The publication is reproduced in full below:
IMPEACHING DONALD JOHN TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, FOR HIGH
CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 41, I call up the resolution (H. Res. 24) impeaching Donald John Trump, President of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.
The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:
H. Res. 24
Resolved, That Donald John Trump, President of the United States, is impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors and that the following article of impeachment be exhibited to the United States Senate:
Article of impeachment exhibited by the House of Representatives of the United States of America in the name of itself and of the people of the United States of America, against Donald John Trump, President of the United States of America, in maintenance and support of its impeachment against him for high crimes and misdemeanors.
article i: incitement of insurrection
The Constitution provides that the House of Representatives
``shall have the sole Power of Impeachment'' and that the President ``shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors''. Further, section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution prohibits any person who has ``engaged in insurrection or rebellion against'' the United States from
``hold[ing] any office . . . under the United States''. In his conduct while President of the United States--and in violation of his constitutional oath faithfully to execute the office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed--Donald John Trump engaged in high Crimes and Misdemeanors by inciting violence against the Government of the United States, in that:
On January 6, 2021, pursuant to the 12th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, the Vice President of the United States, the House of Representatives, and the Senate met at the United States Capitol for a Joint Session of Congress to count the votes of the Electoral College. In the months preceding the Joint Session, President Trump repeatedly issued false statements asserting that the Presidential election results were the product of widespread fraud and should not be accepted by the American people or certified by State or Federal officials. Shortly before the Joint Session commenced, President Trump, addressed a crowd at the Ellipse in Washington, DC. There, he reiterated false claims that ``we won this election, and we won it by a landslide''. He also willfully made statements that, in context, encouraged--and foreseeably resulted in--lawless action at the Capitol, such as: ``if you don't fight like hell you're not going to have a country anymore''. Thus incited by President Trump, members of the crowd he had addressed, in an attempt to, among other objectives, interfere with the Joint Session's solemn constitutional duty to certify the results of the 2020 Presidential election, unlawfully breached and vandalized the Capitol, injured and killed law enforcement personnel, menaced Members of Congress, the Vice President, and Congressional personnel, and engaged in other violent, deadly, destructive, and seditious acts.
President Trump's conduct on January 6, 2021, followed his prior efforts to subvert and obstruct the certification of the results of the 2020 Presidential election. Those prior efforts included a phone call on January 2, 2021, during which President Trump urged the secretary of state of Georgia, Brad Raffensperger, to ``find'' enough votes to overturn the Georgia Presidential election results and threatened Secretary Raffensperger if he failed to do so.
In all this, President Trump gravely endangered the security of the United States and its institutions of Government. He threatened the integrity of the democratic system, interfered with the peaceful transition of power, and imperiled a coequal branch of Government. He thereby betrayed his trust as President, to the manifest injury of the people of the United States.
Wherefore, Donald John Trump, by such conduct, has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to national security, democracy, and the Constitution if allowed to remain in office, and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with self-governance and the rule of law. Donald John Trump thus warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Ms. McCollum). The resolution shall be debatable for 2 hours, equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on the Judiciary.
The gentleman from New York (Mr. Nadler) and the gentleman from Ohio
(Mr. Jordan) each will control 1 hour.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New York.
{time} 1230
General Leave
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous material on H. Res. 24.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from New York?
There was no objection.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), the distinguished Speaker of the House.
Ms. PELOSI. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding and for his leadership.
Madam Speaker, in his annual address to our predecessors in Congress in 1862, President Abraham Lincoln spoke of the duty of the patriot in an hour of decisive crisis for the American people.
``Fellow citizens,'' he said, ``we cannot escape history. We . . . will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance or insignificance can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the latest generation. . . . We, even we here, hold the power and bear the responsibility.''
In the Bible, St. Paul wrote, ``Think on these things.'' We must think on what Lincoln told us. We, even here, even us here, hold the power and bear the responsibility.
We, you and I, hold in trust the power that derives most directly from the people of the United States, and we bear the responsibility to fulfill the oath that we all swear before God and before one another: the oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, so help us God.
We know that we face enemies to that Constitution. We know. We experienced the insurrection that violated the sanctity of the people's Capitol and attempted to overturn the duly recorded will of the American people. And we know that the President of the United States incited this insurrection, this armed rebellion against our common country. He must go. He is a clear and present danger to the Nation that we all love.
Since the Presidential election in November, an election the President lost, he has repeatedly lied about the outcome, sowed self-
serving doubt about democracy, and unconstitutionally sought to influence State officials to repeal reality. And then came that day of fire we all experienced.
The President must be impeached, and I believe the President must be convicted by the Senate, a constitutional remedy that will ensure that the Republic will be safe from this man who is so resolutely determined to tear down the things that we hold dear and that hold us together.
It gives me no pleasure to say this. It breaks my heart. It should break your heart. It should break all of our hearts, for your presence in this hallowed Chamber is testament to your love for our country, for America, and to your faith in the work of our Founders to create a more perfect Union.
Those insurrectionists were not patriots. They were not part of a political base to be catered to and managed. They were domestic terrorists, and justice must prevail.
But they did not appear out of a vacuum. They were sent here, sent here by the President with words such as a cry to ``fight like hell.'' Words matter. Truth matters. Accountability matters. In his public exhortations to them, the President saw the insurrectionists not as the foes of freedom, as they are, but as the means to a terrible goal: the goal of his personally clinging to power, the goal of thwarting the will of the people, the goal of ending in a fiery and bloody clash nearly two and a half centuries of our democracy.
This is not theoretical, and this is not motivated by partisanship. I stand before you today as an officer of the Constitution as Speaker of the House of Representatives. I stand before you as a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a daughter, a daughter whose father proudly served in this Congress, Thomas D'Alesandro, Jr., from Maryland, one of the first Italian Americans to serve in the Congress. And I stand here before you today as that noblest of things: a citizen of the United States of America.
With my voice and my vote, with a plea to all of you, Democrats and Republicans, I ask you to search your souls and answer these questions: Is the President's war on democracy in keeping with the Constitution? Were his words and insurrectionary mob a high crime and misdemeanor? Do we not have the duty to our oath to do all we constitutionally can to protect our Nation and our democracy from the appetites and ambitions of a man who has self-evidently demonstrated that he is a vital threat to liberty, to self-government, and to the rule of law?
Our country is divided. We all know that. There are lies abroad in the land, spread by a desperate President who feels his power slipping away. We know that, too. But I know this as well: that we here in this House have a sacred obligation to stand for truth, to stand up for the Constitution, to stand as guardians of the Republic.
In a speech he was prepared to give in Dallas on Friday, November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was to say, ``We in this country, in this generation, are--by destiny rather than choice--the watchmen on the walls of world freedom. We ask, therefore, that we may be worthy of our power and responsibility.'' That we may be worthy.
President Kennedy was assassinated before he could deliver those words to the Nation, but they resonate more even now, in our time and in this place.
Let us be worthy of our power and responsibility, that what Lincoln thought of the world's last best hope, the United States of America, may long survive.
My fellow Members, my fellow Americans, we cannot escape history. Let us embrace our duty, fulfill our oath, and honor the trust of our Nation. We pray that God will continue to bless America.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Nineteen minutes. Nineteen minutes. Four years ago on inauguration day, January 20, 2017, 19 minutes into President Trump's administration, at 12:19 p.m., The Washington Post's headline was
``Campaign to Impeach President Trump Has Begun.'' And now with just 1 week left, they are still trying.
In 7 days, there will be a peaceful transfer of power, just like there has been every other time in our country, but Democrats are going to impeach President Trump again. This doesn't unite the country. There is no way this helps the Nation deal with the tragic and terrible events of last week that we all condemn. Republicans have been consistent. We have condemned all the violence all the time. We condemned it last summer. We condemned it last week.
We should be focused on bringing the Nation together. Instead, Democrats are going to impeach the President for a second time, 1 week--1 week--before he leaves office. Why? Why?
Politics and the fact that they want to cancel the President--the President who cut taxes, the President who reduced regulations, the President who, prior to COVID, had the greatest economy, lowest unemployment in 50 years, the President who got us out of the Iran deal, put the Embassy in Jerusalem, brought hostages home from North Korea, put three great Justices on the Supreme Court, gave us a new NAFTA agreement, the Abraham Accords, the COVID vaccine, and who built the wall.
It is about politics. This is about getting the President of the United States. They spied on his campaign before he was elected. Nineteen minutes into his Presidency, they started the impeachment push: 3-year Mueller investigation, 19 lawyers, 40 agents, 500 witnesses, 2,500 subpoenas, $40 million to find nothing--impeachment round one, based on an anonymous whistleblower with no firsthand knowledge, who was biased against the President and who worked for Joe Biden. Now it is impeachment round two.
It has always been about getting the President, no matter what. It is an obsession, an obsession that has now broadened. It is not just about impeachment anymore. It is about canceling, as I have said, canceling the President and anyone that disagrees with them. The Ayatollah can tweet; the President can't.
Democrats can object on January 6, 2017, but Republicans aren't allowed to object on January 6, 2021. Democrats say antifa is a myth; Republicans condemn all violence all the time. The double standard has to stop.
Frankly, the attack on the First Amendment has to stop. Stop and think about it. Do you have a functioning First Amendment when the cancel culture only allows one side to talk? When you can't even have a debate in this country, this great country, the greatest country ever? It needs to stop because if it continues, if it continues, it won't just be Republicans who get canceled; it won't just be the President of the United States. The cancel culture will come for us all.
America is a great country, the greatest country ever. It seems to me that we need to think about how great the people of this Nation really are, think about what we have accomplished in the past, and begin to come together as leaders who represent so many great folks across our districts.
Think about this. Think about this: In 1903, Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, two guys fly this thing they called a plane 100 feet. Barely got off the ground. Barely got off the ground. Amazing thing. Forty-
four years later, Chuck Yeager breaks the sound barrier. In 44 years, we go from two guys flying a contraption they called a plane a few hundred feet to Chuck Yeager breaking the sound barrier, and 22 years after that--22 years after that--another American steps on the Moon. Think about it. In one lifetime, in 66 years, two guys flying 100 feet to putting a man on the Moon. That is what this country is capable of. That is what we can do.
We, as the Congress who represents the people who did that, should start leading, should start understanding what really is going on here. So I hope--I hope--we defeat this. I hope we can begin to come together and recognize the greatness of the American people and focus on the things they want us to focus on.
Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself 3 minutes.
Madam Speaker, we all saw it coming. Months in advance, President Trump was baselessly and deliberately whipping his supporters into a frenzy.
Weeks before the riot, he used his bully pulpit to spread lies about the election. He told his supporters that the results were fraudulent. He implored them again and again to help him stay in power, and he convinced them that accepting the outcome of the election posed an existential threat to their families and their freedoms.
We have a duty to observe, Madam Speaker, that racism played a direct role in this incitement. The President's violent rhetoric is always at its most fevered pitch when he is talking about the civil rights and civic aspirations of Black Americans and other minority communities.
On January 6, at a rally that was large, angry, and widely reported to be armed, the President's lies and violent rhetoric reached their crescendo. At that rally, the President took the stage. After reiterating the falsehood that ``we won this election, and we won it by a landslide,'' he told the crowd that ``if you don't fight like hell, you are not going to have a country anymore.'' And then he urged the mob to ``walk down Pennsylvania Avenue'' to prevent the Congress from confirming the election of ``an illegitimate President.''
On that day, President Trump unleashed the force of a mob on this, the people's House. He encouraged that attack with the explicit intent to disrupt the joint session of Congress, an attack that threatened the safety of the Vice President, the Speaker of the House, and the President pro tempore of the Senate, the next three officers in the line of succession.
And look at what that violence has wrought: at least six dead, offices ransacked, the sanctity of our Capitol breached for the first time in two centuries, our hallways littered with broken glass, the battle flags of a long dead Confederacy, and the debris we have come to associate with the Trump campaign.
Madam Speaker, I have faith in the resiliency of our government. We will bring the rioters to justice. Their accomplices in this House will be held responsible.
But today we must focus on the gravest threat first: President Trump, who incited this riot and who remains a grave danger to the Nation.
As we warned the Senate when we tried him for his first impeachment:
``President Trump has made clear in word and deed that he will persist in such conduct if he is not removed from power. He poses a continuing threat to our Nation, to the integrity of our elections, and to our democratic order. He must not remain in power one moment longer.''
Not one moment longer. The danger is too great. We must impeach.
I reserve the balance of my time.
{time} 1245
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. McClintock).
Mr. McCLINTOCK. Madam Speaker, I didn't like the President's speech on January 6 either. I thought he was wrong to assert that the Vice President and Congress can pick and choose which electoral votes to count. He was wrong to set such a confrontational tone in a politically tense situation.
But what did he actually say? His exact words were: ``I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol Building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.'' That is impeachable? That is called freedom of speech.
Now, he also threatened to oppose candidates in future elections. And, by the way, that was directed at Republicans like me who had resolved to uphold the constitutional process and protect the electoral college. Well, so what? That is called politics.
If we impeached every politician who gave a fiery speech to a crowd of partisans, this Capitol would be deserted. That is what the President did. That is all he did.
He specifically told the crowd to protest peacefully and patriotically, and the vast majority of them did. But every movement has a lunatic fringe. Suppressing free speech is not the answer. Holding rioters accountable for their actions is the answer, and we are.
If we prosecuted BLM and antifa rioters across the country with the same determination these last 6 months, this incident might not have happened at all.
Now, short of declaring war, the power of impeachment is the most solemn and consequential act that Congress can take. To use it in this manner, in the heat of the moment, with no hearings, no due process, many Members phoning in their votes after a hastily called debate, exactly 1 week before a new President is to take office, trivializes this power to the point of caricature.
The Democrats have won everything in sight--the House, the Senate, and the Presidency. In a republic, that calls for magnanimity by the victors. Only in a banana republic does it call for vengeance.
Benjamin Franklin warned us that ``passion governs, and she never governs wisely.'' In our passions this week, we have set some dangerous new precedents that will haunt us for years to come. Yesterday, we redefined intemperate speech as a physical incapacity requiring removal from office. Today, we define it as a high crime and misdemeanor.
Well, the moment any Member of this body gives an impassioned speech and the lunatic fringe of their movement takes license from it, be prepared to answer to this new precedent that we establish today.
Now, I could cite plenty of provocative speeches made by Democrats that directly preceded violence this summer, but we have already had enough of that.
After 600,000 Americans had perished in the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln appealed to the better angels of our nature. He said: With malice toward none, with charity for all, let us bind up the Nation's wounds. Those words were so important to the unity of our Nation they are inscribed in marble at the Lincoln Memorial.
I cannot think of a more petty, vindictive, and gratuitous act than to impeach an already defeated President a week before he is to leave office. President-elect Biden's promise to heal the Nation becomes a hollow mockery in the harsh reality of this unconstitutional act.
God help our country.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lofgren).
Ms. LOFGREN. Madam Speaker, I am the only Member of Congress who has been involved in all three of the last Presidential impeachments. Those were long proceedings.
Today, we don't need a long investigation to know the President incited right-wing terrorists to attack the Congress to try to overturn constitutional government. The actions were in public, plain as day.
His actions are the most serious offense against our Constitution and our country. They are impeachable acts.
The Founders devised the Impeachment Clause to protect against a President who would threaten constitutional order. If we don't act now, the Impeachment Clause would essentially be meaningless.
Faced with these facts, if we don't impeach to protect our country, we will fail our own oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and, yes, domestic.
We have no choice. We must impeach.
God bless America.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Biggs).
Mr. BIGGS. Madam Speaker, it is with wariness and a certain unhealthy, morbid curiosity that I watch the beast attempt to devour President Donald J. Trump again. The craving to crush President Trump has never been satisfied--not through investigations, not through false allegations, and not even through an impeachment that was wholly without merit.
And the timing of this impeachment makes little sense. Your candidate will take office in a few hours, and President Trump will relinquish the levers of power to President-elect Biden.
Your craving was never a Biden victory, nor was it even a Trump defeat. You believe that your hunger will be finally satiated by impeaching this President without completion of his full term of office. You don't merely seek victory, but you seek obliteration of your nemesis.
The thirst for Trump's destruction will not be slaked, however, even if you are successful today and were the Senate to convict President Trump. Yours will be a Pyrrhic victory, for, instead of stopping the Trump train, his movement will grow stronger, for you will have made him a martyr.
Surely you are aware of this, and that is why your allies in the media seek to censor conservative voices.
Your chums who sit on the boards of corporate America--yes, the same companies that the left vilifies--promise to starve Republicans from receiving their PAC donations.
But I bet that the groundswell of support for President Trump and his policies will not go away. You see, the movement he started is based on building an incredibly robust economy on a foundation of lower taxes and fewer regulations that has the wonderful effect of putting more people to work than ever. It is built upon a strong military that is extricated from endless wars. It provides border security, America-
first trade agreements, Mideast peace and stability. Those are the things the American people want.
Your 4-year appetite will be temporarily assuaged while you will, no doubt, continue to chase after leaders of this movement, but your appetite will be unfulfilled.
I urge you, please, do not--and I am mixing metaphors here--attempt to douse the remaining burning embers of this movement with gasoline. No one wants that. I urge you, please, to reconsider the reckless action in which you engage today.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Schiff).
Mr. SCHIFF. Madam Speaker, 1 week ago, the President incited an insurrection against Congress to prevent the peaceful transition of power. It was the most dangerous moment for our democracy in a century.
Today, we invoke the remedy the Founders provided for just such a lawless President: impeachment.
More important, today, we begin the long road to restoration. America has been through a civil war, world wars, a Great Depression, pandemics, McCarthyism, and now a Trumpist and white nationalist insurrection. And yet our democracy endures. It endures because, at every juncture, every pivotal moment when evil threatened to overtake good, patriotic Americans stepped forward to say, ``Enough.''
This is one of those moments. To preserve this sacred place, this citadel of democracy, for ourselves and for posterity, let us say,
``Enough.'' Enough.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gohmert).
Mr. GOHMERT. Madam Speaker, here is a quote: ``I just don't even know why there aren't uprisings all over the country. And maybe there will be.''
Or, ``Sadly, the domestic enemies of our voting system and honoring our Constitution are right at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue with their allies in Congress of the United States.'' We were called enemies of the state.
Those are all quotes from our Speaker.
Now, on our side, we didn't take those to be impeachable because we didn't believe she surely meant that. By the Democrats taking this action, you are telling me, no, when we say those words, we actually mean to incite violence. That is what this action is saying.
Look, I just looked on the History Channel. It says these words: ``If the Judiciary Committee,'' talking about impeachment, ``finds sufficient grounds, its members write and pass Articles of Impeachment, which then go to the full House for a vote.''
Half of all of the impeachments ever conducted, ever voted for, occurred under this Speaker. You are setting a precedent that says very clearly--because this impeachment isn't going to work, but it is setting the precedent.
Unlike a year ago, when we said, look, it shouldn't go through the Intelligence Committee, it should go through the Judiciary Committee, forget that. Now the message is: If you have a whim and you want to just go after a President, just go straight to the floor--no investigation, no Judiciary Committee. Go straight to the floor. Use it as a political weapon as you wish.
This is so dangerous, what you are doing, forgetting all the precedents. Yes, we can argue back and forth, but you are using this as a weapon, and you are destroying this little experiment in self-
government in a year's time. It needs to stop.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Massachusetts (Ms. Clark).
Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts. Madam Speaker, suffragist and abolitionist Lucy Stone stated, ``If we speak the truth fearlessly, we shall add to our number those who will turn the scale to the side of equal and full justice in all things.''
The truth is, President Trump incited a violent attack against the United States Government.
The truth is, President Trump spent his Presidency inflaming hate, white supremacy, anti-Semitism, and violence.
