Country. The administration has worked with the Committee Staff to observe 11 cpb holding facilities, 13 i. C. E. Detention facilities and six state licensed that contract. Good evening, im Chris Matthews in washington where tonight were watching history in the making as the House Judiciary Committee debates articles of impeachment against donald trump. Votes are expected to take place any moment now. Lets listen in. The committee threatened witnesses that and i quote, any failure to appear, any failure to appear in response to a mere letter requesting their presence for a deposition shall and i quote constitute evidence of obstruction. This is just letters, not subpoenas. In letters to the State Department employees, the committee threatened to witnesses that if they insist on
having Agency Counsel present to protect the Executive Branch in their Confidentiality Interests or if they make any effort to protect Confidentiality Interests at all, these officials would have their salaries withheld. Withholding of salaries. The committees have not afforded the president basic protections such as the right to seal evidence, the right to president evidence, the right to call witnesses, the right to have counsel present at hearings, the right to cross examine all witnesses, the right to make objections related to examination of witnesses, or the admissibility of testimony and evidence and did not afford the president the right to respond to evidence and testimony presented. Thank you. I yield the remainder of my time. Gentleman yields back. What purposes does mr. Swalwell seek recognition . Move to strike the last word. The gentleman is recognized. At this moment the grave risk that the president will again abuse his power of the presidency to try and secure his reelection. We have reason to be concerned. The presidency gives him great powers to cause others to interfere in our elections, and the only protection we have is to act now. Because the president is cheating right now. And to any of my colleagues who ask why move on this right now . Its a crime spree in progress. And as chairman schiff said earlier this week, what are we supposed to do . Just let him cheat one more time, expect him to eventually do the right thing . And heres what high colleagues logic amounts to if we wait. It amounts to this, allow the building to burn, collapse, fall to the ground, and then you should call the fire department. This president has set our democracy on fire, and we must act to save it. And theres an urgency to act. And this president is not only being impeached because of what he has done. Its because of what he continues to do. We know what hes done, not really disputed. Abused his power, asked a Foreign Government to help him cheat, jeopardized our National Security, integrity of our elections for his own personal gain. But this is not a one off. Weve come to learn as ms. Demings just explained, this is what he does. In 2016 he said russia if youre Listening Hack my opponents emails, youll be awarded. Turns out, russia was listening. Turns out russia hacked his opponents emails. That day they sought to hack his
opponents emails. In that investigation he went to Great Lengths to obstruct it. So why is it so urgent we act right now . The president s lawyer was just in ukraine. The president s lawyer said in may im not meddling in an election. We not i we, donald trump and i are meddling in an investigation. And that meddling continues today. But the president s own words tell us about whiz current intent. On october 2nd the president said and you know wave been investigating on a personal basis on rudy and otherscru in the 2016 election. If theyre honest about it they should start an investigation into the bidens that simple. On october 3rd the president stood on the white house lawn and confirmed he wanted ukraine
to veinvestigate the bidens. But then he added a country because thats what he does, russia, ukraine. He said china should also investigate the bidens. My colleagues, we shouldnt have to hope and pray china wasnt listening when he said that. But fortunately people on this committee are listening. Americans are listening. People who know right from wrong, our children are listening. Are you listening . And what we hear deeply concerns us about what the president will do next. And were not helpless. And in fact we know that the courage to act is the only thing that has stopped this president. Thats not a leap of faith. You see, it was the courage of dr. Fiona hill and Lieutenant Colonel vindman to, quote, go to the lawyers when they heard that the president was conditioning the white house visit for investigations. It was the courage of the
whistleblower to come forward. Thats what got ukraine the aid. The president got caught. Then ukraine got the aid. If those people were not courageous and acted, ukraine would not have the aid today. So we must follow their Pattern Conduct and act. We have pattern evidence that not only donald trump acts corruptly but that when you show courage and act against him, you can stop him. Its actually the only way to extinguish his corrupt ways. If unchecked, my colleagues, donald trump does not get better, he gets worse. He gets more corrupt. And we cant wait until the next election to hold him accountable. Not when he is trying to rig the next election. So we must act to protect our National Security, the integrity of our elections and honor our
