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CNN Live Event/Special
House Debating Two Articles of Impeachment Against Trump. Aired 12:30-1p ET
Aired December 18, 2019 - 12:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[12:30:00] SENSENBRENNER: -- high crimes and misdemeanors. Unlike the Nixon and Clinton cases, there are no allegations that the president has committed a crime.
We've had almost three years of nonstop investigations, we've had the Mueller report, we've had the Schiff investigation, we've had the Nadler investigation, and at no time is there any evidence that indicates that Donald J. Trump violated any criminal statute of the United States. So why are we here?
We're here because the majority caucus, the Democratic caucus has been hijacked by the radical left. They have wanted to reverse the course of the 2016 election ever since Donald J. Trump won that election.
So let's look at these two phony articles of impeachment.
First of all, abuse of power. The phone call in question had the president say, "Our country has been through a lot. I want you to do us a favor" -- not me a favor, us a favor. And there he was referring to our country, the United States of America; not a personal, political gain.
He was not afraid to let this transcript go public, and he released the transcript almost immediately after the call.
Now the second Article of Impeachment, obstruction of Congress. It basically says that unless the president gives us everything we want and when we want it then he's committed an impeachable offense. That's a bunch of bunk.
The president has certain individual privileges by virtue of his office. Whenever there has been a dispute between the executive and legislative branches heretofore they've gone to court. And the Supreme Court a couple weeks ago said they would take jurisdiction over deciding whether the president had to comply with one subpoena relating to his tax returns.
Now here, the Democrats have been bent to impeach the president of the United States before the court decides this. And this means that there is a rush job to do this. And why is there? Because they want to influence the 2020 elections. And they've spent three years doing it, they've spent millions of taxpayers' dollars, including the Mueller report, putting together this impeachment. And they also have had this Congress wrapped around impeachment and not doing their jobs until the dam broke this week. Stop this charade. Vote no.
And I yield back.
SPEAKER: (OFF-MIKE) yields back.
The gentleman from New York.
NADLER: Sir, Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Wisconsin knows full well the president asserted no privileges here. He simply ordered complete defiance of the impeachment inquiry.
I now yield two minutes to the gentlelady from Pennsylvania, Ms. Scanlon.
SPEAKER: Gentlelady is recognized.
SCANLON: Thank you, Speaker.
And thank you, Chairman Nadler, for your leadership as we navigate this challenging time, not just for our committee and Congress, but for our country.
It's with profound sadness that I stand here today in support of these Articles of Impeachment.
President Trump's behavior is exactly what our founders feared most. They knew that with the awesome power of the presidency came the risk of a president abusing that power for personal gain. They were particularly concerned about an executive who became entangled with foreign governments, corrupted our elections, or sought to avoid consequences for his own misconduct in office.
That is why they included impeachment in the Constitution, to protect our republic.
Our colleagues across the aisle have claimed that we're impeaching the president because we don't like him, because -- but this moment is about more than disagreement with the president's policies or personality. Those issues belong in the voting booth.
Our task here is not to judge the president himself. Instead we must judge his conduct and whether his actions have undermined our Constitution.
The president has committed the highest of high crimes under our Constitution. He used the highest office in our government and taxpayer dollars to pressure a foreign country to interfere in our elections. He undermined our national security. And when he got caught, he tried to cover it up, obstructing our investigation and refusing to produce subpoenaed documents and witnesses.
[12:35:00]
A government where the president abuses his power is not of the people. A government where the president pressures a foreign country to undermine our elections is not by the people. And a government where the president puts his own interests before the country is not for the people. This isn't complicated. You know it. I know it. The American people know it.
President Trump's wrongdoing and the urgent threat that his actions present to our next election and our democracy leaves us no principled alternative but to support these articles of impeachment. Our Constitution, our country, and our children depend upon it.
I yield back.
SPEAKER: The gentlelady yields back.
The gentleman from Georgia.
COLLINS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I wish -- as the gentlelady just said, I wish they would examine the factual conduct but I guess that's not going to happen. So at this point I yield two minutes to the gentleman from Louisiana, Mr. Johnson.
