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CNN Live Event/Special
Speaker Nancy Pelosi Talking Ahead of Debate; House Begins Impeachment Debate. Aired 12-12:30p ET
Aired December 18, 2019 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[12:00:00] CLERK: President Trump solicited the interference of a foreign government, Ukraine, in the 2020 United States presidential election. He did so through a scheme or course of conduct that included soliciting the government of Ukraine to publicly announce investigations that would benefit his re-election, harm the election prospects of a political opponent, and influence the 2020 United States presidential election to his advantage.
President Trump also sought to pressure the government of Ukraine to take these steps by conditioning official United States government acts of significant value to Ukraine on its public announcement of the investigations.
President Trump engaged in this scheme or course of conduct for corrupt purposes in pursuit of personal political benefit. In so doing, President Trump used the powers of the presidency in a manner that compromised the national security of the United States and undermined the integrity of the United States' democratic process. He thus ignored and injured the interests of the nation.
President Trump engaged in this scheme or course of conduct through the following means: one, President Trump, acting both directly and through his agents within and outside the United States government, corruptly solicited the government of Ukraine to publicly announce investigations into, A, a political opponent, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., and, B, a discredited theory promoted by Russia, alleging that Ukraine rather than Russia interfered in the 2016 United States presidential election.
Two, with the same corrupt motives, President Trump, acting both directly and through his agents within and outside the United States government, conditioned two official acts on the public announcements that he had requested.
A, the release of $391 million of United States taxpayer funds that Congress had appropriated on a bipartisan basis for the purpose of providing vital military and security assistance to Ukraine to oppose Russian aggression and which President Trump had ordered suspended.
And, B, a head of state meeting at the White House, which the president of Ukraine sought to demonstrate continued United States support for the government of Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression. Three, faced with the public revelation of his actions, President Trump ultimately released the military and security assistance to the government of Ukraine, but has persisted in openly and corruptly urging and soliciting Ukraine to undertake investigations for his personal political benefit.
These actions were consistent with President Trump's previous invitations of foreign interference in United States elections. In all of this, President Trump abused the powers of the presidency by ignoring and injuring national security and other vital national interests to obtain an improper personal political benefit. He has also betrayed the nation by abusing his high office to enlist a foreign power in corrupting democratic elections.
Wherefore, President Trump, by such conduct, has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to national security and the Constitution if allowed to remain in office, and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with self-governance and the rule of law.
President Trump thus warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust or profit under the United States.
Article 2, Obstruction of Congress. The Constitution provides that the House of Representatives shall have the sole power of impeachment and that the president shall be removed from office on impeachment for and conviction of treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors.
[12:05:00]
In his conduct of the Office of President of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional oath, faithfully to execute the Office of President of the United States, and to the best of his ability preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, Donald J. Trump has directed the unprecedented, categorical and indiscriminate defiance of subpoenas issued by the House of Representatives, pursuant to its sole power of impeachment.
President Trump has abused the powers of the presidency in a manner offensive to and subversive of the Constitution in that the House of Representatives has engaged in an impeachment inquiry focused on President Trump's corrupt solicitation of the government of Ukraine to interfere in the 2020 United States presidential election.
As part of this impeachment inquiry, the committee has undertaken the investigation, served subpoenas seeking documents and testimony deemed vital to the inquiry from various executive branch agencies and offices and current and former officials.
In response, without lawful cause or excuse, President Trump directed executive branch agencies, offices and officials not to comply with those subpoenas. President Trump thus interposed the powers of the presidency against the lawful subpoenas of the House of Representatives, and assumed to himself functions and judgments necessary to the exercise of the sole power of impeachment vested by the Constitution in the House of Representatives.
President Trump abused the powers of his high office through the following means: One, directing the White House to defy a lawful subpoena by withholding the production of documents sought therein by the committees; two, directing other executive branch agencies and offices to defy lawful subpoenas and withhold the production of documents and records from the committees, in response to which the Department of State, Office of Management and Budget, Department of Energy and Department of Defense refused to produce a single document or record; three, directing current and former executive branch officials not to cooperate with the committees, in response to which nine administration officials defied subpoenas for testimony, namely John Michael "Mick" Mulvaney, Robert B. Blair, John A. Eisenberg, Michael Ellis, Preston Wells Griffith, Russell T. Vought, Michael Duffey, Brian McCormack and T. Ulrich Brechbuhl.
