Congressional Record, Volume 166 Issue 10 (Thursday, January 16, 2020)

[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

[[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.

____________________