About a partisan impeachment in which politics of the majority who have their strength can do what they want to do it regardless of any facts. We are told donald trump is busy at his desk, but he is of course tweeting. Tweeting in caps. This is the scene live in the house of representatives, the debate is ongoing, we will be dipping into it throughout the programme. Hello and welcome, im katty kay in washington and Christian Fraser is in london. It is impeachment day in america. Donald trump, judging by the long seething letter he sent to nancy pelosi, is well aware that his place in history is about to change forever. And not in a good way. From now on his bio will read, donald trump, the 3rd american president to be impeached. Top democrats say they are approaching this day in a somber mood. And well they might. Its not clear that impeaching the president will do them any political favours. But the charges are serious, putting personal gain above Americas National security interests and democrats say they feel they have no choice. The debate itself began in the house of representatives two hours ago lets take a listen in to whats happening now. There is no higher crime than for the president to use the power of his office at corrupt our elections and now there is one minute from the gentleman from wisconsin. Thank you. Thisjuly, president gentleman from wisconsin. Thank you. This july, President Trump gentleman from wisconsin. Thank you. Thisjuly, President Trump blocked 400 million aid that ukraine desperately needed to defend itself against russia because he needed ukraine to do him a favour first. He asked the president to launch a public investigation into a political rival, military aid and other benefits would only come after. But this is not about a single pole or transcript, it is about a perfect storm, months of activity directly ordered by the president to a senior cabinet demanding a foreign power interfere in our democracy. He betrayed his oath of office. He abused the power of office for personal and political gain. He has refused to cooperate with a coequal branch of government was that this is a vote for constitution, setting the precedent for all future president s. Donald trump must be held accountable for his actions. Today we send a clear signal to this president and all future president s, no one is above the law. That is what is going on at the law. That is what is going on at the moment. They spent a few hours this morning debating what would gavin this evening but now we are on to the debate for the impeachment itself. Govan this evening. December the 18th 2019, the date that will go down in american history. A day that started at least with solemnity. Give them wisdom and discernment. But very quickly moved from the sacred to the profane as the bitter partisan dogfight took over. Ifa if a president is undermining our National Security and using the government for its own personal gain is not impeachment i dont know what is. Today we have a president who seems to believe he is a king or above the law. And then the counterblast from the republicans. It isa it is a sham impeachment. Hard working americans want us to just move forwards. There is no proof, none, that the president has committed an impeachable offence. And from the democratic speaker, a tone of sorrow rather than anger. 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. The last president to be impeached was bill clinton in 1998 over lying about his relationship with the white house intern Monica Lewinsky and before that you have to go back another 130 years to president andrewjohnson. By the end of today, donald trump will, in all likelihood, have joined the club that no one wants to be a member of. The president has spent the morning in the residence where his twitter thumbs have been busy. Can you believe that i will be impeached today by the radical left do nothing democrats and i did nothing wrong. A terrible thing. Read the transcripts. This should never happen to another president again. Say a prayer. But for the first part of the impeachment process, it wont be about prayer. It will be about votes and donald trump doesnt have them. Lets bring in the bbcs nada tawfik whos on capitol hill. If you turn on one news channel in the United States you get one set of fa cts , the United States you get one set of facts, turn on another and you get a different set of facts and that is how it has looked today, opposed interpretations of what actually went on. Absolutely. It went back and forth from republicans to democrats and honestly for americans watching it was a bit of whiplash, a portrayal of the alternate reality is that americans are living in, the divisions. On one hand you had democrats waving the constitution, saying that it was their duty to uphold their oath under the constitution and that the president had invited interference and it wasnt just about his had invited interference and it wasntjust about his past conduct but about an attempt by donald trump that would continue into the next election. On the other hand you had a representative from louisiana having a map of the last election, the electoral map, saying that this was again in the republic and a view about democrats trying to undo the results of that election. Certainly, both sides are looking ahead, not just of the senate trial but the election, framing impeachment in ways that can help them and i actually caught up with one representative of illinois and i asked him if democrats were concerned about this backfiring. I dont know whats going to happen in the senate but today we are trying to put the constitution above party and politics. That is certainly the case for me. I think every Single Member is going to be voting their conscience and indeed, neither i nor my colleagues have been whipped in any way to vote one way or the other so this is indeed a time when i have to fulfil my oath to defend and protect the constitution of the