[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 163 (Wednesday, October 16, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5853-S5854]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

  Mr. MARKEY. Mr. President, I rise today to speak about the 
impeachment inquiry currently under way in the House of 
Representatives. The House impeachment inquiry is a solemn and serious 
matter. It concerns the official conduct of the President of the United 
States, and it implicates matters of grave importance: our national 
security, the rule of law, and the very foundations of our 
Constitution.
  We all--Democrats and Republicans alike--have a duty to defend our 
democracy, so when we are confronted with evidence that President 
Donald Trump abused his power and violated his oath of office by 
seeking foreign interference in our elections and then sought to cover 
it up, we have a constitutional obligation to investigate.
  The evidence we have already seen validates Speaker Pelosi's decision 
to open an impeachment inquiry and reinforces the need for this inquiry 
to continue unimpeded. Indeed, Donald Trump himself has already 
confirmed key evidence.
  Just look at what we know so far. We know that Donald Trump asked a 
foreign power, Ukraine, to investigate his political opponent. The 
President both admitted it on live television and then released a 
transcript showing that it had happened just as a whistleblower alleged 
that it did. That is not in dispute.
  We also know that Donald Trump then doubled down, subsequently 
admitting on camera that he wants foreign governments like Ukraine and 
China to investigate his political opponents. That is not in dispute.
  So instead of focusing on the Latin phrase ``quid pro quo,'' the 
President should be saying, ``mea culpa''--my fault, but he is not. And 
with each passing day, additional evidence of serious wrongdoing at the 
highest levels of our government has surfaced, evidence that Donald 
Trump has subjugated the Nation's interest to his personal and 
political interest and evidence that plainly warrants further 
investigation.
  For example, we learned that prior to his phone call with Ukrainian 
President Zelensky, Donald Trump blocked almost $400 million in 
military and security aid to Ukraine. Moreover, as the White House's 
own partial transcript of the conversation reflects, Donald Trump 
conditioned this aid on the Ukrainian President's willingness to 
conduct a political investigation, telling him: ``I would like you to 
do this as a favor though.''
  Donald Trump's quid pro quo linking U.S. military and security aid to 
a politically motivated investigation makes his admitted solicitation 
of foreign interference in our elections that much worse. It is an 
abuse of power and betrayal of Trump's oath to the Constitution and 
promise to the American people.
  We have also learned that White House officials moved the transcript 
of the phone call between President Trump and President Zelensky from 
its typical electronic storage system to a separate system intended to 
handle classified information of an especially sensitive nature. In 
other words, there appears to have been an effort to cover up Donald 
Trump's wrongdoing.
  We are also witnessing extraordinary attacks by Donald Trump on the 
whistleblower who brought the matter to light.
  Donald Trump's attacks on this individual are so serious and so 
harmful that they may rise to the level of witness tampering and 
obstruction of justice. They send a chilling message to others who may 
have information and are contemplating coming forward.
  It should go without saying that whistleblowers play an important 
role

[[Page S5854]]

in our democracy, especially when it comes to whistleblowers in the 
intelligence community. They should be praised and not demonized or 
threatened.
  Most recently, we have learned that the President allowed his 
personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, to conduct a shadow foreign policy 
outside of proper State Department channels--a foreign policy that 
serves personal interests and the President's personal political 
interests, but not the interests of the United States or the American 
people.
  We have learned that two individuals connected to Giuliani have been 
indicted on charges of violating Federal campaign finance laws stemming 
from hidden foreign campaign donations. We have learned that a career 
diplomat with an unblemished record was recalled from Ukraine because 
she honored her oath to the Constitution, but Trump viewed her as an 
impediment to his foreign policy agenda.
  These are just some of the things we have learned in the past few 
days.
  So what must we do? The answer is simple. We must investigate and get 
all the facts, Donald Trump's unprecedented and unjustified refusal to 
cooperate notwithstanding. The torrent of revelations of serious 
misconduct relating to foreign interference in our elections only 
underscores the need for the House investigation to continue unimpeded.
  The Founding Fathers were very concerned about foreign interference 
in America's democracy. They knew that foreign involvement in our 
politics and elections posed a threat to our sovereignty as a new 
nation.
  In 1787, John Adams wrote: ``As often as elections happen, the danger 
of foreign influence recurs.'' In 1788, Alexander Hamilton warned us 
that foreign powers trying to gain influence in our politics would be 
``the most deadly adversaries of Republican government.''
  The threat of foreign interference in our elections is as serious 
today as it was more than 200 years ago. We must do all that we can to 
defend against it, and that includes an impeachment inquiry into the 
conduct of the President when he admits to soliciting that very 
interference.
  The House of Representatives is going to begin a process. If the 
House of Representatives ultimately approves articles of impeachment 
against Donald Trump, the Senate will hold a trial and our Members will 
serve as jurors.
  As a member of the Senate and a potential juror, I will take my job 
as seriously as any I have ever had in this institution, and I hope my 
Republican colleagues will do so as well. The American people deserve 
nothing less.
  Leader McConnell and my Republican colleagues must uphold their oaths 
to the Constitution, put country over party, and conduct a fair trial. 
Anything short of that would be a dereliction of duty.
  No one should prejudge the case. Indeed, that is precisely the advice 
that Leader McConnell gave during the 1998 impeachment proceedings when 
he stated: ``As a potential juror, if it's serious enough to warrant a 
potential impeachment proceeding, I don't think I ought to prejudge the 
case.''
  We have a constitutional duty to investigate President Trump's 
attempts to orchestrate foreign interference in our elections, the 
usage of his office to support his personal political goals, and how he 
sought to cover up that effort. Nothing less than our national 
security, the rule of law, and our constitutional order are at stake.
  I yield the floor.

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