Thread by @BBuchman_CNS

At this very early hour, I think of Thomas Paine who said, "Those who want to reap the benefits of this great nation must bear the fatigue of supporting it."

We return to the scene from last night's House Judiciary Cmte hearing finalizing the impeachment articles against President Trump. Last night, it was opening statements all around. Today we will get into the meat of the moment: articles will debated in cmte and then voted on.

With Ds as the majority on cmte, it is unlikely Rs will get anywhere today unless amendments receive widespread support. But if the opening remarks were an indication, lawmakers are diametrically opposed on the articles, to put it nicely & won't come together on much, if anything

Missed the hearing or want a refresher? Here's the coverage from @CourthouseNews on round one via myself, @KlasfeldReports
and @ByTimRyan. courthousenews.com/congress-bubbl…

The live-tweet session for round two of today's debate in the House Judiciary Committee on the articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump begins at 9AM ET.
@CourthouseNews

@CourthouseNews The hearing begins shortly. My colleague @KlasfeldReports and I will live-tweet the hearing. Be sure to give him a follow if you are not already!

@CourthouseNews @KlasfeldReports We have started right away. Nadler begins with introducing the amendment here:
docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU…

@CourthouseNews @KlasfeldReports This amendment, in effect, names the articles of impeachment: abuse of power, obstruction of congress.
The amendment states that Trump engaged in a scheme to solicit gov't of Ukr. to benefit his 2020 reelection and turn the election to his advantage

@CourthouseNews @KlasfeldReports This amendment also suggests that Trump undermined the integrity of the U.S. democratic process. He acted directly and through his agents to publicly announce investigations into frmr VP Joe Biden and into a discredited theory that Ukr., not Russia, interfered in 2016 election

@CourthouseNews @KlasfeldReports The amendment also states that Trump, "if allowed to remain in office" is a threat to the national security of the U.S.

@CourthouseNews @KlasfeldReports On obstruction, the amendment states that Trump abused his power by directing executive branch agencies to defy lawful subpoenas, by refusing to comply himself with doc requests.

"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 history of .the Republic, no President has ever ordered the complete defiance of an impeachment inquiry or sought to obstruct and impede so the ability of
the House of Representatives to investigate high Crimes
and Misdemeanors."

Searchable doc of the Nadler amendment: documentcloud.org/documents/6574…

Ranking member Doug Collins claims that the hearing today should not occur because he says House rules suggest a minority hearing must take place. Nadler says, not so. The House rules do not require Nadler to schedule a hearing on a particular day or a condition to proceed.

"Otherwise, the minority could delay or block majority action, that is not the purpose of the rule. I reached this conclusion after reading plain text of House rules and consulting with authorities at Congressional research service. Minority views have not been shut out. "

Collins point of order will not be sustained, Nadler says.
Collins says based on Nadler's lengthy answer, it "struck a nerve" and he pushes ahead. Collins appeals and a voice vote is taken, Collins lost. Collins asked for a roll call.

The Dems hold the majority, so its likely most amendments by Rs today will be shot down.

And after a roll call, it was tabled. We move on.

Rep Deutch - There's no rule that says minority must have a witness day. They can call witnesses. And they did.
Steve Castor was a witness, for one.
Before telling us the sky is falling and great disrespect for the fall

Rep Jim Jordan has an amendment to offer: he wishes to strike the entirety of Article I - the entire Abuse of Power section in the Nadler amendment here: documentcloud.org/documents/6574…
Why? "It ignores the truth," Jordan says.

Rep David Cicilline wants to address Jordan by stating what he says are the facts: Trump ran a scheme to elicit Ukraine into investigating his political rival, he directed a hold to military aid to Ukraine.

Cicilline: There's direct evidence from Lt. Col. Alex Vindman, Tim Morrison who heard the POTUS "utter words from his own mouth." Trump made admissions in public Oct 2, 3, 4. Then invited China to interfere.

