On the recordOctober 31, 2019
``I would like you to do us a favor, though.'' President Trump said those 10 words on July 25 to Ukraine's President before asking Ukrainian President Zelensky to investigate a potential political opponent. For the past month, the Intelligence Committee has led an investigation into what happened around that phone call. In this early investigative stage, we have heard powerful, corroborating evidence that President Trump led an extortion shakedown scheme over the Ukrainians, leveraging $391 million of taxpayer dollars to have a foreign power assist him in his upcoming campaign. Just as powerful as the evidence we heard is the courage of the people who have come forward to provide it, defying lawless White House orders to obstruct and, instead, adhering to lawful congressional subpoenas. The evidence, however, is not a conclusion. At this stage, we must move now to a public process with due process protections for the President to secure and test that evidence. When our Founders designed the Constitution, they considered a lawless President and how to hold that person accountable. James Madison said the Constitution needed a provision for defending the community against lawlessness. Now we must solemnly embark upon this journey. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired. Members are reminded to refrain from engaging in personalities toward the President.