The truth is, he was enabled by all those who perpetuated the lie that the most secure election in our Nation's history was stolen.
The truth is that these seditious actions left five dead, our Capitol besieged, our security threatened, and our democracy hanging in the balance.
And the truth is, a vote to impeach is our resounding declaration that the government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Issa).
Mr. ISSA. Madam Speaker, the last speaker said that for 4 years the President did all these terrible, inciteful things, including anti-
Semitism. I take exception with that.
But I think it is important that we embrace one thing that was said. Yes, the President has been consistent for the last 4 years. During his campaign, I even, while representing another candidate, said that the President had political Tourette's; he said what was on his mind without a filter.
I don't think that is being debated here today. We all know that is true. What is being debated is whether, with 167 hours left until he leaves office, he is a clear and present danger. He clearly isn't.
The President has acted substantially the same for 4 years. He has rallied his base, and he has, in fact, called for peaceful protest, as he did just a few days ago.
The fact is, today, we are trying to punish the President--at least some are--for 4 years of what he did, not for what happened last week. What happened last week was the result of anarchists who came loaded, prepared, and with weapons.
{time} 1300
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Richmond).
Mr. RICHMOND. Madam Speaker, I rise today in my last floor speech in this body to do what I was sworn to do on the first date: To protect and defend the Constitution.
President Trump put the domestic terrorists on notice by saying,
``Stand back and stand by.'' He then summoned them to D.C., directed them to march on the Capitol, and then he sat back and watched the insurrection.
Some of my colleagues--some of which may well be coconspirators--in their latest attempt to placate and please this unfit President, suggests that we shouldn't punish Trump for his actions in order to unify the country. That is the climax of foolishness.
Let me suggest to them: Stand up. Man up. Woman up. And defend this Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic, including Donald J. Trump.
In the first impeachment, Republicans said we didn't need to impeach him because he learned his lesson, so no need to remove him.
Well, we said, if we didn't remove him, he would do it again. Simply put, we told you so.
Richmond out.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Arizona (Mrs. Lesko).
Mrs. LESKO. Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition to the resolution. At a time when our country needs unity, it is concerning that my Democratic colleagues have chosen to begin impeachment proceedings against a President with just 7 days left in office. All legal challenges have been exhausted. Congress has certified electors over objectors, and Joe Biden will be the next President of the United States.
President Trump has indicated he will peacefully transfer power to President-elect Biden next week.
So why pursue impeachment just 1 week before he leaves office?
I have heard my colleagues on the other side of the aisle say they have to impeach the President because he is too dangerous to stay in power, yet they know that it is impossible for the Senate to remove him before his term expires.
So what is the point?
Madam Speaker, this move sets a dangerous precedent for our Nation. If Congress is going to impeach a President, it must only be done after intense debate and deliberation, not rushed through in the 11th hour to make a political point. This impeachment attempt is dangerous for our country and has far-reaching implications for our future.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from New York (Mr. Jeffries).
Mr. JEFFRIES. Madam Speaker, I did not come to Congress to impeach Donald Trump, but the constitutional crimes by an out-of-control President inspired by his hatred and the big lie that he told cannot be ignored. Donald Trump is a living, breathing, impeachable offense. It is what it is.
The violent attack on the U.S. Capitol was an act of insurrection incited by Donald Trump. He is a clear and present danger to the health, safety, and well-being of the American people. That is why this impeachment is necessary on the House floor for a second time with a bipartisan majority.
Violence will not win. Insurrection will not win. Sedition will not win. Terror will not win. Lawlessness will not win. Mob rule will not win. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever.
Democracy will prevail.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from California (Mr. Aguilar).
Mr. AGUILAR. Madam Speaker, on January 3, we stood here on this floor and swore an oath to defend our Constitution against enemies, foreign and domestic. Three days later, that oath was put to the test when a violent mob tried to break down those doors to stop us from performing our constitutional duty. This mob was not without a leader.
On that day, the President told them to walk to this Capitol, 16 blocks from where he stood. They were radicalized by his lies and conspiracy theories he spent months fueling, many of which I have heard on this floor the last week. He needed to say only two words to end the violence: ``I concede.'' Because that is what leaders do in a democracy. Because that is what we do in the United States. They put politics aside and put country first.
Madam Speaker, as I look to our colleagues over on the other side, I wonder how many of them will demonstrate that leadership and join us in holding President Trump accountable for inciting this deadly attack, and I wonder how many will uphold our oath and put our country first to defend this Constitution from the threat in the White House. To do anything less, is to turn your back on the oath altogether.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Cicilline).
Mr. CICILLINE. Madam Speaker, for more than 220 years since George Washington yielded the Presidency to John Adams, the peaceful transfer of power has been a hallmark of our democracy.
In this country, the will of the American people reigns supreme over the ambitions of any individual. Every single President has honored and upheld these principles until now.
Donald Trump lost his bid for reelection last November. It was a free and fair election. In fact, President Trump's own election security director called it ``the most secure election in U.S. history.'' But for 2 months now, Donald Trump has refused to accept the will of the American people. Over and over again, he has told his supporters he didn't really lose; the election was stolen from him and from them. And as they grew angrier and angrier over this perceived injustice, he told them there was still a way to keep him in power.
As Congress prepared to meet for the sacred ritual of certifying the results of the President's election, the President made his move. He directed his supporters to travel to Washington for a rally to ``stop the steal.''
They did.
Then, once assembled, he had one final request: March on the U.S. Capitol. Do what it takes to help me hold on to power. ``We will never give up. We will never concede,'' he told them. ``If you don't fight like hell,'' he warned, ``you are not going to have a country anymore.''
The people on the Ellipse that day heard his message loud and clear. They answered his call for insurrection.
As the third-ranking Republican in this Chamber put it, he ``summoned the mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack.''
Armed with guns, pipe bombs, bats, shields, zip ties, and more, they set their sights on the U.S. Capitol. They stormed the citadel of our democracy. Hundreds of domestic terrorists did what Donald Trump wanted them to do. They seized the Capitol and tried to end our country's 234-
year experiment in democracy, as the Trump family and White House aides watched gleefully on television.
They searched the Halls of this building for the Vice President, who they came to hang for treason. They overran the Office of the Speaker, who they came to assassinate. They sought, above all else, to seize control of our government in the name of Donald Trump.
Let that sink in: The terrorists who stormed this building planned to hang the Vice President, kill the Speaker, and topple our government.
They took down the American flag and replaced it with a Trump flag.
Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues on the other side of the aisle who are not planning to vote for this article: Is this the kind of country you want to live in? What are you going to tell your children and grandchildren when they ask what you did in this moment? Did you stand for the Republic or for this President?
Heed the words of Abraham Lincoln, the first Republican President, who told our country that ``a house divided against itself cannot stand.''
This great House of which Abraham Lincoln served cannot and will not endure if we do not stand together now.
The President and the terrorists who stormed these Halls last Wednesday did not succeed in toppling our Republic. We must ensure they never do. I implore you to join us in supporting this article.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Van Drew).
Mr. VAN DREW. Madam Speaker, we have been here before. We have done this before. This has failed before. We fractured our Nation using the same process before. Congress must be the glue that starts unifying everyone.
By the time this process would conclude, the man they want out of office will no longer even be the President. If we want unity, this is not the way.
America was and is the leading light in the world. This proceeding has continued to cloak our Nation in darkness.
Nearly half the country supports our current President. This takes their voice away. We must be bigger and better than the most base of instincts that have been driving our political discourse. It is destroying us. Let's link arms with one another and begin to heal. Let's stop this impeachment.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Neguse).
Mr. NEGUSE. Madam Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding.
President Trump's actions--encouraging, inciting a mob that stormed the United States Capitol for the sole purpose of stopping the constitutionally mandated counting of electoral votes--cannot go unanswered by this body. He must be impeached.
If Congress does not act, if we shrink from our constitutional responsibilities to defend our Republic, it will undoubtedly undermine the vision of America as ``the last best hope of earth,'' as Abraham Lincoln so eloquently said so many years ago.
To the millions of Americans watching today: I hope that you understand that we are proceeding on this path out of love for our country.
I will honor my oath today. I will vote for impeachment, and I pray that my colleagues will muster the courage to do the same.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Clyburn).
Mr. CLYBURN. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Madam Speaker, I rise in support of the Article of Impeachment.
Last Wednesday, we gathered to follow the Constitution's simple instruction: To count the electoral votes that have been tallied by the States and submitted to us.
This President refused to accept those results. Instead, he sought to overturn them by inciting a violent insurrection. But we were not deterred from doing our constitutional duty. Today, we must do our constitutional duty once again.
While the President failed in his attempt to upend our democracy, last Wednesday's events declared that if we do not hold him accountable and remove him from power, a future attempt could very well be successful.
The survival of our democracy depends on defeated candidates accepting their defeats, as has been the case in every President's election since 1864.
Our January 6 joint session is a vital part of the transfer of power, not the contest for power. Vice President Gore understood this, accepting and certifying the 2000 election result in which he was defeated. Vice President Biden understood this, accepting and certifying this President's victory in the 2016 election.
This President's refusal to participate in the peaceful transfer of power and his role in the incitement of last week's violence posed an existential threat to our constitution of democracy.
This threat must be extinguished immediately. This President must be impeached and convicted, and he must be prevented from ever attempting to seize power again.
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Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Buck).
Mr. BUCK. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding time.
Madam Speaker, I have heard that President Trump radicalized the group of the rioters who stormed this Capitol. I would say that we need to look no further than ourselves to find out what happened and to look at history.
Americans were frustrated when they learned that the FBI was investigating the Trump campaign. They were frustrated to learn that the Obama administration and the DNC had created this false campaign against the Trump administration. They were frustrated, Madam Speaker, when the inauguration of the President was boycotted by over 40 Democrat Members of this House.
They were frustrated to read in The Washington Post the day after the inauguration: Let the impeachment begin.
They were frustrated when Members of this House spoke over and over about impeaching the President days into his administration. And then the Socialists in Hollywood joined their allies in Congress. Robert De Niro said that he wanted to punch the President in the face. Madonna thought about blowing up the White House. Kathy Lee Griffin held up a likeness of the President's beheaded head, and nothing was said by my colleagues at that point in time.
In fact, one Democrat colleague said that Trump supporters should be harassed wherever they are, in restaurants, on the street, and in supermarkets.
During this time, the President was under investigation by a special counsel who found no collusion and no conspiracy with Russia.
The President's supporters were harassed. Ajit Pai, the head of the FCC, was called a dirty, sneaky Indian. His children were harassed in school. The press secretary, Sarah Sanders, was kicked out of a restaurant for being a Trump employee. The DHS Secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, was harassed by her home, and Trump donors were publicly shamed.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Raskin).
Mr. RASKIN. Madam Speaker, smashing windows and beating police officers over the head with fire extinguishers, a bloodthirsty mob attacked the Capitol and invaded this Congress last Wednesday. They erected a gallows and repeatedly chanted: Hang Mike Pence.
They stormed Speaker Pelosi's office yelling: Where is Nancy?
They brandished the Confederate battle flag and occupied the Senate Chamber. They wounded dozens of people, hospitalized dozens of people, and killed five of our people. For 6 hours, they shut down the counting of electoral college votes--our sacred process under the Constitution for peaceful transfer of power in the United States.
They may have been hunting for Pence and Pelosi to stage their coup, but every one of us in this room right now could have died. As Senator Lindsey Graham said: The mob could have blown the building up. They could have killed us all.
And now the far right is calling for a return engagement from January 17 to January 20. They are asking the President to pardon the conspirators in last week's rampage as they prepare for a race war again next week. It is a bit much to be hearing that these people would not be trying to destroy our government and kill us if we just weren't so mean to them.
Despite the floor leader's desperate effort to polarize this body and this Nation along party lines, it is the chair of the Republican Conference who best articulated what happened in a statement yesterday, and I recommend every American read this. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the elected chair of the Republican Conference, wrote that ``the President summoned this mob, assembled this mob, and lit the flame of this attack. Everything that followed was his doing. None of this would have happened without the President. The President could have immediately and forcibly intervened to stop the violence. He did not. There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States.''
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield the gentleman from Maryland an additional 10 seconds.
Mr. RASKIN. Ms. Cheney says that ``there has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.''
Read Ms. Cheney's statement. Let's come together and impeach the President for this high crime against the Republic. We don't have a minute to spare. He is a clear and present danger to the people.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Gaetz).
Mr. GAETZ. Madam Speaker, it seems to me that impeachment is an itch that doesn't go away with just one scratch. It also seems that President Trump may be most likely to be impeached when he is correct.
Before the last Presidential impeachment, President Trump rightly pointed out the improper activities of the Biden crime family, and subsequently he has been proven right. And don't think for a moment, Madam Speaker, that we are going to drop that or stop our pursuit for the truth.
Before that, Madam Speaker, we had the Russia hoax, where you had the President rightfully making claims that Hillary Clinton and the DNC were colluding with Russians to disorient our democracy. How right he turned out to be.
And then we have the 2020 Presidential election where the President correctly pointed out unconstitutional behavior, voting irregularities, concerns over tabulations, dead people voting, and now impeachment again. ``When they go low, we kick them,'' Eric Holder, former Attorney General under Barack Obama.
Breaching the Capitol was as low as low can be. We all denounce it.
But who is it that they are kicking?
The President, who created soaring highs for our economy, rising wages before the pandemic, and 400 miles of wall to stop the caravans. He drew down troops in the Middle East and showed empathy for the forgotten men and women of our country. It is why so many people love him so much, and it is why they are kicking all of us.
This President has faced unprecedented hatred and resistance from Big Media, Big Tech, and big egos from congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle.
Before the rioters tore through that glass, Speaker Pelosi stood at that rostrum and tore through the President's State of the Union speech, inciting anger, resentment, and division. Some believe that truly these true colors are being shown now through this divisive bipartisan impeachment.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield the gentleman from Florida an additional 40 seconds.
Mr. GAETZ. Madam Speaker, the Speaker said to us just moments ago that words matter. But apparently those words don't matter when they are uttered by Democrats, when the gentlewoman from Massachusetts calls for unrest in the streets, and when the gentlewoman from California brazenly brags that she called for people to get in the faces of those who serve and support the President.
I denounce political violence from all ends of the spectrum. But make no mistake: the left in America has incited far more political violence than the right. For months our cities burned, police stations burned, and our businesses were shattered; and they said nothing or they cheer-
led for it, they fundraised for it, and they allowed it to happen in the greatest country in the world.
Now, some have cited the metaphor that the President lit the flame. They lit actual flames and actual fires. We put them out, and we intend to keep this President.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from California (Mr. Swalwell).
Mr. SWALWELL. Madam Speaker, America has been attacked before, but not like this. On January 6, Donald Trump incited thousands of radicalized terrorists to attack the Capitol to stop a transition of power. Let that sink in. Our President incited our citizens to attack our Capitol. America was not attacked in the past tense. This President has inspired future plots. America is still under attack, and that is why Donald Trump must be impeached.
I have read that many of my GOP colleagues know what the President did was wrong but are afraid for their lives if they cross the President. I am sorry that they are living in fear, but now is the time to summon their courage to guide them.
Madam Speaker, we have all seen the images of the courageous officers who have risked their lives so that you could flee this floor and see your families. That was almost a week ago right now.
Officers engaged in hand-to-hand combat for hours with these terrorists. Capitol Police were spit on, beaten, stampeded, and one of them lost his life.
Madam Speaker, I am not asking you to summon the courage that they did; I am just asking you to do your job and hold this President accountable.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from Texas (Mr. Castro).
Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Madam Speaker, Donald Trump is the most dangerous man to ever occupy the Oval Office.
Madam Speaker, I want to take you back 1 week ago today when people were barging through these doors and breaking the windows with weapons, armed, pipe bombs, coming here to harm all of you, to harm the Speaker, and to harm the Senate.
Madam Speaker, let me ask you a question: What do you think they would have done if they had gotten in?
What do you think they would have done to you, and who do you think sent them here? The most dangerous man to ever occupy the Oval Office.
If inciting a deadly insurrection is not enough to get a President impeached, then what is?
All of us must answer that question today.
The Constitution requires us to impeach and remove Donald John Trump.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Ms. Dean).
Ms. DEAN. Madam Speaker, 1 week ago today, I was trapped in this House Chamber as the banging on the doors began. I feared for colleagues, reporters, and staff. I feared for myself. The attack on the Capitol will never be forgotten.
The President and many in this Chamber have shamelessly peddled dangerous untruths about the election, despite the warnings of where those lies would lead. Last Wednesday, those lies and dangers found themselves inside this Capitol.
This hateful rhetoric is another deadly virus. It is time to remove it from its host. To heal, we need accountability and truth. That begins by acknowledging the President's dangerous lies and their deadly consequences. Removing Donald Trump is the beginning of restoring decency and democracy. What happened last week will not be forgotten, and what we do this week will long be remembered. Vote ``yes'' on impeachment.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. McCarthy).
Mr. McCARTHY. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Madam Speaker, let me be clear: Last week's violent attack on the Capitol was undemocratic, un-American, and criminal. Violence is never a legitimate form of protest. Freedom of speech and assembly under the Constitution is rooted in nonviolence. Yet the violent mob that descended upon this body was neither peaceful nor democratic. It acted to disrupt Congress' constitutional responsibility. It was also an attack on the people who work in this institution: Members, staff, and the hundreds who work behind the scenes so that we can serve the American people.
The greatest statesman in the history of our country understood that the most dangerous threat to freedom is lawlessness. A young lawyer named Abraham Lincoln famously said, ``There is no grievance that is a fit object of redress by mob law.''
Yet, for several hours last week, mob law tried to interfere with constitutional law.
Some say the riots were caused by antifa. There is absolutely no evidence of that, and Conservatives should be the first to say so.
Conservatives also know that the only thing that stops mob violence is to meet it with force rooted in justice and backed by moral courage. Last week, we saw mob violence met by courage, sacrifice, and heroism from the brave men and women who protect this institution every day. But for the bravery of the Capitol Police, the destruction and loss could have been much greater. We owe them a tremendous debt of gratitude.
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The loss of Officer Brian Sicknick and Officer Howard Liebengood was tragic and heartbreaking. We mourn their loss, remember their lives, and continue to pray for their families and loved ones.
The officers of the Capitol Police deserve our eternal thanks. We will never forget the dangers they faced, the determination they showed, or the sacrifices they made.
Make no mistake, those who are responsible for Wednesday's chaos will be brought to justice, which brings me to today's debate. I believe impeaching the President in such a short timeframe would be a mistake.
No investigations have been completed. No hearings have been held. What is more, the Senate has confirmed that no trial will begin until after President-elect Biden is sworn in.
But here is what a vote to impeach would do. A vote to impeach would further divide this Nation. A vote to impeach will further fan the flames of partisan division.
Most Americans want neither inaction nor retribution. They want durable, bipartisan justice. That path is still available, but it is not the path we are on today.
That doesn't mean the President is free from fault. The President bears responsibility for Wednesday's attack on Congress by mob rioters. He should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding.
These facts require immediate action by President Trump: accept his share of responsibility, quell the brewing unrest, and ensure President-elect Biden is able to successfully begin his term.
And the President's immediate action also deserves congressional action, which is why I think a factfinding commission and a censure resolution would be prudent. Unfortunately, that is not where we are today.
Truly, this past week was one of the most difficult for Congress and our Nation. Of all the days here, last Wednesday was the worst day I have ever seen in Congress. Our country is deeply hurt.
So, where do we go from here? After all the violence and chaos of the last week, it is important to remember that we are still here to deliver a better future for all Americans. It does not matter if you are liberal, moderate, or conservative; all of us must resist the temptations of further polarization. Instead, we must unite once again as Americans.
