His eventually obituary, that is how we wrap up our wednesday night broadcast. Thank you so very much for being here with us. Good night from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. It is wednesday, the 18th Of December in the year 2019 and President Donald Trump is impeached. The vote in the House Of Representatives tonight to impeach the president was not close. It was 230 to 197 on the first article, which was abuse of power. One democrat voted present. On the second article, Obstruction Of Congress, it was a vote of 229198, again, with one vote present. These were not slim margins. The successful vote to impeach the president tonight, of course, does not remove him from office. The decision of whether or not to remove him from office will now be made in the United States senate, where hell be put on trial in a proceeding overseen
by the Chief Justice of the United States supreme court. Were talking about that as if it is a forgone conclusion, as if thats the next obvious thing on the todo list here. It is such a rare occasion in American History that you could almost talk about it as unprecedented. There have been only three president s ever impeached in u. S. History. One in the 1800s, one in the 1900s and one now in the 21st century. As of tonight, three u. S. President s ever impeached, including President Trump. But as you know, neither of the two previous president s who were impeached, neither Andrew Johnson in the 1800s nor bill clinton in the 1990s, neither were convicted after their senate trial and removed from office after impeachment. No president has ever been removed from office by the impeachment process. And to be frank, nobody expects that to happen to President Trump now, either. But beyond that widely shared
bottom line expectation, defined as much by the constitution and u. S. History as by anything else about our current moment, beyond that widely spread expectation, frankly anything seems possible at this point, and that is in part because everything has changed so rapidly since this scandal first started. I will tell you right now in terms of whats going to happen this evening, we are awaiting remarks from the Speaker Of The House. We had expected that there would be sort of a competing event tonight, that the Republican Leadership of the house would also give a live Press Conference. We had been wondering in terms of presenting to you this historic evening and making sure that you knee what was going on, weve been wondering if they might actually be set up as dueling events with the democrats and republicans speaking at the same time, or, if not, which one would go first. We now know that the Republican Press conference is canceled. We are awaiting remarks from the speaker, and well see what she says about whats due to happen next. The house is adjourned until tomorrow. The house is not going to take further action tonight, but so
much about what happens now is in the hands of the speaker. And so, hearing from her in terms of what shes going to do now, what shes going to announce now about how these articles are going to be handled in the senate will be important breaking news. So, were waiting on that. Conscious of the fact that these proceedings have moved very quickly and have changed sort of radically in terms of outlook and political expectation since this Impeachment Scandal started. It started very recently. It was september 13th, late at night on a friday night, when this ball first started rolling downhill. It was a very sharply worded, very unusual latenight letter from the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, congressman adam schiff. I remember it was late on friday night. I was on the air live until 10 00 that night. This letter did not surface until after i was already off the air. It was addressed to the director of National Intelligence, joseph maguire, and it was blunt from the outset. Dear director maguire, no later than december 2nd, 2019, the Intelligence Committee should have received by you as required by law a disclosure regarding abuse, violation of law or executive order. The committee has not received this disclosure in violation of the law. The chairman ripped the director of National Intelligence up and down at that point in his letter for bottling up this whistleblower complaint and not allowing anybody to see it. The chairman saying in that letter, september 13th, quote, you do not possess the authority to withhold from the committee a whistleblower disclosure from within the Intelligence Committee that is intended for congress. Schiff then went onto dismiss all the excuses he has heard from the dni. Im going to step away from this for a second, talking about the origins of the scandal, because Speaker Pelosi and the house leadership are speaking now. Well get back to this in a moment. Stay with us. December 18th, a great day for the constitution of the United States. A sad one for america that the president s reckless activities necessitated us, our having to introduce articles of impeachment. May i thank our six chair s who for a long period of time have been legislating, investigating and litigating. Today, that came to a culmination on the floor of the house in the judiciary committee, under the leadership of jerry nadler of new york and the Intelligence Committee, under the leadership of adam schiff of california, bought the articles of impeachment to the floor to a conclusion where they have passed. I thank them for their tremendous leadership. I thank Congress Chair woman Maxine Waters of california, richie neal of the financial