United States. And that really is the message that there from democrats that besides there from democrats that besides the politics and all of this we all know the outcome there isnt much suspense know the outcome there isnt much suspense but this is their duty, the duty of americans to hold President Trump accountable. We thought nancy pelosi dressed in black wearing a brooch with the symbol of the house of Representatives Authority trying to show again that this is a solemn momentous day for america. We mentioned facts but in a sense they dont even really agree on those, do they because democrats are saying that we have all of the facts here, it is here in this phone call, it is evident to us that donald trump wa nted evident to us that donald trump wanted to something from ukraine, he wa nted wanted to something from ukraine, he wanted this investigation into the guidance. Republicans say you are just inferring that. There is no actual evidence to say that he did that. We are not inside his head, it wasnt written down, no one actually ever said this was pro quo, is there any chance that in this debate anyone changes their mind . Yes, that is exactly right and what we have heard from this debate is that both sides are sticking exactly to their messaging. I think what is really interesting is that democrats have hit back at the republican argument that the president hasnt been given a process, there is only hearsay, democrats saying this is why the second article of impeachment is on obstruction of congress because the president has not allowed a key white house official to testify, he hasnt released several documents and democrats do think they have ample evidence from that phone call, the transcript with president zele ns ky the transcript with president zelensky where he said do as a favour when it came to investigating the bidens. Someone said that eve ryo ne the bidens. Someone said that everyone was aware of what was happening but democrats want to hear from the likes of Mick Mulvaney, the acting white house chief of staff along with thejohn bolton but what is really interesting is that republicans are again hitting back saying why didnt democrats go to the courts to get this testimony, or they were doing is rushing this entire impeachment process to get it out of the way before election. Back and forth incrimination is on both sides and no one really willing to compromise here at all. Earlier today christian had the chance to speak to the chairman and asked him what he thought the rest of the world were saying. He said we need to remind other countries that america does stand for the rule of law, that we are not a corrupt country, we cant go around saying you have to have transparency and not behaving that way. That is why he said as an intelligent person it was particularly important to have this. One of our viewers hasjust tweeted, why are we doing this trump impeachment, it will have no bearing on his popularity in the us and my response would be that it might and we dont know which way it will go and that is why it is so significant, isnt it . I think it isnt just about the election but there is a constitution in the us that democrats believe lead to this position. I spoken to many, even who we re position. I spoken to many, even who were reluctant to get on this path, so we had no choice. Miller said this morning said we had no choice but to do this. We didnt necessarily want to. Melissa said. This leads to investigating the president. I think it is not just about the polls and the election next year. We are going to go back to capitol hill and listening to those proceedings. So, lets remind ourselves of why were at this point today. Remember this is not about the mueller inquiry, that investigation into whether the Trump Campaign colluded with russia. This is about a separate issue, whether donald trump asked ukraine to dig up dirt onjoe biden in return for us military assistance. Late 2018, the us congress proves 250 million in aid to ukraine. July 18, 2019, officials in the state department in the pentagon learnt that the aid has been withheld. July 25, 2019, mr that the aid has been withheld. July 25,2019, mrtrump that the aid has been withheld. July 25, 2019, mr trump pressures the ukrainian president on a phone call. He asks president zelensky to investigate his political rivaljoe biden and his son hunter. Auger to the 12th, the whistle blower filed his complaint and someone in the white house with knowledge of the court filed a complaint which eventually ends up in congress. August the 28th. The public learns about the withheld aid, politico posts a story about the Trump Administration, blocking aid to ukraine. It is the first time it is reported publicly. September the 18th, the public learns more about the whistle blower. The Washington Post and the New York Times report that the whistle blowers complaint involves mr trumps call with the ukrainian president. Now that things move fast. September the 20th, the public learns about mr trump asking mr zelensky to investigate biden. A story in the wall streetjournal outlines the details of the call between them. September the 24th, nancy pelosi orders and impeachment enquiry. Mid november, Congress Holds hearings with Key Administration officials. Today, Congress Votes to impeach the president. Joining us now is former advisor to george w bush, ron christie and president of the constituional accountability center, elizabeth wydra. Iimagine you i imagine you are quite glad to be out of washington and out of politics at the moment. It is only the third time that an american president faces impeachment. What are you thinking today . Good afternoon to you. What im thinking as this is a very sad day in america. I was on capitol hill 21 yea rs america. I was on capitol hill 21 years ago when we had the last impeachment and it was a lot more civil in the tone as well as the discourse. Here, this is a tale of two cities, you have republican