July 31st, 2016, the fbi opened the trump russia investigation. And spied on four american citizens associated with President Trumps campaign. They took the dossier to the fisa court appear lied to the court 17 times. Didnt tell the court the guy writing the dossier was desperate to stop trump. Department tell the court the guy was working for the Clinton Campaign didnt tell the court the guy writing the dossier had been fired by the fbi for leaking information to the press. And the fbi continued the investigation after the election. And January 3rd 2017Snorp Schumer said this. If you mess with the Intelligence Committee they haves is six ways from sunday of getting back at you. It took all of three days for that statement is to come true. January 6th at trump tower. Jim comey briefs President Elect trump on the dossier, the dossier the fbi knew was false. They do it to leak it to the
press and the press writes that he was briefed. The president was told He Wasnt Under Investigation when in fact they were investigating him and trying to trap him at the meeting. Of course they continued the investigation after the inauguration. When we deposed jim comey in this Committee Last it was greps he said after ten months of the fbi investigation they didnt have a thing. Comey fired on may 9ing, 2017. Eight days later bob mueller hired and two years of the mueller investigation. 19 lawyers, 40 agents 500 warrants. 2800 subpoenas but zero collusion. But the democrats dont care about the facts and never going to stop. Whistleblowers lawyers said ten tais after the president was sworn in the coup has started impeachment to follow. 16 democrats op this committee voted to move forward with impeachment before bob mueller ever sat in front of the committee and testified before President Trump and president zelensky had their call. They are never stopping with the attacks. Because they cant stand the fact that President Trump is
actually draining the swamp and doing what he said he would do and most importantly getting results. Taxes cut, regulations reduced, economy growing at unbelievable pace. Lowest unemployment in 50 years. Gorsuch and kavanaugh on the court. Out iran deal. Embarrass in jerusalem. Hostage in out of north korea and a new nafta fremont coming any day now. They stant cant stand it never going to stop. And its not just because they dont like the president. Its not just because they dont like the president. Any dont like us. They dont like the 63 Million People who voted for the president. All of us in fly overcountry all of us common folk in ohio, wisconsin, tennessee and texas they dont like us. How about what mrs. Carlin said last week sitting right there . The democrat prochser who came in here and told us what she believes. Liberals tend to cluster conservatives spread out because they dont want to be around themselves. How about our colleague, maxine
waters, june of 2018, when she said this. And if you see anybody from that cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a Gasoline Station you get out and you create a crowd and you push back on them and you tell them they are not welcome anymore anywhere. That is scary. How about peter strzok the guy running the clinton investigation, the trump rather than the deputy head of counterintelligence fired when he said this went to a Southern Virginia walmart i can smell the trump support they dont like us. Thats what this is about. They dont like the president , the president s supporters. And they dislike so much they are willing to weaponize the government. A few years ago it was the irs. More recently the fbi, and now its the Impeachment Power of congress. Going after 63 Million People and the guy we put in the white house. Think about what Chairman Schiff did last week. He released a Phone Records of the president s personal lawyer. He released the Phone Records of a member of the press. And he released the Phone Records of a republican member
of congress. This is scary stuff. This is scary stuff what theyre doing and frankly its dangerous for our country its not healthy for our country and we should all remember what emmett flood told us the president s lawyer what he told us the past spring when the Mueller Report first came out. It would be well to remember that what can be done to a president can be done to any of us. This is scary stuff. And serious stuff. And i hope you guys are reconsider and stop it while you can. I yield back. The Gentleman Yields back plp deutch. Ive been worried about the impact of President Trumps attacks against our democracy and how theyre felt by my kids, how theyre felt by our kids by a Younger Generation thats just beginning to vote. Thats just beginning to lead. And so i ask my kids on our Family Group Text what they
thought at this moment. And they responded almost immediately. And they told me what they were feeling. And what their friends were feeling. And they confirmed the worst. Their faith in our democracy is shaken. One of my kids said, trump has made me feel like our country is failing. He has taken away americas common sense. Another said, if our democracy is fragile enough to be manipulated by the president , then i worry for our future as a country. Why is our democracy so fragile . Well, the president smears the press as the enemy of the people. He attacks verifiable facts and calls them fake news. I attacks his opponents in the ugliest and the most hateful