SPEAKER: The gentleman is recognized.
JOHNSON: Thank the gentleman from Georgia, Mr. Speaker.
The founders of this country warned us against a single-party impeachment, because they feared it had would bitterly and perhaps irreparably divide our nation. The truth is, in the 243 years of this republic, there has never been a single-party fraudulent impeachment process like the one being used today.
Our Democrat colleagues have weaponized the impeachment provision of the Constitution to nullify the votes of 63 million Americans who elected President Donald J. Trump. This is not about a phone call or Ukraine or even his use of the executive privilege. You have to remember that 95 of the Democrats on this floor today voted to impeach Donald Trump before the July 25th phone call ever happened between President Trump and President Zelensky.
And not only is this a single-party impeachment, it's also evidence- free. After all their herculean efforts, they could only come up with two short articles of impeachment. On the first, the Democrats know there is zero direct evidence in this record of these proceedings to show that President Trump engaged in any abuse of power.
As you'll hear today, their entire case is based on hearsay, speculation, and conjecture. And there is not a single fact witness that can provide testimony to support their baseless allegations. The Democrats' second claim is that President Trump obstructed Congress by simply doing what virtually every other president in the modern era has also done, and that is to assert, Mr. Chairman, a legitimate executive privilege, which protects the separation of powers.
And you know what, if they disagreed with that, the Democrats could and should have just simply gone a few blocks away to a federal court to get an expedited court order compelling the extra documents and information they requested. That's what has always been done in the past, but they didn't do that here because these Democrats don't have time for it.
They are trying to meet their own arbitrary, completely reckless and Machiavellian timeline to take down a president that they loathe. The real abuse of power here is on the part of the House Democrats. They have feverishly produced and pursued this impeachment 20 times faster than the impeachment investigation of Bill Clinton. They are trying to reach their predetermined political outcome and along the way they have steamrolled over a constitutionally guaranteed due process...
SPEAKER: Gentleman's time has expired.
JOHNSON: ... previously sacrosanct House rules, and the federal rules of civil procedure. This must fail.
SPEAKER: The gentleman's time has expired.
JOHNSON: This is a shameful day for the country.
I yield back.
SPEAKER: The gentleman from New York is recognized.
NADLER: Mr. Speaker, the gentleman knows that impeachment was put into the Constitution as a defense of the republic in between elections.
I now yield two minutes to the distinguished gentlelady from Washington, Ms. Jayapal.
SPEAKER: The gentlelady is recognized.
JAYAPAL: Mr. Speaker, this is a day of accountability and defending our democracy. The facts in front of us are clear. This president, Donald J. Trump, coerced a fragile foreign ally to investigate his political opponent and interfere in our elections. And he leveraged critically needed congressionally approved military aid to Ukraine.
The president's allies want to claim that he did this because he cared about corruption. But if President Trump truly cared about corruption, then he would have listened to the talking points that were prepared by the National Security Council on anti-corruption. He did not.
In fact, on those two calls with President Zelensky he never mentioned the word corruption. He did not abide by the Department of Defense's own recommendation that Ukraine had passed all the anti-corruption benchmarks. And he didn't listen to the unanimous conclusion of all of his top advisers that he must release that aid to Ukraine.
He did release the aid in 2017 and 2018, but not in 2019. Why? Because in 2019, Vice President Joe Biden was running for president. Because this is not hearsay. We have a responsibility. The president told us himself on national television exactly what he wanted from the phone call with President Zelensky.
[12:40:00]
He came onto the White House lawn and he said, I wanted President Zelensky to open an investigation into the Bidens. He solicited foreign interference before. He is doing it now. And he will do it again. The president is the smoking gun.
Our founders, Mr. Chairman -- Mr. Speaker, entrusted us with the awesome responsibility of protecting our democracy which gets its power, not from the bloodlines of monarchs, but from the votes of we the people. Without that we are no longer a democracy. We are a monarchy or a dictatorship.
And so today, to uphold my oath to Constitution and country, I will vote to impeach Donald J. Trump.