I understand, for some, this call for unity may ring hollow, but times like these are when we must remember who we are as Americans and what we, as a nation, stand for.
As history shows, unity is not an option; it is a necessity. It is as necessary today as it was at the start of our country. I want us all to think back to how John Adams and the Federalist Party handed power over to Thomas Jefferson and his party after the election of 1800.
That election and, indeed, that era was one of the most divisive ever. Partisans used every dirty trick in the book. They demonized each other, dismissed reasonable dissent, and described their opponents as seditious. Sound familiar?
The election of 1800 could have destroyed our young Nation, but instead of breaking us, it helped bring us together, thereby preserving the world's last best hope of freedom. After a hard-fought battle over the electoral college in Congress, Adams conceded. A peaceful transfer of power, the first in American history, took place.
Jefferson, for his part, put aside the division of the era and preached forgiveness and, yes, unity. In his first inaugural address, he famously said: ``Every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle.''
Jefferson and Adams did not end every difference of opinion that existed in America, nor did they try. In a free country as big and diverse as ours, that would be impossible. What they did was more important. They recognized the deeper unity, a unity rooted in the famous proposition both men helped to write. At a critical moment in history, our Founders chose peace, liberty, and partnership over tension, division, and partisanship.
For the sake of our country, we must make the exact same choice. We have already begun.
Last week, despite the lingering shock and amid the windows still broken, we did what all healthy democracies do. We debated, and we voted. In this country, we solve our disputes at the ballot box and through debates and votes on the floor of this exact Chamber. We did our duty then, and we must do more.
The eyes of the Nation and the world are upon us. We must seize this opportunity and heal and grow stronger. As leaders, our place in history depends on whether we call on our better angels and refocus our efforts to work directly for the American people.
United, we can deliver the peace, strength, and prosperity our country desperately needs. Divided, we will fail.
What we saw last week was not the American way. Neither is the continued rhetoric that Joe Biden is not the legitimate President.
Let's be clear: Joe Biden will be sworn in as President of the United States in 1 week because he won the election.
And his Presidency and this Congress will face immediate challenges that must be addressed. I stand ready to assist in that effort with good faith, goodwill, and an open hand.
The United States remains exceptional. We remain extraordinary. In the coming weeks and months, we must work together, all of us, to recharge the light of our shining city on the hill.
History has shown us a way. History has given us a path. Just as Adams and Jefferson have shown, now is the moment that we should do the exact same.
In these trying times, may God continue to bless America. Let's chart a course that history will repeat but not what is happening today.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentlewoman from Colorado (Ms. DeGette).
Ms. DeGETTE. Madam Speaker, just over a year ago, I stood right there where you are standing today as we took the solemn step of impeaching the President of the United States for pressuring a foreign leader to take unlawful actions to help him in his reelection.
Just 1 week ago, almost to the hour, I laid right there on the floor of the gallery above us. I heard gunshots in the Speaker's lobby. I heard the mob pounding on the door. They were an angry mob, incited by the President, trying to stop certification of a legitimate election.
It is clear the President learned nothing in the last year. Yesterday, the President said again he did nothing wrong.
This man is dangerous. He has defied the Constitution. He has incited sedition. And he must be removed.
We all took a pledge on January 3 to uphold the Constitution. We must honor that oath. We must vote ``yes'' on this Article of Impeachment.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Colorado (Mrs. Boebert).
Mrs. BOEBERT. Glory to God.
Madam Speaker, I rise today to oppose this impeachment and denounce the recent violence on the Capitol, just as I opposed the previous impeachment and the violence we have all witnessed all summer long across our great country.
Make no mistake here, the hypocrisy of the left is on full display.
Go to the Hill. Get in the face of some Congresspeople. We have got to fight in Congress, fight in the courts, fight in the streets. Take him behind the gym and beat the hell out of him. Go and take Trump out tonight.
Sound familiar? What about the gentlewoman from New York who defended the looting by saying looters just want loaves of bread? The last I checked, Best Buy and Tesla and stores of the like do not produce baked goods.
Where is the accountability for the left after encouraging and normalizing violence? Rather than actually helping American people in this time, we start impeachments that further divide our country.
I call bull crap when I hear the Democrats demanding unity. Sadly, they are only unified in hate.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters).
Ms. WATERS. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of impeaching again the worst President in the history of the United States.
Since his first day in office, this President has spent 4 years abusing his power, lying, embracing authoritarianism, and radicalizing his supporters against democracy.
This corruption poisoned the minds of his supporters, inciting them to willingly join with white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and paramilitary extremists in a siege of the United States Capitol Building, the very seat of American democracy.
The Republican Party is now the Trump party. And I want you to know that this is a Trump power grab that will not stop. It will not stop with attacking the Capitol and our State legislatures. This President intends to exercise power long after he is out of office.
It is reported that the President of the United States watched the invasion of our Capitol from the Oval Office and seemingly enjoyed it. I want you to know we should be concerned that the Republicans will defend him, and he is capable of starting a civil war.
He must be impeached. He must be stopped now.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Newhouse).
Mr. NEWHOUSE. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Ohio for yielding me the time.
Madam Speaker, this is a sad day in our Republic, but not as sad or disheartening as the violence we witnessed in the Capitol last Wednesday.
We are all responsible. My colleagues are responsible for not condemning rioters this past year, like those who barricaded the doors of the Seattle Police Department and attempted to murder the officers inside. Others, including myself, are responsible for not speaking out sooner, before the President misinformed and inflamed a violent mob who tore down the American flag and brutally beat Capitol Police officers.
Madam Speaker, we must all do better. These Articles of Impeachment are flawed, but I will not use process as an excuse. There is no excuse for President Trump's actions.
The President took an oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Last week, there was a domestic threat at the door of the Capitol, and he did nothing to stop it.
That is why, with a heavy heart and clear resolve, I will vote
``yes'' on these Articles of Impeachment.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, could I ask how much time each side has remaining?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Ohio has 36\1/4\ minutes remaining. The gentleman from New York has 36\3/4\ minutes remaining.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Auchincloss).
Mr. AUCHINCLOSS. Madam Speaker, a mob desecrated our Capitol, killed a police officer, and attempted to overthrow our government on the orders of the President of the United States. Immediate impeachment is our duty under the Constitution that compels us to defend against enemies, foreign and domestic.
As a Marine officer, I defended our democracy from foreign enemies. As a Member of Congress, I am solemnly resolved to defend it from domestic ones.
With this vote, we strike a blow for moral leadership.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot).
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Mr. CHABOT. Madam Speaker, America is at a crossroads. As the violent riots at the Capitol last week so painfully and shockingly reminded us, the unhinged partisan rhetoric that too often consumes the political dialogue in this country has become toxic and is tearing us apart. If we continue down this path, there is no telling how much damage to our Union there may be.
Sadly, that is what is happening here today. The majority is rushing through yet a second impeachment of President Trump, who has but 7 days remaining in office. As prominent constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley has cautioned: Today a dangerous precedent is being set that could lead to the normalization of snap impeachments without any hearings or any meaningful discussion or debate.
The majority is ramming through this House the most potent tool at our disposal without a single hearing, turning a process that usually takes months into a few short hours.
We haven't heard testimony from a single witness. We haven't heard from any experts on the nature of these charges, nor the damage this effort could inflict on our Republic. We didn't know even how this debate would unfold until 9 a.m. this morning.
This is truly an unprecedented situation and one which could cause irrevocable harm to our Nation.
Madam Speaker, it doesn't have to be this way. We don't have to continue down this misguided path. We could instead follow the wisdom provided by none other than Abraham Lincoln during another divisive time in our Nation's history and listen to the better angels of our nature. We could choose a more positive, constructive path and vote down this ill-conceived effort.
We should tone down the political rhetoric. We should work together to solve the problems that face our Nation. We should put aside our differences and find common ground.
We should bring Americans back together because there is no crisis we can't overcome if we stand united.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentlewoman from Washington (Ms. Herrera Beutler).
Ms. HERRERA BEUTLER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to stand against our enemy. To clarify, our enemy isn't the President or the President-
elect.
Fear is our enemy. Fear tells us what we want to hear. It incites anger and violence and fire, but it also haunts us into silence and inaction.
What are you afraid of? I am afraid of what people will say or think. I am afraid of being devalued. I am not afraid of losing my job, but I am afraid that my country will fail. I am afraid patriots of this country have died in vain. I am afraid my children won't grow up in a free country. I am afraid injustice will prevail.
But truth, truth sets us free from fear. Truth doesn't guarantee bad things won't happen, but it does promise to always prevail in the end. It has no shadows where darkness can hide. With truth comes love, and we could use that right now.
My vote to impeach our sitting President is not a fear-based decision. I am not choosing a side; I am choosing truth. It is the only way to defeat fear.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Van Duyne).
Ms. VAN DUYNE. Today, I should be in my district working for my constituents. Instead, I am back here in Washington because the majority could not resist another made-for-TV impeachment.
American workers are losing their jobs and struggling to feed their families. Small businesses are being forced to lay off workers and close their doors. Families are, tragically, losing loved ones to the coronavirus.
Instead of creating or even saving American jobs, or negotiating additional COVID relief, we are debating an impeachment that has been preceded by no inquiry, no meaningful debate, and no due process.
In 1 week's time, Joe Biden will be the President. The American people need us to rise above the heat of the moment, to focus on their needs, and to deliver real solutions.
Because the majority decided we should debate whether or not to remove a sitting President in just 2 hours, I will be brief: I oppose this Article of Impeachment.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentlewoman from Georgia (Ms. Bourdeaux).
Ms. BOURDEAUX. Madam Speaker, I teach a civics class where I point out that our democracy is not self-executing. It requires people of good faith and ethics to make it work.
The President has repeatedly challenged Georgia's election results. But, despite three recounts and many investigations, the results are clear: Joe Biden won Georgia.
The idea that our election was fraudulent is a lie. Our President used this lie to incite a violent mob to attack the Capitol.
I ask my colleagues to act with ethics and good faith, to reject these lies, and, in this case, to support the Article of Impeachment.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Posey).
Mr. POSEY. In our campaigns, we may be adversaries, but usually, after campaign season is over, we have traditionally come together for the good of our Nation.
Now more than ever in our lifetimes, we are a divided Nation. One of the reasons? The resist movement, which has harassed, harangued, and otherwise denigrated the President since the second he became the nominee.
While his sins may be different than yours or mine, they are clearly not treasonous. Let our men and women in blue, who suffered a lot more stress than the Members of Congress they protected, have the time they deserve to recuperate, and do the same for millions of Americans who feel they have been disenfranchised.
I beseech my colleagues on both sides of the aisle: If you truly want our Nation to heal, vote ``no'' on this resolution.
It reeks of nothing more than revenge and sets a dangerous precedent. May God continue to bless the United States of America.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Brown).
Mr. BROWN. Madam Speaker, a week ago, Americans and this Chamber lived through one of our darkest days. The Commander in Chief incited a mob of insurrectionists to overturn the results of a free and fair election through terror and intimidation.
They failed, but this violence took its toll. People died; our country's temple of democracy was vandalized; and our image as the world's leading democracy was shaken.
President Trump represents a real threat to our national security, our democratic institutions, and the people of this country.
We cannot let Donald Trump, who actively orchestrated sedition, lead our Nation's government for another 7 days. We cannot wait until January 20. Donald Trump must be removed.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gooden).
Mr. GOODEN of Texas. Madam Speaker, I also want to thank my Democratic colleagues for finally joining Republicans in condemning mob violence after 6 months of refusing to acknowledge it.
But I am really tired of sanctimonious sermons on being a sore loser from some of the same Democrats who opposed accepting results in elections past. Democrats have objected to certifying every Republican victory of the 21st century. In 2000, 2004, and in 2016, Democrats objected every time.
When they objected, it was patriotic. But when Republicans do it, we are inciting a mob; we are liars; and we are traitors. This is the double standard we should expect under total Democrat control.
They have called for unrest in the streets. They have called for harassing Cabinet officials. They have objected to certifying election results time and time again. Even the Judiciary chairman secured clemency for a domestic terrorist who detonated a bomb right here in this building. But we are the extremists? I don't think so.
We have been silenced by Big Tech on social media, by corporate America. Now the other side wants to silence us on the House floor.
This is a sad day in America. I urge my colleagues to vote ``no.''
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentlewoman from Missouri (Ms. Bush), a new Member of the House and a new member of the Judiciary Committee.
Ms. BUSH. Madam Speaker, St. Louis and I rise in support of the Article of Impeachment against Donald J. Trump.
If we fail to remove a white supremacist President who incited a white supremacist insurrection, it is communities like Missouri's First District that suffer the most.
The 117th Congress must understand that we have a mandate to legislate in defense of Black lives. The first step in that process is to root out white supremacy, starting with impeaching the white supremacist in chief.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Jackson).
Mr. JACKSON. I rise in opposition to the Article of Impeachment.
Let me be clear, what happened last Wednesday was a stain on our Nation, and the criminals and the rioters responsible should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
It is clear now more than ever that our country needs to come together, and Congress, this Congress, needs to lead by example and begin the process of healing the deep division that exists among us as Americans.
The article before us today will not accomplish that. In fact, the sham Article of Impeachment will only serve to further fan the flames of unrest and to appease the radical left's appetite for division.
We should be focusing on restoring communities devastated by lockdowns, working on America's vaccine rollout, aiding a bipartisan investigation into these attacks, and ensuring election integrity, not impeaching a President who has promised a peaceful transition and who has less than 7 days left in office.
It is time to focus on the unprecedented challenges we face, and it is time to focus on unity. For these reasons, I urge my colleagues to oppose the Article of Impeachment.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Clarke).
Ms. CLARKE of New York. Madam Speaker, today, I rise to support H. Res. 24, the Article of Impeachment against Donald Trump for high crimes and misdemeanors for a second time.
Let us be very clear, what took place on January 6, 2021, was an act of domestic terrorism by rightwing sycophantic white supremacists, promoted, instigated, and advanced by the man in the White House, Donald Trump.
Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., once said: ``The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it.''
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Tiffany).
Mr. TIFFANY. Madam Speaker, my father once said to me: Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should.
In the short time I have served in this body, one thing is clear: This is not a serious place.
Last year, we watched as the other side delayed COVID relief for months to inflict maximum pain and sway the outcome of the election. The Speaker said as much.
Yet, these last 2 days, we have seen just how fast they can move when they want to exact political retribution on their opponent.
My friends on the other side now have complete control of both Houses of Congress. In a few days, they will control the entire executive branch as well.
Madam Speaker, Joe Biden has talked unity and healing. Is that what this is today? Is accusing Republican lawmakers of sedition and calling for their expulsion the plan for healing? Is working with Silicon Valley to digitally disappear those with whom they disagree with the plan for reconciliation?
I was among the first to condemn the riots in Madison months ago, and I condemn what happened last week. But where were the swift accusations of incitement and insurrection from the other side last year? Is today's political theater a preview of what the American people can expect from single-party rule, 2 years of double standards, of punishing those who voted for someone else?
Madam Speaker, I hope Mr. Biden is watching today and that he will rise to the moment and call off this effort to rub salt in the wounds of millions of Americans.
It is now time for all of us, Democrats and Republicans alike, to turn down the temperature.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Cleaver).
Mr. CLEAVER. Madam Speaker, it would be an error to suppose that men and women can be courageous every day. It would be unfair to anticipate that I or any Member of this body could be a lion every day. No one is expected to be a lion day after day after day. But on this day, lions are required.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
{time} 1400
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Cohen).
Mr. COHEN. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me the time.
After President Trump was not impeached, Susan Collins said he has learned a pretty big lesson; he was impeached.
Then he brought his ``It will be wild,'' riotous television show that he produced for one person, individual one.
Intelligence reports indicate that the people he said he loves and are special are going to attack this city and attack this Capitol next week. He has not asked them not to do it. He has not told them to stand down. I most fear January 20 because I think he will try to go out with a bang.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, the statement from the President: I urge that there must be no violence, no law breaking, no vandalism of any kind. This is not what I stand for, is not what America stands for. I call on all Americans to help ease tensions and calm down.
I just put out that statement by the President of the United States.
Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Cline).
Mr. CLINE. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me the time, and I thank the President for his words. Above the entrance to the House of Representatives is a sculpture called the Apotheosis of Democracy. It depicts allegorical peace dressed in armor and protecting the genius of America.
Last week, that peace was tragically torn apart as our U.S. Capitol was invaded for the first time since the War of 1812. A violent mob, including many with the most hostile of intentions, broke past security barriers and unleashed destruction and chaos throughout the Capitol. When it was over, six individuals were dead, including two Capitol police officers.
I have always supported the rights of citizens to peaceably assemble, but those who breached the Capitol and assaulted and killed Capitol police should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. If their intent was to stop the constitutional requirement of this body to count electoral votes, they should be charged and prosecuted for insurrection against the government.
But we are a Nation of laws, not of men, and the legal standard for incitement to violence has not been met.
Now, a week since the riots threatened the people's House and a week until a new President takes office, we are rushing through an impeachment without all of the facts and evidence and without due process.
We don't know what kind of information the offenders have, what evidence will come out during their trials, whether it bolsters the majority's claims or the minority's views, or whether it implicates other individuals, groups, or other officials in the attack on this hallowed institution. We just don't know, and that is why we must treat the power of impeachment and our responsibility as holders of this power with the seriousness and solemnity it deserves.
Let us gather the evidence. Let us hear the judiciary, make an informed decision together. This action will only further fuel the political divide among our citizens and will be detrimental to the long-term efforts to unify our country.
I reiterate my call from last night. Let us work together. Both President Trump and President-elect Biden have called for a peaceful transition of power. I humbly beseech my colleagues to work toward this end to unify our country and not go down this dangerous path.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Langevin).
Mr. LANGEVIN. Madam Speaker, January 6 was a horrific day for our country, for our democracy. The Capitol was breached, the blood of our defenders spilled, all because of a lie that the elections were stolen, a lie that has infected this Nation as perniciously as the pandemic.
President Trump is the source of that lie. He has perverted and betrayed his oath to defend the Constitution, attacking the foundation of our democracy by inciting his supporters to violence. He is not fit to serve and is a danger to our country while he does.
I too pledged to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. I will uphold that oath.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Perry).
Mr. PERRY. Madam Speaker, what did the Speaker know, and what did other legislative leaders know, and when did they know it? Maybe that is a rush to impeach the President so we will never know what legislative leaders here knew.
The FBI knew about a number of individuals that were planning a war on the Capitol, including killing police officers, and they shared the information. But nothing happened.
The chief Federal prosecutor in Washington stated he is pursuing conspiracy charges. The fact that IEDs were constructed and placed informs me that there was preplanning for portions of the tragic events last week.
How does the President incite an attack that was preplanned and already underway before his speech concluded?
Now, I know my colleagues on the left want America to believe that the President incited a spontaneous riot that they would like to call an insurrection, but the facts are stubborn things, even if you choose to ignore them.
The truth is the multiple lawless and violent events last summer, including a months-long siege of a Federal courthouse, burning, looting, physical violence in so-called sanctuary cities, more closely fits the definition of insurrection than anything the President said last week.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Connolly).
Mr. CONNOLLY. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend for yielding.
The American people are asking: Is there any depravity too low? Is there any outrage too far? Is there any blood and violence too much to turn hearts and minds in this body instead of the usual justification, rationalization, and enabling in false equivalence we have to hear?
This is a moment of truth, my friends. Are you on the side of chaos and the mob, or on the side of constitutional democracy and our freedom? It is that simple. That is what this vote for impeachment represents.
Madam Speaker, I will not turn a blind eye to the President inciting an armed insurrection against Congress.
In the leadup to the election and in its aftermath, the President peddled outrageous lies to overturn a free and fair election.
When that didn't work, he launched an armed attack on a coequal branch of government.
