Appointing and Authorizing Managers for Impeachment Trial 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 and for his exceptional custodianship of the Constitution of the United States, for 13 years the top Democrat on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Justice Subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee. I thank you for your leadership in protecting and defending the Constitution, the oath that we take as Members of Congress.
As I enter into the conversation, I thank the distinguished gentleman from Georgia for his apology for his ridiculous remarks about me and House Democrats. Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Collins and accept his apology.
Now, I want to go to the purpose of why we are on the floor today. My colleagues on both sides of the aisle, we are here today to cross a very important threshold in American history. On December 18, the House of Representatives passed Articles of Impeachment of Donald Trump, Articles of Impeachment for Abuse of Power and Obstruction of Congress.
By his own admission, the President stated that, yes, he had had that conversation with the President of Ukraine, but he didn't see anything wrong with it. Well, we don't agree with that assessment.
And, yes, it is a fact when someone is impeached, they are always impeached. It cannot be erased, so I stand by that comment, although I know you don't like hearing it. I stand by this picture of the American flag, as I did the day that we introduced the Articles of Impeachment onto the floor because every day all over America in classrooms as well as courtrooms and in this Congress of the United States when we meet, we pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands--and to the republic for which it stands, that is what our Nation is. That is the genius, the beautiful, exquisite genius of the Constitution, that we are a republic. That was a decision of our Founders, their vision. They didn't want a monarchy, they wanted a republic.
When Benjamin Franklin came out of Independence Hall and was asked what do we have, Mr. Franklin, a monarchy or a republic, he said: ``A republic, if we can keep it.'' I have often wondered why he said that, why that would be in doubt. But we see why it is in doubt right now when the President of the United States has said Article II says I can do whatever I want. That is a monarchy, that is not a republic that we pledge our allegiance to every single day.
Here we are today with the Articles of Impeachment about to be transmitted to the United States Senate.
I was thinking this morning and I mentioned it in a previous public event, the midnight ride of Paul Revere: ``Listen, my children, and you shall hear of the midnight ride of Paul Revere.'' Listen, my children, and you will hear about an assault on the Constitution of the United States, undermining the Republic for which our flag stands by the President of the United States in using appropriated funds enacted in a bipartisan way by this Congress, funds that were meant to help Ukraine fight the Russians. The President considered that his private ATM machine, I guess, and thought he could say to the President, ``Do me a favor.'' Do me a favor? Do you paint houses, too? What is this? Do me a favor.
So we have a situation that is very sad. Don't talk to me about my timing. For a long time I resisted the calls from across the country for impeachment of the President for obvious violations of the Constitution that he committed. But recognizing the divisiveness of impeachment, I held back. Frankly, I said this President isn't worth it. But when he acted the way he did in relationship to withholding funds from Ukraine in return for a benefit to him that was personal and political, he crossed a threshold. He gave us no choice.
So, children, our Constitution is the vision of our Founders. They were so brave they declared independence. They did it in a timeframe when in the course of human events it becomes necessary. They declared independence. They fought a war of independence and bravely succeeded. They wrote documents, our founding documents, the Constitution. Thank God they made it amendable so we could ever be expanding freedom in our country.
And that, my children, is what you pledge allegiance to, the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic contained in that Constitution of the United States.
We take that oath. When we become Members of Congress or other public office, we take an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
The President of the United States takes an oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, an oath that he has blatantly violated. For this reason, he was impeached by the House of Representatives.
For this reason, we thought it would be helpful to have not only the strong case for impeachment and removal that was put forth in this House, but to know that more was to come. We didn't make it come because we said that we were going to wait until after Christmas to send this over. They would like to have had us send it over on Christmas Eve so they could dismiss it.
Perhaps they don't realize that dismissal is coverup, but that has been one of their trains of thought.
Dismissal is coverup.
I was so disappointed the other day, last Friday, I guess, or last Thursday, when the leader of the United States Senate, rather than strengthening the institution in which he serves, became subservient and signed on to a resolution that would dismiss charges.
Dismissal is coverup.