I yield back.
SPEAKER: The gentlelady yields back.
The gentleman from Georgia.
COLLINS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I also remind my chairman that impeachable was never meant as a political weapon in between elections when you can't win the next one.
And with that, I yield two minutes to the gentleman from Texas, Mr. Conaway.
SPEAKER: The gentleman is recognized.
CONAWAY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Other than authorizing an act of war, impeachment is the gravest item that we as Congress can consider. The decision to move forward with impeachment of a United States president is so consequential that it has only been done three times previously in our nation's history, all based on legitimate evidence of criminal behavior.
Unfortunately, many of my colleagues have diminished what should be a solemn and grave proceeding into an absolute political circus simply because they don't like the man occupying the White House. The Democrats have been intent on impeaching the president since the day he took office.
Their actions are clearly motivated by hatred for President Trump. This impeachment vote today is the next step in their long-held plan to remove him from office. The partisan impeachment investigation run by the House Intelligence Committee was unnecessarily held behind closed doors in a room designed to be shared -- as a room designed to share classified information.
Nothing classified was shared during these meetings, but the result of this decision was that most members of Congress and all Americans were blocked from hearing the facts for themselves. Chairman Schiff repeatedly withheld crucial information from the Republicans, including the ability for anyone but himself and his staff to speak with the whistle-blower at the center of the investigation.
He was even called out by liberal media outlets for spreading misinformation and falsehoods throughout the impeachment process. The public hearings were a complete disregard for the House rules and the decades of precedent. Republicans were not allowed to call witnesses or to make basic, basic parliamentary motions. In fact, the only witnesses allowed to testify publicly were those who fit neatly within the Democrats' predetermined narrative.
Mostly importantly, we have not been presented any real evidence that proves the president is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors that is required by the Constitution to remove a duly-elected president. If there were criminal activity, as many of my Democrat colleagues claim, then where are the -- why are there no crimes listed in the articles of impeachment?
We are forever weakening this body by turning impeachment into a political weapon. This impeachment scheme is nothing more than an attempt to conduct taxpayer-funded opposition research and damage a president's electability heading into 2020. The American people see right through this charade and are fed up.
It's time for this madness to stop and for us to get back to the important work the American people sent us here to do.
And I yield back.
SPEAKER: The gentleman yields back.
The gentleman reserves. The gentleman from New York.
NADLER: Mr. Speaker, I now yield three minutes to the distinguished gentleman from California, Mr. Lieu.
SPEAKER: The gentleman is recognized.
LIEU: Thank you, Chairman Nadler, for your leadership.
Let's start by making this very simple. No one in America can do what Donald Trump did and get away with it. No American elected official can call up a foreign government and ask for an investigation of a political opponent. No member of Congress can call up a foreign official and ask for help in our re-election campaign. If we did that, we would likely to get indicted.
No one is above the law, and the Constitution is the supreme law of the land. I first swore an oath to the Constitution when I joined the United States Air Force on active duty. An oath I took was not to a political party or to a president or to a king. It was a document that has made America the greatest nation on earth. And that document contains a safeguard for when the president's abuse of power is so extreme that it warrants impeachment.
We are not here because of policy disputes. While I disagree with the president, I acknowledge that he has a right to restrict a number of refugees entering our country. He has the right to eliminate environmental executive orders. He has a right to sign a bill that has given tax breaks to the wealthy.
But the president does not have a right to cheat and to solicit foreign interference in our elections. That is illegal. It is not what the voters elected him to do. And we will not stand for it.
The president's actions in this case were particularly insidious because he also used our government for his private gain. He conditioned taxpayer-funded military aid and a critical White House meeting with the Ukrainian president on the requirement that Ukraine publicly announce an investigation into his opponent. And by harming Ukrainian national security, the president also harmed U.S. national security.
And then the president solicited foreign interference again on the South Lawn of the White House when he again asked Ukraine to investigate his political opponent. And then he asked China, our peer competitor, to do the same. That abuse of power is not acceptable.