As the mob closed in, I will never forget it, the banging got louder.
(BANG)
The President watched the violence unfold on television. (BANG)
Republicans begged him to call off the mob. (BANG)
Instead, the President attacked his own Vice President whose life was already in danger. (BANG)
Now five people are dead, and some of my colleagues are calling for unity.
I support unity, but unity cannot be a subterfuge for avoiding accountability.
And today, I vote for accountability.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, could I inquire how much time each side has remaining?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Ohio has 25 minutes remaining. The gentleman from New York has 31\1/4\ minutes remaining.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Crow).
Mr. CROW. Madam Speaker, last week, I stood in that gallery to defend this Chamber against the violent mob called here by Donald Trump. I have dedicated my life to the defense of our Nation, and Donald Trump is a risk to all that I love.
Some of my Republican colleagues are afraid of the consequences of an impeachment vote, but this Congress sends our young men and women to war every day. I am not asking you to storm the beaches of Normandy but only show a fraction of the courage we ask of our troops every day.
Leadership is hard. It is time to impeach.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Danny K. Davis).
Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me the time.
I heard a few minutes ago that there had been no hearings. Well, I have heard from the people of the Seventh District of Illinois. They have told me what to do. They have said: Impeach this President. Impeach this President, and do it now.
I will follow their instructions and vote ``yes'' to impeach this President.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Escobar).
Ms. ESCOBAR. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
On January 6, terrorists attacked the United States of America. It was an attempted coup and an insurrection. But what I hope Americans understand is that it was a terrorist attack against our country.
Those who came and participated must be found and prosecuted. Those who aided and abetted must be found and prosecuted. And the man who incited it, President Donald J. Trump, our greatest national security threat, must be impeached, held accountable, and never be allowed to hold office again.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I now yield 30 seconds to distinguished gentlewoman from California (Ms. Eshoo).
Ms. ESHOO. Madam Speaker, future generations are not going to know the names of each Member in the Chamber today and voting, but they will know what we did and why. We must impeach the President because he incited the mob that attacked the Capitol of the United States, the tabernacle of our democracy. He is incapable of honoring his oath and our Constitution, and he has proven to be unfit and dangerous.
I will vote to impeach this traitor to our country.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I now yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentleman from New York (Mr. Espaillat).
Mr. ESPAILLAT. Madam Speaker, today I cast my vote for the second time to impeach Donald J. Trump. He is unfit to hold office. He summonsed and dispatched his mob to kidnap and hurt many of us. He is unfit to hold office.
He summonsed and dispatched his mob to assassinate Vice President Pence, to assassinate Speaker Pelosi. He is unfit to hold office.
He summonsed and dispatched a mob that waved the racist Confederate flag and assaulted this Capitol, resulting in the death of five Americans, including two Capitol Police officers. He is unfit to hold office. We must impeach now.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Garcia).
Mr. GARCIA of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I rise today in the strongest possible support for the impeachment of Donald J. Trump. When Trump made a last desperate attempt to steal the Presidency, to reject the will of the people by encouraging insurrection, he became the first President to incite an attempted overthrow of the institutions he is sworn to protect.
That is a horrifying first, and his actions necessitate another. He should be the first President impeached and removed from office in the history of our country. I voted to impeach him once, and I am willing to do it again.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I now yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Garcia).
Ms. GARCIA of Texas. Madam Speaker, this President took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution. Instead, he has chosen to betray and attack our sacred democracy.
This President violated his oath. He abused the power of his office, attempted to betray the will of the American people, and incited insurrection against this very House.
During the last impeachment trial, I reminded all Americans that democracy is a gift that each generation gives to the next. We must do all to protect it for our children and our future.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Steube).
Mr. STEUBE. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. For 3 years, Democratic Members of this body and the mainstream media lied to the American people that the Trump campaign colluded and conspired with Russia--for years--after an exhaustive investigation was found that there was no evidence that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia.
Should Democratic Members of this body resign for lying to the American people repeatedly and sowing division and dissension all across America? And it was all a lie.
Madam Speaker, you have brought one Article of Impeachment to the floor, and your one allegation alleges: ``Donald John Trump engaged in high crimes and misdemeanors by inciting violence against the Government of United States.''
In D.C., it is a crime to ``intentionally or recklessly act in such a manner to cause another person to be in reasonable fear and to incite or provoke violence when there is a likelihood that such violence will ensue.''
There was no language in the President's speech that incited or provoked violence. In fact, at around the 18-minute mark, he stated:
``Peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.''
You may think that he is inciting violence because he believes there was election fraud. That is his opinion, and he is entitled to that opinion, just like all of you were entitled to your false and fraudulent opinion that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia.
The legal elements of incitement are based on the Supreme Court case Brandenburg v. Ohio, in which the Supreme Court set the standard for speech that could be prosecuted without violating the First Amendment. Brandenburg's speech called for violence against groups of Americans, and the Court found that Brandenburg's comments were not directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action.
The Court found that it was protected speech, and he was calling for violence. That is the current law of the land.
The President didn't even mention violence last Wednesday, much less provoke or incite it. There was no crime committed; therefore, no basis for impeachment, as you need a high crime or misdemeanor for a basis.
You have created a mockery out of the impeachment process, and I urge all my colleagues to stand against it and fight the latest fraud being perpetrated against the American people by the radical left.
{time} 1415
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentleman from Nevada (Mr. Horsford).
Mr. HORSFORD. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of the Article of Impeachment. Last Wednesday's events were not just a breach of a building, but a breach of our democracy, a threat to our Republic and to who we are as Americans.
Donald Trump incited insurrection against America and attempted to overturn the will of the people. We must send a clear message that committing sedition disqualifies a President from serving another day in office. I urge this body to vote for impeachment. I will.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Ms. Houlahan).
Ms. HOULAHAN. Madam Speaker, last evening, an 11-year-old girl joined our telephone townhall. Her question shook me to my core. She was worried about the future of this great Nation, and I am, too. That is why I must move forward with impeachment of this President. He has endangered this Nation. He has betrayed his oath.
I do this now for all of us, for our Constitution, and for this Republic. I do this to tell the world that this great democracy will stand and no one is above the law. I do this for our future generations.
I urge us all to unite and to vote ``yes'' on impeachment.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentleman from California (Mr. Huffman).
Mr. HUFFMAN. Madam Speaker, history is watching and saving the receipts. Today, my colleagues across the aisle must choose which side of a very bright line they want to be recorded on for all time.
On one side: Lies, sedition, inciting and supporting insurrection and domestic terrorism.
The other side: Your oath of office, the Constitution, democracy, decency.
There is no middle ground. Today, we make history forever. So choose well.
A vote to impeach Donald Trump means, years from now, you can look your grandchildren in the eye and say, ``I did the right thing.''
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentlewoman from California (Ms. Jacobs).
Ms. JACOBS of California. Madam Speaker, the response to political violence must always be accountability. Without accountability, more violence will follow. I learned that working at the United Nations and the State Department in conflict settings around the world, and the United States Congress is now a conflict setting.
A violent mob threatened our lives in this Chamber and almost succeeded, incited by the President, who broadcasted live about the outcome of our election. We must hold this President accountable. It is the only way to protect our democracy.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Johnson).
Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I am certain that every Member of Congress would say, if they had been in Congress when John Lewis walked across that Edmund Pettus Bridge and the Civil Rights Act was passed, they would have stood on the right side of history.
Well, Madam Speaker, today, we are going to see exactly what side of history Members are going to be on.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Cawthorn).
Mr. CAWTHORN. Madam Speaker, today represents a unique opportunity in our Nation's history, an opportunity to put America first, to put her people first. Today is a moment for Members of Congress to put aside partisan politicking and place people over power.
I urge my colleagues to vote against this divisive impeachment and realize that dividing America will not save this Republic. I urge my colleagues to not simply vote for what feels good.
Of course, it feels good for the Democrats to have a united constituency for a few more days, but I was elected to come here and vote for things that actually do good, to bring much-needed help to the American people.
I am willing to take the first step and extend my hand across the aisle to say: Vote against impeachment; vote in favor of a unified nation; and I will forsake partisanship and work with you, no matter who you are or what party you come from.
Madam Speaker, I urge that we all vote to finally put America first.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Jones), a new Member of the House and a new member of the Committee on the Judiciary.
Mr. JONES. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of the impeachment of Donald J. Trump, the disgraced, defeated President of the United States. There must be consequences for last week's treason and sedition. Hundreds, if not thousands, of Donald Trumps in today's Republican Party aim to run for higher office; and we must send a message that no one in the United States of America is above the law. The world is watching, Madam Speaker.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Kildee).
Mr. KILDEE. Madam Speaker, 1 week ago, the President of the United States incited a deadly attack on the United States Capitol, while a couple of dozen Members of this House and I covered ourselves in that Gallery, away from the Trump mob. Five dead, including Capitol Police. If inciting an insurrection does not warrant impeachment, nothing does.
I took an oath to uphold the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
Mr. KILDEE. Today, I uphold my oath.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Grothman).
Mr. GROTHMAN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to strongly object to the Article of Impeachment proposed against President Trump, which makes the preposterous claim that President Trump wanted or expected the riots that took place last week. He clearly said he wanted a peaceful and patriotic demonstration. He did say he wanted people to ``fight like hell or we are not going to have a country anymore,'' but that is obviously standard hyperbole and was not meant to aim at physical fights.
But what is offensive is what you are saying--and is inflammatory--
about the tens of thousands of peaceful protesters who were there last week, as well as the tens of millions of people they represent. You don't understand why they are here.
They are scared to death we are going to go back to the days without Donald Trump, of hundreds of thousands of people crossing the border every month. They are scared to death nobody is going to keep our manufacturing here. They are scared to death that nobody else will fight the cancel culture as we head toward an era when some things can't be said. They are scared to death that the majority party got here by teaming up with Black Lives Matter, a bunch founded by Marxists and the dislike of family.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from California (Mr. Garamendi).
Mr. GARAMENDI. Madam Speaker, I rise today determined to fulfill our sacred oath to protect and defend the Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic. Last week's violent insurrection on the Capitol was a stain on our democracy. A riotous mob incited by the President stormed these very Halls, beat and murdered police officers, planted pipe bombs, and left our Nation shocked and in mourning.
The President's rhetoric, actions, and refusal to accept responsibilities are an imminent threat to our Nation. I vote to impeach the President. I urge my colleagues to do the same.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Krishnamoorthi).
Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI. Madam Speaker, my parents brought me as an infant to America because they knew it is the land of democracy. It is the beacon of hope for all the world. We called it the American Dream.
When Donald Trump told rioters to go to the Capitol and, quote, unquote, ``fight like hell,'' he incited an attack on the Capitol and the ideals comprising the American Dream.
I am voting for impeachment because I know we are still the country my parents believed in, and I will fight like hell for it.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from Michigan (Mrs. Lawrence).
Mrs. LAWRENCE. Madam Speaker, on Wednesday, the 6th, Democrats and Republicans hid on the floor, put on gas masks, and were ushered out of this room.
We, in this country, cannot begin healing and unity without accountability and justice. The President of the United States incited a violent insurrection against Congress--you, me--and the Vice President of the United States. This cannot be ignored. Impeach now.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee).
Ms. LEE of California. Madam Speaker, on January 6, Donald Trump incited his white nationalist supporters to initiate an attempted coup against the heart of our democracy, the United States Capitol. This heinous act of domestic terrorism demands that Congress act to remove this President.
Donald Trump has been, and remains, a threat to our national security and our democracy, and he is wholly unfit to serve as President. He and his supporters must be held accountable for inciting violence against the Government of the United States. Congress must act immediately to remove this clear and present danger from our country.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Georgia (Mrs. Greene).
Mrs. GREENE of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I am against the impeachment effort by the Democrats.
President Trump has held over 600 rallies in the last 4 years. None of them included assaulting police, destroying businesses, or burning down cities.
Democrats have spent all this time endorsing and enabling violent riots that left billions in property damage and 47 dead across the United States.
Democrats are on record supporting violence when it serves their cause, in their own words on social media, on interviews, and on the fundraising platform ActBlue.
Democrats support defunding the police when it is someone else's city, someone else's home, and someone else's business. Democrats will take away everyone's guns, just as long as they have guards with guns.
Democrats' impeachment of President Trump today has now set the standard that they should be removed for their support of violence against the American people.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Levin).
Mr. LEVIN of Michigan. Madam Speaker, for 2 months, Donald Trump used the biggest megaphone in the world to organize a campaign of outright lies to overturn a free and fair election. On January 6, he summoned and incited a mob of domestic terrorists to fight like hell and sent them to ransack this Capitol in order to prevent us from formalizing his election loss. It was a grotesque orgy of deadly white supremacism, anti-Semitism, and strongman rule.
Today, we will do our duty and vote to remove the author of this horrifying chapter and banish him from public service.
{time} 1430
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, can I inquire how much time is remaining?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Ohio has 20 minutes remaining. The gentleman from New York has 21\3/4\ minutes remaining.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentleman from California (Mr. Levin).
Mr. LEVIN of California. Madam Speaker, what each of us chooses to do today, whether we vote to hold this President to account or look the other way, we will be remembered by history, by our children and their children.
The facts are clear, the evidence of Trump's insurrection overwhelming. History calls on us to do what is right rather than just politically expedient. Let us look back on this day with honor, not disgrace, knowing we were up to the oath we all took.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from Virginia (Mrs. Luria).
Mrs. LURIA. Madam Speaker, the perpetrators of this heinous attack on our Nation's democracy were Americans encouraged and emboldened by President Trump because he could not accept the outcome of a free and fair election.
His actions are seditious, and the President has proven that he is not fit to serve. History will look back on this moment to see who stood strong in support of American democracy.
As my colleagues have said, we must come together, but our Nation cannot begin to heal until there is accountability for the atrocity we witnessed last week.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Clyde).
Mr. CLYDE. Madam Speaker, I rise today in opposition to the effort to impeach President Trump. This course of action will only increase dissent and disunity across our country, and it flies in the face of all efforts to heal our Nation.
Quite simply, it is a shameful final act of political retribution, retribution this President has weathered since day one.
I have no doubt that those who breached the Capitol will have due process and their day in court. However, there will be no investigation in the people's House into whether the allegation against the President meets the criteria for a crime worthy of impeachment. No evidence was presented. No witness testified. No cross-examination was conducted. No due process was afforded. That sets an extremely dangerous precedent for the future.
If my Democratic colleagues were serious in their efforts to get to the truth, they would convene the House Judiciary Committee and investigate, but they are not.
And so I am proud to stand before you today to defend our President from the injustices my Democratic colleagues are so giddy to pursue. I oppose this effort to impeach the President and ask all Members of the House to do the same.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from Georgia (Mrs. McBath).
Mrs. McBATH. Madam Speaker, I rise with a heavy heart for what our Nation has endured.
All those who have incited an attack on these Halls of freedom must never forget that, in every generation, Americans of all colors and creeds have laid down their lives in the struggles against tyranny, the fight against fascism, and the defense against those who would betray the values upon which this Nation was founded.
It is our duty to shoulder that defense of our democracy here today. The President's actions have laid bare his contempt for our Constitution, and he must be removed.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Meeks).
Mr. MEEKS. Madam Speaker, the armed insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol did not emerge out of a vacuum. They were lied to by Republican Senators and Republican Congressmen and -women. But they were incited to violence by one man above all else: Donald J. Trump, who tried to be the ultimate ruler of our democracy.
The world is watching. Our allies are watching, and our adversaries are watching. We must show them that no one will rule this country and be above the law. The cameras of history are rolling. We must act. We must impeach Donald J. Trump and show the world what we stand for.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Moore).
Mr. MOORE of Utah. Madam Speaker, last Wednesday, on my third day, I realized that I can make hard and seemingly unpopular decisions. Voting to strip electoral college votes from States is a dangerous precedent set by Democrats many years ago and perpetuated by my party as well. I heard nothing in those debates that justified such a high bar.
A rushed impeachment will set a similar precedent. Without a single hearing or investigation, I simply cannot reach the high bar of impeachment.
To my district, I commit to constantly being objective in all of my decision-making.
And, as I abandon the remainder of my remarks, as I listen to this debate, it is no wonder our Nation is divided. We are on an absolute race to the bottom. I was hoping that last week we could have hit rock bottom.
I commit to doing better, and I hope that we all can dig in and find a way.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Beatty).
Mrs. BEATTY. Madam Speaker, domestic terrorists attacked our democracy, urged on by a sitting President. These insurrectionists believe Donald Trump's lies about the stolen election. They obeyed his call to attack. They literally carried his banner while storming the Capitol.
Last week's insurrection was shocking and tragic. It was the culmination of 4 years of assaults on our democracy.
We must impeach this President. And the Congressional Black Caucus stands ready to join in a bipartisan message to the likes of Donald Trump.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from Wisconsin (Ms. Moore).
Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin. Madam Speaker, the President radicalized American citizens. As his Vice President fled from a lynch mob and the Speaker cowered and while people died, he watched with glee.
That is why, even though it is only 7 days before the end of his term, we have the fierce urgency of now. Seven days is too long for him to be in power. He could declassify state secrets. He could monetize national secrets to foreign adversaries.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Arrington).
Mr. ARRINGTON. Madam Speaker, I rise with great sorrow to oppose this second attempt at a baseless impeachment from my Democrat colleagues.
This week's attack on the U.S. Capitol was completely unacceptable, and the people involved should be met with swift accountability.
The President didn't incite a riot. The President didn't lead an insurrection. There are no high crimes and misdemeanors requisite of an impeachment.
I am not saying the President didn't exercise poor judgment, but to criminalize political speech by blaming lawless acts on the President's rhetoric is wrong, Madam Speaker, and a very dangerous precedent.
The criminals who stormed the Capitol that day acted on their own volition. They are responsible for their actions.
This is an important moment, Madam Speaker, for our Nation. We have the opportunity to come together and do what is right for our country. The votes are certified; President Trump has conceded. Let's focus on the future and get back to the people's business.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. Newman).
Ms. NEWMAN. Madam Speaker, it is an honor to speak today. So, today, I stand with this body to impeach this President.
I agree with my Democratic colleagues. I also agree with my Republican colleagues: Let's unite.
Let's unite to address this pandemic and start by simply wearing a mask. Let's unite to bring back the economy and start by putting $2,000 checks in people's pockets. And let's unite to hold these domestic terrorists accountable and impeach this President.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, how much time do I have remaining?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from New York has 18\1/4\ minutes remaining. The gentleman from Ohio has 17 minutes remaining.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Norcross).
Mr. NORCROSS. Madam Speaker, I rise today at a time of historical concern: Last week, on this very House floor, an attack on democracy, that symbol. But it was an attack from within on this very floor.
Let's be clear. Cause and effect: rally at the White House, march down Pennsylvania Avenue--a parade in reverse--and an attack on this Chamber.
A police officer was killed, and what I hear is, ``Time to heal.'' He is not even buried yet.
It is clear and present danger. No one is above the law--not the President, if he has 4 years or 4 days. We must do the right thing for all Americans because he must be held accountable.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Indiana (Mrs. Spartz).
Mrs. SPARTZ. Madam Speaker, I appreciate a variety of opinions, but any accusations must go through the proper due process, whether it is election fraud or an impeachable offense.
As someone who did not support the objection to certification last week, I will not support this political charade today.
The rule of law and due process is vital to what our constitutional Republic stands for. Congress should stop playing divisive politics and start working on delivering real, good policies for the American people.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from California (Mr. Panetta).
Mr. PANETTA. Madam Speaker, a week ago was the culmination of carnage caused to our country by this President. Four years ago, he said he would stop such devastation. Instead, the President has continued to debase our democracy with assaults on our elections and incitement at the Ellipse and the battery at our Capitol.
