In honoring and defending the Constitution, we defend and honor ourselves.

The President has abused his power. The President has tried to obstruct Congress in trying to create his own way of us doing our impeachment inquiry.

That is a large step toward dictatorship.

He has simply asserted that he doesn't recognize the constitutional power of Congress to impeach.

We decide how to proceed, not the White House.

I pray tonight that all of our colleagues have the courage to do the right thing: defend our beloved America and uphold their oath of office.

Look, I have been a professor of constitutional law and election law for 29 years.

I fear that the President was right when he warned us that he could shoot someone in the middle of 5th Avenue and not be held accountable by his supporters.

A government where the President abuses his power is not of the people.

And that is because the government belongs to the people; it doesn't belong to the President.

And it is an affront to the memory of Congressman Elijah Cummings who knew we were better than this.

the President put his own interest in front of the interest of the country, that he sought to use the power of the presidency to withhold military aid from an ally and to extort that ally into making an announcement of a bogus…