saying that the president has done nothing wrong and the democrats saying they are upholding the constitution and that no person is above the law. My specific thoughts, i think the record hurts very weak. I think the record hurts very weak. I think there is no specific evidence pro quo and for having an obstruction of congress, article of impeachment is laughable given that congress didnt exercise all their constitutional duties to compel and receive evidence so to end as it started, i think it is a sad day for us started, i think it is a sad day for us in america. A sad day in america or something thatjust had to happen . I think it is both. Certainly a sombre day, the constitution puts impeachment in as the ultimate remedy when an elected official up to and including the president has abused his office. I think that the democrats in the house also had no choice. I think that the record here with this particular incident that led to these two articles of impeachment is such an abuse of President Trumps office in such a violation of constitutional principles, fair and free democracy, the idea that no one is above the law and the idea that when the president acts in the world stage, he acts in the best interests of the American People and National Security and not for his own personal benefit, whether it be political in this particular case of financial as we have seen in other cases and whilst there are only two articles of impeachment i think there are stand ins for the vast corruption we have seen from this administration and they get to really crucial points that i think are going to be upheld in this Impeachment Vote which is that we need to be able to have confidence in our democracy, that it is not being corrupted by foreign influence and we need to have confidence in the checks and balances written into our constitution and the idea that the law applies to everyone, including the president. The law applies to everyone, including the president m the law applies to everyone, including the president. If you are removing someone including the president. If you are removing someone who has been elected to the highest office in the land, the bar is set extremely high. Did these articles impeachment satisfy that test when you hadnt heard from the people who are closest to the president . heard from the people who are closest to the president . I think that the facts are particularly out to be honest and we have heard from the president s own mouth. This wasnt a transcript precisely, it wasnt a transcript precisely, it was a readout of the call and i think it is important to remember that but even the readout that we got from the president was terribly damning. The idea that he needs a favour from the Ukrainian Government to investigate his political rival before releasing congressionally allocated military aid for ukraine and pushing back against russian aggression, that is a really big deal. It is an impeachable offence on the level that gets to the core of what the founders were concerned about when they put impeachment in the constitution and i would just add on that point that he was a duly elected president , the founders put impeachment as a remedy into the constitution knowing that someone might get into the office and then corruptly tried to hold onto that office and that is why the ballot box might not be a sufficient check. If you set this in a congressional district, the chief of police had said the local mayor we need some more cops and the mayor said i hate you but i need a favour. I need you to check out a few things on the rival before i give you that money, eve ryo ne rival before i give you that money, everyone would recognise that as wrong wouldnt they . Know they wouldnt. The that doesnt match up to where we are with the president. In his constitutional capacity had until september the 30th to release the aid to ukraine. The reason it had been upheld was that ukraine had been one of the most corrupt countries in europe if not in the world and i think the president was well within his right after congress authorised and gave him the ability to disperse those funds to check to see whether or not corruption was an issue. I was taught by one of the best constitutional lawyers in the world, a liberal democrat, who has the same impression that i do which is that this has been brought on the flimsy siesta of bases and ukraine actually got the money. The president of ukraine didnt realise that it had been upheld so the notion that the presence of the United States has put arm at National Security at risk by giving 391 million to country is not worthy of the bar that was set in 65 in defining a high crime bribery. We have plenty more to get into and i know you will stay with us but thank you very much. Can ijust say one thing there, it is a little bit different from the police a cop analogy to because the president didnt say do me a favour but doom us didnt say do me a favour but doom usa didnt say do me a favour but doom us a favour and the republican defence and the white house defence but that acid means the United States and not me personally so to some extent it is an interpretation of what the president says set against a backdrop of do you believe he is acting in bad faith or in good faith when it comes to the nations security and that is ironic because president clinton said at one point during his impeachment it depends on the meaning of the word is and now we are debating the meaning of the word us. Perhaps president s have a problem with two letter words. Thank you for that. In the past hour the president has reached for the Caps Lock Key on his keyboard, tweeting his displeasure at proceedings. Lets check in with our correspondent at the white house, laura trevelyan. The word was that the long seething letter that he wrote to the House Speaker nancy pelosi last night, much of it incorporating some of the tweets we have had over recent days that it was mostly him and that a l