[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 9 (Friday, January 15, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E41]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




IMPEACHING DONALD JOHN TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, FOR HIGH 
                        CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                             HON. JIM COSTA

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, January 13, 2021

  Mr. COSTA. Madam Speaker, as an elected Member of Congress, I take 
the same oath as the President of the United States: ``I will support 
and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, 
foreign and domestic.'' I believe President Donald Trump violated that 
oath of office on and before January 6, 2021. So, it is with heavy 
heart that I vote, for the second time, to impeach.
  This decision was not done rashly. I have listened to my 
constituents, who overwhelmingly support impeachment, and consulted 
with Republicans, Independents and Democrats. It is my firm resolve 
that in America no person is above the law. We must hold the President 
accountable for his actions. The President violated his oath of office 
when he worked to invalidate the votes of American citizens with false 
and unproven accusations of voter fraud over the last three months. He 
took it further by inciting a violent mob to attack the Capitol on 
January 6, 2021. In a well-documented public address, he urged his 
supporters to march on the Capitol and to do everything they could to 
stop ``a fraudulent election'' that the Congress was voting to certify, 
as we are required to do under the constitution. The result was an 
attack on our Nation's Capitol, our symbol of democracy here in the 
United States and around the world. This group of thugs, took over the 
Senate chamber, desecrated the Speaker's office, paraded the 
Confederate battle flag in the rotunda and killed a Capitol Police 
officer.
  The President has blood on his hands.
  We cannot let his action go unchecked. If we do not act, we send the 
message that our oath does not matter, and we will erode the very 
principles this great country was founded on.
  It didn't have to be this way. The President could have adhered to 
the norms that all his predecessors followed by acknowledging that he 
lost the election fair and square. A transfer of power from a defeated 
incumbent to a victor of a different party has happened throughout our 
history starting with John Adams conceding to Thomas Jefferson. As his 
predecessors did, the President could have committed to a peaceful 
transfer of power. He could have avoided putting our country through 
this traumatic and frightful confrontation by speaking the truth.
  No person is above the law. President Donald Trump lied to the 
American people and then urged a violent group of traitors to overthrow 
our legislative branch of government and overturn an election. For 
these reasons I sadly voted to impeach the President of the United 
States.

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