Unanimous consent to enter my remarks into the record for this sham impeachment . The gentleman is so recognized. Thank you. At this time i yield four minutes to the gentle woman from wyoming, miss cheney. The gentlewoman is recognized for four minutes. Thank you, mr. Collins. Madam speaker, i rise today on the floor of this magnificent chamber, the very heart of our democratic republic, and i would imagine, Madam Speaker that every one of us in this chamber, regardless of party, understands, shares a common view that being citizens of this Great Republic is among lifes most tremendous blessings. We all know that no force on earth is more powerful than the force of freedom. It is our miraculous constitutional system, Madam Speaker defended by our Men And Women In Uniform that have safeguarded that freedom for 230
years. Each one of us in this chamber bears a sacred duty passed down to us from generations and affirmed in our Oath Of Office to preserve and protect our constitution. Madam speaker, our nations framers recognized that this republic is fragile and that extreme partisanship can be among the most severe threats to its survival. That is why in federalist 65 Alexander Hamilton wrote, quote, there will always be the greatest danger that impeachment, that the Impeachment Decision will be regulated more by the comparati comparative strength of parties than by real demonstrations of innocence or guilt. Here, Madam Speaker, our democratic colleagues have been working to remove this president since the day he was elected searching for an offense on which they could impeach. Failing to find one, Madam Speaker, they have decided to assume one rather than attempting to enforce their subpoenas in court they is also decided to declare it a high crime and misdemeanor when the president of the United States asserts his constitutional privileges. The democrats are asking members of this body to impeach despite the fact that they have presented no direct evidence of any impeachable offense. Let me say it one more time, Madam Speaker. They have presented no direct evidence of any impeachable offense. If anyone in this Chamber Still believes that the democrats have proven their case i would urge those members to ask the chairman of the Intelligence Committee mr. Schiff why he failed to appear to answer questions about his report before members vote for impeachment, they might want to
know why the author of the impeach Impeachment Report will not defend it under questioning. If the House Impeaches here, Madam Speaker, it will create exactly the type of risk the framers cautioned us to avoid. It will mean that divided government can imperil a democratically elected president based on unproven allegations and innuendo in the absence of direct testimony. Despite all of the rhetoric you heard today, Madam Speaker, passage of these articles of impeachment may permanent damage our republic. From this day forward, a hyperpartisan, bare majority can cite this precedent to try to remove a future commander in chief. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, Madam Speaker, think of our republic, think of the constitution and think of the oath that we all swore to protect and defend that
constitution and vote against these partisan, reckless and dangerous articles of impeachment. I yield back. The gentleman from california. Madam speaker, i am proud to recognize the gentleman from michigan, mr. Levine for one minute. The gentleman is recognized for one minute. Madam speaker, today we proclaim that no person is Above The Law, not even the president of the United States. Donald j. Trump abused the power of his office and violated his Oath Of Office by extorting a new and inexperienced precedent of a vulnerable foreign ally to dig up dirt on mr. Trumps domestic, political opponents. He then obstructed the congress, this equal branch of our government from undertaking our
duty, outlined in the constitution itself to investigate and check these violations. Today we do nothing more and nothing less than fulfill our duty to our country and to our constitution. Mr. Trump has allowed foreign powers to interfere in our Domestic Affairs. He has endangered our National Security and our democracy itself. For those reasons we must impeach this president. Thank you, Madam Speaker. I yield back. The gentleman from georgia. Madam speaker, i yield for a unanimous Consent Request for the gentleman from oregon. The gentleman is organized. I pose this resolution on impeachment that ask that my remarks be in the record. A Consent Request from the gentleman from south carolina. He is recognized. I ask for my comment are comments be admitted into the record. So ordered. I ask unanimous consent for the gentleman from mississippi. The gentleman is recognized. Thank you, Madam Speaker. I opposed articles of impeachment and like my comments to be entered into the record. Without objection. So ordered. I reserve. The gentleman from california. Madam speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. Who seeks recognition . Madam speaker i ask of the gentleman is he ready to close . No. We have a few more speakers. Then i reserve. Madam speaker i recognize the gentleman from new york mr. Esowe paillot. Madam speaker if you live in