[12:45:00]
Whether or not the Senate convicts, the House has an independent duty to do the right thing. That's why we have passed over 275 bipartisan bills that are stuck in the Senate. Whether impeaching or legislating, we'll continue to be faithful to the Constitution regardless of what the Senate may or may not do.
Moreover, impeachment is a form of deterrence. Our children are watching. No president ever wants to be impeached. And whether Donald Trump leaves in one month, one year or five years, this impeachment is permanent, it will follow him around for the rest of his life, and history books will record it.
And the people will know why we impeached. It's all very simple. No one's above the law; not our commander in chief, not our president.
I yield back.
SPEAKER: The gentleman yields back.
The gentleman from Georgia.
COLLINS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
At this time it's my pleasure to yield a minute and a half to the gentleman from North Carolina, Mr. McHenry.
SPEAKER: Gentleman is recognized.
MCHENRY: I thank my colleague.
In 2016, 63 million Americans went to the polls and elected Donald Trump president of the United States. House Democrats have been trying to overturn the election ever since. In fact, they've tried five additional times to the one where -- that's before us, to impeach the president, including the vote in May of 2017, just five months into his term. In January of this year House Democrats took control of this chamber and they were faced with a choice. They could use the tools of the majority to pursue legitimate priorities of the American people, policies that can impact their lives, or they could use the tools to undo the 2016 election. They made their choice.
Since then, House Democrats have issued more subpoenas than bills have been signed into law. That tells us all we need to know about this Congress and that party.
Rather than launch a legitimate investigation, Democrats turned to focus groups to workshop their language to see if they could sell this to the American people. And the American people have rejected it.
Instead of negotiating with the executive branch, for instance, and allowing the courts to resolve any legitimate disputes, House Democrats rushed an impeachment vote.
So here we are 12 weeks later voting whether to impeach the president based off the thinnest record in modern history. It's no surprise that the Senate is already asking for additional witnesses and more documents and real evidence. The body of evidence is weak and woefully insufficient for impeachment.
And with that, I yield back on this sad day for this institution.
SPEAKER: Gentleman yields back.
The gentleman from New York, Mr. Nadler.
NADLER: Mr. Speaker, I now yield two minutes to the gentleman from Maryland, Mr. Raskin.
SPEAKER: Mr. Raskin is recognized.
RASKIN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
American elections belong to the American people, not the American president and not foreign powers. No president may cheat the people by working with foreign governments to steal from us a free and fair election. And no president who attempts it may cover up that cheating by systematically obstructing Congress in our work.
Article II of the Constitution does not authorize a president to do whatever he wants. The reason we have a Constitution is to keep government officials from doing whatever they want.
If we the people lose the certainty of free and fair elections to presidential corruption and foreign manipulation, then we lose our democracy itself, the most precious inheritance we have received from prior generations that pledged their sacred honor and gave everything they had to defend it.
The struggle for democracy is the meaning of America. That is why we remain the last, best hope of a world ravaged by authoritarianism, violence and corruption. We must act now to protect our elections and safeguard constitutional democracy for the enormous and unprecedented challenges that still lie ahead of us.
I yield back, Mr. Chairman.
SPEAKER: Gentleman yields back.
The gentleman from Georgia.
COLLINS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
At this time it is my pleasure to yield a minute and a half to the gentlewoman from West Virginia, Ms. Miller.
SPEAKER: Gentlelady is recognized.
MILLER: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I rise in opposition of H.R. 755.
Today is a disappointing day. It is the day my colleagues from across the aisle cast the vote that they have spent the last three years obsessing over, the vote to impeach our duly elected president.
There are two charges claimed by House Democrats, and there is zero cause for either. While President Trump has led, our country has thrived and Washington liberals have failed. Despite the commitment of many of our colleagues to obstruct the Trump administration's agenda at every turn, our country continues to succeed.
[12:50:00]
In this body, however, we have not been able to deliver on what Americans want and need. We still have not finished securing our border. The opioid epidemic still rages in our communities. Our infrastructure is still in dire need of an overhaul. And we still have not reached a bipartisan resolution on drug pricing.
