Martin Heinrich: “and all of my colleagues in the Senate, throughout this impeachment trial, I thought a lot about what this country…”

“and all of my colleagues in the Senate, throughout this impeachment trial, I thought a lot about what this country stands for. For me, as the son of an immigrant whose family came to the United States from Germany in the 1930s, America stands as a beacon of liberty, equal justice, and democracy. We are a nation forged by a revolution against a monarchy and its absolute power. We are a nation founded by the ratification of the most radically democratic document in history, the Constitution of the United States of America. Under the Constitution, we are governed not by monarchs--who act with impunity and without accountability--but by elected officers who answer to, and work for, ``We the People.'' Generations of Americans have struggled and sacrificed their lives to defend that audacious vision. The Senate has a duty and a moral responsibility to uphold that vision. Over the last 2 weeks, I fear that the Senate has failed in that duty. I am deeply disappointed that nearly all of my Republican colleagues refused to allow for the kind of witness testimony and documentary evidence that any legitimate trial would include. You cannot conduct a fair trial without witnesses. In my view, you also can't have a legitimate acquittal without a fair trial; that the Senate refused to shed more light on the facts is truly astonishing. Despite this, the facts as we know them are clear and plain.…”