services committee, the chair of the ways and means committee. Carolyn maloney, the chair of the Government Oversight Committee and, of course, adam schiff, the chair of the Intelligence Committee for their great work over a period of time. I just want to say, before yielding to the chairman, that i could not be prouder or more inspired than by the moral courage of the House Democrats. Courage of the House Democrats. We never asked one of them for how they were going to vote. We never whipped this vote. You saw the vote well, you saw the public statements that some of them made, we saw the result when everyone else did. The statements on the floor about patriotism and about being very to the vision of our founders. And so, i view this day, this
vote, as something that we did to honor the vision of our founders to establish a republic, the sacrifice of our Men And Women In Uniform to defend our democracy and that republic and the aspirations of our children that they will always live in a democracy and that we have tried to do everything we can to make sure that that is their reality. Well hear from our chairmen and then well take three questions. And im now honored to yield with great appreciation and respect to distinguished chair of the judiciary committee, chairman nadler. Thank you. The framers reserved the power of impeachment for the gravest offenses against our constitution. Against our liberty and against our democratic institutions. President trump used the powers of his office for his own personal political gain to the
detriment of the National Security interests of the United States. That is the very definition of an impeachable offense. When congress began to investigate President Trumps wrongdoing, he engaged in an unprecedented pattern of obstruction. That, too, is why the Impeachment Power exists. A president who subverts both our elections and our constitutional system of checks and balances puts himself above the law, and it is Congress Duty to hold the president , any president accountable. It gives us no pleasure no pleasure to stand here today, but President Trumps conduct has put our next election at risk. President trumps behavior puts the integrity of our Constitutional Order at risk. And President Trumps continued actions put the rule of law at risk. The framers gave us the power of impeachment for exactly this reason. And in fulfillment of our oath and obligation to the American People, today, we took action to hold President Trump accountable
for the serious and undisputed risk he poses to our free and Fair Elections and to the separation of powers that safeguards our liberty. A president must not be allowed to become a dictator. I want to thank Speaker Pelosi, chairman schiff, my fellow investigative chairs and all of my colleagues who today defended the principles upon which our nation was established. Today, the House Of Representatives did its constitutional duty. Today, we lived up to our responsibility to the American People by taking action to defend our National Security, to preserve our democratic elections and to show that no one, not even the president , is above the law. And now gives me im now happy to introduce the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, adam schiff. The president of the united
states has been impeached for now only the third time in history. The president of the United States should be tried. And the question is now whether senator mcconnell will allow a fair trial in the senate, whether the Majority Leader will allow a trial that involves witnesses and testimony and documents, a trial that should be fair to the president , yes, but should be fair, also, to the American People. The American People want to hear from people like john bolton. The American People want to hear from people like mick mulvaney. The American People want to see whats in those documents the president has been hiding at the state department, in the office of management and budget, in the white house itself. We have done our duty here in the house. We have upheld the constitution. We have done as the framers would have us do when a president abuses his office and obstructs a coequal branch of government. The question now is will the senate uphold its duty . Will the senators uphold their oath . Do the senators want to hear from the witnesses . Do they want a real trial . We have to hope that they do. The reason we undertook this extraordinary step is because the president not only abuses his office but threatens to abuse it again, threatens to interfere again by inviting foreign interference in our election. The remedy isnt complete as long as the president is free to continue to invite foreign interference in our affairs. I just want to close by thanking the speaker for guiding the congress through this tumultuous time. There is no one, i think, could have guided the congress with a steadier hand or with more insight and intellect than the Speaker Of The House. And i also want to thank my colleagues in particular, so many new members of the house who have displayed such courage,