American exceptionalism is not guaranteed; we must always work to grow it. That includes our work today to hold President Trump accountable. American carnage started with this President. A vote for impeachment will stop it for our posterity.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Pocan).
Mr. POCAN. Madam Speaker, the U.S. Capitol has not been breached for over 200 years, since the War of 1812--that is, until last week, when it wasn't another country that attacked us but our own President.
President Donald Trump asked his supporters to march on the Capitol, inciting domestic terrorism that cost five lives, including a Capitol Police officer.
We all know, whether you say it aloud or not, Donald Trump is responsible for inciting the attacks on our democracy, while he should have been the one person protecting it the most. For that, he is unfit to be President, and we must impeach him.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Roy).
Mr. ROY. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Ohio for yielding.
The President of the United States deserves universal condemnation for what was clearly, in my opinion, impeachable conduct, pressuring the Vice President to violate his oath to the Constitution to count the electors.
His open and public pressure, courageously rejected by the Vice President, purposefully seeded the false belief among the President's supporters, including those assembled on January 6, that there was a legal path for the President to stay in power. It was foreseeable and reckless to sow such a false belief that could lead to violence and rioting by loyal supporters whipped into a frenzy.
{time} 1445
Unfortunately, my Democratic colleagues drafted an article that I believe is flawed and unsupportable, focusing on the legal terms of incitement and insurrection.
Even noting impeachment does not require meeting a certain legal standard--the danger for open speech and debate in this body and for the Republic is high--if the House approves the article as written.
The language will be used to target Members of this body under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. It will be used to suggest that any statements we make are subject to review by our colleagues and to send us down a perilous path of cleansing political speech in the public square.
Madam Speaker, we must end this. Let us condemn that which must be condemned, and do so loudly. But let us do it the right way, with deliberation and without disastrous side effects. We must end tearing apart our Nation by social media and sound bites. Let us stop. Let us debate. Let us sit down and lead this Nation together.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney).
Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York. Madam Speaker, this vote is not one man, one party, or even one day. It is about protecting our Nation, preserving democracy and the rule of law.
The facts are clear and undisputed: President Trump used a litany of lies about a stolen election and willfully incited an armed insurrection with the intent of stopping the peaceful transfer of power. He attacked not just the Capitol, not just Congress, he even attacked democracy itself. That is why he must be impeached.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Price).
Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. Madam Speaker, the President has engaged in conduct that is criminal, impeachable, and profoundly threatening to our democracy.
He pressed State officials and Members of this body to overturn a legitimate election and to keep him in power. He then invited and activated a violent mob to invade the Capitol and achieve his desired result by insurrection.
If that is not impeachable conduct, I don't know what is. The President must be removed from office immediately and never allowed to hold office again. Our democracy requires it.
Madam Speaker, the president has engaged in conduct that is criminal, impeachable, and profoundly threatening to our democracy.
He has sought to overturn an election to keep himself in office and to prevent the peaceful transfer of power.
He has done this by perpetrating a big lie, despite counts and recounts and dozens of judicial rulings, and has pressed state officials and members of this body to reject and reverse popular and electoral vote outcomes.
He then invited and activated a violent mob of right-wing extremists, domestic terrorists, and white nationalists to invade the Capitol and achieve his desired result by insurrection.
If that is not impeachable conduct, I don't know what is.
The President must be removed from office immediately and must never be allowed to seek office again, and a marker must be laid down for all time as to what the Constitution and our democracy require.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Fallon).
Mr. FALLON. Madam Speaker, last summer, the antifa and BLM riots swept all over our country. Cities were burned, businesses destroyed, and lives violently stolen. And it wasn't just for an afternoon, like those horrible hours we had on January 6; but rather, they went for weeks and, in some cases, even months.
So if there is any silver lining in this dark cloud, it is that our friends from across the aisle have come to realize that riots are bad. We conservatives have known this all along.
This snap impeachment is a sham and it didn't go through the Committee on the Judiciary. It is not even about the President's actual words, but it is about how our Democratic colleagues want to interpret his words and fashion a particular meaning to them.
Now, this is just political grandstanding at its worst. The American people desperately want us to move on and tackle the issues and find solutions to them forthwith.
Madam Speaker, let's end this obsession and charade and let's get to work.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Quigley).
Mr. QUIGLEY. Madam Speaker, now we hear talk of the President's notion of a peaceful transfer of power.
Which apparently means what? Minimal casualties?
Now we hear talk of healing after the criminal acts are completed.
Never, as a criminal defense attorney, did I say: Judge, yeah, my guy completed the armed robbery, but let's heal now.
No. There was accountability. There was accountability then, there should be accountability now, and there should be impeachment now.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Ross), a new member of the committee.
Ms. ROSS. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of the Article of Impeachment. The President's responsibility for the violence and insurrection that occurred last Wednesday cannot go unanswered. The President has had multiple opportunities to modify his behavior to bring this country together. Instead, he uses his power to further divide us. He is unrepentant.
Congress must act for the good of this country.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Good).
Mr. GOOD of Virginia. Madam Speaker, I stand today in support of President Trump and against this sham impeachment proceeding with literally 1 week--7 days--remaining in his term. This is merely the culmination of a 4-year effort to overturn the will of the people and the results for the 2016 election.
This is simply a political action intended to tarnish the legacy of a highly successful President who led us to an incredible economy, energy independence, reduction of taxes for millions, regulatory relief for businesses, renewed peace in the Middle East, and stronger border security.
This action will only serve to further offend the 75 million people who voted for President Trump, and further deepen the division within our Nation as we try to move forward with the peaceful transition of power.
However, the Democrat majority has determined he is already guilty and there is no need of a trial; and they, therefore, move forward quickly with this phony impeachment charge.
Today, I join my Republican colleagues in standing against this further effort to divide our Nation.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentleman from Texas (Mr. Cuellar).
Mr. CUELLAR. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of the impeachment.
It is very simple. What we saw on January 6 was a person, the President of the United States, incite a crowd to come and attack the Capitol. We have to make sure that we stand up for democracy.
If we don't do this, then what are we going to stand for?
We stand for democracy. We stand for American values. And I stand for the impeachment of Donald Trump.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Ms. Scanlon).
Ms. SCANLON. Madam Speaker, on January 6, President Trump launched an attack against the United States Capitol. I, too, urge my colleagues to unite, but to unite in love of country, and to hold this President accountable.
What unites our country is respect for the rule of law. Without accountability for those who would shatter the rule of law by overturning a Presidential election, we cannot take seriously the cries of being a united people.
This President remains a serious threat to our country and he must be held accountable.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentleman from Georgia (Mr. David Scott).
Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia. Madam Speaker, let me make everybody aware that on those just sun-bleached bones of history of many great nations are written those poetic words: Too late, they move too late to save their great nations.
Madam Speaker, let us not this day move too late to save our great Nation.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Norman).
Mr. NORMAN. Madam Speaker, I rise today for two reasons: One, to voice my strong opposition for the impeachment of this President with 7 days left. Two, to also voice my support for the strong police department many of you want to defund.
Where were your cries to defund when you were leaving this office, this very room, on January 6?
Height of hypocrisy.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are kindly reminded to address their remarks to the Chair.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentleman from California (Mr. Sherman).
Mr. SHERMAN. Madam Speaker, how ironic. An administration begins by building an unnecessary wall on our southern border, it ends by making necessary, a new wall around this Capitol.
Madam Speaker, I introduced Articles of Impeachment in July of 2017 with one cosponsor, Al Green, and again in January of 2019. And on Monday night, I joined with so many of us in introducing these articles. I have introduced Articles of Impeachment in the 115th, 116th, and 117th Congress because Donald Trump has continuously posed a danger to this republic.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mast).
Mr. MAST. Madam Speaker, I rise with a very simple question. On January 6, thousands broke the law by taking siege of our Capitol here with us inside.
Has any one of those individuals who brought violence on this Capitol been brought here to answer whether they did that because of our President?
It appears I will receive no answer.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Stanton).
Mr. STANTON. Madam Speaker, Donald Trump is the first President in the history of this Republic to incite a violent insurrection against our own government, against our own people. It is a shocking betrayal of his oath of office and our American values. We don't know yet if the President will face criminal charges, but we do know he must be held to account.
Each one of us in this House took an oath to protect and defend our Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, even if that enemy is the President.
We must move forward as a nation from these darkest days, but we can't move forward without accountability. We must impeach this President.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentlewoman from Michigan (Ms. Stevens).
Ms. STEVENS. Madam Speaker, insurrection. A violent mob. A week ago today, five people were killed, many injured, and everyone in this building forced to hide for their very life.
The President was called for help, but he did not answer our call while our government was being taken over. He failed to lead and, therefore, proved himself incapable of doing so.
Some may say impeachment is political. Some may cry it is divisive. Madam Speaker, our obligation to our Constitution is to protect this Nation.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from California (Mr. Takano).
Mr. TAKANO. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of the impeachment of President Donald Trump. The gravity of the moment demands it, and the fate of our Republic depends on it.
He committed an impeachable offense by inciting a violent and deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. For this, Congress must hold him accountable to preserve our democracy, our Constitution, and the rule of law.
He should serve not 1 minute more and be barred forever from public office. He is toxic to our Republic and toxic to our democracy.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
So Democrats can say, ``I just don't even know why there aren't uprisings all over the country,'' while there are uprisings happening around the country, but they impeach the President of the United States for saying, ``Peacefully and patriotically, make your voices heard.''
Democrats can say, ``You know, there needs to be unrest in the streets,'' while there is unrest in the streets, but they are going to impeach the President for saying, ``Peacefully and patriotically, make your voices heard.''
Let's be consistent, all of us. All of us need to be consistent and condemn the violence all the time.
Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from New Mexico
(Ms. Herrell).
Ms. HERRELL. Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition to these Articles of Impeachment.
Political violence has no place in our constitutional Republic, and those who assaulted police officers and forced their way into the Capitol are responsible for their criminal actions.
Leaders in both parties have a responsibility to condemn such violence, whether in the Halls of Congress or on the streets of America.
I don't believe, Madam Speaker, that the American people have an appetite for this. They are expecting us to do the will of those who sent us from each State around the Nation.
Right now, Madam Speaker, we are seeing this body that has impeached once before trying to do it a second time. Two wrongs do not make a right.
We have got to stand for the American people, because we will not get a second chance to get this right the first time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentleman from New York (Mr. Torres), who is a new Member.
Mr. TORRES of New York. Madam Speaker, the dangerous mob that Donald Trump unleashed on the United States Capitol represents a violent assault on the separation of powers and on the peaceful transfer of power that we have long taken for granted.
The impeachment of Donald Trump is not politics but law, not passion but reason, not vengeance but justice. And we, as the people's Representatives, must rise to the challenge of defending democracy in the face of its gravest threat, and we will.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentlewoman from Massachusetts (Mrs. Trahan).
Mrs. TRAHAN. Madam Speaker, I stand before you today in disbelief--
disbelief that, after the President incited a violent mob to commit an act of insurrection and remained silent as police officers were assaulted, the Capitol was ransacked, and Members of this body fled for their lives, that there are still members of his party who refuse to hold him accountable.
It is because of that inaction that there is only one path forward to put an end to this Presidency. Donald Trump must be impeached, removed from office, and barred from ever holding the Office of the Presidency again.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Velazquez).
Ms. VELAZQUEZ. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of this resolution because, in America, we hold power to account. In America, we do not succumb to violent insurrections incited by a head of state. In America, we do not turn a blind eye to high crimes and misdemeanors. No. That is not who we are.
So, today, as a sworn defender of this Nation's Constitution, I will vote in favor of impeaching Donald J. Trump.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, may I inquire of the time remaining for each side?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Ohio has 10 minutes remaining. The gentleman from New York has 9\3/4\ minutes remaining.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. LaMalfa).
Mr. LaMALFA. Madam Speaker, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the second annual impeachment show extravaganza, brought to you by the censors in left-wing media, the fact-check ministers of shutdown in Big Tech, and the Democrat Party.
Today, the second annual impeachment of President Trump isn't really about actual words spoken at a rally. No. This is all about, Madam Speaker, the unbridled hatred of this President.
You use any extreme language and any process to oppose the core of what he has really fought for. You hate him because he is pro-life, the strongest ever. You hate him for fighting for the freedom of religion, to not be persecuted by unfair mandates and limitations on speech.
You hate him for not subscribing to and shackling us with the religion of climate change and one-sided Paris accords. You hate him for Israel. You hate him for defending our borders.
You hate him for letting families and small businesses keep what they earn, for trying to keep the agents of government off their back.
You hate him for putting America first, which is what I thought we do when we swear the oath.
No, this shabby show isn't about a threat to our Republic. This is the impeachment and muting of at least half of the American people. This is a shameful abuse of a process.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield the gentleman from California an additional 30 seconds.
Mr. LaMALFA. Madam Speaker, I pray people of all stripes wake up to the spectacle and exercise their rights to put a stop to it through free speech and through fair elections.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Wasserman Schultz).
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Madam Speaker, I rise to support the impeachment of President Donald J. Trump for seditious acts against America.
To overturn the 2020 Presidential election, Trump incited a violent assault on Congress--a treasonous betrayal of our Nation. This criminal incitement left us with five dead, including a police officer; a desecrated Capitol; and a second constitutional crisis.
His acts show contempt for the rule of law, the Constitution, and the foundation of any democracy: a peaceful transition of power.
President Trump is a clear and present danger to American lives and democracy, and he leaves us no choice but to immediately remove him from office.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 90 seconds to the gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. Harshbarger).
Mrs. HARSHBARGER. Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote against impeachment of our sitting President, Donald J. Trump.
You can tell the American people that this is a vote to impeach upon the grounds of inciting violence and insurrection, but the American people see a double standard. They see a standard applied to those on the left who commit violence, and they see a standard applied to those on the right who commit violence. The American people see this, and they understand it.
I have been here all of 1 week, and what I see instead of lawmakers who are truth-seekers, I see lawmakers who are power-seekers. That is never good--never good. What a shame. What a shame.
The American people are watching to see how their elected officials respond at this moment in history. Will you vote to mend or will you vote to further divide this country?
I am urging you to use this opportunity to be the leaders the American people are seeking for such a time as this.
God help us as a nation, and I pray that God will keep His hand upon on the greatest nation that the world has ever seen.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, how much time is remaining, please?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from New York has 9\1/4\ minutes remaining, and the gentleman from Ohio has 8 minutes remaining.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Butterfield).
Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Madam Speaker, President Trump's incitement to violently overturn the results of a free and fair election is an attack on our rule of law.
Any President, any Member of Congress who obstructs the electoral college or attacks judges and the court system when there is no evidence to support their contentions undermines the public's trust and confidence in the judicial process.
How do my Republican colleagues expect ordinary citizens to respect and trust the courts in civil and criminal matters all across this country? Think about that as you make this decision.
Vote ``yes'' on the Articles of Impeachment.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentlewoman from California (Ms. Roybal-Allard.)
Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD. Madam Speaker, I take no joy in voting to impeach President Trump, but this President has blood on his hands in the wake of this attempted coup.
The fact remains, no President of the United States is above the law, and this President has sadly violated his oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
As Members of Congress who have taken that same pledge, it is our duty to take this action and impeach this unfit and dangerous President.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentleman from California (Mr. Khanna).
Mr. KHANNA. Madam Speaker, I am voting to impeach because, as Lincoln said, no grievance is a fit object of redress by mob law.
But we must recognize that our hard work begins when we address the real grievances and despair in left-behind communities. To be worthy of this Capitol that we hold sacred, to fix our broken windows and broken communities, let's finally commit to investing trillions in creating good jobs in healthcare, in education, and in infrastructure for communities and places that are hurting.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentlewoman from Alabama (Ms. Sewell).
Ms. SEWELL. Madam Speaker, I rise today to support impeachment.
I do so with a heavy heart and a lasting and searing memory of being in this gallery, the people's House, right up there, fearing for my life. And why? Because the President of the United States incited others to be violent--a mob of insurgents in this House.
It is unacceptable. It led to the killing of five Americans. Blood is on this House. We must do something about it.
I ask that we move from ``stopping the steal'' to healing. But healing requires accountability, and everyone must be accountable.
I will be voting to impeach, and I urge others to vote for impeachment.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Moore).
Mr. MOORE of Alabama. Madam Speaker, I am fairly new here. Actually, this is my first floor speech. But I rise to oppose this impeachment.
I asked my staff this morning, how many times in our Nation's history have we impeached a President? Well, they said, up until this President, only two times in our Nation's history.
So here we are, 7 days left in his first term, and we are going to impeach a President. For what reasons? For what reasons? There have been no hearings. There have been no committees.
We must defend the right and protect the process of impeachment. If we pursue this, from now on, from this day forward, impeachment will always be a political process.
I ask my friends across the aisle--they always talk about healing--
healing. How do we come together as a nation?
Since 2016, there have been hashtags going around in our Nation that said, ``Not our President,'' ``Resist, resist.'' Members across the aisle have said things in public to have supporters of this President attacked and demeaned.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. Schakowsky).
Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Madam Speaker, last Friday, I sent a letter to my constituents telling the story about the violent attack on our Capitol Building, which is really like the temple of our democracy.
I have now taken the oath of office, the same oath of office that the President of the United States has taken, that all of us here have taken, and he has been the orchestrator of this attack.
It is time to hold this President accountable. It is time, and history demands that we impeach Donald Trump a second time.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Himes).
Mr. HIMES. The words have almost all been said. Search your soul. Consider your oath. And I add four more words: Reflect on your legacy.
My friends, which way is history flowing right now? Will Donald Trump join the pantheon of Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Reagan? Will his 33 percent approval ratings and the condemnation of principled Republicans consign him to the heap of reviled demigods with Joseph McCarthy and Andrew Johnson?
Where he goes in history, you go in history, unless, today, you make a stand.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. I would like to remind Members to please address their remarks to the Chair.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentleman from Hawaii (Mr. Kahele).
Mr. KAHELE. Madam Speaker, as a member of our Armed Forces, now a Member of Congress, I have taken and given the oath of office many times. I will support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
On January 6, the President violated his oath, inciting violent and deadly insurrection. Our sacred oaths are hollow without accountability. We must hold this President accountable, remove him from office, and ensure he can never hold public office again.
I urge my colleagues to do the same. This oath has to matter. Mahalo.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Sarbanes).
Mr. SARBANES. Madam Speaker, this beautiful Capitol dome is a symbol of freedom and democracy, not just for Americans but for people the world over. The action we take today, this impeachment, is a declaration to the world that when there is an attack on our democracy, whether it comes from without or whether, tragically, in this instance, it comes from within, we will respond to that threat and attack, and we will do what is necessary to strengthen our democracy.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the distinguished gentleman from New York (Mr. Zeldin).
Mr. ZELDIN. Madam Speaker, I am sickened and angered by what we all had to witness last Wednesday and call for the investigation and prosecution, to the fullest extent of the law, of every single person who participated in the violence and loss of life in this Capitol Building last Wednesday.
I, as a Member sitting here, listening to the entire debate, desperately need to better understand the two standards that are at play in this House. Why is it okay if a House Democrat calls for violence in the streets but not if you are a Republican? Why can a House Democrat be rewarded with a gavel and a chairmanship if they are calling for physical confrontation of a Trump administration official, but they will be punished if they are a Republican?
The double standards that we have seen time and time again, I need to better understand what the rules are of this House. Why is it that a committee chairman can lie to the American public about having more than circumstantial evidence that the President colluded with the Russians in order to win the 2016 election? But, of course, the Republicans can't and wouldn't lie to the American public about something like that.
We need to better understand what these two standards are that are at play and to complete the record because the House Democrats are here to make President Trump the first President to be impeached twice. So, I will complete the record.
First off, in the Article of Impeachment, it is written that the President gave a speech and told his supporters to come here, and he incited this riot. One speaker after another after another here on the other side of the aisle repeated that in the Article of Impeachment.
