[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 181 (Wednesday, November 13, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S6524]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Impeachment

  Mr. President, as we speak, the House Intelligence Committee is 
conducting the first day of public hearings in its impeachment inquiry 
into President Trump.
  The list of witnesses this week includes several key figures with 
knowledge of the events in question. While most of the witness requests 
from House Republicans were non sequiturs, or individuals who would 
have no knowledge of the President's actions nor of the allegations 
against him, three of the individuals requested by the Republicans were 
agreed to and are slated to testify next week. The idea that the 
Republicans and the President have no due process and can't call 
witnesses or influence the process is simply inaccurate.
  As the impeachment inquiry in the House begins a new phase today in 
its pursuit of the facts, we have a serious responsibility here in the 
Senate not to prejudge the case but to examine the evidence 
impartially. We have a responsibility to let all of the facts come out 
and, as they do, to keep an open mind and let ourselves be ruled by 
reason rather than by passion or partisanship. As public hearings in 
the House begin, we would do well to remember our constitutional duty 
to act as judges and jurors in a potential trial when and if it comes 
to one. That is not to say we won't even read the transcript, and that 
is not to say the vote would come out this way. Yet, as jurors, we will 
be as dispassioned as each of us can be.