years to the day as of tomorrow.
And now, Donald John Trump, the 45th president of the United States, will join that ignominious group of presidents who have been impeached. Presidents about whom the House of Representatives is saying this person should not be president. We want to remove him from office.
BLITZER: They have 15 minutes to vote, but this should go relatively quickly. The Democrats clearly have the majority. Right now, you can see 125 Democrats already have voted in favor of this first article of impeachment, abuse of power. It probably won't be very long until they get to 216. TAPPER: Well, they have known throughout the day that they had the
votes, the Democratic leadership. And today has been about rules and procedures. It has been about Democrats making the case. It has been about Republicans attempting to rebut the case.
And it has been harsh. It has been partisan. The outcome has been preordained.
But that doesn't take away from the emotion of this moment. Even though this is less suspenseful than the Clinton impeachment because we knew what the outcome would be and times are more partisan now than they were in 1998, believe it or not. It -- you feel the weight of this moment right now.
BLITZER: It certainly, John King, is a historic moment that we are all watching, have been watching for 10 or 12 hours.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And as Jake noted, almost two Americas, two parties, two different views. The Democrats have the facts on their side about what the president did, what the conduct was. The Republicans didn't really try to rebut that.
A few of them did try to make the case it wasn't impeachable. Very few. Most of it was just complaining about the process. But this is -- this will go on to the Senate. It will go to the voters, assuming the votes stay like we think.
But however this ends up to the point being, this is history. This is an indelible stain on the record, the legacy of Donald Trump. We covered the Clinton White House when this happened. Clinton was president at the time.
This country had an operating surplus. The last time the United States government ran an operating surplus, a booming economy like we have a great economy now. What is the first sentence when people talk about Clinton? He was impeached. That will be the case for Donald Trump no matter how this turns out.
BLITZER: It certainly will be a tremendous stain, irrespective of what happens in the U.S. Senate.
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Sure, it's an indelible mark on Donald Trump's legacy and he knows it and that's why he has been so crazed about what is going on and tweeting so much and writing that six-page letter yesterday.
And also, he knows as we all do that this is one act of Congress that you can't undo with another president or take it back or I'm going to revise this piece of legislation. This is here for history now. This is part of history and it doesn't go away.
Not only by the way for Donald Trump but the Republicans. You can see by the votes, for the Republicans who are with him and the Democrats who are against. They will be judged by the voters for their votes today as well.
BLITZER: And, you can see, Nia, it's 153 yea votes, 98 nay votes right now. The magic number being 216.
NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes, in minutes, we'll see what happens. As we said, we know what's going to happen. This was a long time coming for this president.
You heard Steny Hoyer get out there and talk about the fact that in July, for instance, the majority of Democrats weren't here in terms thinking this president should be impeached. Then you have the Ukraine incident, obviously. These vulnerable Democrats essentially get together and say, this was -- it rose to the level of an impeachment inquiry. We saw over the last many weeks of people who were in the president's administration, people he appointed come forward and say that his actions were inappropriate.
Legal scholars come forward and say this rose to the level of impeachment. And this, in fact, was what the Constitution had in mind when they outlined high crimes and misdemeanors in the Constitution.
Every single Democrat, almost, said essentially, no president is above the law. You saw Val Demings with a sign there. That will be I think a theme that will continue that -- with the Democrats as they try to gain the election in 20 --
BLITZER: Dana Bash is over in statuary hall up on Capitol Hill.
You can see the numbers coming in, Dana, 163 right now in favor.
[20:15:01]
A hundred and eight opposed to this first article of impeachment abuse of power.
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. As this is happening, early this morning when we were talking, I told you that there was a palpable sense that things felt different here. Now as this vote is happening, I'm just maybe 10, 15 feet from the House floor. The air is heavy. It just feels different.
The moment is -- has taken over despite the fact that everybody saw this coming for several weeks, despite the fact that the arguments we heard throughout the day, the debate on the floor were very, very familiar. Now is the moment. We are watching it happen. We are watching history unfold.
And you can feel that not just as us observers of that history, but the people who are casting these votes know that this is going to be not just Donald Trump's legacy but also part of their legislative legacy as elected officials.
BLITZER: Dana, after this first vote, there will be a second vote on the second article of impeachment, obstruction of Congress.
BASH: That's right. And we expect it to happen rather quickly. All of the debate happened before the vote started, because you see, there are a lot of people on the House floor, as you mentioned. The vote is happening rather quickly. Once this first article, abuse of power, is done, then obstruction of
Congress will begin. Again, that will probably happen rather quickly because they're all in there understanding how critical it is. It is interesting that you see them mill around.
There have been times where in big, important votes, people sit in seats. That's not happening right now. You can bet that throughout the day, I was in the chamber, there were people -- members -- not all members were there all day. But there were a good number of members sitting and listening.
You know who was there most of the day sitting on the floor? House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in various seats, moving around, talking to members, listening to the speeches, talking to staff. It was noteworthy to see that she barely left the floor.
BLITZER: And, right now, 182 yea votes in favor of this first article of impeachment, 125 nay votes.