These actions were consistent with President Trump's previous efforts to undermine United States government investigations into foreign interference in United States elections. Through these actions, President Trump sought to arrogate to himself the right to determine the propriety, scope and nature of an impeachment inquiry into his own conduct, as well as the unilateral prerogative to deny any and all information to the House of Representatives in the exercise of its sole power of impeachment. In the history of the republic, no president has ever ordered the complete defiance of an impeachment inquiry or sought to obstruct and impede so comprehensively the ability of the House of Representatives to investigate high crimes and misdemeanors. This abuse of office served to cover up the president's own repeated misconduct and to seize and control the power of impeachment, and thus, to nullify a vital constitutional safeguard vested solely in the House of Representatives.
In all of this, President Trump has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as president and subversive of constitutional government to the great prejudice of the cause of law and justice and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States. Wherefore, President Trump, by such conduct, has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to the Constitution if allowed to remain in office and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with self-governance and the rule of law. President Trump thus warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust or profit under the United States.
SPEAKER: Pursuant to House Resolution 767, the amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the Committee on Judiciary is adopted. The resolution shall be debatable by -- for six hours, equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking member of the Committee on the Judiciary or their respective designees. The gentleman from New York, Mr. Nadler, and the gentleman from Georgia, Mr. Collins, each will control three hours.
The chair now recognizes the gentleman from New York, Mr. Nadler.
NADLER: Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous material on H.Res. 755. SPEAKER: Without objection, so ordered.
NADLER: Mr. Speak -- Madam Speaker, I now yield one minute to the distinguished speaker of the House.
SPEAKER: Gentlelady, distinguished speaker is recognized for one minute.
PELOSI: Thank you, Madam Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding, for his tremendous leadership in helping us honor the Constitution of the United States. I also extend my gratitude to Chairman Schiff, who will be presiding later in the day.
My colleagues, this morning and every morning when we come together members rise and pledge allegiance to the flag. Every day all across America children in school, members of the military, officials and those civically-engaged also pledge allegiance to the flag. Let us recall what that pledge says:
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic -- to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
The republic for which it stands is what we are here to talk about today, a republic, if we can keep it. We gather today under the dome of this temple of democracy to exercise one of the most solemn powers that this body can take: the impeachment of the president of the United States. No member, regardless of party or politics, comes to the republic for which it stands is what we are here to talk about today, a republic, if we can keep it.
[12:10:00]
We gather today under the dome of this temple of democracy to exercise one of the most solemn powers that this body can take: the impeachment of the president of the United States.
No member, regardless of party or politics, comes to Congress to impeach a president. But every one of us, as our first act as a member of Congress, stood on this historic House floor before our beautiful American flag, and raised our hands in this sacred oath: I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, so help me God.
For 230 years, members have taken that sacred oath which makes us custodians of the Constitution. When our founders declared independence and established a new nation, they crafted a system of government unlike one ever seen before. A republic, starting with the sacred words, "we the people."
For centuries, Americans have fought and died to defend democracy for the people. But, very sadly now, our founders' vision of a republic is under threat from actions from the White House. That is why today, as speaker of the house, I solemnly and sadly open the debate on the impeachment of the president of the United States. If we do not act now, we would be derelict in our duty. It is tragic that the president's reckless actions make impeachment necessary. He gave us no choice. What we are discussing today is the established fact that the president violated the Constitution. It is a matter of fact that the president is an ongoing threat to our national security and the integrity of our elections, the basis of our democracy.
Hundreds of historians, legal scholars, and formal prosecutors, regardless of party, have stated that the president committed impeachable offenses. Since today is a national civics lesson, though a sad one, I submit these documents for the record and commend them for students to study.
SPEAKER: Without objection, so ordered.
PELOSI: Thank you, Madam Speaker.
What we are discussing today is established fact that the president, again, violated the Constitution. It is a matter of fact that the president is, again, an ongoing threat to our national security. And the testimony of decorated war heroes, distinguished diplomats, and patriotic career public servants, some of the president's own appointees, over the past weeks have told us this.
