Generations yet unborn, we have got to guard this moment. This is our watch. And again, i am soso very proud of the Judiciary Committee, i am so very, very proud of the Intelligence Committee because they went in and tried to pull out the facts so that they could paint the picture so that america could see it. And hopefully, they will not be ladies like the lady at amashs town hall meeting who said they didnt know that there was something wrong that trump did with regard in this Mueller Report. And so again, we, the speaker is absolutely right. She told us a little bit earlier that she wants to gather all the information and make sure that we have everything we need to paint that picture. Now, what the American People do with it, thats another thing. But we will not stand by and
fail to give them, let them see the total picture. I too thank mr. Mueller for coming forward for his service to our country. Last but not least, it is so interesting that when mueller would make a decision that they liked, they said, oh, we love you, youre the greatest thing since ice cream. But then as soon as he says something they didnt like, youre a bum. Come on, now. We have to see through that. Thank you. Thank you very much. No, as we acknowledge the greatness of our chair jerry nadler and adam schiff, i also want to acknowledge the greatness of elijah cummings, the chair of the government reform and Oversight Committee. He has really won the first case, The Mazur Decision which his research enabled us to take to court. We won the case. The decision was a complete
beautiful statement on the ability of congress to have oversight. Thats right. And just a remarkable decision and now of course, the administration is appealing it. But i thank you, too, mr. Cummings, for your great leadership and where were going next because as you know, the Mueller Investigation could not do the president s personal or business connections. And one of those connections could be to the russians. And thats what we want to find out. So as we go to questions, i just want to say that i think, i do believe that what we saw today was a very strong manifestation in fact, some would even say indictment of this administrations Cone Of Silence in their coverup. This is about our, the oath we take to protect and defend the constitution, but some of the
actions that the Administration May have taken, well see through our investigation, may have jeopardized our National Security by strengthening russias hand and interfering in our elections, undermining democracy, not only in our country but in other countries, as well. Upsetting our preeminence as a democracy in the world. This is very serious. Today was very important. Again salute our chairman, all of our six chairmen hon have been involved in this. Who do you want to hear from first . You guys decide. Wait a minute. How about a new person. Katie, shes having a baby. We have to go there first. As a mother of five, i yield. Reporter thank you. Madam speaker, What You Saw Today, did it change whether or not you think the House Of Representatives should launch Impeachment Proceedings . My position has always been that whatever decision we made in that regard would have to be done with our strongest possible hand. We still have some outstanding matters in the courts. Its about the congress, the constitution and the courts. And are fighting the president in in the courts. Is this Madam Speaker excuse me. Could i just some of your members told us over the course of today they were expecting imminent action of some kinded. I dont know why they did. What are the. I dont know why they thought that. They came to me and i said i dont know what. Again, the lawsuits as we have a number of lawsuits. You want to speak to that, jerry . The very next step, im not going to talk longer range. Either tomorrow or friday is were going into court to enforce, to ask for the grand jury material. And to enforce the subpoena
against mr. Mcgahn. And thats particularly important because the excuses, i wont call them reasons, the excuses that the white house gives for mcgahn not testifying and the nonsense about absolute immunity are the same excuses for all the other fact witnesses and if we break that, well break the lag jam. Madam speaker, what do you need to know on impeachment to say okay, we dont know the enough yet. Did i just not say were waiting to hear from the courts so we have our subpoenas in the court for the subpoenas are for information. And when we get that information, we can make a judgment. Telltale sign whether or not you we have several considerations. Its about what information is there. And this isnt endless. This isnt endless. Understand that. But we have live cases in the courts. We have some that are Going Forward that mr. Chairman
