[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 19 (Wednesday, January 29, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H640-H641]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    OPPOSITION TO IMPEACHMENT TRIAL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Kentucky (Mr. Massie) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MASSIE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to the marathon 
impeachment sham trial currently underway and occupying the Senate's 
valuable time.

[[Page H641]]

  Frankly, the American people tuned out a long time ago. They find the 
proceeding simply boring, and rightly so. In fact, a recent focus group 
of Democrats said they don't even care about this impeachment trial. 
They are not interested, and they are ready to move on.
  The truth is that, despite all of the repetitive accusations of 
coverup, quid pro quo, he said, she said, et cetera, et cetera, this is 
nothing more than an attempt at a soft coup against President Trump by 
the people who still can't get over the fact that he beat Hillary 
Clinton fair and square at the ballot box.
  Just listen to some of the recent rants made by the impeachment 
managers. As one manager says: ``The President's misconduct cannot be 
decided at the ballot box, for we cannot be assured that the vote will 
be fairly won.''
  What an insult to American voters. If we can't trust the American 
voters, who can we trust? Does he think they are gullible? Does he 
think he is better than them?
  Or take the comments of another impeachment manager, a Democrat. He 
said, referring to President Trump: ``He is a dictator. This must not 
stand, and that is another reason he must be removed from office.''
  These are insulting to the American public who chose this President 
over Hillary Clinton.
  But these are the types of comments you would expect in a Third World 
country in which military coups are a common occurrence, not in the 
United States of America where we honor the votes and choices of the 
American people.
  President Zelensky and President Trump both said there was no 
pressure or coercion, and the call transcripts have been released to 
the public to prove this.
  But even if there had been pressure, if withholding foreign aid is an 
impeachable offense, why did Joe Biden threaten to do it?
  As I have stated repeatedly, if the bar of high crimes and 
misdemeanors has been brought down so low to include President Donald 
Trump's so-called abuse of power, then Joe Biden should be charged for 
his actions in Ukraine. Instead, he gets a pass.
  This impeachment trial is simply a farce. But it is an expensive and 
time wasting one foisted on the American people by those who do not 
have our country's best interests at heart.
  Even the Speaker of the House, who is a Democrat, said, if there is 
going to be an impeachment trial, if there is going to be impeachment 
proceedings, it should be bipartisan, it would have to be bipartisan.
  Mr. Speaker, the only thing bipartisan about this sham is the 
opposition to it. Democrats joined every Republican to vote against it 
in the House. I expect we are going to see similar results in the 
Senate, a bipartisan opposition to this partisan sham.
  I look forward to the Senate bringing this farce to a speedy 
conclusion.

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