lennox avenue in the village of harmon in my district, your not Above The Law. If you live on Webster Avenue on the bronx part of my district you are not Above The Law. If you live in washington height, the immigrant neighborhood in my district, you are not Above The Law. So i submit to you that if you live on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue you are not Above The Law, and you will be held accountable. President donald trump asked the ukrainian president to do us a favor and look into the bidens. Thats abuse of power. President trump used the official white house meeting to extort a ukrainian president. Thats abuse of power. President trump ordered white house staff to withhold 400 million in aid to the ukraine, thats abuse of power. President trump and his staff denied multi defied multiple subpoenas from congress. Thats obstruction of congress. He blocked witnesses from testifying before this body. Thats obstruction of congress. [ speaking Foreign Language ] no one is above my law and i cast my vote for articles of impeachment and i ask my colleagues to do the same. Madam speaker i yield for the unanimous Consent Request. I ask to enter my statement into the record recording they am opposed to this articles of impeachment on the basis that they do not measure to article 2 section 4. So ordered. I reserve. Gentleman from california. Madam speaker i am proud to recognize the gentle lady from california miss brownlee for one minute. Madam speaker, as the chair of The Womens Vaeterans Task Force i see every day the immense sacrifice our womens
veterans and all of our nations veterans have made in service to our country and in service to our commander in chief, our constitution, to protect our democracy and for every single man, woman and child in our country. When the president of the United States used 400 million meant to protect our National Security in order to cheat in our elections, he not only abused his power, he turned his back on the sacrifices of our veterans and their families have made all that we hold so dear. That abuse of power is reprehensible and it is exactly what impeachment was designed to prevents. We have a solemn duty to protect our constitution, to protect our democracy and to honor all those who have laid their lives on the line for these United States of
america. I yield back. Gentleman from georgia. Thank you, Madam Speaker. At this time i yield for unanimous Consent Request to the gentle lady from indiana. Gentle lady is recognized. I enter my be opposition to these articles of impeachment. I reserve. The gentleman from california. Madam speaker i recognize the gentle lady from california for 30 seconds. The gentle lady is recognized. Madam speaker Madam Speaker, make no mistake. Weir not impeaching this president. He is impeaching himself. If you were the president and you obstruct justice, try to bribe a foreign leader and threaten National Security, youre going to get impeached
end of story. Yields back. The gentleman from georgia. [ laughter ] thank you, Madam Speaker. At this time i recognize the gentleman the gentleman is recognized. I enter unanimous request my opposition to these articles of impeachment. I reserve. The gentleman from california. Madam speaker i recognize miss holland for one minute. The gentle lady is recognized for one minute. Madam speaker, i stand before you as a representative of new mexico, a place where we believe in dignity and respect for all. In congress, ive been fighting for them. Weve been working to make healthcare more affordable, education accessible and move our country forward for the people, but today, this
president has forced us into a serious debate. We are talking about the president who used the power of the presidency for his own political gain, risking our National Security and putting the integrity of the next election at risk. Its a sad day when a president shows complete disrespect for congress as a coequal branch of government and for the American People who elected us. We collected the evidence and the facts are indisputable. We all took an oath to protect and defend the constitution. We have the solemn responsibility to hold this president accountable because its our job. I urge my colleagues to live up to our responsibility and show our fellow americans that no one, not even the president , is Above The Law, and i yield. The gentle lady yields back. Gentleman from georgia. At this moment i yield to the gentleman from oklahoma for unanimous Consent Request. I ask unanimous consent my opposition to the articles of impeachment. And i reserve. Gentleman from california. Madam speaker, i recognize the jebtgentle lady from North Carolina for a unanimous Consent Request. I ask unanimous consent to enter into the record my statement against the artics of impeachment. So ordered. I reserve the balance of my time. Thank you, Madam Speaker, at this time i give five minutes to the gentleman from louisiana, the minority whip, mr. Scalise. The gentleman is recognized for five minutes. Thank you, Madam Speaker. Impeaching a president of the United States. This isnt about some solemn duty tonight. Lets talk about what this is really about. This has been about a political