[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 76 (Wednesday, May 8, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H3495-H3497]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       NO PERSON IS ABOVE THE LAW

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2019, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Green) for 30 minutes.
  Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, and still I rise. I rise, Mr. 
Speaker, because I love my country. I love what it stands for.
  Mr. Speaker, I am a person who sings the national anthem. I salute 
the flag. But I also respect those who, as a matter of principle, 
choose not to do as I. I love my country.
  I believe that one of the hallmarks of our justice system is the 
concept that no person is above the law--no person. It doesn't matter 
where you were born; it doesn't matter where you happen to be in life; 
it doesn't matter what office you happen to hold. No person is above 
the law.
  This is something that people revere us for the world over, the 
belief that in this country you will not be above the law. But they 
also understand that, in doing this, no person will be beneath the law. 
The law applies equally to all in the United States of America.
  I believe in this concept to the extent that I will stand alone and 
say that the President of the United States is not to be above the law. 
And I will stand alone because, on some things, it is better to stand 
alone than not stand at all.
  So I will stand alone and say to the world that, in this country, 
wherein we indicate in the Pledge of Allegiance liberty and justice for 
all, in this country, wherein we recognize that all persons are created 
equal and endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, in 
this country, no person is above the law.
  When it comes to the law as it relates to the President of the United 
States of America, the place where the President is brought before the 
bar of justice is this House of Representatives. This is the place 
where the law and the President will come together.
  And in this place, because of the Constitution of the United States 
of America, Article II, Section 4, if a President commits impeachable 
acts, the President is brought before this bar of justice--not brought 
here in person, but those acts are called to the attention of the House 
of Representatives.
  Each Member of the House can do so, and in so doing, each Member can 
have what is called a privileged resolution presented. When this 
resolution is presented, a President who is believed to have committed 
an impeachable act can be brought before this House, this bar of 
justice. Those acts can be voted upon.

                              {time}  1445

  This is the only place on the planet Earth where a President of the 
United States can be brought to justice while in office, in this House 
of Representatives.
  This is why I have stood my ground. I have said that this President, 
who has committed impeachable acts, must be brought before the House of 
Representatives for his impeachable acts, his impeachable behavior.
  I marvel at those who would say that the President has done things 
that merit his impeachment but would then go on to say, ``But I don't 
think we should impeach him.''
  They will say they don't think so because if we do so, the President 
won't be convicted in the Senate.
  The Constitution of the United States of America does not require a 
conviction in the Senate before there is impeachment in the House. The 
House acts first, and then the Senate is given the opportunity to give 
its response.
  In this House of Representatives, it is imperative that we let the 
world know because the world is watching. The world is watching the 
United States of America, which means it is really watching this House 
of Representatives.
  They want to see if we are going to allow a President who has 
committed impeachable acts--they want to see if we are going to allow 
him to escape the long arm of the law. They want to see whether or not 
we truly believe that no one is above the law, and that includes the 
President of the United States of America.
  We must act.
  Mr. Mueller has taken up the cause. We outsourced the investigation 
to the executive branch of the government, which was not the 
appropriate thing to do. The Framers of the Constitution never intended 
that the agents of the executive branch investigate the chief executive 
officer, which would be the President, for impeachment purposes. That 
was never contemplated.
  They gave us Article II, Section 4, so that we, the Members of this 
august body, would take up our duty, our responsibility, and our 
obligation.
  They gave us the way. The question is, do we have the will?
  Mr. Mueller has done his job. He has submitted to us his report. That 
report alone is enough for us to bring Articles of Impeachment.
  That report is based upon persons giving statements that were subject 
to the penalty of perjury if they should give untruthful statements.
  It is clearly a roadmap to impeachment. Mr. Mueller has so much as 
said--not in these exacts words, but when you understand the import of 
his language, he has so much as said that

[[Page H3496]]