oath to the constitution. I yield back. Gentleman yields back. The question is on the amendment. Those in favor say aye. We have someone asking for time. I didnt see a request. You stopped. Youve now recognized me. I recognize mr. Gaetz. Move to strike the last word. Gentleman is recognized. Theyre right they cant wait until the next election. The reason they cant wait until the next election because they have taken a look at their Candidate Field and theyve fundamentally changed every standard theyve set for themselves for the American People. Whether you like President Trump or dont like President Trump, it would be at least worth acknowledging democrats have moved the goal posts on what it would require to bring us to this point and to harm our nation and distract us so much from the critical needs of American People who probably wonder why were not focused on them right now. First they told us this has to be bipartisan. Now, i get folks watching at home i think that im somebody who really likes the president and id probably be a hard vote for them to get for impeachment. But its not just they cant convince the president s supporters to abandon him, they cant even convince the president s critics to abandon him. I mean jeff van drew, collin peterson, two members of congress, two democrats, theyre not fans of the president. Theyre critics of the president , and yet they didnt vote with democrats. They voted with republicans. Weve even got some republicans, my colleague will hurd from texas, he didnt mind being a critic of the president , and he was honest and told them this is not impeachable conduct. They told us that the process would be fair. And yet even when members of this committee sought the opportunity not to read a transcript or see someones second performance of their testimony but to see their firsthand account, how they
reacted, how they were breathing, did they fidget when they responded, we wanted to see those things and we were excluded by the Intelligence Committee. Democrats said that to put our country through this it would require compelling and overwhelming evidence. And each and every time they try to cast doubt on the president s conduct we are able to show a legitimate concern the president had in corruption. We are able to cite the transcript that demonstrates no conditionality. And time and again democrats say theres no factual debate about what the president did. The factual debate comes from president zelensky. They said oh, Well Zelensky might not have known, but yermak, he knew. Sondland talked to yermak and conveyed this shakedown. And the very day they introduced articles of impeachment, yermak gives an interview and says we never perceived this is an
exchange for military aid for any one thing. Time and again they let us down in their claims. But one thing we know for certain is that this was a sad inevitability. I had someone ask me recently do you feel some sense of history, some sense of moment youre about to vote on impeachment . And sadly i knew this time was coming since the democrats took control of the house of representatives. Because they didnt lay out a plan to appropriate for the budget, work can us on critical generational issues. They setout a plan for impeachment. How do we know that . When the chairman himself campaigned for the lead democrat role for the Judiciary Committee. He didnt say pick me because im a great legislator around some issue set, he said pick me because i will be the person who can lead our caucus through a potential impeachment. Theyve had a blood lust for impeachment. It has been an obsession, and its deeply saddening to us. We take absolutely no joy in the
fact it is consuming. But here we stand on the verge of it, and my expectation is that this new standard in the second article with just the, you know, the notion of obstruction of congress is their excuse for not being able to prove Obstruction Of Justice. Public reporting has been to say the chairman went to the Democratic Caucus and sought support to bring an article for Obstruction Of Justice and couldnt get their support. So now here were with obstruction of congress, sort of the low Energy Version of the Obstruction Of Justice claim that they wanted. They hoped theyd be able to convict and accuse and evidence some claim on bribery. Thats what their pollsters and pundits told them would be best as they solemnly tell us this is sad to them. They were out polling what lexicon, what word choice would help make the case to the american public. So they settled on bribery. You heard them on every show talking about this is the new
standard, Speaker Pelosi speaking in this and instead of bribery, instead of treason, extortion you have Abuse Of Power, the low Energy Version. Im disappointed in my colleagues. But probably even those Who Dont Support the president would share that disappointment in this very moment. And i yield back. Gentleman yields back. Mr. Chairman i have the unanimous consent request. I recognize for the purpose of a unanimous consent request. Thank you, chairman. I ask unanimous consent to enter the letter i referenced which is the letter from Chairman Engel to John Sullivan in which he says that officials who assist on counsel will have their salary without objection. Thank you. A question now occurs on the amendment. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed no. And in the opinion of the chair the nos have it and the amendment is not agreed to. The roll call is requested. Mr. Nadler votes no. Ms. Jackson lee. No. Mr. Cohen. No. Mr. Cohen votes no. Mr. Deutsch votes no. Ms. Bass. Ms. Bass votes no. Mr. Jeffreys votes no. Mr. Sill leany votes no. Mr. Swalwell votes no. Mr. Lieu. Mr. Raskin. Mr. Neguse votes no. Ms. Mac bath votes no. Mr. Stanton votes no. Ms. Dean votes no. Mr. Escobar votes no. Mr. Collins, aye. Mr. Chabot votes aye. Mr. Gomer votes aye. Mr. Buck votes aye. Mr. Ratcliffe votes aye. Mr. Johnson of louisiana votes aye. Mr. Biggs votes aye. Mr. Kline votes aye. Has every member voted who wishes to vote . Clerical report . Mr. Chairman theres 17 ayes and 23 nos. The amendment is not agreed to. I have an amendment at the desk. I reserve a point of order. The clerk will report the amendment. The amendment to the amendment offered by mr. Jordan of ohio, page 4 strike line 23 and all that follows, page 8 strike lines 10 through 17. And the gentleman is recognized for the purpose of explaining his amendment. I withdraw my point of order. Point of order is withdrawn. This simply strikes the last eight lines in article 1 and the