If Congress hadn't spent the last year stuck in a divisive, ugly, partisan impeachment debacle think of what we could have done, the lives that could have been saved, the communities that could have been improved, the crisis on our southern border ended, and the positive work that we should do for our country but we didn't, all because of divisive political theatrics.
Congress can do better than this, and America deserves better.
I yield back my time.
SPEAKER: The gentlelady yields back, and the gentleman from Georgia reserves.
The gentleman from New York.
NADLER: Mr. Speaker, I now yield two minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Rhode Island, Mr. Cicilline.
SPEAKER: Gentleman's recognized.
CICILLINE: Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Articles of Impeachment against Donald J. Trump, the 45th president of the United States.
Mr. Speaker, no one runs for Congress to impeach a president, but this president has left us no choice.
President Trump abused the enormous powers of his office when he solicited foreign interference for the purpose of helping him in his reelection campaign in 2020. The president betrayed our national security and undermined the security of our elections when he put his own personal, political interests ahead of the interests of our country. He tried to cheat to win reelection.
And this wasn't an attack on Vice President Biden. This was an attack on our democracy. And if we do not hold the president accountable today, we will no longer live in a democracy. We will live in a dictatorship where any future president will be free to abuse their office in order to get reelected.
So today every member of this chamber faces a choice, whether to do what the Constitution demands and the evidence requires, or to turn a blind eye to the president's grave misconduct, blind eye to the overwhelming evidence of high crimes and misdemeanors.
To my friends on the other side of the aisle I say this: This is not about making history, this is about holding a lawless president accountable in the way our framers intended. This is a time to put our country over your political party. Do not seek safety in the high grass of a vote against these articles. We are all Americans; show the American people your devotion to your country is more powerful to your loyalty to your political party.
United we can defend our democracy from all enemies foreign and domestic. Divided we risk losing our democracy.
All you have to do is look at the evidence, because it will leave you with only one answer: The president of the United States must be impeached.
Remember these facts: He tried to cheat, he got caught, he confessed and then he obstructed the investigation into his misconduct.
For our democracy, for our Constitution, for the people you represent, and for all who will inherit our country from us, I pray you will do the right thing.
And I yield back.
SPEAKER: The gentleman yields back.
The gentleman from Georgia.
COLLINS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
At this point it gives me pleasure to yield a minute and a half to the gentleman from Alabama, Mr. Rogers.
SPEAKER: Gentleman's recognized, Mr. Rogers.
M. ROGERS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I rise today in complete and total support of President Trump.
The matter before the House today is based solely on a fundamental hatred of our president. It's a sham, a witch hunt, and is tantamount to a coup against a duly elected president of the United States.
This is a sad day for our nation when one political party, along with their cohorts in the deep state and the mainstream media, try to hijack our Constitution.
The Democrat majority has irresponsibly turned the impeachment process into a political weapon, something that Republicans refused to do when our base was calling for the impeachment of President Obama.
It is well past time for the House to move beyond this hoax and put our nation first.
That's exactly what President Trump is doing. The United States has record-low unemployment, historic performance in the stock market. President Trump is rewriting failed trade deals with -- of the past to put America first. He's rebuilding our military. He helped create the Space Force. And the list goes on.
I implore my colleagues to end this spectacle now.
I yield back.
SPEAKER: Gentleman yields back.
(UNKNOWN): (OFF-MIKE)
SPEAKER: The gentleman reserves.
Gentleman from New York, Mr. Nadler.
NADLER: Mr. Speaker, I'm hearing a lot from my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, except a defense of President Trump's conduct, which is indefensible.
I now yield two minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Florida, Mr. Deutch.
SPEAKER: Gentleman from Florida is recognized.
DEUTCH: Some say this impeachment is about eight lines in a call transcript, but there is so much more. This is about a scheme that lasted months and involved dozens of Trump administration officials. Look at the evidence. Look at the direct evidence: text messages, e-mails, calls, and meetings.
[12:55:00]
Way back in May, the president told his team, "Talk to Rudy Giuliani." The president's message: no White House meeting unless Ukraine helped him in the 2020 election.