nadler just mentioned. It isnt endless but strengthening our hand to get that information, remembering that in watergate was when they got the information and the tapes that broke the case. Those just about changing public opinion, that helped change public opinion. But its not about me. Our caucus is about our country. As i say, theres a Cone Of Silence in the white house that is engaged in a massive coverup in the Obstruction Of Justice. Those obstruction of Justice Charges as has been demonstrated today in the hearings are could be indictable offenses by anybody else, not the president of the United States abbott president when hes no longer president. But the American People i think if we go go down that path, we should go in the strongest possible way and thats all im going to say about the subject. We have our distinguished chairs here. May i Say Something . And i know Chairman Schiff and Chairman Nadler would repeat what im saying. You know, the American People in the last election even from trump districts said we want to make the president accountable. A lot of people loved him, they like him but want to make him accountable. We have been stonewalled with regard to getting information, access to witnesses, and getting documents. All of us have. Remember the president said im not going to give you anything really. And so again, the speaker is absolutely right. We were gathering information and we are met with significant force, but were plowing our way through, but all
of that information, piece by piece, is like a mosaic, paints the picture. Reporter but have long said theres no point in moving forward with an Impeachment Inquiry because republicans control the senate. Its going to die in the senate. Ive never long said that. I have never long said that. If we have a case for impeachment, thats the place we will have to go. The fact that why id like it to be a strong case is because its based on the facts, the facts and the law. Thats what matters, not politics, not partisanship. Just patriotism. I dont care id like to the senate to be responsible and honor their Oath Of Office to protect and defend the constitution to see the challenge this is to our noshl security, the russians trying to do to our country, but the stronger our case is, the worse the senate will look for just letting the president off the
hook. Reporter Speaker Pelosi we have these great chairman here who know so much. Im going to start asking them questions if you. Even after these hearings, the president said hes completely exonerated. Please, come on, come on. Let me just say this. You give me the opportunity to say this and then i invite my chairmen to close. We want to have the strongest possible case to make a decision as to what path we will go down, and that is not endless in terms of time or endless in terms of the information that we want. But if it comes to a point where the Cone Of Silence and the Obstruction Of Justice and the coverup in the white house prevents us from getting that information, that will not prevent us from Going Forward, in fact, its even more grounds to go forward. My colleagues . I just want to the echo that. You know, said something that is in the dna of my brain
particularly right now. He said there comes a point when silence becomes betrayal. And we refuse to betray generations yet unborn and the marine people. Were not going to betray them. Were accumulating information and doing the best we can. Again, with a force as great, i dont know how many lawyers the president has, buttize got a lot of them. And they go against every single thing we do. And so again, we were not going to betray america. Were going to do our part to make sure we have a democracy thats intact. Jerry . The United States is a democracy. It must remain a democracy. A democracy acts through the elected officials with the consent of the people. The people cannot give that consent unless they know the facts. Today was a watershed day in telling the facts to the American People. With those facts, we can proceed. And we face a time of great danger. Richard nixon said he thought that the president was a dictator. He said if the president does it, that means its not illegal. President trump echoed that yesterday. He said under article 2, i, that is he, can do anything i want. That is a totalitarian picture, not a democratic picture. The United States must be saved from this. So we have to paint the picture of whats going on. A picture of someone who gladly accepted help from a foreign power Interested In subverting our election, our democratic election process and thats what it is, subverting our election process and taking the choice of our president to some extent away from the American People. Thats what the russians
attempted to do and thats what the Trump Campaign welcomed them in doing. A president who engages in crimes repeated crimes to cover up these unpatriotic and dictatorial actions. And this cannot go on. And its up to congress to safeguard the constitution and we will do it. As i mentioned today during our hearing, i think the story of the 2016 election is really a story of disloyalty to country about greed and about lies. And if theres anything that i think symbolizes those three strands of the 2016 election, it was moscow trump tower. It was this massive real estate project that the president was trying to consummate while he was running for president and concealing it from the country. This i think demonstrated disloyalty to the country by
deceiving the American People about this massive Business Opportunity he was seeking while he was running for president. It certainly is a vivid example of the greed of people involved with that campaign. And be an ample demonstration of all the lies that permeated the campaign and its aftermath. That to me is the story of the 2016 election. We need to make sure that is not the story of the 2020 election. Ill say this on the issue of impeachment which i view in very much the same way as the speaker. Maybe im just an old prosecutor. But before i brought a case to indictment, i wanted to make sure that i had the strongest evidence possible. I wanted to understand my case, i wanted to be able to make my case. Now, i tried an Impeachment Case in the senate about ten years ago, Corrupt Federal Judge who was convicted. So i have some understanding what it takes to get a conviction in the senate and i have no illusions about getting a conviction in the senate, but