You know, Jake, it should move pretty quickly from now on.
TAPPER: One of the things that strikes me as I look at the board there with 183 yea votes is one, the independent is Justin Amash. He's a congressman -- he was a Republican until several months ago. Essentially, because of Donald Trump as president, he felt like he no longer had a home in the Republican Party.
Donald Trump -- President Trump is right now in Kellogg Center in Battle Creek, Michigan, having a rally. And that is Justin Amash's congressional district. I look at that and I look at the two Democrats who voted nay breaking from their party. One of them, Congressman Van Drew of New Jersey, is likely about to become a Republican.
This reminds me that the effect of President Trump on the Republican Party has been very, very strong both in terms of how much the Republican Party has become the Trump party and how people like Justin Amash have been chased out.
Impeachment politics are impossible to predict. You have Congressman Van Drew from New Jersey about to become a Republican. You have Justin Amash, not because of impeachment but because of Donald Trump, becoming an independent.
We have no idea what's going to happen next. We have an idea what this vote is going to be. Right now, it's 191 yeas. They are not quite there yet. But we have no idea what is going to happen.
Last time there was an impeachment, 21 years ago tomorrow, it ended up the House speaker -- John made this point earlier -- the House Speaker Newt Gingrich ended up resigning because he was under fire. He was having an extramarital relationship at the same time he was leading the impeachment against the president for lying about the same thing. The next speaker resigned. Then Dennis Hastert became speaker.
BLITZER: And, John, let's take a look right now, 196 in favor, 135 opposed, 216 needed to impeach. There are only 20 votes away.
But what's impressive for the Democrats is even those Democrats in Trump districts, they are going along as history unfolds.
KING: We'll see.
Jake makes an important point. We're going to see two Democrats vote no. That's not a surprise. They said so from the beginning, they voted against the impeachment inquiry.
Justin Amash, who the Democrats will point to, as Steny Hoyer pointed to, the one member of the House who has no allegiance to either party, is joining the Democrats to impeach. What you are seeing -- this is why this will carry to 2020, is that two remarkable displays of party loyalty. The Republicans are sticking with their president, even though many of them privately, if you have private conversations, even some of the Republicans on the floor today saying what they were saying, but even more so in the Senate, Republicans who privately mutter about this president.
There are 31 Democrats, as you mentioned. There were 90 Republicans from districts back when Clinton was impeached.
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They all voted for impeachment. Few of them lost their seats. We don't know what's going to happen in this election.
But to your point about the Trump affect of the Republican Party, we don't know how it's going to play in 2020. Will the president be re- elected? What will happen to either to these Democrats or some of these Republicans? Not many of their districts, but some of them are in play in a presidential year.
But we do know this, in 2018, the Republican Party lost the House majority. Before that loss, a great number of House Republicans retired. A number of more now, 20 plus now -- we were at 20 and counting, are retiring heading into the next election cycle. There are a lot of people in the Republican Party who may vote with the president but they are leaving.
BLITZER: They're only seven votes away right now from 216, Gloria, needed to impeach the president.
BORGER: You know, Wolf, I think looking at this, this evening, we can say that this is the moment when it became very clear that the House Republicans are the party of Trump, period.
And the debate we saw all day, they said -- they gave him a free pass. There was nothing wrong with what he did. Everything the Democrats did was because it was political. They hated the president. They will be unanimous here.
And that is exactly what Donald Trump is going to talk about, his united Republican Party. They are now his party.
BLITZER: You know, Nia, 209 votes in favor of this first article of impeachment, 210 right now -- six votes away from 216, now only five.
HENDERSON: Consequences for Donald Trump, right? He has been a president even in private business, somebody who hadn't faced consequences. We have seen people in and around his orbit face consequences. He has been Teflon Don.
That ends today with this impeachment, with this stain on his legacy. Someone described it as a tin can tied around his leg for the rest of his life and just trail him. That is what's going to happen.
He is in Michigan tonight trying to rally his supporters, apparently telling his supporters that it doesn't feel like he is being impeached. He is going to be impeached.
And I think the question going forward for him is where do the majority of Americans fall on this? Do the majority see him as a victim, somebody who was a victim of a partisan process? Or do they see him as somebody who has gone too far, who actually isn't worthy of being re-elected president?
BORGER: These Republicans have linked themselves and their political futures to Donald Trump with these votes.
HENDERSON: Yes.
TAPPER: One of the things that so interesting about what's going to happen now is, you talked about how President Trump until now in a way has been consequence free. Throughout his life, throughout his business and also --
BLITZER: Only two votes away, by the way.
TAPPER: Only two votes away.
And one of the things that has gone on in his White House recently is that people who were the ones who could tell him no have basically been exiled, whether it's former chief of staff John Kelly, former Defense Secretary Mattis, et cetera. The guardrails have gone.
This is something of a guardrail, Congress saying no. Even though President Trump right now in front of -- basking in the adulation of the crowd in Battle Creek, Michigan, one thing that is very clear -- that's probably wise, by the way, because he can't be fuming on twitter if he is feeling all the love from his supporters in Michigan.
