N is recognized for one minute. Leages, this ar is a moment you will reard about in your history books. Today, i will vote to impeach the president of the United States, and i want you to know why. He broke our laws. He threatened our security. He abused the highest, most Sacred Office in our land. I want you to know that it does not feel good. I cant stop thinking about the cost to our country. Not just the impeachable offenses but the Collateral Damage of a president who uses power like a weapon against his own people. It erodes our decency, degrades our dignity. I dont yet know how they will tell the story of this era, but i want to tell you the story of this day. Let the record show that today justice won, that we did our job, that we kept our word, that we stood our sacred ground. Let the record show that we did not let you down. I love you. Listen to mom. Ill be home soon. The speaker pro tempore 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 schools, 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 f the United States of america and to the republican and to the republic for which it stands 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 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, established our new nation, they crafted a system of government unlike anyone has 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. The speaker pro tempore without objection, so ordered. The speaker 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 people 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 americas National Security. When the 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 nations patriot under whose gaze we stand today warned, history and experience proves 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 categorycal campaign of defiance and obstruction. Never before in the history of our nation have we seen a president declare and act as if hes above the law. The president goes even so far as to say and act of this absurdity when he says article 2 says i can do whatever i want. No, it doesnt. That recklessness is a profound violation of the constitution and our republic, which endured because of our system of separation of power, three coequal 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 Davey of north carolina, warned, unless the constitution contained an impeachment provision, a president might spare no efforts or means, whatever, to get himself reelected. 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. We in Congress 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 to whom they liberated would ask, why did you risk us . You dont know us . And give your lives lives to save us, were not americans. And our men would say, we came here to fight for you, not because you are americans, but because we are americans. As our beloved chairman, elijah cummings, and Oversight Committee chair, said when annoyancing 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, did we what did we do to make sure we kept our democracy in tact . Elijah, as you know, has since passed on. Now hes 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. Mr. Collins thank you, madam speaker. And we are here today to enter into a debate, this should surprise no one. This is not this has not been a surprise and its not even something that we would not have thought about. From the very moment that the Majority Party in this house won the, 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 24, the speaker announced an impeachment inquiry before even seeing the call transcript that were going to hear so much about today. You know, its not about what this body can do in its constitutional oath. And theres been a lot of constitutional and founders thrown around and will be all day today. But theres 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, ive 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 cant. Because i know what has now happened. It took me last night but i was thinking about it. Why do we keep calling this a solemn occasion when youve 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. Now i know. The reason they wanted to is now they realize, 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 said on the night she was worn in, were going to impeach. Well, you know the rest. In may of 2019, al green said, im concerned if we dont impeach this president , he will get reelected. Thats probably the most prescient thing said by the majority in the last year. They said, we cant beat him if we dont impeach him. Theres a reason behind this impeachment. 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 speakers 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 matter for the vote rts, not this house, not in voters, not this house, not in this way and 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 impress thave we actually do it quickly impressive that we actually do it quickly. We dont care about rules and minority days, we dont care about giving opportunity for witnesses to call, because the chairman gets to determine what is relevant. Wow, thats 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 peoples house. You see, its also not a matter of process which will be discussed today, its a matter of actual facts. I will fight the facts all day long. Because what we found here today is a at is a president who did not do as being charged. They had to go to abuse of power, this amorphous term that youre going to hear 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 didnt even know the money was held. But there is something that very much bothers me about the facts. There were five meetings, well hear about those today. In which it was never a linkage there was never a linkage made. There was one witness that is depended on over 600 times in the majoritys report. That in the end, after questions, had to say, that was not presumption of what was happening. You see, this is an impeachment based on presumption. This is an impeachment basically a polltested impeachment on what sells to the American People. Todays 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 speaker i believe talked about this, is, well, if the president weakened a foreign leader. You know what the truth of the matter is, madam speaker . The most interesting and deplorable thing that ive heard over the last few weeks . Is the actual attack by the majority on president zelensky. Because they realize the whole crux of their case is if he was not pressured, their house of cards falls and by the way its already fell. But if we cant pressure, show pressure, then we either have to call him a liar, a world leader, or we have to make up names to call him. And thats exactly what happened in Judiciary Committee when a member of the majority actually said, hes acting or they compared him to a battered wife. Thats below the dignity of this body. To take a world leader and when he doesnt make the case for you, to belittle him. As will be often said by the majority, that theyre in the middle of a hot war with russia. You see, President Trump actually did give them offensive weapons. President trump did not did nothing wrong. Were 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. 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 cant make the case to his own members, so hes having to ask for witnesses. Ask for more time. You see, even yesterday, it was sort of funny, i found it hilarious that the minority leader in the senate went out and did a press conference and said, they did not my witnesses, they they denied my witnesses, theydy inside my pro they denied my process. Welcome to the club. Thats whats happened here for the last three months. Were going to talk a lot about impeachment and the president and two articles of impeachment today. Abuse of power, because they cant actually pin anything of factual basis on him. The president did nothing wrong in this issue. And then theyre going to talk about obstruction of congress. You know, obstruction of congress, as ive before, is like pet lent children saying, we didnt get our way when we didnt ask the right way and we didnt try to go after and 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 dont matter. The promises to the base matter. And today is a promise kept for the majority. Not a surprise. With that, mr. 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 coerce a Foreign Government into attacking his political rival. 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 interests above our National Security, above our elections and above our system of checks and balances. After months of investigation, there can be no serious debate about the evidence at hand. On july 25, when he spoke to president zelensky of ukraine, President Trump had the upperhand. 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 of our security interests, and the noble office meeting, to show the world that 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 interests of the American People on that call. Instead he prioritized his private political interests. 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 2020 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 interests. 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 agency agents, some acting far outside the regular channels of diplomacy, to make his desires clear. The