We all know that this was their preplanned attack. We all know that there were pipe bombs being discovered while the President was speaking. We all know that the Capitol perimeter was being breached during the President's speech.
We know that this was preplanned, and it started while the President was speaking. Why is that not in the Article of Impeachment? Why is that not being incorporated into my colleagues' remarks to complete the record, if you want to make the President the first President to be impeached twice?
Well, we will add something else to that. Thank you to the President for his efforts to defeat MS-13 in my district. Thank you to the President for his efforts to move the Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, to take out Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and Qasem Soleimani, to eliminate the ISIS caliphate, to enter into the historic Abraham Accords, to have an economy this time last year that was stronger than I ever remember in my entire lifetime.
Yes, we will complete the record, and in all fairness, as the President leaves 1 week from today, let's be honest about the double standards that exist inside this Chamber. Let's also be honest that this President did a lot to make America greater than ever.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Casten).
Mr. CASTEN. What happens if we get this wrong is written in Lincoln's second inaugural, when one party would ``make war rather than let the Nation survive.''
On September 11, we came together against an enemy without. On January 6, we were attacked by an enemy from within, the President who would make war with malice for all and charity for none.
We must come together in unity today against that domestic threat to our Constitution. The alternative is too unbearable to contemplate.
We must impeach bipartisanly, unanimously if you have the soul.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentlewoman from Texas (Mrs. Fletcher).
Mrs. FLETCHER. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of the Article of Impeachment and in opposition to the gaslighting that is masquerading as debate in this Chamber today.
I was in this Chamber when the President assembled and unleashed a mob to attack the United States Capitol and the United States Congress, the elected representatives of the people. By doing so, he incited an insurrection against our representative democracy itself.
If that is not an impeachable offense, then what is?
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentlewoman from Michigan (Ms. Tlaib).
Ms. TLAIB. Madam Speaker, in Michigan's 13th, we proudly speak truth to power, even in the face of a racist in chief.
Those who incited an attack on the people's House do not get to talk about healing and unity. They have torn this country apart. They have stoked the fire and then handed the gasoline to Donald Trump.
Dr. King once said: ``True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice.''
Today, we must embody those words, and we must understand that peace must be centered in truth and action.
We cannot, Madam Speaker, sit idly by after a violent attempted coup and allow lies and hate to continue. Today, we stand up for our constituents, who continue to be harmed by Donald Trump.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, how much time is remaining?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from New York has 3\3/4\ minutes remaining. The gentleman from Ohio has 4 minutes remaining.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from North Dakota (Mr. Armstrong).
Mr. ARMSTRONG. Madam Speaker, what happened last Wednesday is an absolute tragedy. Not only are we part of dealing with it now, we were part of it then.
When emotions are frayed and tensions are this high, process matters more. It matters more now than it did before, and the reality is this. There are serious constitutional questions about these articles.
Donald Trump is going to be President until January 20, and on January 20, Joe Biden is going to become President.
But I am going to vote against impeachment, and that is going to give me credibility at home with my base. You are going to vote for impeachment, and that is going to give you credibility at home with your base. It is easy to point at me and blame me. It is easy for me to point at you and blame you.
But on January 21, we are all going to be back here. So use that credibility. Go back and talk some hard truths to your people. I am going to do it.
And we need to do a better job.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Manning).
Ms. MANNING. Madam Speaker, this President has repeatedly lied to the American people about his election loss. He incited his followers to attack our democracy, resulting in five deaths. His dangerous efforts to derail the peaceful transition of power were a violation of his oath of office. This President is unfit to lead our Nation and unable to discharge his duties of office.
I call upon my Republican colleagues to speak the truth to their supporters and join me in holding President Trump accountable by voting to impeach.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Mrvan).
Mr. MRVAN. Madam Speaker, since the events on January 6, I spoke with a group of ministers from Gary, Indiana. They told me how they are praying for unity and justice in our Nation.
It reminded me of the moment when those of us who were on the House floor on January 6 were huddled together in a secure room after the attack. House Chaplain Kibben led us all in prayer.
Let us remember that moment. Let us rekindle that prayer for those 3 minutes when we were all united to preserve our democracy and justice.
I support the Article of Impeachment so that we can move forward to do the work that our constituents sent us here to do.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, how much time do we have remaining?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from New York has 2\3/4\ minutes remaining. The gentleman from Ohio has 3 minutes remaining.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Moulton).
Mr. MOULTON. Madam Speaker, there are more troops right now in Washington, D.C., than in Afghanistan. They are here to defend us against the Commander in Chief, the President of the United States, and his mob.
I would ask my colleagues to look at the faces of those young Americans defending democracy, defending us, and find an ounce of their courage to do the right thing, as several Republicans have, and take a tough vote for the future of democracy, for the future of our country.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Veasey).
Mr. VEASEY. Madam Speaker, let's be clear about one thing. If we were on the eve of a Republican President being sworn in and his Democratic predecessor had said the same thing that this President said and incited his followers, his mob, to descend upon the Capitol, we would be joining them, not making comparisons. Because guess what? I don't care about no base.
I care about this democracy and this country, and what happened the other day should never happen again. We need to stand up and do the right thing.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, the Republican whip is prepared to close for us whenever that is appropriate. I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).
{time} 1530
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Madam Speaker, I was on that floor just 1 week ago. So, today, the insurrectionist in chief will be impeached for insurrection.
It is because he failed to defend this Nation against all enemies, domestic and foreign. And he stood down near the White House and told a mob of domestic terrorists to go and show your strength, be strong, you can't gain anything because of weakness.
We must hold him accountable. We can heal this Nation, but he must be impeached today. We must impeach Donald J. Trump as an insurrectionist.
Madam Speaker, as a senior member of the Committees on the Judiciary and on Homeland Security, as the descendant of patriotic and heroic veterans who risked their lives to defend our nation and our freedoms, as a parent with the fervent hope and determination to pass on this great democracy to the next generation, and as a citizen of the greatest republic in world history, I rise in strong support of H. Res. 24, a resolution impeaching the current President of the United States for High Crimes and Misdemeanors, warranting his conviction and removal from office and, in accordance with Article I, Section 3, clause 7, disqualification from ever again holding and enjoying an Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States.''
I strongly support the impeachment and removal of this President because after the horrifying events of Wednesday last, January 6, 2021, another day that will live in infamy, the continuance in office of this President for even one moment longer represents a clear and present threat to the security of the United States, its people, institutions, and democratic form of government.
To put it in the words of the Framers, the current President's conduct reflects and reveals a person ``whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.''
To put it in contemporary terms, the current President can rightly be said to be perhaps the leading cause of state-sponsored domestic terrorism.
Every minute this President remains in office represents a minute of maximum peril to the American people and the American Experiment.
Unrepentant after his perfidious and treacherous conduct of Wednesday last, the President just yesterday went to Alamo, Texas, without giving any advance notice or consultation to the leaders of that community.
Does anyone really doubt that the President's true purpose in going to Alamo was to signal to his band of disloyalists his desire that they make a last stand and fight to the death in his name?
I do not, and neither does the majority of the American people, and I suspect that in their heart of hearts, neither do our colleagues on the Republican side.
Madam Speaker, three facts demonstrate why immediate action to remove the President is essential.
First, the abject failure and refusal of the President to take care that the laws be faithfully executed puts lives at risk.
When the U.S. Capitol was besieged last week by domestic terrorists, the President obstructed and denied the request of the Mayor of the District Columbia to call out the National Guard to protect life and property; it took the Vice-President, working with Speaker Pelosi and incoming Senate Majority Leader Schumer to prevail upon the Department of Defense to come to the defense of Capitol and the people trapped inside.
Instead of acting in accordance with his sacred oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution and to take care that the people and property of the United States are protected against all enemies, foreign or domestic, the President did nothing but watch the mayhem on television, ebullient at the display of support from his lawless loyalists.
Second, the current President's conduct stands in stark and marked contrast to his conduct earlier this year when protests were sweeping the country in response to the murder of George Floyd, when the President dispatched law enforcement authorities to put down peaceful protests led by moms and veterans in Portland, Oregon and social justice activists in Washington, D.C.
Back then, the President mobilized a heavy police presence, many on horseback and others using tear gas, to clear Lafayette Square of peaceful protesters so he could walk across the street to have himself photographed clutching a bible upside down in front of a church.
Third, the President's words, actions, and conduct betray a contempt and hostility to the national value of equal justice under law, telling the domestic terrorists, nearly all of whom were white and who support him politically, who stormed the Capitol to derail Congress from completing its constitutionally required duty of counting and verifying the votes of presidential electors, that ``we love you. You're very special,'' while referring to African Americans and other persons of color protesting social injustice and inequalities in the criminal justice system as
``animals,'' ``thugs,'' and ``anarchists.''
Madam Speaker, the President's actions inciting insurrection against the United States was the proximate cause of the horrifying siege of the U.S. Capitol, the destruction and desecration of the Citadel of Democracy, and the deaths of at least six persons, one of whom was a uniformed officer to the United States Capitol Police, who was bludgeoned to death by the incited mob.
Abusing the powers and resources of his high office, Donald John Trump has actively and continuously endeavored to undermine the essential institutions and foundations of a democratic system of government in the United States, engaging in a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evincing a design to make himself an authoritarian ruler unaccountable to, and independent of, the people of the United States.
The utter unfitness of the President for the office he holds and his contempt for the sacred oath he took before the nation with God as his witness, was vividly on display on January 6, 2021.
But signs of his calumny were on display in plain sight, reflected by his misbehavior and malfeasance from the earliest days of his administration.
Abusing the powers and resources of his high office, this President has actively and continuously endeavored to undermine the essential institutions and foundations of a democratic system of government in the United States, engaging in a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evincing a design to make himself an authoritarian ruler unaccountable to, and independent of, the people of the United States by:
(1) Soliciting and welcoming the assistance of a hostile foreign power to aid him in securing election in 2016 as President of the United States;
(2) Refusing to acknowledge Russian interference in the internal affairs of the United States, and then opposing responses by Congress and the Executive Branch to protect the national security and interests of the United States against future Russian interference and aggression. (3) Publicly conveying his interest and willingness to accept the assistance of foreign powers in his attempt win reelection as President of the United States;
(4) Refusing continuously to acknowledge to the American people that he would accept and be bound by the verdict rendered in the 2020 Presidential election, instead claiming that any outcome in which he was not declared the winner was fraudulent, rigged, and illegitimate;
(5) Taking active measures to impede and undermine the ability of American citizens to convey their disapproval of his continuance in office by exercising their rights as voters, including misusing the United States Postal Service to prevent the timely delivery of mail-in ballots;
(6) Instituting frivolous lawsuits to overturn the results of the 2020 Presidential election, falsely alleging wide-spread voting fraud but producing no evidence in support of his spurious allegations;
(7) Exhorting and inciting his supporters to believe falsely that victory in the 2020 Presidential election had been stolen from him and that constitutionally required Joint Meeting of Congress for the purpose of counting the votes of electors and announcement of the result by the President of the Senate was illegitimate and intended to complete the theft of his victory; and
(8) Failing to take action to protect and defend Federal officers and personnel, property, buildings, and institutions on January 6, 2021, at the U.S. Capitol that was besieged by supporters of Donald John Trump, resulting in extensive damage to the property of the United States and the deaths of at least four persons.
This is why multiple Members of Congress, introduced resolutions of articles of impeachment; joined by dozens of original cosponsors, I introduced H. Res. 26, impeaching the President for the High Crimes and Misdemeanors of (1) Abuse of Power and (2) Willful Refusal And Failure To Protect And Defend The Constitution Of The United States.
Madam Speaker, Donald John Trump has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as President and subversive of constitutional government, to the great prejudice of the cause of law and justice, and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States.
He must be impeached, convicted, removed from office, and disqualified from ever again holding and enjoying an Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States.
My love and reverence for the Constitution compels me to vote to impeach this President and I urge all my colleagues who revere the Constitution and our democracy, which has endured for more than 240 years, to join me in voting for H. Res. 24, impeaching Donald John Trump again for High Crimes and Misdemeanors against the United States.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Scalise), the Republican whip.
Mr. SCALISE. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Ohio for yielding.
Madam Speaker, our Nation still mourns the unacceptable violence and anarchy that took place in this Capitol last week. As we speak, arrests are still being made, and the anarchists who stormed our Capitol are being brought to justice, as should be the case.
Emotions are still high, but in this moment, we need to be focused on toning down the rhetoric and helping heal this Nation as we move toward a peaceful transition of power to President-elect Joe Biden next week.
My prayers, Madam Speaker, are still with Capitol Police Officers Sicknick and Liebengood, who we lost, as well as all the Capitol Police officers who risked their lives to keep us safe. They are true heroes, and they deserve all of our applause today.
Madam Speaker, I have seen the dark evil of political violence firsthand, and it needs to stop. But all of us need to be unequivocal in calling it out every single time we see it, not just when it comes from the other side of the aisle.
I oppose this rushed impeachment brought forward without a single hearing. By the way, the Senate will not even take this up until President Trump is out of office, so let's keep that in mind. It will only serve to further divide a Nation that is calling out for healing.
Madam Speaker, many speakers today have invoked one of our Nation's greatest leaders, President Abraham Lincoln. Maybe we should follow some of Lincoln's wisdom that he has imparted upon us in moments like this.
As Abraham Lincoln was giving his second inaugural address in March 1865, Lincoln issued us a challenge. This is what he said: ``With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the Nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and a lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.''
Madam Speaker, in times like these, let us not reach out to our darkest demons, but instead, like Lincoln, seek the higher ground. May God bless this great United States of America.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, we can have all of this, but we have to have accountability, too.
Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), our distinguished majority leader of the House.
Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding.
This is a troubled time, a sad time. It is a time where all of us have stood almost to a person and lamented the violence and the assault on this Capitol and the assault on democracy itself.
It was right to do that. But this impeachment ought to be put in the perspective of what the Republican chair of the Republican Conference said it was. She said the President of the United States summoned the mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of that attack. There has never been, she said, a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.
That is why we are here today. That is why we are here today just a week before that President, at the request of the American people, will leave office.
The issue is, what do we, the 433 of us, I believe, who are here, do on behalf of the American people to respond to what Representative Cheney described that happened on the 6th of January: a mob assembled by, summoned by, and then spoken to, to light the flame of the attack.
To ``stop the steal,'' as we sat here, exercising our constitutional duty. And to his great credit, the Vice President of the United States followed the Constitution of the United States of America, notwithstanding the fact that he was opportuned by the President not to do so. That mob sent by the President to ``stop the steal'' did so for a few hours, not the ``steal'' but the constitutional duty that we had.
So, we ask ourselves, what do we do? What is our responsibility? What should we say in light of only the Civil War as an analogy?
That doesn't mean there haven't been demonstrations in Washington before and demonstrations throughout this country before. But it is the first and only physical presence, other than the 9/11 attack, on this Nation, which came from abroad and had a plane aimed at our Capitol dome.
This attack was not from abroad. It was, as Liz Cheney said, summoned, assembled, and inflamed by the President of the United States of America. In Liz Cheney's words, there has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.
I pride myself as a Member of this Congress who for 40 years has worked in a bipartisan fashion with many of your leaders and do to this day. But are we to remain silent in the face of Liz Cheney saying this was the greatest betrayal of the duty of the President of the United States in history? Are we to stand silent? Will we stand silent? Will we not stand up and say this is not acceptable?
Madam Speaker, for 4 years, Donald Trump has made no efforts to hide his ambitions or his lacking of Republican principles--not our principles, but the principles that Abraham Lincoln was just quoted as having said. Your President, our President, has never displayed those in the 4 years he has been President of the United States.
He has allowed little constraint on his worst inclinations. His desire for autocracy and his glorification of violence have not been tempered but rationalized by those who sought to profit financially and politically from their proximity to power.
Upon the foundations of virtue, reason, and patient wisdom laid down by George Washington as our first President, Donald Trump has constructed a glass palace of lies, fearmongering, and sedition. Last Wednesday, on January 6, the Nation and the world watched it shatter to pieces.
There can be no mistaking any longer the kind of man sitting in the Oval Office or his intentions and capabilities. The curtain has been pulled back. The office to which he was elected could not temper or reform him.
Washington's legacy was passed down to us, not as written decrees but understood norms, how we ought to act, how we ought to conduct ourselves.
Term after term, each occupant has observed those norms out of a recognition that our Constitution's Articles are not the only preservative of our democracy. For more than two centuries, Madam Speaker, whenever those norms were tested and strained, good and virtuous citizens on both sides of the aisle found common purpose in reaffirming those norms. But memory fades, and from time to time, it must be refreshed.
Madam Speaker, as the Framers emerged from the Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin was asked whether they had made America a monarchy or a republic. Probably all of us know his response. A republic, he answered, if you can keep it.
That is the question today, if we can keep it. And the way we keep it is to say no to actions and words that do not promote the keeping of that republic.
For millennia, people have understood that a republic is only as stable and lasting as the citizens and leaders who commit themselves to its upkeep. This President has shown us he is not committed to that project. His tweets every day have shown he is not committed to that project. Indeed, he openly disdains it and appears to prefer the alternative.
{time} 1545
But what of the rest of us, those of us who have the honor and the great privilege and the weighty responsibility to represent the views of 750,000 of our fellow citizens?
We, in this Congress, have an opportunity--no--a duty to demonstrate our commitment both as leaders and as citizens to keeping America a republic that resolves its differences, not through being ordered to come to the Capitol to prevent them from stealing the election, which was an absurd assertion from the very first day it was made.
We cannot erase the last 4 years, Madam Speaker. We cannot turn back the clock, but we can look to the ideals and principles inherited from great Presidents like Washington; like Jefferson; and, yes, certainly like Abraham Lincoln; and like Franklin Roosevelt. And from outstanding Americans like Frederick Douglass; Harriet Tubman; Susan Anthony; Cesar Chavez; Martin Luther King; Thurgood Marshall; our beloved John Lewis; and, yes, RBG, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who all taught us a lot about equality and inclusion.
Madam Speaker, it is up to us to restore the vibrancy of our democracy by reaffirming our commitment to the norms they passed onto us and entrusted to our care. But to make that possible, Madam Speaker, we must rise to this moment and not only affirm the virtues we cherish, but reject the vices we abhor. That is what I am asking my fellow Representatives on both sides of the aisle to do today.
We all stood and we abhorred the violence that occurred and the threat to the very democracy that we hold so dear and that we swore an oath to protect and uphold. Reject deceit. Reject fear-mongering. Reject sedition, tyranny, and insurrection. Reject the demand for fealty to one man over fidelity to one's country.
When I addressed the House during the debate over the Articles of Impeachment in December of 2019, I said the following: We need not ask who will be the first to show our courage by standing up to President Trump. The question we must ask: Who will be the last to find it?
Senator McConnell, Representative Cheney, and a number of other Representatives who have spoken on this floor with great courage, Madam Speaker, because there is much fear of Donald Trump. There is much fear of Donald Trump's tweets. There is much fear of Donald Trump's retribution for opposition. In my view, Donald Trump demands absolute loyalty and gives none in return.
I hope others will join Liz Cheney. I hope others will be honest with themselves and with their constituents as Liz Cheney was, saying,
``There has never been a greater betrayal of a President of the United States to his office and to his oath to the Constitution.''
Don't dismiss that. She is the daughter of a Vice President of the United States, who was the whip when I came to Congress. As she has taken a stand, I hope others will as well, Madam Speaker.
Soon, the Clerk will call the roll and ask for our votes. Make no mistake, this will be no ordinary roll call. This is about our country, our Constitution, and our democracy. These votes will be inscribed on the roll of history, a record of courage and of our commitment to country and Constitution, of our commitment to the rule of law and renewal of that which we inherited and hope to pass on unbroken, unshattered.