One of the things that I'm worried about and concerned about what's going to happen is, what's the effect on this going to be on President Trump? When he realizes, when this starts soak in?
One vote away --
BLITZER: One vote away, 215 right now. They need 216. They can still -- people can change their vote. That's almost certainly not going to happen.
Once it hits 216, that is the number needed to impeach the president of the United States. We are waiting to see when that number pops up on the screen. It should be popping up very, very soon.
You can see 30 seconds or so remaining. They give members some extra time to go ahead --
TAPPER: Time can stop on the floor of the House of Representatives.
BLITZER: Yes, this is history unfolding as we speak right now. Here we go -- 216 for only, only the third time in American history --
TAPPER: Two hundred and seventeen.
BLITZER: -- we have seen the president of the United States impeached.
It means President Donald J. Trump is now impeached, once again, by the U.S. of House of Representatives, the 45th president of the United States as we say becoming only the third leader since the founding of this nation to be formally charged by the full House of Representatives. He now faces trial notice U.S. Senate on the recommendation that he be removed from office.
Your take, Jake?
TAPPER: Well, I mean, like I said before, I mean, this is a moment of incredible gravity. The House of Representatives, which is a representative body representing the American people has just formally said -- they are up to 221, they needed 216 -- has just formally said, President Trump should be removed from office.
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It's an extraordinary rebuke.
Think about how much Democrats hated George W. Bush. Think about how much Republicans hated Barack Obama. It didn't happen for either one of those.
It's only happened three times. There have been 45 presidencies. It's a shockingly stark reminder of how divisive President Trump is and how polarized our times are.
BLITZER: And, Dana, for all practical purposes, the president of the United States has now been indicted by the House of Representatives, setting the stage for a full trial in the U.S. Senate.
BASH: That's right. One count to keep your metaphor going and another one coming. And, you know, as much as the president is, as we speak, talking about the politics of this and as much as his campaign argues that this is politically beneficial to him in the upcoming election, the reality is that this is a president -- no president wants to have this as their legacy, especially somebody like Donald J. Trump, who spent his business career understanding and caring so much about his legacy that his name was emblazoned on every building he could put it on.
That is the person we're talking about who now has gone into the history books for something that is as negative as it gets when it comes to the kind of stain that could be on a president's record. Yes, he is going to say he is saying that it's just political and that might be the case.
When our children and their children, they read about this in the history books, they are not going to hear the toing and froing. They're going to know that Donald J. Trump was just the third president in American history to be impeached by the House.
BLITZER: Yes, John King, Nancy Pelosi the speaker is now in the seat there in the chair. She will make the announcement momentarily.
KING: And as we talk about it, Gloria made the point, this is proof, bold face, all caps, exclamation point -- the Republican Party is loyal to Donald Trump.
This is also a moment of personal accomplishment. She says it's a sad day. But this has been a hard one for Speaker Pelosi. She was initially against this.
And now, she has seen her party cast for -- about 25 or 30 of its members, a pretty tough vote but the Democrats sticking together here. She has a big decision to make. After the second vote, we're going to hear from the Democratic leaders where they're going to talk about this, and presumably, she's ready to tell us who the managers will be when we go forward with the Senate trial.
So, Pelosi will hand this off after the second vote to the Senate. But she has some big decisions to make beforehand about how -- how and who the House Democrats will send over to the next stage of the Senate.
BORGER: To your point. I mean, there is a lot of political peril in this for those moderate Democrats in those 31 Trump districts, only two defections among Democrats. And this is a question, not only could it cost some their seats but it could cost Nancy Pelosi control of the House.
BLITZER: You know, I just want to interrupt for a moment, take a look at this. There's one yea vote among the Republicans. That could be a mistake. Somebody might change their mind. It's interesting that there is at least right now one Republican who has voted in favor of this first article of impeachment.
BORGER: We don't know --
TAPPER: My guess is it's a mistake. That happens.
KING: I will be shocked if it holds.
TAPPER: The only ones we thought were possible were Congressman Will Hurd of Texas and Congressman Rooney of Florida and both of them have come out and said no. I suppose anything is possible.
To pick up on the point you were making, Gloria, about the 31 Democrats who represent districts of President Trump in 2016, it's remarkable, they had everything thrown at them. They had ads against them. The Trump campaign was sending out polling talking about how much it would hurt. It is amazing how much they voted with the Democratic caucus even though their jobs are on line.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: Take a look. That Republican vote has gone away. It was a mistake. We clearly anticipated it.
HENDERSON: And you had Donald Trump and Republicans were courting these folks who are in these districts that they were able to flip.
TAPPER: Some of them went to the White House Christmas party.
HENDERSON: Some of them went to the White House Christmas party, but they held with Nancy Pelosi. And I think again --
KING: That's $20 million dumped on their heads --
(CROSSTALK)
BORGER: And don't forge, they're voting this way knowing that it's going to the Senate where the president is likely not to get impeached. They are knowing they are going over the cliff here, you know?