ways. He degrades diplomats and lashes out at law enforcement. He questions the patriotism of those who have bled on our battlefields. He questions americas leadership in the world. He believes russia over our intelligence community, russia over our nato allies, russia over ukraine. All of these things break longheld american positions of leadership in the world. And theyll all be part of the next election. But were here at this moment to protect that election. The president s ongoing attacks on the 2020 elections and his effort to cover it up, that is why we are here tonight. The president s abuses of power
to cheat americas voters and threaten our National Security, he welcomed russian interference in the 2016 election. He solicited interference by ukraine and by china in our 2020 election. The ongoing pattern of this president s abuse of power, his obstruction of investigations, refusing to turn over even one document, thats what requires us to act now. This is a moment that the president has forced upon us. These are the high crimes that violate the supreme law of our nation. The constitution of the United States. When my kids were younger we taught them to Tell The Truth. We all teach our kids to Tell The Truth. If you have nothing to hide, honesty is the clearest path to putting trouble behind you. You know thats true. Everyone does. If the president had not abused his power, if everything he did was truly perfect, he would have asked no he would have demanded that everyone who works for him come forward and Tell The Truth, and bring all of their documents with them. Let them speak. Let them all speak. But instead of ordering his staff to Tell The Truth he silenced them. What message does that send the next generation of American Voters . The next generation of american leaders. The president violated his Oath Of Office to defend and protect
the constitution. We cannot allow our children to believe that the abuse of power by the strongest leader in our country is acceptable. Or that its normal. Yesterday my daughter sent another text. She said, it feels like we are losing the battle to get people to care about democracy. Im worried we wont be able to fix it. President trumps violations threaten to break the foundation of our democracy. Impeachment and removal from office is the only way to fix it. I yield back. The Gentleman Yields back. Point of order. The gentleman will state his point of order. We started this proceeding tonight, and we on the Minority Side do not have the current amendment in the nature of substitute to hres 75 a because the one we have says the abuse
of power is article 1. And the other is obstruction of congress and we keep hearing about crimes. We should be able to have the amendment that includes the crimes youre talking. The gentleman will suspend. Thats not a point of order. Sure it is. Mr. Buck. Thank you, mr. Chairman. How will history judge this impeachment . I believe the American People will remember this impeachment effort unkindly. Instead remembering democrats have been resisting and looking for an excuse to impeach this president since the day he was elected. There were false charges that pro trump russians had shut down the power grids in vermont, a frivolous lawsuit filed claiming Voter Machines were rigged in three states. More than 50 House Democrats boycotted President Trumps swearing in ceremony, including the chairman of this committee. The Washington Post ran an article titled, the campaign to impeach President Trump has
begun on january 17th, 2017. Strangely enough the article was posted at 12 19 p. M. While the inaugural ceremonies were still happening. The aclu Executive Director stated we think that President Trump will be in vital of the constitution and federal statutes on day one. Then the genre of assassination and personal harm began with Kathy Griffin poets posing with a model of trumps severed head and Robert De Niro using the tony awards speech to say ftrump. Id like to punch him in the face. Then came the effort to impeach based on the Emolument Claus and calls to remove trump under the 25th Amendment due to snant. Then bureaucrats in president obama Holdover Appointees began to run Rough Shod On The Constitution by resisting within the administration. And on March 21st 2017 maxine
waters tweeted get ready for impeachment. March 21st, 2017. On may 16th, 2017, representatives from this committee began por a representative from the committee became the second member of the house to raise the topic of future impeachment proceedings. Representative brad sherman and al green introduced the democrats aets first giannecchini president s revolution for Obstruction Of Justice and russian interference in july of 2017. Representative cohen then the Ranking Member on the subcommittee on the constitution and Civil Justice introduced five articles of impeachment against President Trump in november of 2017. Representative talib said, were going to impeach the blanc during aaround 3rd 2019 swearing in ceremony. What about may 6th 2019 when representative al green said im concerned if we dont impeach the president , he will get