With just 7 days left in the President's term, this vote is not about timing. It is about principle and fidelity to our Constitution. It concerns the clear and present danger facing our country not only in these final days of the Trump administration, but in the weeks, months, and years that will follow. It is about the necessity to demonstrate to this generation and to future generations the duty we share to protect our democracy every single day.
Do not pretend, my friends, that it was simply those who came into the Capitol, encouraged by our President to ``stop the steal'' at any cost.
By the way, if the Vice President doesn't do my bidding and follows the Constitution, sweep him away.
We know that this President would never emulate George Washington and give up his power for the good of our Republic, even after losing an election.
Somebody talked about a peaceful transition. There has not been a peaceful transition. I don't know what you are talking about. You are not living in the same country I am. It was just days ago that the President, after committing this terrible act, thought he had to admit that Joe Biden might, yes, be President of the United States.
We know that this President neither recognizes norms, nor reflects the rule of law. We know that this President is not a patriot.
Madam Speaker, so I ask this House: Who among us will be recorded on the roll of history for their courage, their commitment to the Constitution, and their country?
We do this today not for politics. We don't need this for politics. Georgia showed that. There was no mistake in this election. We do this today to preserve and protect this great democracy. We do it for the America we love, our America the beautiful, whose Founders' sacrifices we praise in song: ``O beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife, who more than self their country loved and mercy more than life.''
Sadly, Madam Speaker, as our current President, the appropriate words would be: Who less than self his country loved and victory more than truth.
Vote for this, for America, for our Constitution, for democracy, for history.
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. LOWENTHAL. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of impeaching President Donald Trump for the second time. This is not an action I take lightly, but an action I am compelled to take in order to uphold my oath as a Member of Congress. President Trump is a threat to our nation and in full public view violated his duties to the Constitution, to our democracy, and to the American people.
For months, the president and his enablers lied about the election, whipping up misplaced anger among his followers. He then encouraged his followers to come to Washington for a ``wild'' rally to support overthrowing the election results. At the rally, the president continued to incite his followers, further encouraging their anger. Then he pointed down Constitution Avenue and told his followers to march to the U.S. Capitol and unleash their anger on Congress. They did, and five people died.
Make no mistake, the president set the stage, invited the audience, and lit the match that sparked the deadly insurrection at the Capitol. Just as disturbing was his lack of response while Congress Members were begging for him to help, while Capitol Police were being beaten and killed, and while his followers hunted through the Capitol seeking to do harm to Members of Congress and even his own Vice President. President Trump has abrogated the responsibilities of his office and violated his oath to the Constitution.
Every day he remains in office is another chance for him to foment further violence. He must be removed now. The House must do its duty to protect our nation from the president by impeaching him and the Senate must act quickly to convict the president and remove him from office.
Mrs. DEMINGS. Madam Speaker, five people died last week, one of them a Capitol Police Officer who lost his life trying to protect us. The attack and the loss of life were the culmination of the President's calls for violence over the last five years and my colleagues' refusal to hold him accountable.
I was in the Gallery, and after reflecting on the violent attack as a Member of Congress and as a former law enforcement officer, it baffles me that some of my colleagues on the other side would say that today's vote is a ``rush to judgement.''
Well, I think it's the only appropriate response to Members of Congress having to rush for the doors to escape the violence incited by the President and encouraged by the Members of this body.
Madam Speaker, what happened to Congress? For we now behold mere shadows where great men and women once stood. I remember my oath and I intend to uphold it. I encourage my colleagues to vote in favor of this resolution.
Mr. DesJARLAIS. Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition to today's impeachment resolution, H. Res. 24, against President Trump.
First, it is a tragedy that we are here once again with this body, the United States House of Representatives, moving forward with impeaching President Trump.
This body impeached the president during the 116th Congress which resulted in his acquittal in the Senate. Before President Trump, there have only been two presidents impeached by the House of Representatives.
Now, after the majority party in the House did not get what they wanted the first time with impeachment, they are at it again a second time.
Their blind hatred of the President and four years of denying the results of the election have led them to one final moment of doing this again.
This impeachment is being held in the court of public opinion. I have found no constitutional grounding for President Trump's impeachment.
If Democratic leadership wanted us to take their stunt seriously, the least they could have done was attempted to present some sort of evidence in a formal trial.
Make no mistake, this is not the way the House should be conducting business.
The nation and world have been through a global pandemic this past year which has destroyed many small businesses and jobs across our county.
Yet, the House majority leadership could not be bothered to compromise on much-needed relief. They focused on playing politics with people's lives and making sure the president had one less accomplishment on his record ahead of the November 2020 election.
So why is the House spending its time on impeachment with H. Res. 24? Simply there are many who never liked President Trump, never gave him a chance, and have only sought to remove him from office since day one.
With just days left before the president leaves office, House Democrats have decided to implement their double standard yet again.
Many of my House colleagues from the other side of the aisle have spent an incredible amount of energy on fanning the flames of political unrest. They have called for riots and said peaceful protests are not enough.
President Trump called for his supporters to protest peacefully. When things got out of hand, he called on them to stand down and listen to law enforcement officials.
When violent protests got out of hand across the country this past summer you did not see the same type of condemnation from the Democratic Party.
President Trump has already said there will be an orderly transition on January 20, 2021. We need to move forward and help to ensure that the incoming Biden-Harris administration has everything they need to assume office on day one.
We are deeply divided in this country right now. Impeachment without constitutional grounding does nothing but disenfranchise the 74 million people that voted for President Trump.
I strongly oppose these impeachment efforts in the House and do not wish to create a further divide in our country.
Mr. RUIZ. Madam Speaker, Donald Trump is an immediate threat to our Constitution and to our Democracy. He must be removed.
It has now been a week since rampaging criminals incited by Mr. Trump invaded and vandalized the Capitol--the heart of American Democracy and government. The attack resulted in six deaths--including that of two police officers--and left an indelible stain on our nation. With each passing day, we learn more about the extent to which this attack was planned and orchestrated.
This was a violent insurrection--not a peaceful protest. The criminals who perpetrated this attack were inspired, directed, and encouraged by Donald Trump and his lies and incited by several members of Congress, all of whom have refused to acknowledge--let alone take responsibility for--their roles in this shameful episode.
No action we take today can undo the desecration caused by Donald Trump, the members of Congress who aided and abetted him, and those dangerous insurrectionists. This was not merely a criminal conspiracy; it was an attack on our nation's Capitol to deliberately and violently overthrow the duly elected Government of the United States.
Regardless of our actions today, Donald Trump will be removed from office in just over a week. But that does not mean we shouldn't act. If we let an insurgence against our government go without consequence, what will we be saying to future generations?
We must send the permanent message that in January of 2021, Congress refused to condone, pardon, or ignore this crime against the Constitution and the American people, and further, that Congress refused the possibility that Donald Trump could ever hold office again.
Some have said that this should be a time for unity, not for divisiveness. I agree. We must be united and unequivocal in our declaration: The desecration of our Democracy will not be tolerated. The divisiveness over this issue is not being caused by those of us who insist on upholding the Constitution and rule of law; the responsibility for discord belongs solely at the feet of those who refuse to do so.
Therefore, I must call out those in this body who continue to perpetuate the lies that led to this deadly chain of events. American Democracy was and remains threatened by their actions and words. Over the last four years, we have learned that the guardrails constructed by our Founders to protect the Constitution are only as strong as the leaders who take the oath to defend them. When our elected officials take steps to undermine democracy--as far too many here today have done--the fabric and future of our great nation is endangered.
All of us have sworn an oath to protect America from its enemies, both foreign and domestic. Today, that oath requires each and every one of us to support the immediate impeachment of Donald Trump. History will judge us all for our decision today.
Ms. JAYAPAL. Madam Speaker, just over a year ago, I stood on the House floor as we did our jobs and voted to impeach the President of the United States. The facts were clear then: Donald Trump abused the power of the Office of the Presidency to pursue his own personal, political gain. My vote was a vote for the Constitution and for `We, the People' because America is so deeply worth it.
Six months later, we saw Donald Trump's radically disparate treatment of a violent mob taking over the Michigan state capitol while threatening to lynch a governor and the harsh crackdown on Black, Indigenous, and people of color demonstrating for civil and human rights in the wake of yet another Black person being murdered by law enforcement. On the one hand, we saw armed white men with swastikas and Confederate flags threatening lawmakers, damaging the statehouse, and seeking to lynch, shoot, and behead the Governor of Michigan with no federal response. In fact, Attorney General Bill Barr told me under oath that he wasn't even aware it occurred. In sharp contrast, we saw Black people and people of color forcibly removed by armed federal officials using pepper bombs and tear gas. This time, the Attorney General was on the scene himself.
All of these events brought us to January 6, 2021. On that day, I was trapped in the House gallery for nearly two hours as a mob of insurrectionists launched a deadly attack on our Capitol, our country, and our democracy. My colleagues and I took cover as domestic terrorists waved the confederate flag in the People's House; as the temple of our democracy was ransacked in the most deadly and destructive assault on the U.S. Capitol since the War of 1812. The events of January 6 were horrific. We know now that January 6 could have ended in even more violence, harm, and loss of life. We know the mob came ready for combat with nooses, zip ties, bats, bulletproof vests, and pipes. We know they came within seconds of breaching the United States Senate and ran around the inside of this building chanting ``Hang Mike Pence'' and looking for our Speaker, Nancy Pelosi. And we know that they had placed bombs at the Capitol, the Democratic National Committee, and the Republican National Committee.
Why did they do all of this? Because for months, the man who sits in the White House has refused to accept the will of the American people; has refused to recognize that he lost a free and fair election--
decisively. And then he--and some Republican members of this Congress--
called on his followers to ``be wild.'' They told them to ``stand by.'' Then, they told them to ``fight like hell.'' Next, they proclaimed ``we are going to the Capitol.'' The insurrectionists followed those orders from the President of the United States. They went to the Capitol and fought like hell. They tried to subvert our democracy, but they failed.
Donald Trump is the smoking gun. That gun is reloaded and whether or not it goes off once more is up to us. We must send a clear message to the President that the United States Congress will not stand by and allow one man to turn our democracy into an autocracy; will not stand by while that man incites insurrectionists to launch a deadly assault on the United States Capitol.
I call on my colleagues to join me in voting to immediately impeach, convict, and remove Donald J. Trump from office; to ensure he can never run for elected office again; to fight for justice; to send a signal to those across America and throughout the world who--incited and fueled by this president--want to do us further harm; and to hold him fully accountable for this attack on Congress, the United States of America, and our democracy.
Ms. UNDERWOOD. Madam Speaker, it is the honor of my life to walk into the Capitol and onto this House floor to carry the voices and values of the people of Illinois' 14th Congressional District to this hallowed institution. The Capitol itself is the global symbol of democracy, and the Congress that meets here is charged with upholding the very first Article of our Constitution, written 233 years ago. The Capitol is where democratically elected Americans from across the country convene to represent their communities. It truly is--and must remain--the People's House. Last week, the People's House was invaded by people who committed acts of terror and desecrated this sacred space.
In the days since the January 6 attack on the Congress, hundreds of concerned Illinoisans have reached out to my office to share messages of disbelief that such an attack was plotted openly yet not prevented; messages of anger at the violence and the hate that was on display that day, and at the elected leaders who capitalized on those sentiments; messages of fear for the fragility of our democracy. I also received many messages of support and concern for the safety of myself and my staff, which was a great comfort to us all, and for which we are immensely grateful.
One of my constituents wrote to me about feeling ``disheartened, deeply saddened, shocked, and angry'' about the events of January 6 and all that led up to them, and another wrote about ``uncertainty and fear.'' Another wrote simply that ``there are no words to describe my horror.'' I, too, felt all of those emotions as I watched the attack unfold just beyond my office, and moved heavy furniture to barricade my office doors.
One constituent wrote to ask me a question: ``What will our future look like if we continue to allow future U.S. leaders to lead and support these types of attacks on our democracy?'' It's a question that I am asking myself today, and that we are all here to answer: ``What will our future look like?'' She wrote about the need for consequences, not only as justice for the perpetrators of this attack, but also as a message for posterity.
Over the past week, we in Congress have solemnly considered the most appropriate response to the President's incitement of insurrection--an attack that not only cost several people their lives, but also threatened a cornerstone of our democracy: the peaceful transition of power. It is our duty to ensure that the perpetrators are held accountable, and that no historical sanctuary is granted to those who have ignited this fire. We have had to face the ugly truth that this attack was incited by a President seeking to violently overturn the results of a democratic election and reject the will of the American people.
That is why today, we must impeach this President. This is an act toward preserving the integrity of our democracy. This is a message to future Americans about who we are as a nation, and who we ought to be.
Each of us took an oath just days ago, pledging to uphold the United States Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Today I will fulfill that promise by voting in favor of the impeachment of President Donald J. Trump.
Ms. BONAMICI. Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the resolution offering articles of impeachment against President Donald J. Trump. Our country and our Capitol have suffered a devastating attack in the past week, and the President's role in inciting the violence we experienced has left us no choice but to impeach him.
President Trump, through his words and actions, encouraged and incited the insurrection that occurred on January 6, 2021, when Congress was gathered to certify the results of the 2020 Presidential election. In the days and weeks preceding the deadly attack, President Trump made statements, both on social media and directly to his supporters, repeating false claims that he had won the election and urging supporters to come to Washington, D.C. and ``fight like hell.'' The morning of January 6, he led a rally and sent his supporters to the Capitol with the goal of stopping the certification of the Electoral College, thwarting the will of millions of Americans who voted for Joe Biden, and overturning the 2020 Presidential election. The events that unfolded that afternoon were dangerous, terrifying, unprecedented, and un-American. Armed domestic terrorists stormed the Capitol, leading to several deaths, countless injuries, untold property damage, and a democracy in crisis. Pipe bombs and zip ties were found on and around the Capitol grounds. Videos show Capitol Police officers being beaten by White supremacists. Elected officials in the line of presidential succession, including the Vice President and the Speaker of the House, were essentially hunted by terrorists and forced into hiding. The President did not quell the mob; nor did he offer any empathy whatsoever to his own Vice President or to the hundreds of Senators, Representatives, and staff who were at the Capitol and traumatized. In the following days, Donald Trump failed to take responsibility for the direct attack on the country he is responsible for leading and protecting and continued to incite insurrection by continuing to perpetuate the lie that he won the election.
We are now forced to reckon with the grave reality that the President of the United States directly incited an attack on our government and country, and he must be held accountable. He is wholly unfit for office and must never be able to serve in government again. I commend my colleagues, Representatives Cicilline, Lieu, and Raskin, for drafting this resolution of impeachment. For the sake of democracy, the Senate must now follow our lead, rise to the occasion, and swiftly convict the President of the high crimes and misdemeanors he has committed.
Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I rise today to express my support for the resolution to impeach President Trump.
This is an open and shut case. The facts are clear to all who wish to see them.
In his January 6 speech, Donald Trump incited a vicious assault on the U.S. Capitol with the intention of pressuring Vice President Pence and a joint session of Congress into overturning the results of the Electoral College vote that made Joe Biden president. It's clear he wanted Congress and the Vice President to declare him president for a second term despite his losing the election.
I believe that this was the final act in what was a months-long effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election results so that he could remain in office.
I believe that Donald Trump's actions on January 6 constituted high crimes and misdemeanors under the Constitution and therefore justify his impeachment. He is clearly guilty of sedition, and his actions led to the loss of five lives that day, including that of a Capitol Police officer who was mortally injured defending the Capitol, the Congress, and the Vice President.
I also support impeaching him now, even though he has just a few days left in office, in order to define a standard of acceptable conduct for future Presidents--and a precedent to deter future presidents from attempting to defy the will of the American people.
Finally, I believe that President Trump should be impeached and immediately removed from office because I am concerned that, given what he has done to illegally remain in office, it is possible, if not highly probable, that he would take further undemocratic and criminal actions in the days he has left in a desperate bid to thwart the voters' will.
Those are the reasons why I cosponsored the article of impeachment and why I will vote for it today.
Ms. McCOLLUM. Madam Speaker, last week's violent attack on Congress was an act of domestic terrorism. The U.S. Capitol building was desecrated and vandalized. Members of Congress, their staff members, and those who work in this temple of American democracy were terrorized. The women and men of the Capitol Police who work every day to protect us were beaten. Two officers lost their lives as a result of this tragedy.
Make no mistake, this was a terrorist plot to disrupt Congress; to prevent Congress from performing its duty under the Constitution to certify the results of the Electoral College that Joseph R. Biden and Kamala D. Harris will be sworn in as President and Vice President of the United States on January 20, 2021.
This domestic terrorist attack was an attempted coup against the United States of America by attacking the U.S. Congress and the Vice President of the United States Michael R. Pence. And this coup was inspired, encouraged, and supported by Donald J. Trump--the deranged and dangerous man who currently occupies the White House.
Today, I will vote to impeach Mr. Trump--for the second time--for high crimes and misdemeanors. If his actions in inciting the insurrection of January 6, 2021 do not warrant impeachment and removal by the Congress, then truly nothing is worthy of impeachment. Congress must protect this nation from Mr. Trump and from future Presidents who may seek to follow in his dangerous footsteps. We must impeach.
When Mr. Trump leaves the White House and is again a private citizen, I strongly urge the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute Mr. Trump for crimes committed against our democracy and the people of the United States.
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Madam Speaker, with just 7 days remaining in his term, today's highly partisan rush to impeach the President is being done without knowing the whole truth which takes time, effort and serious scrutiny to establish.
Today's snap impeachment vote alleging President Trump's ``incitement of insurrection'' lacks an objective and thorough investigation of the facts.
Astonishingly, there have been no congressional hearings on H. Res. 24--the impeachment resolution--which was only introduced two days ago on January 11th.
The fact that the U.S. Senate won't even consider the impeachment resolution passed by the House until after the January 20th inauguration begs the question as to why the debate and vote isn't postponed until we have all the facts.
Our Nation is in desperate need of unity and civility as it prepares for the inauguration of President-elect Biden.
Impeachment of President Trump--without a thorough analysis of the facts which takes time, effort and serious scrutiny to establish--will not in any way help to heal a divided America.
Let me state again that I unequivocally condemn the assault on the Capitol last week and those who committed murder, violence, vandalism and other crimes should be prosecuted to the greatest extent of the law.
We must be committed to zero-tolerance towards violence in any form.
I strongly support and have cosponsored H.R. 275 to create a national bipartisan commission to comprehensively investigate the January 6th deadly attack on the Capitol.
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res. 24, impeaching Donald John Trump, President of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors.
When we consider impeachment, the first question to consider is not
``what is an impeachable offense?'' but ``why is impeachment in the Constitution?'' If it is necessary to have an elected official removed from office, the normal process is to vote him out of office at his next election and have him leave when his term expires. But there are times when it is absolutely not feasible to wait until a term expires. That is why impeachment is in the Constitution.
The Constitution says the President ``shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.'' When a President is committing treason, it is obviously not feasible to wait until the next election and the expiration of his term. If a President is seeking, taking or giving bribes, it is not feasible to wait. As for ``other high crimes or misdemeanors,'' the important word is ``other,'' because it suggests offenses that have the same effect on the nation as treason or bribery. The phrase ``high crimes and misdemeanors'' is intentionally vague, but the meaning is clear--behavior that creates a situation, as in cases of treason and bribery, where it is not feasible to wait until the next election and the expiration of the President's term. Impeachment is not in the Constitution primarily as a punishment, but as a mechanism to protect our democracy when it is not feasible to wait until January 20th.
In that light, we evaluate the President's recent behavior.