KING: But they're also voting understanding the politics of our time. There used to be a thing back when Ronald Reagan was president, even to a degree when Bill Clinton was president, we had ticket splitting in the country, where people would vote one party for president but vote something else, you know, for Senate or Congress. That's almost non-existent. Susan Collins in Maine, it's a state that tends to go blue, and she exists.
You used to see that, John Chafee in Rhode Island. You had a New England Republican Party or New York Republican Party, which is almost non-existent now.
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And so most of these Democrats, they understand. Yes, these are very tough votes. But, they need their base to win. And so, you know, they need their base to win. Can they independence now? Can they get some Republicans? That's a big open question. But have they voted no, they wouldn't get the Democrats.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Dana is up on the Hill. You know, Dana, what's impressive for the Democrats, almost complete -- almost completely agreeing to support this first article of impeachment. What's impressive for the Republicans, complete agreement to oppose this first article of impeachment.
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And I just want to mention that you were mentioning Nancy Pelosi. She is in the chair. And my understanding is that there's one vote, if you look on the screen, voting present that that was Speaker Pelosi. Now, it is actually tradition for speakers -- excuse me, it was Tulsi Gabbard. Thank you for correcting me. It was Tulsi Gabbard. That makes a whole lot more sense.
Let me just talk about Tulsi Gabbard for one second. We have been waiting to find out what she is going to do. She has been out on the campaign trail making noises at the debate, making noises about how upset she is about the way that this party, the Democratic Party, has been going too far to the left. She's been talking about that time and time again. The fact that she voted present is very telling.
Now, now that we move that aside because we want to talk about the big picture, I started to mention Nancy Pelosi. The one point that I want to make here, because she is in the chair and she does that on big occasions and it doesn't get bigger than this, is that every step along the way, she has made decisions.
I mean, to the big decisions about moving forward on impeachment, to the smaller decisions about who's on the witness list in these depositions and in these hearings, and which members are going to speak when on the floor here. And she has tried to navigate these very, very difficult impeachment waters, understanding the caucus, especially those moderate Democrats that you all were talking about. We're seeing these votes now.
Tomorrow, there's going to be a vote on a trade deal so that those moderates can go home, a lot of them in Trump districts where trade is a big deal to talk about the fact that they gave the President a win and there that is not a dirty thing to say. So, we should keep that in mind about how she has played this, especially somebody for whom -- who the moderates, many of them ran on not voting for her as speaker. And a lot of them are saying, boy, they were wrong about that.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: It looks like one Democrat voted present.
BLITZER: Tulsi Gabbard.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: The Hawaii Democrat who is a Democratic presidential candidate. She decided to vote present.
TAPPER: She just a couple days ago talked about how she would like there to censure move on, Dana was talking about that too.
BLITZER: Anderson Cooper is with us as well. Anderson, this is history unfolding.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: And we're waiting, obviously, for the -- for this vote to be announced by Speaker Pelosi, the results of this vote to be finally announced as she gavels it in and then to move to the second article of impeachment. Jeff Toobin as we wait for that historic moment, what are your thoughts?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: President Trump was impeached for one reason, because he deserved it, because no president has ever done what he did. No president has betrayed his oath the way this president has by taking taxpayer dollars and using it as a bribe, as an extortion, as a lure to get dirt on his political opponents. And no president has ever issued a complete blanket refusal to talk -- to produce any documents or any witnesses to a legitimate congressional investigation, that's why he was impeached.
COOPER: Tim Naftali, you're a historian.
TIMOTHY NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: The founders were not sure whether they wanted a strong executive. In fact, George Mason and Benjamin Franklin, wanted a collective executive, and James Madison wanted a weak executive. But Alexander Hamilton and others convinced them to have a strong executive.
They all knew they wanted George Washington and they designed the position of President of the United States for one man. They also knew however that we're mere mortals and not everyone would be like Washington. And there might be a time when you would need a sanction --
COOPER: Let's listen.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): On this vote yeas are 230, the nays are 197, present is 1. Article one is adopted. The question is on adoption of article two. The question is on the adoption of article two. Those in favor say aye.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKERS (in unison): Aye.
PELOSI: Those opposed nay.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKERS (in unison): Nay.
PELOSI: The ayes have it. The ayes have it for what purpose does the gentleman from New York seek recognition. For what purpose --
[20:35:03]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I ask for -- Madam Speaker, I ask for --
PELOSI: For what purpose does the gentleman from New York seek recognition?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I ask for a roll call vote.
PELOSI: A recorded vote is requested. Those favoring a recorded vote will rise. That will be an order. A sufficient number have -- was in recorded voters orders. Members will record their votes by electronic device. This is a five-minute vote.
BLITZER: All right, so now they're getting ready to vote on article two, the article two, obstruction of Congress resolution. There's two articles of impeachment. The first one, abuse of power, Jake, the President of the United States has been impeached on that. Now they're voting on obstruction of Congress.
I anticipate that there will be a similar vote, although there could be some differences. Some Democrats might vote for article one but not necessarily for article two. I suspect all the Republicans will oppose.
