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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Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) for yielding me the customary 30 minutes, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I want to begin by thanking my friend for his kind words and for the professionalism with which he handled last night's hearing.
But before I begin, Madam Speaker, I would ask the chairman if he would withdraw his resolution, at which time I will ask unanimous consent that the House immediately proceed to the consideration of H.R. 668 instead, which provides for consideration of H. Res. 660, under a rule.
Madam Speaker, this would in no way prevent consideration of the resolution before us today; however, it would provide us with an opportunity for all Members to participate in the process.
My proposed rule would provide for 4 hours of general debate on H. Res. 660, allow for amendments under an open process, and provide for a motion to recommit.
On an issue as important as this, Madam Speaker, 1 hour of debate on a resolution written in the dark of night and marked up in a process where no Republican amendments were accepted is simply insufficient.
Additionally, it would allow all Members to offer amendments to improve the process to get to the truth, which I am sure is the goal of all my colleagues on both sides of the aisle.
Madam Speaker, with that, I would ask the chairman to accept my request.
I yield to my friend.
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Mr. COLE. Res. 660 be expanded to 4 hours so every Member could participate.
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Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I want to begin by echoing my friend's words. It is a sad day for all of us, for me personally, I am sure for all of my colleagues on the Rules Committee, and for the institution as a whole.
Today's resolution sets forth a process for impeaching the President of the United States. It is not a fair process; it is not an open process; it is not a transparent process; but, instead, it is a limited and a closed process with a preordained outcome.
Impeachment of the President is one of the most consequential acts that the House of Representatives can do, and it should only be done after the fullest consideration. Yet, over the last month, without a vote and with only the Speaker's say-so, committees have been engaged in a closed impeachment inquiry on what amounts to nothing more than a partisan fishing expedition.
At least today the majority is admitting what we have known all along: that the House was not following an appropriate process for impeachment.
But I do not think the process we are setting forward in this resolution is a fair one either. It is not fair to the President of the United States; it is not fair to the House of Representatives; and it is not fair to the American people.
The process laid out in the resolution before us is different from the process used for both President Nixon in 1974 and President Clinton in 1998. Today's resolution provides fewer process protections and fewer protections for minority rights than what we have seen in previous impeachment efforts.
At our markup yesterday, Republicans tried to change that. We tried to offer constructive amendments that made the process more fair, that would give rights to the minority, that would give rights to the accused, and that would ensure due process for everyone.
Republicans offered 17 amendments, and not one--not one, Madam Speaker--was accepted. Not one.
We offered amendments that would align the subpoena powers in this resolution with the subpoena powers used for President Clinton.
Unlike the Clinton inquiry, today's resolution does not provide for coequal subpoena power. Instead, it grants the minority the right to subpoena witnesses and materials only with the concurrence of the chair, with no such limitation on the rights of the chair to issue subpoenas. We offered amendments that would change that, but the majority rejected each of them in turn.
We offered an amendment that would allow all Members the right to fully access committee records. This is common sense. If you are doing something as serious as impeaching the President, then Members should have the right to see what records the committee produced so that they will know what they are voting on. Yet the majority rejected that.
We offered an amendment that would require the chairman of the Rules Committee to promulgate procedures to allow for the participation of the President and his counsel in proceedings of the Intelligence Committee, the Oversight and Reform Committee, and the Foreign Affairs Committee. This right was granted to President Clinton in 1998, yet it is not present here. And the majority, again, rejected the amendment.
I think the difference is clear: Today's resolution fails to give the minority the same rights as were present during the Clinton impeachment, and it fails to offer the same due process protections that were given to Presidents Nixon and Clinton.
And, in the latter case, I note those rights were given by a Republican House to a Democratic President. Today's resolution shows a Democratic House failing to give these same protections to a Republican President.
Madam Speaker, the unfairness is clear. This is not a fair process, nor was it ever intended to be. It was preordained from the beginning.
Without due process and without a fair process that respects minority rights, I do not believe the American people will regard that process as legitimate. A legitimate process is one that offers protections for everyone involved. Without those protections, this will be seen as just another partisan exercise, one the majority has been pushing since the very first days of the 116th Congress.
We can do better than that, Madam Speaker. The Rules Committee should have done better than this. But since the Rules Committee didn't, the House must.
Madam Speaker, I urge opposition to the measure, and I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Nunes), the distinguished ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee.
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Mr. COLE. I yield the gentleman from California an additional 15 seconds to close.
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Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Jordan), the distinguished ranking member of the House Oversight Committee.
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Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Burgess), my good friend and fellow member of the Rules Committee.
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Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Collins), my good friend and distinguished Republican ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee.
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Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I yield an additional 15 seconds to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Collins).
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Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, before I proceed, I yield myself such time as I may consume to quickly respond to my friend, Mr. McGovern.
We are debating process here because that is what this is. This is a process resolution to impeach the President of the United States. You didn't accept a single amendment last night. You didn't confer with us when you did it, so that is why we are talking process. It is an unfair process.
Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Arizona (Mrs. Lesko), my good friend and fellow member of the Rules Committee.
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Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Wyoming (Ms. Cheney), my good friend, the distinguished Conference chair for the Republican Party.
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Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I yield an additional 15 seconds to the gentlewoman.
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Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Brady), my good friend, the distinguished Republican ranking member on the House Ways and Means Committee.
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Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Babin), my good friend.
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Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Texas (Mr. McCaul), my good friend and ranking Republican member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
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Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I yield an additional 15 seconds to the gentleman from Texas.
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Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Biggs), my good friend.
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Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Scalise), the distinguished whip of the House Republican Conference and my good friend.
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Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I am waiting for a speaker to come. I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I would like to inquire from my friend if he has additional speakers.
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Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, in that case, I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, if we defeat the previous question, I will amend the resolution to ensure transparency for the American people.
My amendment will do three very simple things:
First, it will require the chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence to publicly release the transcripts of all depositions and interviews in a timely manner to allow any necessary redactions to protect classified or sensitive information.
My colleagues on the other side have been operating in secret and behind closed doors. They have been violating standing House rules by preventing Members access to documents, let alone sharing anything with the people who elected them to serve.
Second, my amendment requires the Intelligence Committee chairman to transfer all records or materials, including exculpatory records or materials, to the Judiciary Committee. The chairman is instructed to, again, make the necessary redactions to protect any classified or sensitive information. In contrast, the Democratic majority's resolution lets the chairman choose what information he will share.
Finally, my amendment requires the Intelligence Committee's records and reports, as well as any material received from any other committee involved, be made available at least 72 hours prior to the Judiciary Committee considering any Articles of Impeachment or other recommendations.
The resolution before us today does absolutely nothing to guarantee that the American people will see this vital information.
The procedures my Democratic colleagues set up for this impeachment inquiry are fundamentally unfair and fundamentally partisan. They reject due process. They reject minority rights, and they reject adequate public disclosure.
The American people will not respect a process that is not fair, Madam Speaker. I urge the House to reject this measure, and I urge the House to insist on bipartisan procedures that respect the rights of the minority and the right of due process.
Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. McCarthy), our distinguished Republican leader.
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Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
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Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
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