• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 116 CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION Vol. 166 WASHINGTON, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2020 No. 22 Senate The Senate met at 11:05 a.m. and was of impeachment exhibited by the House of we live in the midst of strong agitations and called to order by the Chief Justice of Representatives against Donald John Trump, are surrounded by very considerable dangers the United States. President of the United States. to our institutions and our government. The The CHIEF JUSTICE. The majority imprisoned winds are let loose . but I f have a duty to perform, and I mean to per- leader is recognized. form it with fidelity—not without a sense of TRIAL OF DONALD J. TRUMP, ORDER OF PROCEDURE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED surrounding dangers, but not without hope. Mr. MCCONNELL. Mr. Chief Justice, STATES Webster was wrong to believe that colleagues. the Compromise of 1850 could prevent The CHIEF JUSTICE. The Senate Today the Senate will hear up to 4 secession of the South, but I hope he will convene as a Court of Impeach- hours of closing statements by the two was not wrong to put his faith in the ment. sides. We will take a 30-minute lunch Senate because the design of the Con- The Chaplain will lead us in prayer. break after the House has made its ini- stitution and the intention of the PRAYER tial presentation. Then we will come Framers was that the Senate would be The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of- back and finish this afternoon. a Chamber removed from the sway of fered the following prayer: The CHIEF JUSTICE. Pursuant to temporary political winds. Let us pray. the provisions of S. Res. 488, the Senate In Federalist 65, Hamilton wrote: Arise, O Lord, as we enter the final has provided up to 4 hours of closing Where else than in the Senate could have arguments phase of this impeachment arguments, equally divided between been found a tribal sufficiently dignified, or trial. Mighty God, we continue to keep the managers on the part of the House sufficiently independent? What other body our eyes on You, on whom our faith de- of Representatives and the counsel for would be likely to feel confidence enough in the President. Pursuant to rule XXII of its own situation, to preserve, unawed and pends from start to finish. May our uninfluenced, the necessary impartiality be- Senators embrace Your promise to do the rules of procedure and practice of tween an individual accused, and the rep- for them immeasurably, abundantly, the Senate when sitting on impeach- resentatives of the people, his accusers? above all that they can ask or imagine. ment trials, the arguments shall be In the same essay, Hamilton ex- Lord, help our lawmakers to store opened and closed on the part of the plained this about impeachment: Your promises in their hearts and per- House of Representatives. The subjects of its jurisdiction are those mit You to keep them from stumbling. The Presiding Officer recognizes Mr. offenses which proceed from the misconduct Grant that they will leave a legacy of Manager SCHIFF to begin the presen- of public men, or, in other words, from the honor as they seek Your will in all tation on the part of the House of Rep- abuse or violation of some public trust. They they do. resentatives. are of a nature which may with peculiar pro- Mr. Manager CROW. Mr. Chief Jus- priety be denominated political, as they re- We pray in Your amazing Name. late chiefly to injuries done immediately to Amen. tice, Members of the U.S. Senate, coun- sel for the President. the society itself. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE The prosecution of them, for this reason, Almost 170 years ago, Senator Daniel will seldom fail to agitate the passions of the The Chief Justice led the Pledge of Webster of Massachusetts took to the Allegiance, as follows: whole community, and to divide it into par- well of the Old Senate Chamber, not far ties more or less friendly or inimical to the I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the from where I am standing. He delivered accused . in such cases there will always United States of America, and to the Repub- what would become perhaps his most be the greatest danger that the decision will lic for which it stands, one nation under God, be regulated more by the comparative indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. famous address, the ‘‘Seventh of March’’ speech. Webster sought to rally strength of parties, than by the real dem- THE JOURNAL onstrations of innocence or guilt. his colleagues to adopt the Com- Daniel Webster and Alexander Ham- The CHIEF JUSTICE. If there is no promise of 1850, a package of legisla- ilton placed their hopes in you, the objection, the Journal of proceedings of tion that he and others hoped would Senate, to be the court of greatest im- the trial are approved to date. forestall a civil war brewing over the partiality, to be a neutral representa- The Deputy Sergeant at Arms will question of slavery. tive of the people in determining— make the proclamation. He said: The Deputy Sergeant at Arms, Jen- uninfluenced by party or preexisting It is fortunate that there is a Senate of the faction—the innocence or guilt of the nifer Hemingway, made proclamation United States; a body not yet moved from its as follows: propriety, not lost to a just sense of its own President of the United States. Hear ye! Hear ye! Hear ye! All persons are dignity, and its own high responsibilities, Today you have a duty to perform, commanded to keep silent, on pain of impris- and a body to which the country looks with with fidelity, not without a sense of onment, while the Senate of the United confidence, for wise, moderate, patriotic, and surrounding dangers, but also not with- States is sitting for the trial of the articles healing counsels. It is not to be denied that out hope. ∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. S773 . VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:05 Feb 04, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A03FE6.000 S03FEPT1 dlhill on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with SENATE S774 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE February 3, 2020 I submit to you, on behalf of the dent Nixon that it was time for him to tool and legal window dressing he could House of Representatives, that your resign and that they could no longer to block evidence and muzzle wit- duty demands that you convict Presi- hold back the tide of impeachment nesses. He tried to prevent the public dent Trump. Now, I don’t pretend that over Watergate. from learning how he placed himself this is an easy process. It is not de- Now, contrary to popular belief, the above country. signed to be easy. It shouldn’t be easy Republican Party did not abandon Yet, even as President Trump has or- to impeach or convict a President. Im- Nixon as the Watergate scandal came chestrated this coverup and obstructed peachment is an extraordinary remedy, to light. It took years of disclosures Congress’s impeachment inquiry, he re- a tool only to be used in rare instances and crises and court battles. The party mains unapologetic, unrestrained, and of grave misconduct, but it is in the stood with Nixon through Watergate intent on continuing his sham to de- Constitution for a reason. In America, because he was a popular, conservative fraud our elections. As I stand here no one is above the law, even those President, and his base was with him, today delivering the House’s closing ar- elected President of the United States. so they were, too. But, ultimately, as gument, President Trump’s constitu- I would say especially those elected Goldwater would tell Nixon, ‘‘There are tional crimes—his crimes against the President of the United States. only so many lies you can take, and American people and the Nation—re- You have heard arguments from the now there has been one too many.’’ main in progress. President’s counsel that impeachment The President would have us believe As you make your final determina- would overturn the results of the 2016 that he did not withhold aid to coerce tion on the President’s guilt, it is election. You have heard that, in seek- these sham investigations; that his therefore worth revisiting the totality ing the removal and disqualification of July 25 call with the Ukrainian Presi- of the President’s misconduct. Doing so the President, the House is seeking to dent was ‘‘perfect’’; that his meeting lays bare the ongoing threat President interfere in the next elections. Sen- with President Zelensky on the side- Trump poses to our democratic system ators, neither is true, and these argu- lines of the U.N. was no different than of government, both to our upcoming ments demonstrate a deeply misguided a head-of-state meeting in the Oval Of- election that some suggest should be or, I think, intentional effort to mis- fice; that his only interest in having the arbiter of the President’s mis- lead about the role that impeachment Ukraine announce investigations into conduct and to the Constitution itself plays in our democracy. the Bidens was an altruistic concern that we all swore to support and de- If you believe—as we do and as we against corruption; that the Ukrain- fend.

Load more

  40

Copy Link