The Substance Underlying the Impeachment Inquiry
Floor Speech
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Mr. JEFFRIES. Mr. Speaker, earlier today, President Trump urged his Republican defenders in this House to focus on substance. That is exactly what House Democrats have been doing from the very beginning of this impeachment inquiry.
We will continue to proceed in a serious, solemn, and somber fashion. That is what the Constitution requires at this moment.
House Democrats will continue to follow the facts, apply the law, be guided by the Constitution, and present the truth to the American people.
President Trump said focus on substance.
What is the substance underlying this impeachment inquiry?
Well, Congress, on a bipartisan basis, allocated $391 million in military and economic aid to Ukraine at a time when Ukraine is under attack by Russian-backed separatists.
Ukraine is in a vulnerable state.
Ukraine is a friend; Russia is a foe.
Ukraine is a democracy; Russia is a dictatorship.
The United States is probably the only thing standing between Vladimir Putin and Ukraine being completely overrun as part of Putin's fantasy to reconstruct what he views as the glory days of the Soviet Union.
We allocated that money because it is in the national security interest of the United States of America.
What happened to it?
In February, the Trump administration wrote to Congress and said the aid is on the way. But it never showed up.
And then in May, Trump's Department of Defense wrote to Congress again and said the aid is on the way and all necessary preconditions to release the aid have been met, including the implementation of anticorruption protocols. That was a letter written by the Trump Department of Defense in May. That is the substance.
Twice Mitch McConnell during this summer called up the Trump administration and said, ``Where's the aid?'' Mr. McConnell couldn't get a good answer.
And then on July 18, we know that the Office of Management and Budget in the White House held a meeting where it was made clear that the reason the aid had been held up is because of a directive from the President of the United States.
A week later, on July 25, the President made a phone call to the Ukrainian leader and pressured a foreign government to target an American citizen for political gain and solicit foreign interference in the 2020 election.
That undermines our national security. The American people have a right to ask: Is that an abuse of power?
That is what the impeachment inquiry is all about, Mr. President. That is the substance. It doesn't look good. No one is above the law.
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