reelected. Then markets Couldnt Let Go of the russian collusion story even after there was the statement that trump did not coordinate with rather thannens. When representative grown Force Add Vote 95 cleelgs voted in favor of proceeding to impeachment on july 17th, 2019. 16 of our democratic colleagues on this committee voted for that. Its clear my democrat colleagues prejudged the case. Ignored the president s right to assert Executive Privilege with, asserting a court case to determine the bounds of the president s privilege will take take a look to serve justice to the American People. Democrats are so righteous in their belief that President Trump must be impeached that they ignore plain facts. Professor turley was right when he said this Impeachment Quote will be the shortest investigation producing the thinnest record of wrongdoing for the narrowest impeachment in history. End of quote. At the end of the day, i want to invoke the words of my colleague from the rules committee, congressman al c hastings who said during a debate with the majority that the majority efforts would back fire. He said, you will lose. This will cost you the majority next year. And some of you arent going to be here in the next congress. I hope youve had your fun. Well, i tell my colleagues, go ahead, vote to impeach President Trump tomorrow. But when you bach out of this hearing room, call your Freshman Colleagues and tell them theyre not coming back. And you hope they had their fun. Say goodbye to your majority status. And please join us in January Of 2021 when President Trump is inaugurated again. I yield back. The Gentleman Yields back. Ms. Bass. Mr. Chairman this is a sad za
in u. S. History. When we have to vote on articles of impeachment because donald trump has abused the power of the office of the presidency in his attempt to cheat his way to reelection. This evening we begin the process because of the uncontested facts. President trump directed military aid approved by congress be withheld until a vulnerable ally publicly announced an investigation of the president s top opponent in the upcoming election. Fortunately he was caught in the act by a brave patriot who took the risk of aanonymous reporting and military assistance was finally released. However during the eight weeks President Trump withheld military aid from our ally at least 13 ukrainians died in the feel. Now i know ukraine is far away and might be difficult to imagine how and why this country should be of any concern to us here. In part its a matter of us honoring oximeters but its more than that. When countries are unable they can collapse become failed states and can be taken over buy
by governments hostile for the u. S. Or Fertile Ground for terrorist resistings. The president compromised our National Security for his personal gain when military assistance was withheld from ukraine, leaving this country vulnerable to a neighbor that already invaded its territory. As a member of the foreign affords committee he regularly meet with Heads Of State and often have to apologize for embarrassing statement or tweet the president has made. Since the ukraine scandal i have faced questions from leaders around the world asking what is going on here . Where does the u. S. Stand in regard to past commitments . Is this presidency just an anomaly or has the u. S. President ially been problem weakened and corrupted . Has something fundamentally changed in the u. S. . The world is watching how we handle the crisis. There are many nations attempting to reestablish or create democrat governments after decades of autocratic or corrupt rule and looking to the United States. When members of congress travel on congressional delegations we emphasize the importance of a hearing to the rule of law. Encourage leaders to conduct free, fair and transparent elections, that are supported by and accountable to citizens. Now members of congress have to acknowledge the challenges we face in our country. But we explain that because of the u. S. Constitution and bill of rights when efforts are made to restrict and limit the right to vote we are free to speak out and challenge our government. We preach good governments and transparencies. Insist that countries fight corruption. And one of the best ways to counter accuse is to encourage people to come forward and report but to ensure that when people do come forward ner protected pan remain aanonymous. We explain that in the u. S. There are specific laws protecting people who come forward. Congressional delegations come and go go. But there are thousands of federal employees who live and work around the world from the state department, u. S. Aid, patriots working in difficult conditions. What message does it send around the world when they see the president Pan Supporters attack and attempt to reveal the identity of the patriot who took the risk that exposed trumps abuse of his presidency, his
abuse of power . What message does it send when the world witnesses the president and supporters denigrate disrespect and via at which timer harass a parity testifying in public . He has compromised their ability to the viet fight for values and democracy. This is an example why the actions of this president threatens u. S. National security. The president s defenders shout