TAPPER: It will be a very similar vote. We know that a Democratic congressman from Maine who won a Trump district, Congressman Golden, has said he's going to vote against article two. This is the one obstruction of Congress, the idea that the Trump administration, the Trump White House did not share any documents and also blocked witnesses from testifying before Congress, which is true.
But the counter argument has been, then you're supposed to go to court and have the judicial system figure out the remedy. The Democrats have said that would take too much time and would result in nothing more than what's going on right now. They want to get this done.
So, but we do expect a very, very similar outcome. Maybe one or two votes fewer in favor. But let's just take one moment just to acknowledge the fact that President Trump has now just been formally impeached by the House of Representatives for abuse of Congress. The gavel has come down. We noted when they reached 216 votes that they'd reached the threshold.
But we now have this incredibly grave moment where the House of Representatives is saying to the world -- and yes, it was a partisan vote, but guess what, Democrats control the House and that's how it is, just like Republicans control the Senate. They're going to have to get there to have their say. And this is a very grave moment where the House of Representatives is saying President Trump needs to be removed from office.
BLITZER: He was impeached for abuse of power as we just saw. Now they're voting on obstruction of Congress. Anderson, back to you.
COOPER: And we'll be watching that. It's at 187 right now. 216 is the threshold that the vote needs to get to on the yeas. Tim, I'm going to continue with you in just a second. Jeff Toobin, just in terms of the article that they are now voting on, article two, obstruction of Congress, you believe that what has taken place is obstruction of Congress and it's unprecedented?
TOOBIN: I do. I mean, every president has had a dispute with Congress over producing some witnesses, over producing some documents. But no President in history has ever said, I will not cooperate at all. That's what this article is about. That's what happened in this impeachment investigation and this vote is the result.
COOPER: 194 now is the yeas, needing to reach 216. Tim?
NAFTALI: The founders were really nervous about putting too much power in the hands of one person. There was no elected commander in chief or head of state or head of government in the world in 1787. The United States would produce the first. And so they decided that they would also give Congress power to remove that President less or if that President should ever misuse power, commit a crime.
And in our history, 44 individuals have been president. We 45, right, 45th president, but it's 44 because of Robert Cleveland. Only three of them, now today the third, have been impeached, only three out of 44 in 230 years. The founders didn't want us to do it all the time and let's hope it's not normalized. But the founders did want it to happen when the constitutional order needed to be rebalanced, lest the President misuse his power.
This has been decided today. It's a very important moment for the country. It's a very solemn moment. But it's a reminder of how our system was supposed to work. You put a lot of power in the hands of one person, there has to be a counterbalancing available if that person misuses it. Today, the House said he had misused it.
COOPER: We are nine votes away from this article two passing. Charlie, you used to, until recently, be a Republican on the floor in that party. Is that still the party that you belong to?
[20:40:002]
CHARLIE DENT, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No. It's hard at times to recognize this Republican Party, which used to be about principles and ideals and certain values. Now, it's about loyalty to a man and that is what has changed so dramatically in recent years. And it's amazing how the President has been able to take over the party in such a whole manner. So, I'm stunned. This is certainly a very solemn and weighty moment.
But I also get a sense right now that this impeachment was almost necessary. The President was in the clear after the Mueller investigation. There was never going to be an impeachment but for Ukraine. And because of the President's misconduct and his misuse and abuse of his office, that's why we are where we are today.
COOPER: Laura Coates, it is remarkable, to Charlie's point, about how quickly this has escalated from. I mean, it seems like it was just, I don't know, several weeks ago. It was probably -- I have to look at the date. But it was not long ago that suddenly there was word that there was a whistleblower and then it just snowballed.
LAURA COATES, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, the Republicans today tried to convince the American public this is a political vendetta and an impeachment in search of a crime or in search of a high crime and misdemeanor. But what you see today essentially is breaking down what it really means to reject --
COOPER: And there are four votes away.
COATES: Yes, to reject the notion that you are above the law. What that means essentially is no one is immune from the constitutional oversight that our founding fathers contemplated. They actually predicted you would once need impeachment. That was also a forgone conclusion to everyone that you would have to have a check and balance.
And what today's vote has been about is whether or not the separation of power still stands, whether or not you can simply -- you can actually be co-equal branches of government and whether you can certainly be the Republican -- if you can actually keep it. You're seeing this vote right now. It's unfolding. You're only a few away from actually capturing it. And this is the essence of what democracy is. As one representative said today, it's a sad day for America, but it's a great day for constitutional democracy.
COOPER: And there are two votes away now, two yea votes away from the article two passing, the resolution passing, that is obstruction of Congress. They have already voted on article one and that has passed, the abuse of power resolution. This will be the final article of impeachment to be voted on. They're just two votes away.
Kirsten -- now they are just one vote away from adopting this article two, obstruction of Congress. And then of course, the question is, where does it go from here? It moves into the Senate. We know what's going to happen in the Senate, at least writ large we don't know the details or how it may play out.