there are two juries in an peach impeachment. There is the jury which is the senate wit decides removal from office and then there is the jury that is the American People. And im most concerned about the jury that is the American People. And before we embark on a course as significant to the country as the impeachment of a country i want to make sure we can make that case to the jury of the American People. I thank our distinguished chairmen, so proud of all of them. Following up on the last statement by Chairman Schiff, e pluribus unum, thats the guidance our founders gave us. Cant imagine how many we would are or how different from one another, they wan us to remember that we are one. When we go down this path, we want it to be as unifying for our country, not dividing. Thats why we want it to be the strongest possible case. President lincoln said public sentiment is everything. In order for the public to have
the sentiment, the public has to know. I hope you will be messengers of the truth to the public. We think today was really a milestone in making that sentiment be more informed. Thank you all very much. Thank you very much. We have been listening to Speaker Of The House nancy pelosi and the Top Democrats on each of the relevant committees on this historic day, mueller day, in washington. The speaker there tamping down questions about impeachment while her Committee Chairs were vigorous on what they think muellers it meant and what theyll continue to do. We have a big show including a breakdown on some of the most important thing mueller testified, testifying under oath today for the first time about the russia probe but given that Press Conference, i want to bring in former u. S. Attorney joyce vance and former federal prosecutor John Flannery. Before i get into the rest of it, what was important to you about that Press Conference . This conference gave us a road map where democrats are
headed thats knee court on friday to get the court to order the release of grand jury information and to issue a subpoena top don mcgahn. If he comes into congress and tells the story to the public, that he apparently told in the Mueller Report, that could be the breakaway moment. I see the dual between nadler and at the pel. Nadler has been taking a stronger turn toward impeachment. Pelosi is still giving the buzz kill. I think the drift is toward nadler and cant happen soon enough for the public, for the days and independents and others who saw what happened today at the hearings. Watching that you could see daylight between the questions that the president were most Interested In, whats the outcome of this, Chairman Nadler who did cast a vote for impeachment last week and Speaker Pelosi. We wanted to give everyone a little context for that and turn to the most Important News in american on this Special Edition of the beat. Former Special Counsel mueller taking a turn that remember he long resisteded from prosecutor to witness, addressing congress
and the nationing about ongoing russian meddling, the president s unpatriotic actions, and mueller said the rules prevented him on trumps cullableability for obstruction or this question of impeachment. Let me show you what the highlights were. The day was split between judiciary and intelligence which made for two different prisms, one about the law, the other about National Security. Mueller began the daycarefully taking those legal questions on obstruction but often deflecting and pairing them. All told, we counted here at nbc he declined to answer 198 questions today. When the legal questions boiled down is President Trump a cook, bob mueller would answer its not for him to say. When those security questions, particularly in the second hearing boiled down to should the president act better than a crook are, muellers answer was
under oath and in public today to america, yes, he should. If you listen closely, when mueller was asked direct questions about this criminal evidence on trump like did he interfere with the probe, did he say yes. In fact, some of the most important answers today were those short confirmations from Fact Checking trump top stating under oathing that welcoming russias meddling is unpatriotic. Your investigation is not a witch hunt. It is not. When the president said the russian interference was a hoax, that was false. True. Your investigation found evidence that russia wanted to help trump win the election, right. That would be accurate. Knowingly accepting foreign assistance during a president ial campaign is and you ethical thing to do. And a crime. We can agree that its also unpatriotic . True. We should hold our elected officials to a standard higher than Meara Voidance of contractnality, shouldnt we . Absolutely. Absolutely. If you listen closely what you
heard was bob mueller forming a judgment of donald trump. And it was not a positive one. So as we dig into the substance tonight on what is one of the most moment to us days of this era, consider this next thing we learned. After all the people indict or convicted of obstructing this probe and lie together feds including seve