In the course of the time since we passed the resolution, and not because of the time--we passed it on December 18--on December 20, new emails showed that 91 minutes after Trump's phone call with the Ukrainian President, a top Office of Management and Budget aide asked the Department of Defense to ``hold off'' on sending military aid to Ukraine.
On December 29, revelations emerged about OMB Director and Acting Chief of Staff Mulvaney's role in the delay of aid; the effort by lawyers in the administration to justify the delay; and, most importantly, the alarm that the delay caused within the administration.
On January 2, newly unredacted Pentagon emails, which the House subpoenaed and the President blocked, raised serious concerns by Trump administration officials about the legality of the President's hold on the aid to Ukraine.
On January 6, former Trump National Security Advisor John Bolton said he would comply with a subpoena compelling his testimony. His lawyer stated he has new relevant information.
On January 13, reports emerged that the Russian Government hacked the Ukrainian gas company Burisma as part of their ongoing effort to influence the U.S. election in support of Trump.
Yesterday, House committees--Mr. Nadler, Mr. Schiff, Mr. Engel, and Madam Chair Maloney--released new evidence, pursuant to a House subpoena, from Lev Parnas--recently photographed with the Republican leader--an associate of Rudy Giuliani, that further proves that the President was a central player in the scheme to pressure Ukraine for his own benefit in the 2020 election.
The Senate leader and the President are afraid of more facts coming to light. That is why the leader signed that dismissal resolution.
A dismissal, again, is a coverup.
The American people will fully understand the Senate's move to begin the trial without witnesses and documents as a pure political coverup.
Whatever the outcome, the American people want a fair trial, fair to the President, fair to the American people. The American people deserve the truth.
The Constitution requires a trial, a fair trial.
The House is now moving forward with a vote to transmit the articles and appoint managers.
As Speaker, I am proud to appoint outstanding American patriots to serve on the impeachment panel:
Chairman Schiff;
Chairman Nadler;
Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren--this is her third impeachment, as a staffer to a House Judiciary Committee member in the Nixon impeachment, as a member of the Judiciary Committee on the Clinton impeachment, and now as a House manager;
Hakeem Jeffries, the chair of our Caucus, a serious, respected litigator;
Val Demings, a member of the police force in Orlando for 27 years and, for part of that time, the first woman and African American police chief of Orlando, so she knows her way around the courtroom;
Jason Crow from Colorado, an Army Ranger who served our country in the military in Iraq and Afghanistan and now in the Congress of the United States, and he too is a respected litigator; and,
Sylvia Garcia from Texas, a judge in a number of capacities in Texas and a member of the Judiciary Committee.
We are very honored that you have taken the responsibility, all of you, to bring the Articles of Impeachment over to the United States Senate with a case for the Constitution.
So, back to the children. We don't want this President or any President to ever violate the Constitution. It is very, very important that we see that that Constitution is central to who we are as a country, our system of government, our Constitution, so valued, so respected, hopefully, so honored by everyone who takes an oath of office to support and defend it.
We see the Russians now hacking in Ukraine. It just came out yesterday or the day before. It just reminds me that I think most Americans would think that voters in America should decide who our President is, not Vladimir Putin and Russia deciding who our President is.
I am very concerned that in all of this, whether it is withholding funds for the Ukrainian Government to fight the Russians, whether it is undermining our commitment to NATO, whether it is, again, making decisions of what happens in Syria vis-a-vis Turkey favoring the Russians, that all roads lead to Russia, all roads lead to Putin.
While some in the administration may think that is okay, I don't, but we do insist and wonder why this President and some in this Congress will not come to the defense of our electoral system by allowing that to happen, denying that it is happening, placing the blame elsewhere.
This is as serious as it gets for any of us. Only the vote to declare war would be something more serious than this. We take it very seriously.
It is not personal. It is not political. It is not partisan. It is patriotic.
Again, I thank our distinguished managers for their courage and their dedication, for being willing to spend the time to do the job to honor the oath that we take and honor the pledge that our children take of allegiance to the flag and to the Republic for which it stands.
Madam Speaker, I urge a ``yes'' vote.
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