KIRSTEN POWERS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. But whatever happens in the Senate, it doesn't take away from what has --
COOPER: And there it is -- sorry, 216 yea votes. Three Democrats voting nay on that, but 216, that is the threshold they needed to meet.
POWERS: Yes. I mean, Donald Trump has joined a very exclusive club that nobody wants to belong to, and presidents who've been impeached. It will now be forever part of his legacy and he will never be able to escape it.
And, you know, it is something that the Republicans talked a lot about voters matter. You know, they were criticizing the Democrats basically saying voters matter, you're ignoring the voters. Well, of course, the voters mattered when they impeached Clinton and they matter today.
But, the founders did allow for this to happen. They did put this in the constitution so that in the case where the President had crossed a line, like this President did, that there was a remedy for it. And the remedy was impeachment. And I think we have been watching this and knowing what was going to happen. But people should just take a moment and be aware of how grave this is and how historic it is, and how this really almost never happens in the history of this country.
COOPER: It's also something that President Trump himself, I mean in that letter that he wrote to Nancy Pelosi and was released yesterday, acknowledging -- he said he wrote that letter for history. And so for future scholars and others to look back then and this was his, you know, very vocal protest against this. But he is well aware and he'd spoken as a citizen about that this is an indelible mark. This is something that can never be taken away, Tim.
NAFTALI: One of the decisions he made was not to defend himself before Congress. He let a six-page letter defend himself. And I think that over time he and his supporters will see that as an error. He had an opportunity. He had prime time if he wanted it to defend himself, to make the case that this wasn't an impeachable offense. Instead, he stonewalled in a way that Jeffrey explained, in an unprecedented way.
And then he sends a rant to be his defense to history. That was a missed opportunity. It's going to hurt him, because right now his side hasn't been mentioned and explained. Maybe in the Senate we'll see it, but likely not.
COOPER: Until we hear from Nancy Pelosi, Senator Santorum, you thought.
[20:45:01]
RICK SANTORUM, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. I think this is a tragic day. This is -- you're right, Donald Trump is going to be judged. His presidency is going to be judged by the fact that he was impeached. But the people who voted to impeach him are going to be judged, too.
And I don't think this is going to reflect well on them any more than it reflected well on the radical Republicans who tried to get rid of Andrew Johnson. That's not -- look, Johnson is somewhat in history not thought well of, but neither were the people that tried to impeach him. And I think that's really the case there. It was a very political case in the part of -- those going after Johnson.
It is -- look, I was involved in the '98, '99 impeachment of Bill Clinton. If Bill Clinton had done what he did today, there isn't one me too person that wouldn't want him out of office. I mean, there was a different time that he got away with just sex. But today, he wouldn't get away with. There was a different standard.
So the idea that somehow another -- you know, looking back on that, I think Republicans actually look pretty good as being pretty woke at the time of this going on. But today, I just don't see this anything but how the Republicans have laid it out and that is that this has been a constant attempt by Democrats to go after this President.
And you can say, well, you know, Bush wasn't impeached, they wanted to and now there's -- but they had votes on impeachment of this President, multiple votes to try to get rid of this President. I think it's going to reflect badly, Wolf. And this next election was probably going to be that first element of how that's going to be judged.
COOPER: Laura.
COATES: And yet if you were to compare, say, the example you gave of Bill Clinton compared to President Trump's six-page letter yesterday, you have a distinct difference between one president who was contrite and apologetic and one who doubled down and was defensive and actually went on the offensive on this very notion.
And one thing about Andrew Johnson we need to mentioned, he is the president who has been impeached, but he was not an elected president. This is a moment in history -- this is the very first time you have a first term President of the United States being impeached. Much has been made about the will of the people and trying to rewrite an election or looking ahead to 2020.
But the really important notion here is that for the very first time, there could actually be not a second term on an impeached president. Clinton, of course, was already in his second term. We know Nixon already resigned before he was having articles drafted against him. So, this is momentous in the fact that that the phrase of the will of the people could mean much more today than it ever has.
COOPER: We are just moments away now, perhaps even seconds away from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gaveling and announcing that this, the second article of impeachment, has actually been passed.
SANTORUM: I think that's why the judgment on this impeachment is going to be quicker and more severe, because unlike every other impeachment, there was an election shortly after the impeachment where those who impeached as well as the impeach -- the president impeached are going to be judged by the American public.
And, you know, if Donald Trump gets reelected, if a bunch of these people who won Trump's districts lose, this is not going to -- this is going to go down as a -- it's going to be characterized by history by the winners.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: So Charlie Dent, do you have a sense on how this plays out in the election?
DENT: I don't think any of us know for sure. We don't. But I just -- look, I keep seeing these swing district Democrats like in Oklahoma, in South Carolina and in Utah who just voted to impeach the President in very strong Trump districts. They must see something in their polling. They're voting -- look, maybe they're voting just on their principals, but they have taken a political calculation. They can survive this.