The president used the power of his public office to obtain an improper personal political benefit at the expense of America's national security. When a president weakens a democratic ally that is advancing American security interests by fighting an American adversary, the president weakens America.
This abuse of power also jeopardizes the integrity of our elections. All Americans agree that American voters should choose our president, not some foreign government. The founders understood that it is profoundly corrosive for our democracy for a president to invite interference in our elections.
As George Washington, our nation's patriot, under whose gaze we stand today warned, "history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government." George Washington.
Sadly, the American people have witnessed further wrongs of the president which necessitate the second article of impeachment, obstruction of Congress. When the president's wrongdoing was revealed, he launched an unprecedented, indiscriminate, and categorical campaign of defiance and obstruction.
Never before in the history of our nation have we seen a president declare and act as if he's above the law. The president goes even so far as to say and act on this absurdity when he says Article II says I can do whatever I want. No, it doesn't.
That recklessness is a profound violation of the Constitution and our republic, which endure because of our system of separation of power, three co-equal branches, each a check and balance on the other, a republic, again, if we can keep it. The founders' great fear of a rogue or corrupt president is the very reason why they enshrined impeachment in the Constitution. As one founder, William Davie of North Carolina, warned, "unless the Constitution contained an impeachment provision, a president might spare no efforts or means, whatever, to get himself re-elected."
Another founder, George Mason, insisted that the president who procured his appointment in the first instance through improper and corrupt acts might repeat his guilt and return to power.
[12:15:0]
We in Congress, Article I, the legislative branch, must stand up and make clear to the American people and to all people that this body still stands by the principles enshrined in the Constitution and defended by generations of Americans.
Last week in observance of the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge, members traveled to that hallowed ground to express our gratitude to the heroes of freedom who sacrificed everything to secure victory of freedom over tyranny, not just for America, but for the world.
The veterans of that battle who were there, in their 90s, told us how after the war was won, the Europeans whom they liberated would ask, why did you risk for us? You don't know us? And give your lives to save us? We're not Americans. And our men would say, we came here to fight for you, not because you are Americans, because we are Americans.
As our beloved chairman, Elijah Cummings, and Oversight Committee chair, our north star, said when announcing his support for this action, quote, "when the history books are written about this tumultuous era, I want them to show that I was among those in the House of Representatives who stood up to lawlessness and tyranny."
He also said, almost prophetically, "when we are dancing with the angels, the question will be, what did we do to make sure we kept our democracy intact?" Elijah, as you know, has since passed on. Now he is dancing with the angels. And I know that he and all of us here are very proud of the moral courage of members, want to honor the vision of our founders for a republic, the sacrifice of our men and women in uniform to defend it, and the aspirations of our children to live freely within it.
Today we are here to defend democracy for the people. May God bless America.
I yield back the balance of my time.
(APPLAUSE)
SPEAKER: The gentlelady yields back.
The gentleman from Georgia.
COLLINS: Thank you, Madam Speaker.
And we are here today to enter into a debate, this should surprise no one. This has not been a surprise and it's not even something that we would not have thought about. From the very moment that the majority party in this House won, the inevitability that we would be here today was only a matter of what date they would schedule it. Nothing else.
In fact, how it even began to look even further was on September 24th, the speaker announced an impeachment inquiry before even seeing the call transcript that we're going to hear so much about today.
You know, it's not about what this body can do in its constitutional oath. And there's been a lot of constitutional and founders thrown around and will be all day today. But there's one thing that I will mention all along and that is also the founders were very concerned about a partisan impeachment in which politics or the majority who have their strength can do what they want to do irregardless of any facts.
In fact, I've said it before and I will say it again. I do not believe, no matter what was said today and what has been said, this is not a solemn occasion. When you go looking for something for three years, and especially this year since January, you ought to be excited when you found it. But they can't. Because I know what is now happening.
It took me last night but I was thinking about it. Why do we keep calling this a solemn occasion when you've been wanting to do this ever since the gentleman was elected? Mr. President came forward and did what he saw fit for the American people, but yet they wanted to impeach him.
