[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 22 (Friday, February 5, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E113]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
REPUBLICANS, IF THIS ISN'T IMPEACHABLE, WHAT IS?
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HON. ADAM KINZINGER
of illinois
in the house of representatives
Friday, February 5, 2021
Mr. KINZINGER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to include in the
Congressional Record an opinion-editorial piece written by two of my
good friends and colleagues, Former Representatives Barbara Comstock of
Virginia and Charles Boustany of Louisiana, which was printed in Roll
Call on February 4, 2021.
On Jan. 6, 2021, at 2:24 p.m., an angry Donald Trump
tweeted: ``Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do what
should have been done to protect our country and our
Constitution . . .''
At that very moment, Vice President Pence and his family
were hiding from a violent mob at the Capitol, having been
whisked out of the Senate chamber where he had been
conducting his constitutional duty of certifying the
election.
Over the course of the afternoon, the crowds shouted ``Hang
Mike Pence,'' ``President Trump sent us,'' ``Traitors,''
``Nancy Pelosi, we're coming for you'' and other frightening
and direct threats to members of Congress. This violent
insurrection culminated in five deaths, including a Capitol
Police officer, and 140 other officers were injured
protecting members. During this time, the president and his
attorney called at least one senator to ask him to delay the
count further.
``The mob was fed lies. They were provoked by the president
and other powerful people,'' Senate Republican leader Mitch
McConnell said. At a rally near the White House that morning,
Trump spoke apocalyptically, warning, ``If you don't fight
like hell, you aren't going to have a country anymore.''
Trump lied that he had won in a ``landslide.'' He had to know
this was a lie because his pollster had already issued a
lengthy report detailing why he lost. Donald Trump Jr. wildly
shouted at the rally, ``We are coming after you,'' directed
at members of Congress who were doing their constitutional
duty of certifying the election.
Many of those arrested at the Capitol echoed Donald Trump
and his lies. They said, ``We were invited here by the
president of the United States.'' Rioters included members of
the Proud Boys, QAnon conspiracy theorists and white
nationalists who ripped off the helmets of officers, beat
them with batons and flagpoles, and hurled racial epithets at
our Capitol Police. Some came with zip ties, presumably to
take hostages. At the end of the day, Trump recorded a video
message, saying to those who stormed the Capitol, ``You're
very special. . . . We love you.''
In the months and days leading to Jan. 6, these election
fraud lies that Trump whipped up the crowd with had been
rejected across the board:
By dozens of conservative judges in over 60 court cases who
said they were ``without merit'' and ``not credible.''
By Attorney General William Barr who said, ``We have not
seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different
outcome,'' and reportedly called the claims of the
president's lawyer ``bulls---.''
By Republican state election officials in Georgia, whom the
president belligerently attacked and asked to ``find'' him
more votes.
By his own White House counsel's office.
Nevertheless, Donald Trump persisted. Even after the worst
of the siege was visible for the world to see, he tweeted,
``These are the things and events that happen when a sacred
landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously
stripped away from great patriots who have been badly and
unfairly treated for so long.''
We Republicans cannot avert our eyes from these violent
realities. Some say we must move on. But it is clear that
Trump and his mob still aren't moving on. Trump, his family
and supporters continue to threaten political revenge and
have shown no remorse for their actions. Angry Trump
supporters continue to make dangerous threats.
``If this isn't impeachable, what is?'' has been the
question asked even by friends of Trump, such as former New
Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Such blatant anti-constitutional,
anti-democratic actions by a president and the violence he
inspired against a coequal branch of government cannot go
unpunished. They were unprecedented.
The president attempted to use his executive power to
direct Vice President Mike Pence, Attorney General William
Barr and other Republican officials to pursue anti-
constitutional actions on his behalf.
As for whether a trial can be held after the president has
left office, retired federal appeals court Judge Michael
McConnell, a conservative, has pointed out that impeachment
in the House occurred while the president was still in
office, so that point is moot. Article 1, Section 3, Clause 6
of the Constitution states: ``The Senate shall have the sole
Power to try all Impeachments.'' According to Judge
McConnell, a trial is not limited to ``sitting officers.'' If
it was, there would be no consequence to a president who
engaged in impeachable conduct at the end of his term,
The Senate must convict Donald Trump and keep him from
holding office ever again. This is not a close call. Trump
refused to accept the results of an election. He ignored the
courts and even attacked the Supreme Court with three of his
own appointees. He incited a mob to stop the certification of
the election in Congress. And he tried to illegally overturn
an election in violation of his oath to uphold the law.
Already the House impeachment has been the most bipartisan
impeachment in history. Republicans must stand up to police
our own. If Republicans continue to excuse Trump's lies and
actions that they know are among the worst in history by a
president, they will only further divide, not just our own
party, but the entire country.
Barbara Comstock represented Virginia's 10th District as a
Republican from 2015 to 2019.
Charles Boustany Jr. represented Louisiana in the House as
a Republican from 2005 to 2017. He serves as president of the
Association of Former Members of Congress.
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