SANTORUM: With all due respect, Charlie, every single one of these people has a primary they have to get through before they get to the general election. Look at Jeff Andrew, look at others, anyone who crossed the Democratic orthodoxy on this was being abandoned in their primary. They could not, if they wanted to survive the primary, vote against this.
TOOBIN: Rick, you just gave a characteristically eloquent statement about how the Democrats don't like Donald Trump. But you left out one thing. You left out the same thing that Republicans keep leaving out throughout this discussion, which is what Donald Trump did. You never defend what he did. Did he go to a vulnerable country and say, you're only getting our taxpayer money if you give us dirt on Joe Biden? Is that OK?
SANTORUM: I think every Republican would say that he did not do that. I think every Republican voter would say, there is no proof that he did that. And again, you don't see an accusation, as they said, of bribery.
COOPER: I mean, he says read the transcript. That is the transcript.
SANTORUM: I read -- Anderson, we've had this conversation many times on the show. We'll have it again. But I'm just telling you, look, I would just say reasonable people can disagree in reading this transcript.
[20:50:00]
Here's the thing that bothers me is that everyone who reads that transcript reads it from the perspective that Donald Trump does not deserve any benefit of the doubt about what he's doing.
TOOBIN: It's not -- but it is not just the transcript. We had days of testimony about a --
SANTORUM: But there's no first hand knowledge of what the President --
POWERS: Because of Donald Trump.
COOPER: OK, Kirsten. We haven't heard from Kirsten.
(CROSSTALK)
SANTORUM: Then wait until you get the judge deciding whether to turn to it over. Wait.
POWERS: But the fact that he's not providing -- he's not allowing those people to testify because if those --
SANTORUM: You presume he's guilty.
COOPER: Let her finish. Let her finish.
SANTORUM: That's what you're saying.
POWERS: That's why I'm saying, you are putting your head in the sand because you are choosing to ignore the fact --
SANTORUM: You are making assumptions.
POWERS: -- you are ignoring the fact that if those people would exonerate him, they would be testifying and you know that. There is no reason for him to break from precedent of what every other president has done and have them testify. Just the idea --
SANTORUM: Again, that's the assumption you're making. I don't think you can do that.
POWERS: You can't say that he didn't do anything wrong.
SANTORUM: I just don't think Mulvaney confessed to it on national television.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: OK, let's -- I'm sorry, I just need to go to Wolf and Jake.
BLITZER: You know, Anderson, as we await the Speaker to announce the result of the second article of impeachment, obstruction of Congress, Jake, I want to show our viewers how she did it with the first article of impeachment.
TAPPER: She gaveled it.
BLITZER: She gaveled it. She said 230 in favor, 197 opposed, one present. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PELOSI: Article one is adopted. The question is on the adoption of article two. The question is on the adoption of article two. Those who in favor say aye.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: You saw that look that she gave the Democrats. She had warned them no cheering.
TAPPER: Yes. And there was a smattering of applause. And the Speaker gave a look that any parent or former child would recognize. The look of don't do that. You know I told you not to do that, don't do that. And look, this has been something she's been trying to navigate the whole time she's been speaker. And the times that members have not listened to her were cited today repeatedly. Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib -- hold on, here's the second gaveling.
PELOSI: On this vote, the yeas are 229, the nays are 198, present is one, article two is adopted.
TAPPER: And she just did it again. Somebody else cheered again. It looked like -- sounded like one person and Pelosi putting up a hand again. She has had most of the Democrats -- you have to give her credit. Most of the Democrats have been in line. They have been solemn. They have been serious. They have not rejoiced. They've treated this day with a gravity it deserves.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Without objection the motion to reconsider article one is laid on the table. Without objection, the motion to reconsider article two is laid on the table. Pursuant to section 7(b) of House resolution 758, the House stands adjourn until 9:00 a.m. tomorrow.
TAPPER: But just to continue my point, but there have been a handful of members. Congressman Al Green of Texas who introduced along with Congressman Brad Sherman articles of impeachment in the summer of 2017, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib after her inauguration saying she was going to impeach the MF'er at a celebration behind close doors as it were.
And those few incidents, few incidents in the House of Representatives, Democrats have voted against impeaching President Trump three times before today. Those few incidents have been used to paint the entire Democratic Party who for the most part has followed the Speaker's lead as all of them being impeachment crazy and you saw her trying to defend that off again this evening twice.
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: She has been throughout all of this, and John and I were talking about this before, she has been pitch perfect, almost pitch perfect, I would say. And she understands the solemnity of the moment. And this is her flock, these Democrats. And some of them are young and some of them are incredibly partisan and she warned them, no applause. This is not a time for applause. And that look could kill, you know.
BLITZER: Hold on one moment. I just want to go to Dana. She's up on Capitol Hill and done a lot of reporting over the years on the Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Your thoughts?
BASH: Well, it was the look but it was also the flick and that's the word that I'm hearing from people who are on the floor, including people who work for the Speaker. The flick of the hand along with the look said it all and really did kind of -- it was kind of a capstone moment of how she tried to take her entire caucus through this process, that she didn't want to be leading them through.