And it hit me, and now I know. The reason they wanted to is now they realize it when I told them and have been telling them for the last few weeks that the clock and the calendar are terrible masters. The clock and the calendar are terrible masters. They do not care about anything except getting the time done and the calendar fixed.
They do not care about facts. They do not care about time. And one day the clock and the calendar will hang along this body in a very detrimental way. How do I know this? Because one of our members, Mr. Tlaib, said on the night she was sworn in, we're going to impeach. Well, you know the rest.
In May of 2019, Al Green said, I'm concerned if we don't impeach this president, he will get re-elected. That is probably the most prescient thing said by the majority in the last year, is they said, we can't beat him if we don't impeach him. There's a reason behind this impeachment.
[12:20:00]
And even Speaker Pelosi said it would be dangerous to leave it to voters to determine whether President Trump stays in office. Really? After we just said the Pledge of Allegiance, we go back to the speaker's own words and said it would be dangerous to leave it to the voters.
I will tell you right now, Madam Speaker, we on the Republican side have no problem taking our case to the majority and to the people of this country because they elected Donald Trump and it is a matter for the voters, not this House, not in this way, not in the way this is being done.
It has trampled everything this House believes in. I said it yesterday and I believe it to be this true today; I will fight this on process, which has been deplorable to use a word of the majority.
It has been awful. The calendar and the clock make it impresset (ph) that we actually do it quickly. We don't care about rules, we don't care about minority hearing days. We don't care about giving the opportunity for witnesses to be called because the chairman gets to determine what is relevant.
Wow. That's pretty good. Let the accuser determine what is relevant to the one being accused. The people of America see through this. The people of America understand due process and they understand when it is being trampled in the people's house.
You see it's also not a matter of process, which will be discussed today. It's a matter of actual facts. I will fight the facts all day long because what we found here today is a president who did not due as being charged.
In fact, they had to go to abuse of power, this amorphous term that you're going to hear many, many arguments about how that abuse of power; except for one thing, the call itself, the two parties say no pressure. Nothing was ever done to get the money.
In fact they didn't even know the money was held. But there is something that very much bothers me about the facts. There were five meetings. We'll hear about those today in which it was never a linkage made. There was one witness that is dependent on over 600 times in the majorities report that in the end after question had to say, well that was my presumption of what was happening.
You see this is an impeachment based on presumption. This is an impeachment -- basically also a bold (ph) tested impeachment on what actually sells to the American people.
Today's going to be a lot of things. What it is not is fair. What it is not is about the truth. What is true today and I just heard it just a moment ago in the articles themselves where it said -- and the -- and the speaker I believe actually talked about this as well is that the president weakened a foreign leader.
You know what the truth of the matter is, it has to be the most interesting and deplorable thing that I have heard over the last few weeks is the actual attack by the majority on President Zelensky because they realized the whole crux of their case is that if he was not pressured, their house of cards falls.
And by the way, it's already fell. But if we can't pressure -- show pressure, than we either have to call him a liar, a world leader, or we have to make up names to call him. And that's exactly what happened in the Judiciary Committee when a member of the majority actual said he's acting -- or they compared him to a battered wife.
That is below the dignity of this body. To take a world leader and when he doesn't make your case for you to belittle him, especially as is going to be often said by the majority that they're in the middle of a hot war with Russia.
You see, President Trump actually did give them offensive weapons. President Trump did nothing wrong. We're going to talk about that all day long today. We went on process and we went on facts. Why? Because the American people will see through this.
But before I close this first part, I will have to recognize that even the Senate -- the Minority Leader in the Senate recognizes that the House did not do their job because he can't make the case to his own members so he's having to ask for witnesses, ask for more time.
You see -- and even yesterday it was sort of funny, I thought it hilarious that the Minority Leader in the Senate went out and did a press conference and said they denied my witnesses. They denied my request. Well, welcome to the club Mr. Schumer. That's exactly what's happened over here for the last three months.
So today we're going to talk a lot about impeachment. We're going to talk a lot about our president. And we're going to talk about two Articles of Impeachment; abuse of power because they can't actually pin anything of factual basis on him, the president did nothing wrong in this issue.