last eight lines in article ii. Weve been through these facts many times. Ukraine didnt know aid was held up at the time of the call, but the democrats assert that President Trump was Pressuring Zelensky on the call to investigate the bidens in order to get the aid that he didnt even know was on hold. Thats their argument. And, oh, by the way Down The Road president zelensky says there was no pressure on the call, no pushing, no linkage whatsoever. But you have a rigged and rushed process when you dont have the facts. You have a rigged and rushed process when you cant accept the will of the American People. Speaker of the house pelosi, nancy pelosi called the president an impostor just three weeks ago. The democrats have never accepted the will of the American People, and thats why theyve been out to get this president since even before he was elected. And of course you have a rigged and rushed process when youre afraid that you cant beat the
president at the ballot box. When youre nervous about next falls election, you have this kind of process, a rigged and rushed process. This is not about the kernel this is not really about the concern mr. Swalwell talked about earlier, concern somehow the president was going to do something wrong and try to influence the election, no, no, this is about their concern they cant win next year based on what the president has accomplished in the past three years. Its an amazing record in spite of the democrats being completely against the president , in spite of the main stream press being against the president. Its amazing whats been accomplished. The economy growing at an unbelievable rate, lowest unemployment in 50 years, 266,000 jobs added last month alone. 54,000 in the manufacturing sector. Mr. Gorsuch, mr. Kavanaugh on the court, a lot of other federal judges confirmed. Out of the Iran Deal In Jerusalem and new nafta going to be voted on next week. Its a rigged rushed process because you guys are worried about next november. Mr. Green says we have to impeach him because hes going to win the election. We know what this is ability. I think about this president this is why the American People like him so much because he is doing what he said he would do. Every president ial election ive been able to participate in, both candidates republican and democrat candidate, when they campaigned for the job they tell the country if you elect me im going to move the embassy to jerusalem. Republicans, democrats, they all campaign on it, and then they get elected and come up with a million reasons they cant do what they said they were going to do, more importantly but
this president said, no, im going to do it. Even though the same interagency consensus weve heard so much about in this Impeachment Inquiry, even though this interagency consensus was probably against him in that move, this president said im going to do it. And its been a good thing. And thats what the American People appreciate, and thats why weve got this rigged and rushed process because its really about next november. Theyre all afraid. Some of their colleagues have said it straight up, theyre all afraid that cant beat him at the ballot box so theyre going to do this rigged, rushed and wrong Impeachment Process. I would yield the remanldinder my time to the gentleman. I wanted to ask the gentleman of ohio a question. Based on the standards asserting here if someone is in the house running for president and they support or push impeachment of
the president , would they be subject to being excelled for abusing their position, just curious. Well, i think ill let my colleague answer that question, but what i do know is i think my colleagues on the other side of the aisle as i said nervous about their prospects next november against President Trump based on his amazing record of leadership in the last three years. With that i would yield back. Thank you. Gentleman yields back. I would recognize myself to speak in opposition to the amendment. I think that the facts amply demonstrate the charges in these two articles of impeachment. Namely that the president put his own interests in front of the interests of the country. That he sought to use the power of the presidency to with hold aid, military aid from an ally and to extort that ally into
making an announcement of a Bogus Investigation of a political opponent of him for his own personal benefit, and that he obstructed congress by refusing all information and instructing the Executive Branch not to cooperate with congress in the Impeachment Inquiry. This amendment this amendment simply takes the last two paragraphs out of each article. It takes the paragraph where it says where for the president should be impeached. And takes the force and effect of the articles entirely away. It is sillily if you believe that the president is guilty of what the articles charge him with, you should vote for the articles of impeachment. If you believe he is not, you should vote against the articles of impeachment, but to try to have this amendment that simply renders the articles, catalo