[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 24 (Wednesday, February 5, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H776-H777]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          AMERICANS WILL JUDGE

  (Mr. HOYER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, ``I solemnly swear that in all things 
appertaining to the trial of the impeachment of Donald John Trump, 
President of the United States, now pending, I will do impartial 
justice according to the Constitution and laws.''
  That is the oath Senators swore on January 16. It is the oath created 
by Senators when they tried the first impeachment of a President in 
1868. It is an oath rooted in the Revolution fought by their 
grandparents to create a republic of laws, not kings. It is an oath 
whose power derives from its common sense: that a juror must always be 
impartial for a trial to be fair. And it is an oath made necessary by 
the fact that Senators are not, as we are not, under normal 
circumstances, impartial in our work.
  The words chosen for this oath recognize that when our Constitution 
calls Senators to try impeachment, it calls them away from their role 
as partisans. When that oath is taken, Senators are supposed to step 
back from the affiliation of party or political kinship with or 
opposition to the President on trial. They are required, as the oath 
plainly states, to ``do impartial justice according to the Constitution 
and laws.''
  Madam Speaker, this afternoon, Senators will be asked to vote on the 
two Articles of Impeachment the House presented on abuse of power and 
the obstruction of Congress. After voting to refuse to hear evidence 
and call witnesses with pertinent information, nearly all Republican 
Senators have already announced that they will vote against the 
articles.
  In doing so, many of them acknowledge that what President Trump did 
was wrong and inappropriate. They accept that it was wrong for him to 
withhold military aid to Ukraine until the President of that country 
promised to interfere in the American elections.
  The evidence of President Trump's abuse of power and attempt to 
solicit foreign interference in the 2020 elections is clear enough that 
Republican Senators cannot and have not denied the facts, yet they 
cannot bring themselves to confront this President and are choosing 
party over country.
  The Senator from Alaska, in explaining her decision to vote to block 
witnesses and evidence, tried to deflect responsibility from the 
consequences of her actions, writing: ``I have come to the conclusion 
that there will be no fair trial in the Senate.'' I agree with that. 
She further said: ``It is sad for me today to admit that, as an 
institution, the Congress has failed.''
  Madam Speaker, the Congress has not failed. The House did its job, 
whether you agree or not. In regular order, by a vote of this House, we 
impeached the President of the United States based upon our oath to 
protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
  The House did its job and did so with the solemnity required when 
undertaking the process of impeachment, which we did not seek but 
accepted as our responsibility under the Constitution. We held 
hearings, called witnesses, and subpoenaed documents. Many of the 
witnesses and documents, of course, were withheld by the White House.
  It is the Senate that will fail if Senators do not uphold their oaths 
to impartial justice. It is the Senate, Madam Speaker, that will fail 
if it does not hold this President accountable for using a hold on 
military aid to compel an ally to interfere in our election for his own 
personal gain.
  History will judge poorly those who choose fear of their party over 
the courage to do the right thing. Neither the Speaker nor myself, nor 
the whip, Jim Clyburn, urged any member in our party to vote any way on 
impeachment. There was no lobbying. There was no pressure. Our members 
voted consistent with their oath of office and the conviction that that 
vote was required by that oath to protect and defend the Constitution.

  Americans will judge. I am often asked why the House passed Articles 
of Impeachment even knowing that the odds were slim that Senate 
Republicans would set aside partisanship and hear the case as impartial 
jurors. It is because I know future generations will look back on this 
chapter in our history and ask: Who stood up for the Constitution and 
the laws? Who stood up for the values our Founders charged us to keep? 
Who refused to shrink from the heavy responsibilities of their oath? I 
can be proud that the House did its job, followed the law, defended our 
Constitution.
  We did not convict; that is not our role. Essentially, what we said 
was there was probable cause that powers had been abused and certainly 
cause to see that the President refused to cooperate with the 
constitutional responsibilities of the House of Representatives.
  I am also proud of the House managers, as all of my colleagues on the 
Democratic side of the aisle are proud of our managers who made their 
case. They made their case with intellect. They made their case with 
evidence that had been adduced here in the House. They made their case 
and appealed to Senators to hold this President accountable, as our 
Founders intended.
  Almost everybody has watched a trial either in person or on 
television. A trial is not an opening argument and a closing argument 
with nothing in between. Seventy-five percent of our people wanted to 
have witnesses because that was their understanding of what a trial is, 
not just argument at the beginning and argument at the end, but 
evidence for jurors who have pledged to be impartial to consider. Any 
judge in this country would agree that opening and closing statements 
alone are not a trial.
  Nevertheless, the House managers proved their case. The truth is 
clear. The American people know what that truth is and know what this 
President has done. And they will remember who on this day abided by 
the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

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