[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 185 (Tuesday, November 19, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H8962-H8963]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      MOVING IMPEACHMENT GOALPOSTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Alabama (Mr. Byrne) for 5 minutes.

[[Page H8963]]

  

  Mr. BYRNE. Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, I must rise again because, 
like so many times before, the goalposts for impeaching President Trump 
have moved. At this rate, Nancy Pelosi must be any field goal kicker's 
worst nightmare.
  Since literally day one, it has been abundantly clear that the far-
left members of a so-called squad have been moving this Democratic 
majority closer to impeaching the President. They don't care why or 
how. They don't care what evidence, real or imagined, is used. They 
care only about the end result: impeaching President Trump so that he 
will not win reelection.
  As this radical faction gains dominance in the Democratic Party, 
Speaker Pelosi has tried every justification in the book to impeach 
this President.
  We were told for years that we would get to impeachment from the 
Mueller report. They said just wait, wait till the report. It is going 
to show Russian collusion.
  Well, 2 years and millions of dollars down the drain, Mueller showed 
no collusion.

                              {time}  1015

  The Democrat narrative quickly turned towards ``obstruction of 
justice,'' but that, too, fell flat.
  But then, Mr. Speaker, the majority got a new gift, the 
whistleblower. Never mind he had no firsthand knowledge of what he blew 
the whistle on; never mind he is a partisan Democrat; never mind he 
worked with Adam Schiff on his new allegations against President Trump.
  It was campaign finance violations. Well, that didn't work. So then 
it was quid pro quo. For weeks, that is all the majority talked about.
  Not anymore. Apparently, Mr. Speaker, some highly paid political 
consultants warned Speaker Pelosi that quid pro quo did not resonate 
with the American people. So now it seems they have moved on to another 
version of impeachment that tested best in their focus groups, the 
nefarious-sounding ``bribery.'' It is bribery. That is what we will 
impeach President Trump on.
  Well, Mr. Speaker, I think my friends on the other side need to dust 
off their law books because, unfortunately for their latest impeachment 
fantasy, bribery isn't just some word. It is a real crime with a real 
definition, and it is one this majority cannot prove.
  You see, bribery occurs when an individual ``corruptly'' links 
receiving something of value in exchange for an official government 
action.
  I say to the majority, show me how asking Ukraine to look into the 
2016 election and into the sketchy dealings of Hunter Biden is acting 
corruptly. Because I will tell you what: I will show you evidence that 
Ukrainian officials were working to boost Secretary Clinton, and I will 
show you evidence that the Obama administration itself was concerned 
about Hunter Biden's deals.
  I think most Americans will say maybe the President of the United 
States should be looking into these things. I think they will say we 
want the President looking into possible corruption in our government 
and interference in our elections.
  More importantly, I say to the majority, show me how President Trump 
linked aid to these investigations.
  Mr. Speaker, President Trump's phone call with Ukraine's President 
Zelensky--you know, the one that the whistleblower blew the whistle 
on--it is on the internet. Everyone can read it, and I hope that they 
will, because nowhere in that call did President Trump ever link any 
aid to Ukraine in exchange for anything. The President did not one 
time--not one time--even mention any kind of hold on the aid, not once.
  This is not bribery. This is not impeachable conduct. Yet here we are 
trying to remove the President of the United States, the leader of this 
country, the man chosen by the voters, over these newest allegations.
  Mr. Speaker, the American people see past this charade. They know 
that this is a partisan political scheme. And at this point, I think 
most people who are paying attention, those who haven't tuned out, know 
this is just the latest effort by Democrats to throw something at the 
wall and see it if sticks.
  President Trump has committed no ``bribery, treason, or high crimes 
and misdemeanors'' the only offenses that the Constitution says warrant 
impeachment.
  I ask the majority, when do we stop and get back to the business of 
the American people?

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