Congressman Cohen’s Remarks at Historic Hearing on Articles of Impeachment against President Donald J. Trump

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee and Chairman of its Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, this evening delivered remarks at the markup of two articles of impeachment against President Donald J. Trump. The articles charge the President with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

See Congressman Cohen's remarks here.

"Our Constitution embodies our values and laws and it vests the power of our government in the authority of the people, expressed through free and fair elections.

"When President Trump, for his own personal political gain, asked for a favor from a foreign leader, he did exactly what our Founders feared most -- he invited the influence of a foreign power into our elections. This is one of the primary reasons the Founders placed impeachment in our Constitution.

"Last week, Professor Karlan summed up this wrongdoing well when she stated that ‘when President Trump invited -- indeed, demanded -- foreign involvement in our upcoming election, he struck at the very heart of what makes this country the ‘republic' to which we pledge allegiance. That demand constituted an abuse of power.' She continued . . . ‘drawing a foreign government into our election process is an especially serious abuse of power because it undermines democracy itself.'

"It's as if our Founders could see into 2019 and, when they did, they saw Donald Trump corrupting our Democracy by saying to President Zelensky of Ukraine ‘I'd like you to do us a favor, though. . .'

"President Trump's subversive and illegal actions in seeking foreign interference are an effrontery to our Constitution and to free and fair elections.

"They are an affront to our Founders.

"They are an affront to the suffragists who fought for women's voting rights.

"They are an affront to the memory of Medgar Evers, a civil rights leader assassinated in Jackson, Mississippi.

"They are an affront to the memories of Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, and Michael Schwerner, civil rights workers murdered in Philadelphia, Mississippi during the Freedom Summer of 1964 while registering African Americans to vote.

"They are an affront to the memory of Viola Liuzzo, a mother of five, who was murdered by the Ku Klux Klan, while she was in Alabama to participate in the Selma-to-Montgomery March.

"And they are an affront to the memory of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. who championed the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

"And they are an affront to every service member who has fought to defend our nation and our system of self-government, based upon free and fair elections.

"President Trump's attempt to subvert our election was an attack on America.

"The President got caught when the whistleblower exposed the President's scheme. Then the President sought to cover up that scheme. He stonewalled Congress as we pursued our investigation. He instructed his staff, cabinet, and other federal officials to do the same. Previous Presidents facing impeachment -- even President Nixon -- cooperated with Congress. But President Trump has thumbed his nose at our Constitutional power. Congress is a co-equal branch of government and was foremost in the Founders' minds. They placed Congress first, in Article 1 of the Constitution.

"President Trump's obstruction of Congress is an affront to Peter Rodino, who chaired this Committee in the summer of 1974 when Congress investigated Nixon's betrayal of his oath of office.

"It is also an affront to the memory of Representative Barbara Jordan who, as a member of this Committee, said she would not be ‘an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction, of the constitution.'

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

"And it is an affront to the many patriots who loved their country enough to defy the President's tyrannical attempt to prohibit their testimony, including Ambassador Yovanovitch, Ambassador Taylor, Lieutenant Colonel Vindman, and Dr. Fiona Hill.

"And, further, it is an affront to the memory of Caldwell Butler, a principled Republican member of the Judiciary Committee in 1974. He did not support impeachment before the hearings, but the evidence convinced him. He announced that he would vote for impeachment by saying, ‘For years we Republicans have campaigned against corruption and misconduct, but Watergate is our shame.' His sense of right and wrong was inviolate. When his Mother warned him that his future would go ‘down the drain' he responded, ‘Dear Mother, You are probably right. However, I feel that my loyalty to the Republican Party does not relieve me of the obligation that I have.' His Mother was wrong. Representative Butler served for another decade.

"And President Trump's obstruction of Congress is an affront to the citizens of my district, all members of Congress, and all Americans who support free and fair elections.

"We, the People's House, have a duty to uphold our oath of office and be the check on a President who abuses his power, betrays his oath, and corrupts our elections. Those who want to turn a blind eye to President Trump corrupting our Democracy will try to get us to look away. We should not look away. I will not look away. I will remember our Founders' great plan for our great nation and I will remember the rule of law. Above all, I will adhere to my oath of office."

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