Ambassador Sondland said there was a prerequisite of investigations into the Bidens and announcement of an investigation was a deliverable. Ambassador Volker said the most important thing for the Ukrainian president to do was to commit to an investigation of the Bidens. Just before the July 25th call, Volker told the Ukrainians, "assuming President Z convinces Trump he will investigate, we will nail down a date for a visit to Washington."
The direct evidence kept coming after the call More texts, more e- mails, more calls, all with the same message: if Ukraine didn't announce an investigation into the president's political rival, then they wouldn't get the White House meeting that they had been promised and they wouldn't get the aid that they needed in their war against Russia.
American presidential power comes from the people through elections, and the Constitution requires that we protect those elections. But when the president abused his power to solicit foreign interference, he was cheating American voters before they even had a chance to vote.
President Trump's actions force us to protect our elections and the Constitution. I urge my colleagues to defend the Constitution, support these Articles of Impeachment, and remind the world that in America no one is above the law.
I yield back.
SPEAKER: The gentleman yields back.
The gentleman from Georgia.
COLLINS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
And I would remind this whole body that there is more than eight lines. In fact, there's four facts: There was no pressure, there was no conditionality, they did nothing to get it, and they got the money.
With that, I yield a minute and a half to the gentleman from Florida, Mr. Spano.
SPEAKER: Gentleman's recognized.
SPANO: I rise in opposition to this political effort to remove President Trump from office.
I'm not surprised this day has come, but I am disappointed. Disappointed because impeachment's one of the most consequential decisions that we can make in this body, and this impeachment is based purely on partisan motives.
Speaker Pelosi said we shouldn't go down this path unless there was something compelling, overwhelming and bipartisan because of how divisive it would be. Unfortunately, it's clear the majority has had laser focus on one thing for three years: impeaching the president.
The majority's failed to deliver for the American people. They failed to pass a budget on time. Failed to pass the spending bills on time. And failed to deliver bipartisan solutions that will actually help improve the lives of Americans.
But the American people see through this sad charade to what it is: an attempt to undo the 2016 election based on hearsay and opinion, not fact.
The transcript of the call showed no conditions were placed on the aid. President Trump and Zelensky have said there was no pressure. And Ukraine received the aid without taking any actions.
The Constitution is clear: The president may only be impeached for committing treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors. Nowhere in the two Articles of Impeachment brought today does it argue that the president has committed treason, bribery or any crime under the law.
This is not overwhelming. It is not compelling. It is not bipartisan. But the speaker has right -- she was right in one way: This is incredibly divisive and has lowered the bar for what future presidents will face.
I strongly oppose the articles before us today and I hope that we will finally move past this nightmare and get to work to deliver results for the American people.
I yield back.
SPEAKER: Gentleman yields back.
(UNKNOWN): (OFF-MIKE)
SPEAKER: Gentleman reserves.
The gentleman from New York is, again, recognized.
NADLER: Mr. Speaker, the evidence is clear that President Trump took advantage of Ukraine's vulnerability and abused the powers of his office to pressure Ukraine to help his reelection campaign. This is the highest of high crimes and President Trump must be held to account.
And I now yield two minutes to the distinguished gentleman from California, Mr. Correa.
SPEAKER: The gentleman is recognized. CORREA: And I thank the gentleman for yielding.
As a member of Homeland Security Committee, I know firsthand the dangers that foreign interference in our elections present to our democracy. As a member of Congress, it is my sworn duty to ensure that our nation is secure from all threats, foreign and domestic. And Congress has a constitutional job to investigate allegations of misconduct by the executive branch, including the United States president.
The Constitution is the highest law of the land, created a system of checks and balances to prevent the creation of a king. And Congress is a coequal branch of our nation's government equal with the presidency with duties that are given to us by the framers.
This is a very sad day, and I do not take impeachment lightly. Yet I'm here to do my job as a member of Congress.
(UNTRANSLATED). And today, I pray for God for his guidance in uniting our great nation.
[13:00:00]
