[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 10 (Thursday, January 16, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S266-S267]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   EXHIBITION OF ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT AGAINST DONALD JOHN TRUMP, 
                     PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

  At noon, the managers on the part of the House of Representatives of 
the impeachment of Donald John Trump appeared below the bar of the 
Senate, and the Sergeant at Arms, Michael C. Stenger, announced their 
presence, as follows:

       Mr. President and Members of the Senate, I announce the 
     presence of the managers on the part of the House of 
     Representatives to conduct the proceedings on behalf of the 
     House concerning the impeachment of Donald John Trump, 
     President of the United States.

  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The managers on the part of the House will 
be received and escorted to the well of the Senate.
  The managers were thereupon escorted by the Sergeant at Arms of the 
Senate, Michael C. Stenger, to the well of the Senate.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Sergeant at Arms will make the 
proclamation.
  The Sergeant at Arms, Michael C. Stenger, made the proclamation, as 
follows:

       Hear ye! Hear ye! Hear ye! All persons are commanded to 
     keep silent, on pain of imprisonment, while the Senate of the 
     United States is sitting for the trial of the articles of 
     impeachment exhibited by the House of Representatives against 
     Donald John Trump, President of the United States.

  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The managers on the part of the House will 
now proceed.
  Mr. Manager SCHIFF. Mr. President, the managers on the part of the 
House of Representatives are present and ready to present the Articles 
of Impeachment which have been preferred by the House of 
Representatives against Donald John Trump, President of the United 
States.
  The House adopted the following resolution, which with permission of 
the Senate I will read.

                          House Resolution 798


Appointing and authorizing managers for the impeachment trial of Donald 
               John Trump, President of the United States

       Resolved, That Mr. Schiff, Mr. Nadler, Ms. Lofgren, Mr. 
     Jeffries, Mrs. Demings, Mr. Crow, and Ms. Garcia of Texas are 
     appointed managers to conduct the impeachment trial against 
     Donald John Trump, President of the United States, that a 
     message be sent to the Senate to inform the Senate of these 
     appointments, and that the managers so appointed may, in 
     connection with the preparation and the conduct of the trial, 
     exhibit the articles of impeachment to the Senate and take 
     all other actions necessary, which may include the following:
       (1) Employing legal, clerical, and other necessary 
     assistants and incurring such other expenses as may be 
     necessary, to be paid from amounts available to the Committee 
     on the Judiciary under applicable expense resolutions or from 
     the applicable accounts of the House of Representatives.
       (2) Sending for persons and papers, and filing with the 
     Secretary of the Senate, on the part of the House of 
     Representatives, any pleadings, in conjunction with or 
     subsequent to, the exhibition of the articles of impeachment 
     that the managers consider necessary.
                                                     Nancy Pelosi,
                          Speaker of the House of Representatives.
       Attest:
                                                Cheryl L. Johnson,
                                                            Clerk.
     [Seal Affixed]

  With the permission of the Senate, I will now read the Articles of 
Impeachment, House Resolution 755.

                          House Resolution 755


Impeaching Donald John Trump, President of the United States, for high 
                        crimes and misdemeanors

       Resolved, That Donald John Trump, President of the United 
     States, is impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors and 
     that the following articles of impeachment be exhibited to 
     the United States Senate:
       Articles of impeachment exhibited by the House of 
     Representatives of the United States of America in the name 
     of itself and of the people of the United States of America, 
     against Donald John Trump, President of the United States of 
     America, in maintenance and support of its impeachment 
     against him for high crimes and misdemeanors.


                       ARTICLE I: ABUSE OF POWER

       The Constitution provides that the House of Representatives 
     ``shall have the sole Power of Impeachment'' and that the 
     President ``shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, 
     and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and 
     Misdemeanors''. In his conduct of the office of President of 
     the United States--and in violation of his constitutional 
     oath faithfully to execute the office of President of the 
     United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, 
     protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, 
     and in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that 
     the laws be faithfully executed--Donald J. Trump has abused 
     the powers of the Presidency, in that:

[[Page S267]]

       Using the powers of his high office, President Trump 
     solicited the interference of a foreign government, Ukraine, 
     in the 2020 United States Presidential election. He did so 
     through a scheme or course of conduct that included 
     soliciting the Government of Ukraine to publicly announce 
     investigations that would benefit his reelection, harm the 
     election prospects of a political opponent, and influence the 
     2020 United States Presidential election to his advantage. 
     President Trump also sought to pressure the Government of 
     Ukraine to take these steps by conditioning official United 
     States Government acts of significant value to Ukraine on its 
     public announcement of the investigations. President Trump 
     engaged in this scheme or course of conduct for corrupt 
     purposes in pursuit of personal political benefit. In so 
     doing, President Trump used the powers of the Presidency in a 
     manner that compromised the national security of the United 
     States and undermined the integrity of the United States 
     democratic process. He thus ignored and injured the interests 
     of the Nation.
       President Trump engaged in this scheme or course of conduct 
     through the following means:
       (1) President Trump--acting both directly and through his 
     agents within and outside the United States Government--
     corruptly solicited the Government of Ukraine to publicly 
     announce investigations into--
       (A) a political opponent, former Vice President Joseph R. 
     Biden, Jr.; and
       (B) a discredited theory promoted by Russia alleging that 
     Ukraine--rather than Russia--interfered in the 2016 United 
     States Presidential election.
       (2) With the same corrupt motives, President Trump--acting 
     both directly and through his agents within and outside the 
     United States Government--conditioned two official acts on 
     the public announcements that he had requested--
       (A) the release of $391 million of United States taxpayer 
     funds that Congress had appropriated on a bipartisan basis 
     for the purpose of providing vital military and security 
     assistance to Ukraine to oppose Russian aggression and which 
     President Trump had ordered suspended; and
       (B) a head of state meeting at the White House, which the 
     President of Ukraine sought to demonstrate continued United 
     States support for the Government of Ukraine in the face of 
     Russian aggression.
       (3) Faced with the public revelation of his actions, 
     President Trump ultimately released the military and security 
     assistance to the Government of Ukraine, but has persisted in 
     openly and corruptly urging and soliciting Ukraine to 
     undertake investigations for his personal political benefit.
       These actions were consistent with President Trump's 
     previous invitations of foreign interference in United States 
     elections.
       In all of this, President Trump abused the powers of the 
     Presidency by ignoring and injuring national security and 
     other vital national interests to obtain an improper personal 
     political benefit. He has also betrayed the Nation by abusing 
     his high office to enlist a foreign power in corrupting 
     democratic elections.
       Wherefore President Trump, by such conduct, has 
     demonstrated that he will remain a threat to national 
     security and the Constitution if allowed to remain in office, 
     and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with self-
     governance and the rule of law. President Trump thus warrants 
     impeachment and trial, removal from office, and 
     disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, 
     trust, or profit under the United States.


