Thread by @BBuchman_CNS

If you've missed the live-thread so far, catch up with the developing story:
courthousenews.com/impeachment-ma…
via @KlasfeldReports and myself.

@KlasfeldReports When Raskin laced into Trump, he zeroed in on POTUS' own legal history, noting how Trump had to pay $2M to charities he "ripped off," then $25M for fraud related to Trump University. "Get real, be serious!" Raskin says.
On Ukr.: "There are 17 witnesses & no rival story at all."

@KlasfeldReports Republican Rep. Steube (of the "New York lawyer" comment from earlier this week) say Dems couldn't find any criminal act, so instead of relying on precedent of criminality, they decided to impeach.
In the majority report, this is unwound.

@KlasfeldReports From the maj. report on the necessity of criminality to impeach: "That position was rejected in Pres. Nixon’s case, and then rejected again in Pres. Clinton’s, and should be rejected once more. Offenses against the Const. are different than offenses against the criminal code."

@KlasfeldReports Some crimes like jaywalking are not impeachable, the report says. Some forms of misconduct may offend both the
Constitution & criminal law. Impeachment & criminality must, therefore, be assessed separately.

@KlasfeldReports On whether criminality is necessary to impeach a president, according to majority report: "Ultimately, the House must judge whether a President's conduct offends or endangers the Constitution itself."
Located p. 8: documentcloud.org/documents/6570…

@KlasfeldReports "The POTUS violated the public trust, undermined natl sec by using the enormous power of his office, not to advance the public good or interests of the U.S., but to advance his own personal, political benefit," Rep. Cicilline says while referring to this: medium.com/@legalscholars…

@KlasfeldReports Jordan's amendment to strike the entirety of Article I fails to pass.

@KlasfeldReports Apologies - hit send too soon - Article 1 of the following doc is the "abuse of power" section.
Full searchable doc here: documentcloud.org/documents/6574…

@KlasfeldReports Gaetz proposed amendment would change the language in the original Nadler piece that originally IDs Biden as a "political opponent" to the "well-known corrupt company Burisma and its corrupt hiring of Hunter Biden"

@KlasfeldReports Rep Zoe Lofgren speaking. In a nutshell, she argues that if Hunter Biden's influence/reputation/conduct should be reviewed by cmte because of concerns of impropriety, so too should the conduct of Ivanka, Eric and Don Jr.

@KlasfeldReports Rep Hakeem Jeffries, D-NY lamented GOP grievances that Rs couldn't call credible witnesses. But many of the witnesses were Trump appointees, he reminds the cmte: Taylor, Sondland, Fiona Hill, Jen Williams, Lt Col Vindman, Amb. Volker.

@KlasfeldReports Rep Jeffries on those Trump appointees: "All confirmed Trump pressured a foreign government to target a U.S. citizen and withheld aid"

@KlasfeldReports Trump used the power of his office to smear an opponent and leverage taxpayer money to accomplish those ends, Rep Cicilline argues.
"The facts are the facts," he says.

@KlasfeldReports Cicilline asks what changed in 2019? What changed after Trump gave Ukr. aid for two years w/o issue and after probes into Hunter Biden were long closed? What happened? Trump's was concerned that Biden was surging in polls ahead of an election, Cicilline says.

@KlasfeldReports We are on a brief recess.

@KlasfeldReports We will begin shortly. The chairman has returned to the dais. Awaiting that *crack!* of the gavel.

@KlasfeldReports Attorneys - do you ever hear the gavel in your sleep after long weeks in court? Or phantom gavels? Just me? Ok.

@KlasfeldReports And there goes the gavel. We are back.

@KlasfeldReports We are still considering the Gaetz amendment.
Rep Ken Buck, R-Colorado, begins the debate and accidentally refers to the obstruction of Congress article as obstruction of Justice.

@KlasfeldReports A refresher on the Gaetz amendment:

https://twitter.com/BBuchman_CNS/status/1205172790443294721

@KlasfeldReports Ken Buck says to Dems on the committee if Trump is impeached on obstruction of Congress, "you will make him more popular."

@KlasfeldReports Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Az. spent several minutes blasting Hunter Biden for the salary he received while he was a board member at Burisma. On the subject of money alone, here's info on some of what Rep. Lesko receives, according to Open Secrets:

One notable donor to Rep. Debbie Lesko:
In 2017-2018, her fifth top donor was Koch Industries.
In 2019-2020, they have moved to spot #3.
opensecrets.org/members-of-con…

"We are only here today, voting on these 2 articles of impeachment because this president has chosen to put his personal interests ahead of the national interests. This president chose to attempt to withhold public resources in order to gain an unfair advantage.- Rep Stanton,D-AZ

Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-TX on POTUS refusal to submit to oversight:
"Mr. Trump is welcome to be here. He was our welcome to participate and his lawyers. If he has any information that would exonerate him about this, he could present it at any time. He has not."
@CourthouseNews

Earlier tweet deleted for misidentification of Rep Escobar's district. Replaced with same tweet, corrected the district. She is a Rep for the State of Texas.
My apologies, regret the error!

Rep Raskin, D-Md., says Trump's obstruction of Congress is unprecedented - something oft repeated by Dems today - and then says the president has "pulled the curtain down" on the executive branch.

Ranking member Doug Collins is up and says he can be here all night to unearth "the facts."

Time check, we are into hour 6.

Rep Madeline Dean, D-PA. notes how US Const. says House has "sole" power to impeach.
"We do not need permission from the president, we do not need permission from the courts," Rep. Dean says.

"Do not be confused by the lawyers on the other side who would teach the wrong civics lesson and distract you with these notions," Dean continues.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee says "no one misinterpreted" what was in the incomplete transcript. No one misinterpreted when Trump said "us" in his call, he meant himself and essentially, those who would do his bidding for his personal interests, she argues.

For your convenience, the incomplete transcript released by the WH: documentcloud.org/documents/6551…

Rep Louie Gohmert, R-TX, says Trump is the "most helpful president since the steel curtain fell."

It's the Iron Curtain.

Rep Jeffries says Donald Trump "attacks everyone who won't bend the knee." Just a few of the people he's attacked, Paul Ryan, John McCain, gold star families, Greta Thunberg just today. He speaks right to Rs, looking across the dais:
"Are you here to defend that as well?"

.@RepJoeNeguse: Clinton responded to 81 req's from Congress. Nixon's counsel and staff testified at that admin's urging.
"When we say, no other president in the history of this Republic has ever defied an impeachment inquiry the way this one has, we mean it."
@CourthouseNews

@RepJoeNeguse @CourthouseNews .@RepZoeLofgren: "If this behavior persists, this careful balance, this careful sharing of power is gone forever. It means only one branch, the executive branch, will have the right to decide what happens in the United States of America."
@CourthouseNews