Directing Certain Committees to Continue Ongoing Investigations Into Whether Sufficient Grounds Exist for the Impeachment of Donald John Trump, President of the United States

Floor Speech

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Ms. PELOSI. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

I want to begin my remarks with some of the most beautiful words in our country's history: ``We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution of the United States of America.''

It goes on immediately to establish Article I, the legislative branch; Article II, the executive branch; Article III, the judiciary-- the genius of the Constitution, a separation of powers, three coequal branches of government to be a check and balance on each other.

It is to that that we take the oath of office. We gather here on that opening day with our families gathered around to proudly raise our hand to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. And that is exactly what we are doing today.

Sadly, this is not any cause for any glee or comfort. This is something that is very solemn, that is something prayerful, and that we had to gather so much information to take us to this next step.

Again, this is a solemn occasion. Nobody, I doubt anybody in this place or anybody that you know, who comes to Congress to take the oath of office comes to Congress to impeach the President of the United States unless his actions are jeopardizing our honoring our oath of office.

I am grateful to our committee chairs for all the careful and thoughtful investigation they have been doing as this inquiry has proceeded.

Today, the House takes the next step forward, as we establish the procedures for open hearings conducted by the House Intelligence Committee so that the public can see the facts for themselves.

This resolution ensures transparency, advancing the public disclosure of deposition transcripts, and outlining the procedure for the transfer of evidence to the Judiciary Committee to use in its proceedings.

It enables effective public hearings, setting out procedures for the questioning of witnesses, and continuing the precedent of giving the minority the same rights in questioning witnesses as the majority, which has been true at every step of this inquiry, despite what you might hear fomenting there.

It provides the President and his counsel opportunities to participate, including presenting his case, submitting requests for testimony, attending hearings, raising objections to testimony given, cross-examining witnesses, and more.

Contrary to what you may have heard today, we give more opportunity to his case than was given to other Presidents before.

Madam Speaker, I thank Chairman Schiff for making that point so clearly.

These actions--this process, these open hearings, seeking the truth and making it available to the American people--will inform Congress on the very difficult decisions we will have to make in the future as to whether to impeach the President.

That decision has not been made. That is what the inquiry will investigate. Then, we can make the decision based on the truth. I don't know why the Republicans are afraid of the truth.

Every Member should support allowing the American people to hear the facts for themselves. That is really what this vote is about. It is about the truth.

What is at stake? What is at stake in all of this is nothing less than our democracy.

Madam Chair, I proudly stand next to the flag, and I thank the gentleman from New York for providing it for us. So many have fought and died for this flag, which stands for our democracy.

When Benjamin Franklin came out of Independence Hall--you have heard this over and over--on September 17, 1787, the day our Constitution was adopted, people said to him: ``Dr. Franklin, what do we have, a monarchy or a republic?'' As you know, he said: ``A republic, if you can keep it.'' If we can keep it.

This Constitution is the blueprint for our Republic and not a monarchy.

But when we have a President who says Article II says ``I can do whatever I want,'' that is in defiance of the separation of powers. That is not what our Constitution says.

What is at stake? Our democracy.

What are we fighting for? Defending our democracy for the people.

In the early days of our Revolution, Thomas Paine said, ``The times have found us.'' The times found our Founders to declare independence from a monarchy, to fight a war of independence, to win, to write our founding documents--and, thank God, they made them amendable so that we can always be expanding freedom.

And the genius--again, the genius--of that Constitution was the separation of powers. Any usurping of that power is a violation of our oath of office.

So, proudly, we all raised our hand to protect, defend, and support the Constitution of the United States. That is what this vote is about.

Today, we think the times found our Founders. The times have found others in the course of our history to protect our democracy and to keep our country united.

The times have found each and every one of us in this room--and in our country--to pay attention to how we protect and defend the Constitution of the United States: honoring the vision of our Founders who declared independence from a monarch and established a country contrary to that principle; honoring the men and women in uniform who fight for our flag, for our freedom, and for our democracy; and honoring the aspirations of our children so that no President, whoever he or she may be in the future, could decide that Article II says they can do whatever they want.

Again, let us honor our oath of office. Let us defend our democracy. Let us have a good vote, today, and have clarity--clarity--as to how we proceed, why we proceed, and, again, doing so in a way that honors the Constitution.

We must honor the Constitution in how we do this; we must respect the institution we serve; and we must heed the further words of our Founders, ``e pluribus unum,'' ``out of many, one.'' They didn't know how many it would be or how different we would be, but they knew that we needed to always be unifying.

Hopefully, as we go forward with this with a clarity of purpose, a clarity of procedure, a clarity of fact, and a clarity of truth--it is about the truth; it is about the Constitution--we will do so in a way that brings people together that is healing rather than dividing, and that is how we will honor our oath of office.

Madam Speaker, I urge an ``aye'' vote.

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