Shortly before noon on Wednesday, January 6, 2021, President Trump addressed thousands of his supporters, who specifically came to Washington at his urging. This event was called the ``March to Save America.'' The President's words and actions at this rally, and arguably the lies he spread weeks before, incited a violent insurrection. Soon after the President's speech, a violent mob overwhelmed the U.S. Capitol with the intent of disrupting the counting of the Electoral College votes--the final official step in the election of the next President of the United States. These individuals harbored delusions fostered by the President that, but for the grace of God, could have resulted in the death or injury of the Vice President and many members of Congress. During most of this insurrection, the absence of the National Guard and other military units was conspicuous, especially when compared to the overwhelming police and military presence last summer during racial justice protests in the nation's capital.
The facts are not in dispute. According to Rep. Liz Cheney, the third highest ranking Republican in the House of Representatives, ``The President of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack. Everything that followed was his doing. None of this would have happened without the President . . . There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.''
Last weekend, the Washington Post published audio recordings revealing a conversation in which the President encourages and attempts to pressure Georgia election officials to ``find'' over 11,780 votes to reverse the certified results of the November 3rd election. This hour long recording further supports previous reports of the President actively attempting to overturn the will of the voters in other states he clearly and fairly lost.
Additionally, the President has used presidential powers to pardon numerous criminals, many of whom were convicted of offenses that could have been part of coverups to protect the President himself. He should not continue to hold this power while insurrectionists are being arrested and charged across the country. And it is also being reported that he is actively considering additional questionable pardons, including for himself and his immediate family.
Notwithstanding his oath to faithfully execute the laws, the President is doing nothing to address the COVID-19 pandemic, even though more than 125,000 deaths have occurred since the election. There has been a complete abdication of responsibility demonstrated by his failure to develop a testing and contact tracing strategy, his refusal to encourage the use of masks to stop the spread of this deadly virus, and now a complete mismanagement of vaccine distribution. Furthermore, his execution of the laws has been compromised by the wholesale resignations of senior federal officials across the executive branch.
The President has gone to extraordinary lengths to disrupt the transition from his administration to President-elect Biden, undermining our national security. Our nation is facing economic distress, a raging pandemic, the disastrous consequences of climate change, a reckoning with racial injustice, and a historic cyber intrusion. While our country is facing these challenges, the President has chosen to jeopardize our national security by refusing the incoming administration customary intelligence briefings, refusing to concede the election, and falsely claiming election fraud ultimately disrupting the peaceful transition of power and undermining the incoming administration's ability to manage these crises.
And there have been ongoing violations of the Constitution's emoluments clause, as foreign governments have paid money to Trump businesses since his inauguration four years ago.
Each of these behaviors alone would constitute impeachable offenses, so the analysis moves to whether or not any or all of them create the crisis envisioned in the impeachment clause where it is not feasible to wait until January 20th to have him removed from office. I believe the evidence is overwhelming and that we have no choice but to act expeditiously to impeach.
The attack on the Capitol clearly puts us in a situation where it is not feasible to wait until the President's term expires at noon on January 20, 2021. He has shown no remorse for the loss of life and the blatant attack he incited on one of the greatest symbols of our democracy. There has also been no credible explanation why the Capitol Police were left stranded without the support of the National Guard or other law enforcement agencies nor any credible explanation why the Attorney General nor the Director of the F.B.I. have attended any public briefings on what happened on January 6, 2021 or what is being done to make sure that it does not happen again under the President's leadership. And when a person is found unfit to control a Twitter account, it is hard to imagine how he is fit to control the nuclear codes. He is also not fit to control the security of the Capitol for the upcoming inauguration or from other attacks at the Capitol that, according to some public reports, are being planned.
Tragically, tens of thousands of people will continue to die unnecessarily because of his incompetence and inaction in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. This self-serving use of the presidential pardon power cannot continue, and if he is removed from office, a process can be put in place to seamlessly transition powers to the Biden Administration without gaps in National Security.
For these reasons it is imperative that he be removed from office now.
Once impeached, it is true that he may not be convicted in the Senate. In fact, an impeachment trial may never take place. But the fact that a quick trial and conviction could take place should deter problematic behavior by the President during his last few days in office. For example, if Majority Leader McConnell received a distressed call from the Secretary of Defense explaining that the President had issued a bizarre military order, Leader McConnell could quickly summon the Chief Justice, reconvene the Senate and vote to remove the President within hours of the call. Knowing that this could take place would hopefully deter the President from issuing such an order or granting inappropriate pardons.
The President will be encouraged to resign, and the Vice President and a majority of the cabinet secretaries could activate the 25th amendment. But all the House of Representatives can control is impeachment. The House has an obligation to do just that. Our action should not be guided by politics or grievance, but should reflect the fact that the future of our Democracy is our first priority.
Madam Speaker, we do not want to look up on January 20th and see that security at the inauguration was mismanaged with disastrous results; or witness a blanket pardon to all of those involved in the insurrection; or suffer as tens of thousands die unnecessarily due to the President's continued mismanagement of the pandemic; or witness any other disastrous situation resulting from the abusive use of presidential powers. And if any of that happens because he was not impeached by the House and convicted and removed by the Senate, we cannot say we did not see it coming.
Mr. FORTENBERRY. Madam Speaker, in his speech and subsequent hesitation to swiftly react to the violence, the President wrongly amplified an emotionally charged environment--emboldening persons predetermined to do violence, adding to a mob frenzy, and overshadowing the important policy work of four years and those who peacefully stood by him.
Our objective should be this: Restore peace in our country. Restore confidence in our government. Restore decency and decorum.
In just seven days, Joe Biden will be President. I voted to certify his election. In order to begin the process of healing our nation after this traumatic moment, we must choose wisely. If we use the blunt instrument of impeachment, we will punish the President but deepen the trauma of an America already wracked by political violence. The call for accountability ought now to be found in the hard slog to rebuild.
I will vote against impeachment.
Miss GONZALEZ-COLON. Madam Speaker, respect for the will of the people, which has been expressed through their votes in a valid democratic process and the peaceful transfer of power between administrations, is the foundation of our Nation.
Seeing the President incite groups to interrupt that very democratic process, leading them to take the U.S. Capitol by force, where two members of the Capitol Police died in the line of duty, is deeply outrageous. Using force as the mechanism to achieve change or access to power has no place in the constitutional transfer of office. I have never validated that resource to enforce anyone's opinion. All those who perpetrated these acts must be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law, including the President.
This Nation needs to heal the deep wound created by the acts of domestic terrorism on January 6, where at the end of the day democracy prevailed, Congress continued with the processes in which the Vice President validated the result of the elections in favor of a new administration.
That healing will come in less than a week with the transfer of power in an orderly and peaceful manner, as mandated by our legal system, but past events have caused many, including myself, to withdraw our trust in this President.
On past occasions I have rejected the President's conduct, while on other occasions I have recognized the great resources that he helped me bring to the Island in a time of need. In the same way, my priority continues to be defending the interests of the people of Puerto Rico and I will always work with anyone to achieve the betterment of the people I represent.
I swore to defend the Constitution against all foreign and domestic enemies. The acts of January 6 were an attack on our Constitution, they were acts of sedition perpetrated by domestic terrorists and that is why I join my colleagues from both parties in supporting an impeachment process against the President, even though as a Resident Commissioner I cannot vote in that process. This will serve as an example of the power of our Nation's democracy, where no one, including the President, is above the law.
Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, in the words of the late Congressman John Lewis, ``When you see something that is not right, not just, not fair, you have a moral obligation to say something, to do something.''
Today we must do something and vote to impeach President Donald J. Trump.
Mr. KIND. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of impeachment in order to defend our democracy and protect our country from a President who poses a clear and present danger to our republic. Last week, as I was preparing to defend Wisconsin's election results on the House floor during the certification of the Electoral College votes, the Nation experienced an attack on our Capitol and democratic process. What should have been a day of celebration as we witnessed the peaceful transfer of power--something that makes America exceptional in the eyes of the world--was marred by a lawless assault on our democracy.
It's of the utmost importance in the coming weeks to bring those who perpetrated this violence to justice. They must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. However, we also need to address those that fostered and even amplified the toxic climate that allowed this to happen in the first place. Undoubtedly, this includes the President, who openly encouraged a mob to march to the Capitol to disrupt Congress's Constitutional role in certifying the presidential election and later went so far as to say that the rioters were ``very special'' and that he ``loves'' them.
Words and actions have consequences. For months now, the President and Members of Congress have spread lies and unfounded accusations about the integrity of our election. In doing so, they unleashed dark forces in our society and even incited a violent mob that attacked the United States Capitol. Lives were lost as a result of this insurrection, including those of U.S. Capitol Police Officers Brian Sicknick and Howard Liebengood. My prayers are with these brave officers' families as they mourn these devastating losses--their heroic actions in defense of their country will never be forgotten.
It's time to stop perpetuating the dangerous lies that this election wasn't legitimate--it was. It's time to stop weaponizing calls for unity as an attempt to downplay a violent insurrection and avoid ramifications, as if healing can take place without accountability--it can't.
For too long, too many have treated our democracy as if it's a football, something to kick around without consequence. It's not a football, it's more like a fragile egg. If you break it, good luck trying to put it back together. Failing to seek accountability now sends a dangerous signal to the future because the next time an authoritarian wannabe takes a run at our Constitution, all bets are off.
At this time in our Nation's history, our party divisions have never seemed smaller. It doesn't matter whether you are a Democrat or a Republican, the choice now is between Constitutionalists and Insurrectionists. Constitutionalists believe in the Constitution, the rule of law, due process, human rights, and civil rights for all our citizens. Insurrectionists believe in conspiracy theories, an alternate reality, and putting a person or a party above the rule of law.
I can work with anyone that's a Constitutionalist, regardless of what side of the aisle they're on. But as a Member of Congress, I swore an oath not to any one individual or one party, but to the Constitution, and I cannot work with anyone who is against it.
I have repeatedly called on the President to step down for the sake of our Nation. I have asked Vice President Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to ensure the peaceful transfer of power. Unfortunately, these calls have gone unheeded, leaving us no other option than to vote to impeach President Trump. We must guard against any potential future danger the President poses, send a clear message that this type of unconstitutional behavior will not be tolerated, and restore the sanity and sense of calm the American people deserve before the inauguration of President-Elect Biden.
Ms. KAPTUR. Madam Speaker, the decision to impeach a President is a grave one--it is a vote that no Member wishes to cast in their lifetime. In my nearly four decades of service in the House of Representatives, I have voted to impeach a President only twice--both times during President Trump's term in office. The criminal invasion of the U.S. Capitol last week created this unprecedented moment in U.S. history when liberty lovers must respond in the strongest legal manner.
Members of Congress take an oath to defend our Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. During my service, U.S. Presidents of both parties understood their duty to our Constitution, until now. I frequently reflect on the incalculable bravery and sacrifice of those Americans who came before us, who, from the battlefields of Antietam to the beaches of Normandy, fought and died to ensure that not only would freedom and liberty live on in these lands, but so too would our Union itself.
During these last four years, our beloved country has become divided to an extent not seen since Reconstruction--a division so powerful that the daily business of our Congress has ground to a near halt, at severe expense to the People's work. This is occurring because of the severe breakdown, political divisions, and incitement exacerbated by lies and conspiracy theories recited at length by the President himself. He has belligerently refused to accept the results of this past election. With a clenched fist, he and his allies continue to spew divisive vitriol claiming no institution in this country, from the free press to independent election officials, can be trusted--that the only person worthy of the American people's confidence is Donald Trump himself.
A week ago today, that division boiled over, culminating in a vicious attack by a mob on the U.S. Capitol, a place that holds national and international significance as the temple of liberty and representational democracy. Members, staff, and the Vice President, who were working to certify the election results of the 2020 Presidential Election, were forced to flee for their lives as a mob of violent insurrectionists broke through the doors and windows of the Capitol, desecrated the halls, and violently attacked Capitol Police, killing one and injuring over 50. The invaders, many in paramilitary attire, called for the execution of the Vice President, the Speaker of the House, and other Members. Some carried law-enforcement style handcuffs, bear spray, and firearms, while others erected gallows outside and placed pipe-bombs nearby. All the while, President Trump failed to take any meaningful steps to call off the attack, despite calls imploring him to do so as the events played out on live television. The attack was explicitly incited by Donald Trump as he dispatched marchers to the Capitol `to fight.' His incitement of the attack represents quite possibly the most significant example of complete moral failing by any President in American history.
To impeach a President is a weighty decision. Today, the decision was clear. President Trump is guilty of inciting a violent insurrection against the United States in its most sacred home of liberty. He should thus be immediately removed from office and prevented from ever holding federal office again.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. All time for debate has expired.
Pursuant to House Resolution 41, the previous question is ordered on the resolution.
The question is on adoption of the resolution.
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that the ayes appeared to have it.
Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to section 3(s) of House Resolution 8, the yeas and nays are ordered.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 232, nays 197, not voting 4, as follows:
YEAS--232
Adams Aguilar Allred Auchincloss Axne Barragan Bass Beatty Bera Beyer Bishop (GA) Blumenauer Blunt Rochester Bonamici Bourdeaux Bowman Boyle, Brendan F. Brown Brownley Bush Bustos Butterfield Carbajal Cardenas Carson Cartwright Case Casten Castor (FL) Castro (TX) Cheney Chu Cicilline Clark (MA) Clarke (NY) Cleaver Clyburn Cohen Connolly Cooper Correa Costa Courtney Craig Crist Crow Cuellar Davids (KS) Davis, Danny K. Dean DeFazio DeGette DeLauro DelBene Delgado Demings DeSaulnier Deutch Dingell Doggett Doyle, Michael F. Escobar Eshoo Espaillat Evans Fletcher Foster Frankel, Lois Fudge Gallego Garamendi Garcia (IL) Garcia (TX) Golden Gomez Gonzalez (OH) Gonzalez, Vicente Gottheimer Green, Al (TX) Grijalva Haaland Harder (CA) Hastings Hayes Herrera Beutler Higgins (NY) Himes Horsford Houlahan Hoyer Huffman Jackson Lee Jacobs (CA) Jayapal Jeffries Johnson (GA) Johnson (TX) Jones Kahele Kaptur Katko Keating Kelly (IL) Khanna Kildee Kilmer Kim (NJ) Kind Kinzinger Kirkpatrick Krishnamoorthi Kuster Lamb Langevin Larsen (WA) Larson (CT) Lawrence Lawson (FL) Lee (CA) Lee (NV) Leger Fernandez Levin (CA) Levin (MI) Lieu Lofgren Lowenthal Luria Lynch Malinowski Maloney, Carolyn B. Maloney, Sean Manning Matsui McBath McCollum McEachin McGovern McNerney Meeks Meijer Meng Mfume Moore (WI) Morelle Moulton Mrvan Murphy (FL) Nadler Napolitano Neal Neguse Newhouse Newman Norcross O'Halleran Ocasio-Cortez Omar Pallone Panetta Pappas Pascrell Payne Pelosi Perlmutter Peters Phillips Pingree Pocan Porter Pressley Price (NC) Quigley Raskin Rice (NY) Rice (SC) Richmond Ross Roybal-Allard Ruiz Ruppersberger Rush Ryan Sanchez Sarbanes Scanlon Schakowsky Schiff Schneider Schrader Schrier Scott (VA) Scott, David Sewell Sherman Sherrill Sires Slotkin Smith (WA) Soto Spanberger Speier Stanton Stevens Strickland Suozzi Swalwell Takano Thompson (CA) Thompson (MS) Titus Tlaib Tonko Torres (CA) Torres (NY) Trahan Trone Underwood Upton Valadao Vargas Veasey Vela Velazquez Wasserman Schultz Waters Watson Coleman Welch Wexton Wild Williams (GA) Wilson (FL) Yarmuth
NAYS--197
Aderholt Allen Amodei Armstrong Arrington Babin Bacon Baird Balderson Banks Barr Bentz Bergman Bice (OK) Biggs Bilirakis Bishop (NC) Boebert Bost Brady Brooks Buchanan Buck Bucshon Budd Burchett Burgess Calvert Cammack Carl Carter (GA) Carter (TX) Cawthorn Chabot Cline Cloud Clyde Cole Comer Crawford Crenshaw Curtis Davidson Davis, Rodney DesJarlais Diaz-Balart Donalds Duncan Dunn Emmer Estes Fallon Feenstra Ferguson Fischbach Fitzgerald Fitzpatrick Fleischmann Fortenberry Foxx Franklin, C. Scott Fulcher Gaetz Gallagher Garbarino Garcia (CA) Gibbs Gimenez Gohmert Gonzales, Tony Good (VA) Gooden (TX) Gosar Graves (LA) Graves (MO) Green (TN) Greene (GA) Griffith Grothman Guest Guthrie Hagedorn Harshbarger Hartzler Hern Herrell Hice (GA) Higgins (LA) Hill Hinson Hollingsworth Hudson Huizenga Issa Jackson Jacobs (NY) Johnson (LA) Johnson (OH) Johnson (SD) Jordan Joyce (OH) Joyce (PA) Keller Kelly (MS) Kelly (PA) Kim (CA) Kustoff LaHood LaMalfa Lamborn Latta LaTurner Lesko Long Loudermilk Lucas Luetkemeyer Mace Malliotakis Mann Massie Mast McCarthy McCaul McClain McClintock McHenry McKinley Meuser Miller (IL) Miller (WV) Miller-Meeks Moolenaar Mooney Moore (AL) Moore (UT) Mullin Nehls Norman Nunes Obernolte Owens Palazzo Palmer Pence Perry Pfluger Posey Reed Reschenthaler Rodgers (WA) Rogers (AL) Rogers (KY) Rose Rosendale Rouzer Roy Rutherford Salazar Scalise Schweikert Scott, Austin Sessions Simpson Smith (MO) Smith (NE) Smith (NJ) Smucker Spartz Stauber Steel Stefanik Steil Steube Stewart Stivers Taylor Thompson (PA) Tiffany Timmons Turner Van Drew Van Duyne Wagner Walberg Walorski Waltz Weber (TX) Wenstrup Westerman Williams (TX) Wilson (SC) Wittman Womack Wright Young Zeldin
NOT VOTING--4
Granger Harris Murphy (NC) Webster (FL)
{time} 1633
So the resolution was agreed to.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
MEMBERS RECORDED PURSUANT TO HOUSE RESOLUTION 8, 117TH CONGRESS
Adams (Brown) Axne (Stevens) Baird (Bucshon) Bergman (Walberg) Bilirakis (Fortenberry) Blumenauer (Beyer) Bonamici (Clark (MA)) Boyle, Brendan F. (Jeffries) Buchanan (Cammack) Cardenas (Gallego) Carson (Underwood) Costa (Correa) Crenshaw (Nehls) DeSaulnier (Matsui) DesJarlais (Kustoff) Deutch (Rice (NY)) Dingell (Stevens) Doyle, Michael F. (Cartwright) Dunn (Cammack) Fleischmann (Kustoff) Frankel, Lois (Clark (MA)) Hastings (Wasserman Schultz) Jayapal (Raskin) Johnson (TX) (Jeffries) Kaptur (Stevens) Kirkpatrick (Gallego) Kuster (Pingree) Lamborn (Walberg) LaTurner (Mann) Lawson (FL) (Evans) Lee (NV) (Stevens) Lieu (Beyer) Lowenthal (Beyer) McEachin (Wexton) McNerney (Huffman) Napolitano (Correa) Ocasio-Cortez (Tlaib) Peters (Beyer) Porter (Wexton) Pressley (Garcia (IL)) Schneider (Sherrill) Sires (Pallone) Smith (WA) (Courtney) Steel (Calvert) Strickland (Kilmer) Titus (Connolly) Tonko (Pallone) Vela (Gomez) Walorski (Banks) Watson Coleman (Pallone) Wilson (FL) (Hayes) Young (Malliotakis)
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SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 8
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