When she walked by here, I don't know, 12 hours ago on to the House floor, I asked, how are you feeling? And she said, sad. That was the tone that she was trying to set. That was the atmosphere that she wanted around this process that she reluctantly allowed and guided the Democrats through.
[20:55:01]
And so that is why that moment is so significant because it really encapsulates the kind of leader that she is. And as you and Jake were saying, the kind of raucous caucus that she has, particularly the progressive side who have been pushing, pushing, pushing and doing so in a way that she understands in her core is not that beneficial politically.
BLITZER: Yes, very important points indeed. John, you wanted to weigh in as well.
KING: It's the same point. And we're going to see this in the Senate as well. Yes, Nancy Pelosi would like to see a Democrat elected in the presidential election year next year. Yes, Mitch McConnell says he's working hand in glove with the Trump White House.
Nancy Pelosi, everything she has done in this process is to protect her majority, first and foremost. Everything Mitch McConnell is doing in the Senate is to protect his majority, first and foremost, which is why he's saying, Mr. President, you're not getting your witnesses.
In Nancy Pelosi's case, she didn't want those cheers and she didn't want -- remember, Republicans wanted to have the vote by, you have to say your name. Republicans wanted to have a full roll call vote the old fashioned way where they would say, Congresswoman Slotkin, and she would have to say aye. It's against House rules for the member to use the floor in a campaign ad, but we have seen the floor show up in Super PAC ads.
Nancy Pelosi did not want her members to have to on camera to say aye, because the vulnerable ones it would be used against them in an ad. And she does not want cheering on the floor because liberals from very safe districts can all get up and cheer, but some Republican Super Pac will use it in an add against the vulnerable Democrats saying not only did they impeach the President, they cheered. She did not want that. She is all about protecting her majority.
BORGER: She didn't want to play into their hands.
NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: She is very much I think in some ways behind the scenes. If you think about Newt Gingrich, right, in that impeachment of Bill Clinton, it was very much of Newt Gingrich versus Donald Trump.
Here, she was wielding her power behind the scenes, thinking about those 30 Democrats in vulnerable districts going to have a tough time getting reelected, but she also understands power, right?
I mean, grew up in Baltimore, seeing her father there wield power and then going over to California and working her way up there as a woman, which must have been very hard. So, I mean, it's been interesting to see her in this process as a woman in wielding this power.
TAPPER: And beyond the politics of it, can I say, I do actually think that Speaker Pelosi, and we had a town hall in this very spot a week or two ago, I think she actually does feel the gravity of this moment and now that both of these articles of impeachment have been gaveled down, again, let's just take a moment. This has only happened two other times in the United States history.
President Trump has now been impeached on two articles, abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, and this is a stain that will forever live on his presidency when we're all long gone, 300, 400, 500 years from now, that might be the only thing people know about Donald Trump is that he was impeached.
BLITZER: And one Democrat, Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, a Democratic presidential candidate, voted present and she just released a statement. Let me read the statement from Tulsi Gabbard. "I am standing in the center and have decided to vote present. I could not in good conscience vote against impeachment because I believe President Trump is guilty of wrongdoing. I also could not in good conscience vote for impeachment because removal of a sitting president must not be the culmination of a partisan process fueled by tribal and animosities that have so gravely divided our country." That is a --
BORGER: So, is she saying it should (ph) be unanimous then she would vote for it?
BLITZER: She's making the point that she could not vote either way as a result. She simply voted present.
TAPPER: Well, we have heard other people, more moderate people from the Republican Party and others talk about how they did not have 100 percent supports for the process. One Democratic congressman from Maine, Congressman Golden, who voted for article one voted against article two impart because of his concerns about the process. Tulsi Gabbard is a unique individual and she takes a lot of heat from all the Democrats.
BLITZER: Hold on a second, Anderson Cooper, you got more reaction coming in.
COOPER: Yes. Well, thanks very much. You know, Tim Naftali, it's interesting because we were talking before about the potential ramifications at the ballot box in the next election. Democrats have been repeatedly making the argument that if they did not pursue impeachment, if they did not vote this way, that it would set a precedent that any president in the future could ask for foreign interference in an American election.
NAFTALI: And also there's the issue of their constitutional responsibility. There was a discussion in 1974 among some Republicans who ultimately voted against Nixon. Should we go ahead and do this even if the Senate doesn't vote to remove him, because no one had ever been removed by the Senate and still hasn't happened. And they said, you know what, we have a responsibility in the House do this because we've seen presidential conduct that crosses the line.
So, I think there are two issues here. One is did the House have a reason to say this was impeachable conduct for history? And the other is, is this good politics? I'd like to focus on the first of the two. I'll leave other people to decide if it's good politics.
The House decided that this kind of behavior was a threat to our constitutional order. And they therefore had this constitutional responsibility to do exactly what they did today, which is to say this shall not pass.
It will be up to the Senate to decide if President Trump should be remove, but the House has basically put down a marker and said this is behavior that we cannot countenance because of our constitutional responsibilities. It's hard to understand that in this partisan time, but that's one important way of looking at this.
[21:00:00]
