The following is the statement made by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi,
D-Calif., on Tuesday evening announcing the House leadership’s decision
to start impeachment proceedings against President Trump:
Good afternoon.
Last Tuesday, we observed the anniversary of the adoption of the
Constitution on September 17th. Sadly, on that day, the intelligence
community inspector general formally notified the Congress that the
administration was preventing him from turning over a whistleblower
complaint – on Constitution Day. This is a violation of the law. Shortly
thereafter, press reports began to break of a phone call by the
president of the United States calling upon a foreign power to intervene
in his election. This is a breach of his constitutional
responsibilities. The facts are these: The intelligence community
inspector general, who was appointed by President Trump, determined that
the complaint is both of urgent concern and credible, and its
disclosure, he went on to say, relates to one of the most significant
and important of the director of national intelligence’s responsibility
to the American people. On Thursday, the inspector general testified
before the House Intelligence Committee, stating that the acting
director of national intelligence blocked him from disclosing the
whistleblower complaint. This is a violation of law. The law is
unequivocal. … It says the DNI, director of national intelligence, shall
provide Congress the full whistleblower complaint.
For more than 25 years, I’ve served on the Intelligence Committee as a member, as the ranking member, as part of the Gang of Four, even before I was in the leadership. I was there when we created the Office of the Director of National Intelligence – that did not exist before 2004. I was there even earlier in the ’90s when we wrote the whistleblower laws, and continued to write them, to improve them, to ensure the security of our intelligence and the safety of our whistleblowers. I know what their purpose was, and we proceeded with balance and caution as we wrote the laws. I can say with authority, the Trump administration’s actions undermine both our national security and our intelligence and our protections of the whistleblowers. … This Thursday, the acting DNI will appear before the House Intelligence Committee. At that time, he must turn over the whistleblower’s full complaint to the committee. He will have to choose whether to break the law or honor his responsibility to the Constitution.
On the final day of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, when our Constitution was adopted, Americans gathered on the steps of Independence Hall to await the news of the government our founders had crafted. They asked Benjamin Franklin: What do we have a republic or a monarchy? Franklin replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.” Our responsibility is to keep it. Our republic endures because of the wisdom of our Constitution, enshrined in three coequal branches of government serving as checks and balances on each other.
The actions taken to date by the president have seriously violated the Constitution, especially when the president says, “Article II says I can do whatever I want.” For the past several months we have been investigating in our committees and litigating in the courts so the House can gather all the relevant facts and consider whether to exercise its full Article I powers, including a constitutional power of the utmost gravity – approval of articles of impeachment. And this week, the president has admitted to asking the president of Ukraine to take actions which would benefit him politically.The actions of the Trump presidency revealed the dishonorable fact of the president’s betrayal of his oath of office, betrayal of our national security and betrayal of the integrity of our elections. Therefore, today, I’m announcing the House of Representatives is moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry. I’m directing our six committees to proceed with their investigations under that umbrella of impeachment inquiry. The president must be held accountable. No one is above the law.
Getting back to our founders: In the darkest days of the American Revolution, Thomas Paine wrote, “The times have found us.” The times found them to fight for and establish our democracy. The times have found us today – not to place ourselves in the same category of greatness as our founders but to place us in the urgency of protecting and defending our Constitution from all enemies foreign and domestic. And the words of Ben Franklin, to keep our republic.
I thank our chairmen … Chairman Nadler of Judiciary; Chairman Schiff of Intelligence; Chairman Engel, Foreign Affairs; Chairman Cummings of Oversight. And Chairman Cummings I’ve been in touch with constantly – he’s a master of so much but including inspectors general and whistleblowers. [Congressman] Richie Neal of the Ways and Means Committee. Congresswoman Maxine Waters of the Financial Services Committee. And I commend all of our members, our colleagues, for the thoughtful, thoughtful approach to all this, for their careful statements.
God bless them, and God bless America. Thank you all.
https://www.pressherald.com/2019/09/24/read-the-text-of-house-speaker-pelosis-statement-on-impeachment-inquiry/
Good afternoon.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California Andrew Harnik/Associated Press
For more than 25 years, I’ve served on the Intelligence Committee as a member, as the ranking member, as part of the Gang of Four, even before I was in the leadership. I was there when we created the Office of the Director of National Intelligence – that did not exist before 2004. I was there even earlier in the ’90s when we wrote the whistleblower laws, and continued to write them, to improve them, to ensure the security of our intelligence and the safety of our whistleblowers. I know what their purpose was, and we proceeded with balance and caution as we wrote the laws. I can say with authority, the Trump administration’s actions undermine both our national security and our intelligence and our protections of the whistleblowers. … This Thursday, the acting DNI will appear before the House Intelligence Committee. At that time, he must turn over the whistleblower’s full complaint to the committee. He will have to choose whether to break the law or honor his responsibility to the Constitution.
On the final day of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, when our Constitution was adopted, Americans gathered on the steps of Independence Hall to await the news of the government our founders had crafted. They asked Benjamin Franklin: What do we have a republic or a monarchy? Franklin replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.” Our responsibility is to keep it. Our republic endures because of the wisdom of our Constitution, enshrined in three coequal branches of government serving as checks and balances on each other.
The actions taken to date by the president have seriously violated the Constitution, especially when the president says, “Article II says I can do whatever I want.” For the past several months we have been investigating in our committees and litigating in the courts so the House can gather all the relevant facts and consider whether to exercise its full Article I powers, including a constitutional power of the utmost gravity – approval of articles of impeachment. And this week, the president has admitted to asking the president of Ukraine to take actions which would benefit him politically.The actions of the Trump presidency revealed the dishonorable fact of the president’s betrayal of his oath of office, betrayal of our national security and betrayal of the integrity of our elections. Therefore, today, I’m announcing the House of Representatives is moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry. I’m directing our six committees to proceed with their investigations under that umbrella of impeachment inquiry. The president must be held accountable. No one is above the law.
Getting back to our founders: In the darkest days of the American Revolution, Thomas Paine wrote, “The times have found us.” The times found them to fight for and establish our democracy. The times have found us today – not to place ourselves in the same category of greatness as our founders but to place us in the urgency of protecting and defending our Constitution from all enemies foreign and domestic. And the words of Ben Franklin, to keep our republic.
I thank our chairmen … Chairman Nadler of Judiciary; Chairman Schiff of Intelligence; Chairman Engel, Foreign Affairs; Chairman Cummings of Oversight. And Chairman Cummings I’ve been in touch with constantly – he’s a master of so much but including inspectors general and whistleblowers. [Congressman] Richie Neal of the Ways and Means Committee. Congresswoman Maxine Waters of the Financial Services Committee. And I commend all of our members, our colleagues, for the thoughtful, thoughtful approach to all this, for their careful statements.
God bless them, and God bless America. Thank you all.
https://www.pressherald.com/2019/09/24/read-the-text-of-house-speaker-pelosis-statement-on-impeachment-inquiry/
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