Charge. The truth is in the history of this republic, theres never been a single party fraudulent Impeachment Process deployed against a president like the one thats being used against donald trump. Thats whats unprecedented here. Its not the claim that a president doesnt want to turn over witnesses or documents. That, as weve said many times today, is actually quite common. And by the way, lets remember it needs to be noted again that President Trump has consistently cooperated with this congress in fulfilling its oversight you are listening to one of the many hours of todays very Historic HouseJudiciary Committee hearing on the articles of impeachment against president donald trump. Our live continuing coverage will take place over this hour and further hours as needed. But we want to let you know how were going to cover this. Were keeping an eye on this hearing. We have reason to believe there could be a vote on the current amendment soon. The committees obviously been going full speed ahead all day with limited breaks. What were going to do here
im ari melber is dip back to the hearing. When theres news we may come back out. We have analysts standing by. As this Judiciary Committee continues, were waiting for final votes that will tee up a house floor vote. Well keep watching right along with you and break in as the news warrants. Some would even call it president ial harassment because the administration is being used by these Democratic Committee chairs to advance their political agenda. This agenda does not allow them time to proceed to a court to do this the right way, to go through the process that is historic and comports with our custom and practice and tradition and the constitution. Professor turley was our only witness, the only one weve been allowed in the judiciary on our side, and the very exceptional testimony he submitted in writing. I want to read you this excerpt because its on point. Quote, this is page 42 of his
document. If this committee elects to seek impeachment on the president s power to yield congressional demands on oversight, it will have to distinguish a long line of cases where prior president s sought the very same review while withholding witnesses and documents. Take the Obama Administration on Fast And Furious, Congress Justifily began oversight into that scandal. Some members called for Impeachment Proceedings but President Obama provoked Executive Privilege and barred documents. President obama did that. This is not unprecedented. The position of the Obama Administration was regarded as extreme there and some even said absurd. But heres the point. President obama had every right to seek Judicial Review in the matter and many members of this very committee supported that. On this Obstruction Theory would itself be an abuse of power by
congress. It would be extremely dangerous precedent to set for the future president s and congresss in making an appeal to the Judicial Branch into a high crime and misdemeanor, unquote. Heres the deal. Impeachment was never intended to be a remedy for political disagreements. It wasnt intended to be a remedy even for legal disagreements between the legislative branch and the Executive Branch. Thats why theres a third branch of government. Thats why we have the judiciary. This is a dangerous road indeed as Professor Turley noted. I hope and pray that Future Congresss can and will exercise greater restraint than whats been shown by Chairman Schiff and Speaker Pelosi and Chairman Nadler and the rest. The stability of our republic is going to depend on that in the future. And i pray that we can put this geeny back in the tbottle. I yield back. For what purpose does the gentle woman from florida seek recognition . I triek to i move to strike the last word. Gentleman womans recognized. Thank you. You know, its truly disheartening to hear my colleagues on the other side argue in favor of crippling the very institution that theyre a part of. The power of impeachment has built in due process protections. We are the American Peoples duly elected representatives, and we, members of congress, are empowered to hold to account corrupt and criminal president. When the president obstructs an impeachment inquiry, hes obstructing the people who have a right to know how the president is running their government. After all, that is the basis of our government by the people, for the people. We have requested hundreds of documents and have been provided with absolutely not one document. The president has actually
instructed the State Department to not give us the information that weve asked. He has told witnesses, people that we have subpoenaed, to come in front of congress to testify, to not come and testify. Talk about a dangerous precedent. I think that the people deserve to know how hes using the office of the presidency to advance his own interests above those of the people whom he was elected to serve. The president has abused his office and is now using that power of the office to hide the extent of that abuse from the people. That is abuse of power. That is an impeachable offense. And i just want to end by saying that it is also appalling that throughout this process, the president and the Republican Party have continuously attacked Foreign Service officers, the men and women of the military, our intelligence community, those who protect us every day,