if he could bring the President to justice, he would.
  But they have a rule. They have a mandate in the Justice Department 
that they will not indict a sitting President. Whether you agree with 
that or not, that is the rule that Mr. Mueller believes in, and they 
followed it.
  He went on to say that he is not exonerating the President by not 
bringing the President before the bar of justice. He is simply saying 
to us: I have done what I am allowed to do. Now, Congress, it is up to 
you. I have given you what I believe is the evidence. You take this 
evidence and do with it what you believe to be appropriate.
  If Congress takes this evidence and simply sits on it, if we engage 
in the paralysis of analysis--a phrase that I borrow from Dr. Martin 
Luther King--if we investigate until someone will eventually say, 
``Well, it is too late to go on with impeachment. It is too late now. 
It will look political. Let's just wait until the next election,'' that 
is not what the Framers of the Constitution intended. They intended for 
us to have the will to follow the way that they accorded us in the 
Constitution.
  We made it clear that we wanted to wait on the Mueller report. Well, 
we waited. Now there are persons who are saying let's wait until the 
next election.
  I refuse to wait until the next election. I refuse to send the world 
a message that, as a Member of this body, I allowed the President to go 
unchecked, that I did not bring Articles of Impeachment.
  Mr. President, I want you to know that the hand of justice awaits 
you. I want you to know that this body is going to take up impeachment.
  And here is why: If we fail to do so, we will allow the President, 
who has committed impeachable acts, to go out and market himself as a 
person who has been vindicated by our inaction. He will say to the 
world: If I committed an impeachable act, they surely would have 
brought impeachment before the House of Representatives.
  After all, one party has more than enough Members to bring 
impeachment before the House without the help of another party. He will 
tell the world that there was no collusion, and he did nothing that 
would merit impeachment.
  This is what he would say. He would have that liberty. Even if he 
doesn't say it, he would have the liberty. My guess is that he would. 
That is what I believe.
  We must bring impeachment before this body so as not to allow a 
President who has done things worthy of impeachment to go out and 
contend that he is not subject to impeachment and that he should be 
considered a person who has been vindicated by our inaction.
  What are some of the things that the President has done that would 
merit his impeachment? Let's just start with Mr. Mueller's report. I 
won't go through everything in its entirety.
  He lists some 10 possibilities. I am just going to mention trying as 
best as he could to get people to have the investigation terminated by 
having the person who is performing the investigation fired, having 
that person resign, having that person cease and desist.
  The President started this with Mr. Comey when Mr. Comey was 
investigating the President's association, by and through his campaign, 
with Russia, interference in our elections.
  This kind of thing is something that we would want to have 
investigated. That was the genesis of it.
  Then we can move forward to the latest rendition that Mr. Mueller has 
given us as it relates to the counsel to the President and his desire 
to have the counsel have word given to certain parties that the 
President desires--probably not say that, but that was his desire--to 
have the lawyer who was investigating, Mr. Mueller, removed.
  This is not acceptable. This is obstruction. Obstruction takes place 
when you attempt to do such a thing.
  There are other things in between. As important as these are, I 
believe separating babies from their mothers as a policy is impeachable 
when you add it to the many other things that he has done with 
reference to people of color.
  To say that the countries in Africa are s-hole countries and then 
develop policies, immigration policies, if you will, that address 
immigration from these countries, you are putting your bigotry into 
policy.
  To say that there were some nice people among the racists, the 
bigots, the xenophobes, the Islamophobes, the homophobes, the Klansmen, 
the neo-Nazis who marched in Charlottesville where a person lost her 
life, where others were injured, to say that there were some very fine 
people among them, very, very nice people, if you will, among them, if 
I said that, I assure you there would be a penalty for my doing so. If 
any Member of Congress said such a thing, there would be a penalty for 
doing so.
  I am not above the law. Members of Congress are not above the law. 
And the President cannot be above the law.
  To say this gives these persons who were screaming ``blood and 
soil,'' and, ``Jews will not replace us,'' to say that we will not take 
up this cause in this House is to say that the President is above the 
law when we know if one of our Members did it, we would take up this 
cause in the House of Representatives.
  The President cannot be above the law. No Member of this House can be 
above the law. No judge can be above the law. No police officer can be 
above the law. The law applies equally to all.
  The President has engaged in these invidious acts, harmful acts, 
harmful to society, telling members of the constabulary, the police, 
that when you have persons in your custody, you don't have to be nice 
to them.
  We know about how many persons have been mishandled in the hands of 
the police. Not all police do this, but some have. In fact, many have 
gone to jail. That doesn't mean all law enforcement officers are bad. 
It just means that those who did it are, and we don't want to encourage 
others to do such a thing.
  The President has committed impeachable acts. These impeachable acts 
can be brought to this House, and they must be brought before the House 
of Representatives.
  Right now, the President is committing obstruction by causing persons 
who should appear before Congress' various committees--by doing all 
that he can to cause them not to appear. He is continuing to obstruct.
  He does not want congressional committees to perform their lawful 
duties, the duties that have been accorded them. He is standing in the 
way, thwarting as much as he can. He wants to thwart subpoenas. He 
wants to make impotent the subpoena power of the Congress of the United 
States of America.
  This is a continuation of his obstruction. His obstruction has to be 
checked. This is where it is checked.
  There is currently, as I stand and speak to you, a constitutional 
crisis taking place. There is a standoff between the executive branch, 
wherein the President is at the helm, and the House of Representatives. 
A standoff exists, as I speak to you.
  This is a constitutional crisis. The President is creating this 
constitutional crisis.
  The President ought to be brought before the bar of justice for 
obstructing, for what he is doing right now to create this 
constitutional crisis.
  Don't let anybody kid you. I have heard persons on these news 
programs say that somebody has said that there is a constitutional 
crisis. Well, I am that somebody. I have said it.
  Then they go on to say something that would minimize the fact that 
there is a crisis.
  They will be saying that there is a crisis soon. The very persons who 
are saying now, ``Well, don't worry about that,'' they will be saying 
it soon because the crisis is only going to intensify under this 
President.
  They will be saying there is a constitutional crisis. It is just a 
matter of time. When they say it, somehow, it is going to have greater 
legitimacy than it does now when I am saying it.
  I believe that we must speak truth to power. I didn't come to 
Congress to do this. It is not my desire to be the canary in the coal 
mine. It is not my desire to take on the President of the United 
States, the most powerful person in the world.
  I do it because I love my country. I do it because we cannot allow a 
reckless, ruthless, lawless President to remain in office. He has to be 
impeached.
  I do it because I believe that we cannot allow political expediency 
to

[[Page H3497]]

trump the moral imperative to do that which is right.
  I do it because we have to make these talking points that we have an 
action item. That action item is to bring the President before the bar 
of justice.
  Mr. Speaker, I love my country. I promise those who believe as I do 
that you will see the President have his day in court right here in the 
Congress of the United States of America, where the Framers of the 
Constitution intended that we hear the calls and take a vote.
  We will all have to vote. I don't lobby people. I simply say, ``Vote 
your conscience.''
  But I do know this: I believe that history is not going to be kind to 
us if we take no action. We must act. I will act.
  I love my country. For this reason, I would do so.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to refrain from 
engaging in personalities toward the President.

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