                  ARTICLE II: OBSTRUCTION OF CONGRESS

       The Constitution provides that the House of Representatives 
     ``shall have the sole Power of Impeachment'' and that the 
     President ``shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, 
     and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and 
     Misdemeanors''. In his conduct of the office of President of 
     the United States--and in violation of his constitutional 
     oath faithfully to execute the office of President of the 
     United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, 
     protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, 
     and in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that 
     the laws be faithfully executed--Donald J. Trump has directed 
     the unprecedented, categorical, and indiscriminate defiance 
     of subpoenas issued by the House of Representatives pursuant 
     to its ``sole Power of Impeachment''. President Trump has 
     abused the powers of the Presidency in a manner offensive to, 
     and subversive of, the Constitution, in that:
       The House of Representatives has engaged in an impeachment 
     inquiry focused on President Trumps corrupt solicitation of 
     the Government of Ukraine to interfere in the 2020 United 
     States Presidential election. As part of this impeachment 
     inquiry, the Committees undertaking the investigation served 
     subpoenas seeking documents and testimony deemed vital to the 
     inquiry from various Executive Branch agencies and offices, 
     and current and former officials.
       In response, without lawful cause or excuse, President 
     Trump directed Executive Branch agencies, offices, and 
     officials not to comply with those subpoenas. President Trump 
     thus interposed the powers of the Presidency against the 
     lawful subpoenas of the House of Representatives, and assumed 
     to himself functions and judgments necessary to the exercise 
     of the ``sole Power of Impeachment'' vested by the 
     Constitution in the House of Representatives.
       President Trump abused the powers of his high office 
     through the following means:
       (l) Directing the White House to defy a lawful subpoena by 
     withholding the production of documents sought therein by the 
     Committees.
       (2) Directing other Executive Branch agencies and offices 
     to defy lawful subpoenas and withhold the production of 
     documents and records from the Committees--in response to 
     which the Department of State, Office of Management and 
     Budget, Department of Energy, and Department of Defense 
     refused to produce a single document or record.
       (3) Directing current and former Executive Branch officials 
     not to cooperate with the Committees--in response to which 
     nine Administration officials defied subpoenas for testimony, 
     namely John Michael ``Mick'' Mulvaney, Robert B. Blair, John 
     A. Eisenberg, Michael Ellis, Preston Wells Griffith, Russell 
     T. Vought, Michael Duffey, Brian McCormack, and T. Ulrich 
     Brechbuhl.
       These actions were consistent with President Trump's 
     previous efforts to undermine United States Government 
     investigations into foreign interference in United States 
     elections.
       Through these actions, President Trump sought to arrogate 
     to himself the right to determine the propriety, scope, and 
     nature of an impeachment inquiry into his own conduct, as 
     well as the unilateral prerogative to deny any and all 
     information to the House of Representatives in the exercise 
     of its ``sole Power of Impeachment''. In the history of the 
     Republic, no President has ever ordered the complete defiance 
     of an impeachment inquiry or sought to obstruct and impede so 
     comprehensively the ability of the House of Representatives 
     to investigate ``high Crimes and Misdemeanors''. This abuse 
     of office served to cover up the President's own repeated 
     misconduct and to seize and control the power of impeachment 
     and thus to nullify a vital constitutional safeguard vested 
     solely in the House of Representatives.
       In all of this, President Trump has acted in a manner 
     contrary to his trust as President and subversive of 
     constitutional government, to the great prejudice of the 
     cause of law and justice, and to the manifest injury of the 
     people of the United States.
       Wherefore, President Trump, by such conduct, has 
     demonstrated that he will remain a threat to the Constitution 
     if allowed to remain in office, and has acted in a manner 
     grossly incompatible with self-governance and the rule of 
     law. President Trump thus warrants impeachment and trial, 
     removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy 
     any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United 
     States.
                                                     Nancy Pelosi,
                          Speaker of the House of Representatives.
       Attest:
                                                Cheryl L. Johnson,
                                                            Clerk.
     [Seal Affixed]

  Mr. President, that completes the exhibition of the Articles of 
Impeachment against Donald John Trump, President of the United States.
  The managers request that the Senate take order for the trial, and 
the managers now request leave to withdraw.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Thank you, Mr. Schiff.
  The Senate will duly notify the House of Representatives when it is 
ready to proceed to trial.
  The majority leader.

                          ____________________