He continues: Trump's chief of staff acknowledged that he was directed to put an inexplicable hold on military aid.T Trump directed Pence not to attend Zelensky inauguration as a point of leverage until investigations announced.

Rep Neguse takes issue with Republican claims that they didn't have access to the Intel closed hearings. House Intel Cmte minority members did have access. Some of them even appear in the transcripts, speaking to lawmakers and witnesses, he says.

When Rep. Debbie Lesko says she didn't get to sit in on the private House Intel hearing - that's true. That's because she is not a member of the House Intel, Foreign Affairs or Oversight committees who conducted that phase of the inquiry and was therefore not permitted.

Rep Zoe Lofgren: While aid was being withheld, people died. Highest death toll of any day in the Ukrainian-Russian war was Aug 7. When the aid was withheld.
Collins says this was prospective money and then quips "for those of us who have actually been in war," people die, he says

The story just entered into the record by Lofgren is this one here: latimes.com/world-nation/s…

Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif.: There are no crimes here? How about one of the highest crimes that can be committed against the Constitution?

Swalwell: The president committed the highest crime by abusing his office, cheating in an election, inviting foreign interference for purely personal gain and by jeopardizing the integrity of our elections.

Trump didn't have to commit statutory crimes.
Congressmembers are not criminal prosecutors.
But Swalwell says, if they could charge him, let's talk about what he could be charged with: criminal bribery to start.

Criminal Bribery - it occurs when a public official demands or seeks anything of value personally in return for being influenced or for the performance of an official act.
Trump demanded and sought the announcement and conduct of politically motivated investigations by Zelensky.

Swalwell also says Trump committed honest services fraud "Trump knowingly orchestrated a scheme to defraud the American people in the course of his services," Swalwell says.

Gaetz attempted to call for point of order. When shot down, Gaetz stood up at the dais, and off mic, began speaking loud enough that you could at least hear his voice from the very back of the chamber.
He's conferring now with Collins who went for a cup of coffee, it appears.

In case that wasn't clear - Gaetz stayed in the room. When I said confer, I meant that Collins walked back into chambers after grabbing coffee and Gaetz flagged him down right away and they spoke for a few minutes before Collins returned to his seat next to Nadler

STORY DEVELOPING: courthousenews.com/impeachment-ma…

Gaetz claims that Dems "have to say" abuse of power because there are no specific cries" committed by Trump. Gaetz also says there is no evidence there was the crime of obstruction of Congress.

Rep Pramila Jayapal to Rep Gaetz: You can't argue things both ways. If your argument is that Trump was so concerned about aid then why did he release aid in 2017, 2018, but then in 2019 after DoD cleared Ukraine on charges of corruption, why then did he decide not to release aid?

Rep Jayapal: "I have only 2 questions: Forget about President Trump. Forget about President Trump. Will any one of my colleagues on the other side say it is an abuse of power to condition aid on official acts?

Jayapal continues: "Forget about President Trump. Forget about President Trump. Is any one of my colleagues willing to say it is ever OK for a POTUS to invite foreign interference in our elections? Not a single one of you has said that so far."

Rep John Ratcliffe is arguing that nothing illegal or untoward happened during Trump's call with Zelensky in July. The basis for this argument? According to the Texas Republican, because Trump never said the word "demand." "It appears nowhere in the transcript."

We're only 2 hours into the hearing but I think one of the takeaways here - strategically, GOP cannot get far on any proposed amendments since they are outnumbered 24-17. But they can use this time to make their case and repeat their defense of POTUS. And that's where we are.

.@RepValDemings calls back to R argument that there's "no mention of the word demand" and therefore, nothing demanded of Zelensky.
She offers an analogy: When a robber walks up to you with a gun because he wants to take your money, he doesn't say, "I'm robbing you right now."

@RepValDemings Rep. Jamie Raskin laced into Trump during his remarks.
Trump didn't care about corruption in Ukraine, he says.
"They want us to believe Donald Trump is an anti-corruption crusader?" Raskin asks, unequivocally incredulous at the thought. His voice booming across the chamber