Nydia M. Velazquez: “The facts are clear. The President of the United States withheld $400 million in military aid to an ally of the United…”

“The facts are clear. The President of the United States withheld $400 million in military aid to an ally of the United States and also held back a White House meeting to compel a foreign nation to investigate his political opponent. At the exact time the President was doing this, Ukraine was engaged in a battle for its very existence with one of America's adversaries, Russia. The President abused his power to persuade a foreign nation to dig up dirt on a political opponent, and that is the truth. This was, quite simply, a geopolitical shakedown. The President then tried to block Congress from exercising its constitutionally mandated duty to uncover the truth. Every single one of us, today, faces a stark choice. If we choose to turn a blind eye, to put political expediency before the Constitution, then we are complicit in this subversion of democracy. If we do not hold this President accountable, we have failed the people who sent us here, and we have abdicated our own oath to defend the Constitution. In the United States of America, no one is above the law, not even the President.”