undermining our National Security. They are patriots and they should be treated as such. After all, we are all americans. I yield back. Gentle lady yields back. For what purpose does mr. Yolmer seek recognition . Does the gentleman strike the last word . Yep, yes, i do. Gentlemans recognized. This is so surreal. It seems that weve come to a time when right is wrong, wrong is right, bullies are the victims and the victims are called bullies. For three years this president has been harassed. Hes been electronically surveilled, spied upon as normal people would call it. Allegations have never ceased. They continue and theyre
continuing today. At some point you would think that someone would look at the abuses by congress, by the Justice Department friends of our democrats, by the friday friend of our democrats who aided the president when he was nothing but a candidate. At some Point Somebody would go this is out of control. We need to step back and say wait, wait, this train is off the tracks. Its time to get and heres the word reasonable. Whats gone on the last three years is not reasonable. Theres a doctrine, those who are attorneys know, youre going to try to pursue some remedy. You need to have clean hands. The majority has been so abusive. Sure, this administration has produced tons of witnesses after
subpoenas, some without. Sometimes its just negotiated. But normally what happens is subpoena is received and it means youre not going to be able to use an Agency Attorney even though an Agency Attorney will not be allowed in even though the only way that the witness can appear and have Executive Privileges properly claimed is to have an agency or Department Attorney with them. And thats when things get negotiated and get worked out. But some of our friends know that if theyre abusive enough with subpoenas and with law fare not warfare, but using the law as a weapon you can run people out of office. They successfully did that suing sara pailen, ryan zinky. This is the kind of stuff thats been going on. And so this will end up since our friends are not being reasonable, were not willing to negotiate with the administration so Agency Lawyers could come claim Executive Privilege even though the target kept changing. They didnt know what they were going to testify about. They were being accused of all kinds of different things. That kept changing and is changed even in the last 48 hours, 24 hours. Its changed. How do you defend yourself when the charge keeps changes . This is like a stalinesque type court system. You know, you dont get to meet and cross examine your witnesses. And in fact, well just have some Law Professor thats paid by our friends come in and
explain what the witnesses probably said, did say what it is. Thats all you need to hear. If youre going to vote on guilt or innocence, Um Impeachmeimpea not, you dont need to hear from the witnesses. We dont need no stinking witnesses. Just bring us the chance to vote and we will vote. It is an outrage. Theres nothing reasonable about whats gone on. And especially it is so ironic. This is the same week when the corruption of the Department Of Justice has been shown, and there is no sorrow, no apology, no no remorse whatsoever by this incredible abusive system. So, the obstruction of congress is by people in congress. The administration has not been unreasonable. Theyve seen what has happened
when this abusive Justice Department gets people in a perjury trap. They got nothing to go on, but if we can get you in and get you to testify, then we can prosecute you if you make a mistake while youre testifying. It was very, very reasonable not to come answer the subpoenas when you couldnt have an Agency Lawyer and theres no negotiation with the other side. I yield back. Gentleman yields back. For what purpose does mrs. Dean seek recognition . To strike the last word. Weve seen a stark contrast between the patriots who have stood up to tell the truth and those who have turned a blind eye to the truth. Tonight to those patriots i want to lift you up. I want to tell you thank you. I am in awe of you. Im in awe of your courage to uphold your oath at great personal sacrifice and professional cost. Patriots like Lieutenant Colonelalexander vindman, purple heart recipient and iraq war veteran. Ambassador william taylor, Bronze Star Recipient and vietnam war veteran. Marie yovanovitch, extraordinary foreign ambassador to ukraine who joined the service during the reagan administration. Dr. Fiona hill, former Deputy Assistant to the president and senior director of europe and russia on the National Security council and so many others. More than a dozen others detailed the wrong doing of the president. They described a president who repeatedly abused his power for personal gain, jeopardizing your security and democracy. These patriots had courage to live up to their oath. Their words mattered, patriots. My family knows something about the sacrifice of service. Two of my brothers served in the navy during the vietnam, My Brother Bob Serving Two tours in vietnam. And im lucky to serve with those who have served on my own staff. First lieutenant collin mylon who was recently called to active duty and tim mac and dave corr gann, proud marines. Now as members of congress, it is our turn to