vendetta. A political vendetta that didnt just start with the zelensky call. It started long before that. Just listen to some of the quotes from democrats in this chamber. Speaker pelosi, quote, its been going on for 22 months, two and a half years, actually. We cannot accept a second term for donald trump. Whats more serious is that he cant win. This isnt about some crime he committed, its about fear that he might win reelection. Al green, quote, im concerned that if we dont impeach this president he will get reelected. The list goes on, Madam Speaker. In fact, there are some quotes that i cant even read on this house floor that some of our colleagues made and keep in mind, more than is 00 democrats on this house floor voted to impeach this president before the zelensky phone call. Just look at some of these artic else of impeachment they voted for, two years ago. 58 democrats voted to impeach
the president over comments he made about nfl players kneeling for the pledge of allegiance. Impeaching the president , over 50 democrats voted to impeach him for that. Just this summer, over 90 democrats voted to impeach the president for comments that he made about the squad. So he makes comments about members of congress who make a lot of comments about him and 95 members vote to impeach the president of the United States and this is a political vendetta. It has nothing to do with a crime committed. There was no crime and why dont we listen to some of the witnesses . Obviously, we werent able to call all of the witnesses we wanted, but there were witnesses and in fact, gordon sondland, u. S. Ambassador to the european union, hes mentioned over 600 times in the schiff report. He was their star witness and what did he say when asked . Quote, did President Trump ever tell you personally about any preconditions for anything . His answer, no. Any preconditions for the aid
to be released . No. Any preconditions for a white house meeting . Under oath he testified no. Abuse of power. Lets talk about that article of impeachment, Madam Speaker. George washington Law Professor Turley who admitted under oath that he voted against donald trump spoke to this claim of power, quote, if you make a high crime and misdemeanor out of going to the courts it is an abuse of power. Its your abuse of power. You are doing precisely what you are criticizing the president of doing. Abuse of power. Theres a house rule, Madam Speaker, that requires, not allows, but requires that the minority get a day of hearing which we asked for multiple times, they broke this rule. They didnt allow us to have a minority day of hearing and they didnt want to hear about the facts of the case because there
was no crime and it was a personal, political vend ate and now lets talk about congress as they make up the tools because they were looking and they talk about obstruction of congress and the president defied spina p the department of state, just four days, the secretary himself responded to your subpoena. The dfrt of defense a week later responded to the china. Question go on and on with all of Thooed Agencies and responding to this subpoena. You might not have liked the answer. Thats not the way this works. You dont impeach a president because you dont like his Foreign Policy as so many experts came and testified, but this isnt just about donald trump. They dont just hate donald trump, Madam Speaker. They hate the 63 million americans who voted for this
president. The forgotten Men And Women of this country who have been left behind, Madam Speaker. [ cheering ] the house will be in order. The gentleman may proceed. Thank you, Madam Speaker. Its those forgotten Men And Women of this country that washington left behind and whats this president doing for him . He delivered for them. 600 jobs in pennsylvania, workers in mingo junction, ohio. 600 new jobs across this country. Detroit news, chrysler, 6500 new jobs. Thats what this president is doing to deliver for those Men And Women of this country who had been left behind. Its about time somebody stands up for them and President Trump is. So it is a political vendetta, but if theyre going to go through with this, Madam Speaker, impeachment will not just be a stain on this dechl democrat majority. Impeachment will be their legacy. Let me address the remarks to the chair. [ cheering ] the gentleman from california. Madam speaker, i recognize mr. Custer from New Hampshire for unanimous consent. Madam speaker, i request the unanimous consent for enter in my statement into the record regarding the 75th Anniversary of the Battle Of The Bulge in favor for articles of impeachment. Without objection. Madam speaker, it is now my pleasure to recognize the gentleman from mare lan, the Majority Leader of the House Of Representatives mr. Hoyer. The gentleman is recognized. My colleagues. The gentleman will suspend. The house will come to order. The gentleman is recognized. Madam speaker, i have had the honor of serving in this house for over 38 years. Ive served during six presidencies. Ive been here through moments of tremendous progress and terrible tragedy. Ive seen periods of rank partisanship and patriotic bipartisanship. Ive seen our twoparty system work, and ive seen it break down. Never, i