[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 9 (Wednesday, January 15, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S202-S203]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              IMPEACHMENT

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, before I make remarks on a different 
issue, I would like to address comments made this morning by the 
majority leader, the Senator from Kentucky. The first related, as most 
of his comments recently, to the pending impeachment trial in the U.S. 
Senate.
  I listened carefully to his arguments that the House and the Senate 
have moved too quickly on this matter. It is true that they moved with 
dispatch, and I think it reflects the fact that the charges that have 
been made were timely, important, and relevant to the election campaign 
cycle which we now face.
  The charges in the Articles of Impeachment suggest the President, in 
conversation with the President of Ukraine, asked for help in the 
campaign that is about to ensue, asking specifically for investigative 
material on the son of former Vice President Joseph Biden. At the same 
time, the President was withholding military assistance voted by the 
Appropriations Committee in Congress to Ukraine as they continue to 
battle with Russia. These are serious charges, and they were based on a 
telephone conversation last July.
  It is true that the effort by the House of Representatives has been 
timely and, by measurement of previous impeachment investigations, much 
faster, but I believe that the timeliness is one of the important 
elements here because we are facing this campaign.

[[Page S203]]

  Secondly, there was an argument made by the majority leader that the 
Articles of Impeachment which we are about to receive in the Senate do 
not state that a crime was committed. I would refer the majority leader 
to the Constitution as well as to precedent in the U.S. Senate. The 
actual allegation of a crime is not required for an impeachment. I 
think the Senator from Kentucky knows that.
  The last point he makes is one that I think is very important, and 
that is that there has been some delay by Speaker Pelosi in sending the 
Articles of Impeachment to the U.S. Senate. I would say, during the 
course of the period since they were first voted on last December in 
the House and their arrival in the Senate this week, we have seen 
several things of importance unfold, not the least of which was a 
recent disclosure of new witnesses and new evidence that has have been 
collected since the House voted on the Articles of Impeachment. In the 
eyes of many, it is relevant evidence, and the fact that that 
information is now available to the Senate means we have a better 
chance of arriving at the truth after deliberation.
  Secondly, I might add it is encouraging that some Republican Members 
of the U.S. Senate have made it clear that they oppose the notion of a 
motion to dismiss the impeachment charges as soon as they arrive. That 
might have been the dream of some in the White House--and perhaps even 
some in the U.S. Senate--but cooler heads have prevailed, and I salute 
my colleagues on both sides of the aisle who believe we have a special 
responsibility to treat this constitutional assignment with 
independence and dignity. That means we don't prejudge by coming to the 
floor and announcing, in some critical terms, that the Articles of 
Impeachment should not be taken seriously. We should take them 
seriously. It is a serious matter. I hope colleagues on both sides of 
the aisle will do that.

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