who have shown that they truly had the courage of their convictions. Thank you. I just want to add that one person who isnt with us physically in this room but i know was present all day for the deliberations, our former our chair of the government reform, our Oversight Committee chair, our north star, elijah cummings. He said when the History Books are written about this tumultuous era, i want them to show i was among those in the House Of Representatives who stood up to lawlessness and tyranny. He also said, somewhat preshtly, when were dancing with the angels, the question will be, what did you do to make sure we kept our integrity intact . We did our part, elijah. The president is impeached. Madam speaker, do you view the houses role in this as complete now, or are there steps you might take to try to ensure as the chairman suggested a more fair trial in the senate . You mean, more fair trial than theyre contemplating . Because we had a very fair process in the House Of Representatives. Yes, maam. I would yield to our let me just put it another way. We will have legislation approved by the rules committee that will enable us to decide how we will send over the articles of impeachment. We cannot name managers until we see what the process is on the senate side. And i would hope that that will be soon, as we did with our legislation, our resolution 660, to describe what the process would be. So far, we havent seen anything that looks fair to us, so hopefully it will be fair. And when we see what that is, well send over our managers. So, you would wait to send the articles until you understand what the senate is going to do . Well make a decision as a group, as we always have, as we go along. With hold the articles for weeks again, well decide what that dynamic is, but we hope that the resolution of that process will be soon in the senate. Did you have one, cheryl . Do you have a question . Yeah. I do have a question. What do you consider a fair trial . What are you looking for well, let me tell you what i dont consider a fair trial. This is what i dont consider a fair trial. That leader mcconnell has stated that hes not an impartial juror. That hes going to take his cues, in quotes, from the white house and hes working in total coordination with the white house counsels office. Any comments from my colleagues on that . Let me just say that, obviously, senator mcconnell, by that declaration, has said that he is in effect, the Foreman Of The Jury is working with the defendants counsel. Thats not fair. And well have to see what else, but thats certainly an indication of an unfair of an intention to have an unfair trial. What would you like to see . We would like to see a trial where look, its up to the senators to make their own decisions, working together, hopefully in recognition of their witnesses, that the president withheld from us, the
documents that the president withheld from us and we would hope that that information would be available in a trial, to go to the next step, because thats another level in terms of a conviction, in terms of this, but right now, the president is impeached. Go ahead. Can you never send the articles over . Were not having that discussion. We have done what we have set out to do. The house has acted on a very sad day to protect and defend the constitution of the United States, to do so in a manner that was fair, even though the other side was mischaracterizing it, nonetheless, it was fair and appropriate and urgent. And urgent. So we will make our decision as to when were going to send when we see what theyre doing on the senate side, but thats a
decision that we will make jointly. Okay youre starting to act like another country. Dont shout, okay . Who is not going to shout a question . Speaker . Yes, sir. Can you guarantee that the Impeachment Articles will be at some point send to the senate . Can you guarantee that . That would have been our intention, but well see what happens over there. So you may not send thats not youre asking me, are we all going to go out and play in the snow that has not been part of our conversation. That has not been part of our conversation. Excuse me, what . Im sorry, dear. We need clarification, since you have raised the prospect of not sending the articles over no, i never raised the prospect. You asked the question. I never raised the prospect. I said, were not sending tonight, because its difficult to determine who the managers
would be until we see the arena in which we will be participating. Thats all i said. I never raised the prospect. Any timetable . Well, well see what they when they come forward. Its up to the senate to say what their rules will be. My colleagues didnt want to say anything about this because this is a serious matter. Even though the Majority Leader in the United States senate says its okay for the Foreman Of The Jury to be in cahoots with the lawyers of the accused. That doesnt sound right to us. But lets see when they understand we have acted. And now theyll understand what their responsibilities are and well see what that is. But i never raised that possibility. No. Thats it. Any other comments, anyone . No. But anyway, let me again thank
our chairmen, all six of them and our darling elijah. They did a remarkable job. And i think you probably, hopefully, will be inspired by the moral courage of our caucus. Especially as the distinguished chairman recognized, our freshman members, who came here,