stand up. Dr. King once said the ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience. Its where he stands at time of challenge and controversy. This is a time of great challenge. And some of my colleagues do not want to face the realities of a president s wrong doings. And so i ask my colleagues tonight, what are you afraid of . This country was built by those who were brave enough to stand up against king george. We are called to stand up against donald j. Trump. What are you afraid of . Look to our framers. Look to our patriots for courage because this is about courage, the courage to honor our oath, my oath, your oath. Mr. Chairman, i will with somberness and purpose yet with confidence in our constitution be voting no on this amendment and be voting yes on these articles of impeachment. And with that, i yield back. Mr. Chairman. The gentle lady yields back. Who seeks what purpose . Gentleman is recognized. Thank you mr. Chairman. I support the amendment and i offer this to you. Charging the president with obstruction of congress is frankly unprecedented. And in itself, it threatens our
system of government. The principles of Separation Of Powers and checks and balances demand that a president be permitted to resist demands that he finds burdensome of his privileges. It is absurdity to claim that the granting to congress of the sole power of impeachment implies duties of the president to cooperate in any and all congressional requests no matter their merit. Disputes between the branches are actually a feature. Theyre awe feature of our system. Theyre not a bug in the system. The branches are required to engage in a process of accommodation to reach an agreement that takes into account the relative equities of both sides. But both branches have rights and interests to protect. We do. The executive does. If those disputes cannot be resolved, the courts are to step in. Anything less threatens the Separation Of Powers that is the
very foundation of this constitution. This majoritys taken the position, quite frankly the dubious position, that despite through precedent to the country that a vote of the full house is not required to open an Impeachment Proceeding. Think of the implication of that. Any rogue Committee Chairman can on his or her own commence an Impeachment Proceeding against a president. That chairman can submit whatever subpoenas and document requests they wish under the theory of these articles the president has no choice but to comply with a single rogue Committee Chairman because his failure to do so would be impeachable. How does that comport with Separation Of Powers . The house should not be able to artificially President Trumps actions are not unprecedented. President obama on many occasions as my colleague from louisiana pointed out a moment
ago. Many president s have outright refused to cooperate with Investigati Investigations as well. Im going to give you three historical cases that are not artifacts but are actual cases where, for instance, president jackson said in 1837, he called a House Subpoena Illegal and unconstitutional stating that he would repel all such attempts as an invasion of the principles of justice as well as of the constitution. And he shall esteem it his sacred duty to the people of the United States as he would establishment of spanish ininquiry decision. Thats from andrew jackson. Later, President Coolidge said in a New York Times article that he sent a message to the senate that he would cease to participate in their sbrus in questioning the legitimacy of their investigation. President truman published an Executive Order in the federal register Ordering Executive Departments to respectfully decline any subpoena pertaining to congressional investigation into Executive Branch personnel. And then we have the recent obama example. So, if you had a problem, you dont necessarily the chairman said he didnt exert privilege. Well, actually he claimed Executive Privilege in a very broad way. Yall were disgusted by it when he initially did. He would issue subpoena and have it served. The person doesnt show up. Guess what we do. We go into court and we prove the prove nins of our subpoena. The court issues an additional order, maybe a warrant for arrest, maybe a fine, maybe a
contempt citation. But we avail ourselves of the process. You havent done that. You havent done it because mr. Schiff said so just last week because he didnt want to take the time to avail himself of the process that you claim youre defending. And that is precisely why Professor Turley and all who look at this with objective eyes say you are the ones abusing the process. You are abusing congress and youre abusing the president and the Executive Branch. But im afraid what happens is we actually denigrate our body and we denigrate the very process that we claim to be protecting today. With that i yield back. Gentleman yields back. What purpose does ms. Escobar seek recognition . Move to strike the last word. Recognized. Thank you, chairman. Weve heard our colleagues argue
that obstruction of congress has not happened. One of our colleagues called the charge ridiculous. Another colleague said, quote, the president has consistently cooperated with democrats, a stunning statement. You know, ive had the incredible privilege of serving on the House Judiciary Com