And then they're going to talk about obstruction of Congress. You know obstruction of Congress, as I've said before, is like petulant children saying we didn't get our way when we didn't ask the right way and we didn't actually go after and try to make a case.
You know why, Madam Speaker, the clock and the calendar are terrible masters. And the majority will own that problem today because to the clock and the calendar, facts don't matter. The promises to the base matter.
And today is a promise kept for the majority. Not a surprise, a fact. And with that I reserve.
SPEAKER: The gentleman reserves. Gentleman from New York.
NADLER: Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
SPEAKER: The gentleman is recognized.
NADLER: Madam Speaker, the House of Representatives must now consider two Articles of Impeachment against President Trump. The first article charges that the president used his public office to coheres a foreign government into attacking his political rival.
[12:25:00] The second article charges that the president took extreme and unprecedented steps to obstruct our investigation into his conduct. Taken together the two articles charge that President Trump placed his private political interest above our national security, above our elections, and above our system of checks and balances.
After months of -- of investigation, there can be no serious debate about the evidence at hand. On July 25th when he spoke to President Zelensky of Ukraine, President Trump had the upper hand.
The president, through his agents, had already demanded that Ukraine announce an investigation of his political opponents. Ukraine needed our help both military aid, which had been appropriated by Congress because our security interest and an Oval Office meeting to show the world that the United States continues to stand with Ukraine against Russian aggression.
President Trump should have been focused on the interest of the American people on that call; instead he prioritized his private political interest. President Trump asked President Zelensky for a favor.
He wanted Ukraine to announce two bogus investigations; one into former Vice President Biden then his leading opponent in the 20202 election and another to advance a conspiracy theory that Ukraine, not Russia, attacked our elections in 2016.
Neither request was premised on any legitimate national security or foreign policy interest. One was intended to help President Trump conceal the truth about the 2016 election. The other was intended to help him gain an advantage in the 2020 election.
After the call, President Trump ratcheted up the pressure. He deployed his private attorney and other agents, some acting far outside the regular channels of diplomacy to make his desires clear.
There would be no aid and no meeting until Ukraine announced the sham investigations. To our founding generation, abuse of power was a specific well defined offense. A president may not misuse the powers of the presidency to obtain an improper personal benefit.
The evidence shows that President Trump did exactly that. For this alone he should be impeached. But the first article also identifies to aggravating factors. When President Trump conditioned military aid on a person favor, he armed America's national security.
And when he demanded that a foreign government target his domestic political rival, he took steps to corrupt our next election. To the founders these offenses clearly merited removal from office.
The president faces a second Article of Impeachment for his efforts to obstruct our investigation of his misconduct. The Constitution grants the sole power of impeachment to the House of Representatives.
Within our system of checks and balances, the president may not decide for himself what constitutes a valid impeachment inquiry, nor may he ignore lawful subpoenas or direct others to do so.
Many presidents, including President Trump, have asserted privileges and other objections to specific subpoenas. But only President Trump has ordered the categorical defiance of a Congressional investigation.
The automatic rejection of all subpoenas, the president is not above the law and he should be impeached for this as well. Congress cannot wait for the next election to address this misconduct.
President Trump has demonstrated the clear pattern of wrong doing. This is not the first time he has solicited foreign interference in an election, has been exposed, and has attempted to obstruct the resulting investigation.
We cannot rely on the next election as a remedy for presidential misconduct when the president threatens the very integrity of that election. He has shown us he will continue to put his selfish interest above the good of the country. We must act without delay.
By his actions, President Trump has broken his oath of office. His conduct continues to undermine our constitution and threaten our next election. His actions warrant his impeachment and demand his removal from office. I urge my colleagues to support these articles and I reserve the balance of my time.
SPEAKER: Gentleman from Georgia.
COLLINS: Thank you, Madam Speaker. It is my time -- my pleasure at this time to yield three minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin, Mr. Sensenbrenner.
SPEAKER: The gentleman's recognized for three minutes.
SENSENBRENNER: Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition to impeaching the president.
The Constitution says that any civil officer, including the president, may be impeached for treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors. Unlike the Nixon and Clinton cases, there are no allegations that the president has committed a crime.
[12:30:00]
