SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE, THE LADY
FROM CALIFORNIA, MISS PELOSI.
>> THE GENTLEMAN FROM
CONVERSATION IS YIELDED ONE
MINUTE.
>> THANK YOU, MAD DOMESTIC
SPEAKER.
MAD DOMESTIC SPEAKER, IN HIS
ANNUAL ADDRESS TO OUR
PREDECESSORS IN CONGRESS IN
1862, PRESIDENT ALABAMABRAHAM LI
SPOKE OF THE DUTY OF THE PATRIOT
IN AN HOUR OF DECISIVE CRISIS
FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.
FELLOW CITIZENS, HE SAID, WE
CANNOT ESCAPE HISTORY.
WE WILL BE REMEMBERED IN SPITE
OF OURSELVES.
NO PERSONAL SIGNIFICANCE OR
INCISION CAN SPARE ONE OR
ANOTHER OF US.
THE FIERY TRIAL TO WHICH WE PASS
WILL LIGHT US DOWN IN HONOR OR
DISHONOR TO THE LATEST
GENERATION.
WE EVEN -- EVEN WE HERE, HE
SAID, HOLD THE POWER AND BEAR
THE RESPONSIBILITY.
IN THE BIBLE, ST. PAUL WROTE,
THINK ON THESE THINGS.
WE MUST THINK ON WHAT LINCOLN
TOLD US.
WE EVEN HERE, EVEN US HERE HOLD
THE POWER AND BEAR THE
RESPONSIBILITY.
WE, YOU AND I, HOLD IN TRUST THE
POWER THAT ARRIVES MOST DIRECTLY
FROM THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED
STATES AND WE BEAR THE
RESPONSIBILITY TO FULFILL THAT
OATH THAT WE ALL SWEAR BEFORE
GOD AND BEFORE ONE ANOTHER.
THE OATH TO DEFEND THE
CONSTITUTION AGAINST ALL
ENEMIES, FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC,
SO HELP US GOD.
WE KNOW THAT WE FACE ENEMIES OF
THE CONSTITUTION.
WE KNOW WE EXPERIENCE THE
INSURRECTION THAT VIOLATED THE
PEOPLE’S CAPITOL AND ATTEMPTED
TO OVERTURN THE DULY RECORDED
WILL OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.
WE KNOW THE PRESIDENT OF THE
UNITED STATES INCITED THIS
INSURRECTION AND THIS ARMED
REBELLION AGAINST OUR COMMON
COUNTRY.
HE MUST GO.
HE IS A CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER
TO THE NATION THAT WE ALL LOVE.
SINCE THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
IN NOVEMBER, AN ELECTION THE
PRESIDENT LOST, HE HAS
REPEATEDLY HELD ABOUT -- LIED
ABOUT THE OUTCOME, SO
SELF-SERVING DOUBT ABOUT
DEMOCRACY AND UNCONSTITUTIONALLY
SOUGHT TO INFLUENCE STATE
OFFICIALS TO REPEAL REALITY.
AND THEN CAME THAT DAY OF FIRE,
WE ALL EXPERIENCED.
THE PRESIDENT MUST BE IMPEACHED.
I BELIEVE THE PRESIDENT MUST BE
CONVICTED BY THE SENATE, A
CONSTITUTIONAL REMEDY THAT WILL
ENSURE THAT THE REPUBLIC WILL BE
SAFE FROM THIS MAN WHO WAS SO
RESOLUTELY DETERMINED TO TEAR
DOWN THE THINGS THAT WE HOLD
DEAR AND THAT HOLD US TOGETHER.
IT GIVES ME NO PLEASURE TO SAY
THIS.
IT BREAKS MY HEART.
IT SHOULD BREAK YOUR HEART.
IT SHOULD BREAK ALL OF OUR
HEARTS.
YOUR PRESENCE IN THIS HOLELOW
CHAMBER IS A TESTAMENT TO AUR
LAW FOR OUR COUNTRY AND FOR
AMERICA AND TO YOUR FAITH IN THE
WORK OF OUR FOUNDERS TO CREATE A
MORE PERFECT UNION.
THOSE INSURRECTIONISTS WERE NOT
PATRIOTS AND THEY WERE NOT PART
OF A POLITICAL BASE TO BE
CATERED TO.
THEY WERE DOMESTIC TERRORISTS
AND JUSTICE MUST PREVAIL.
BUT THEY DID NOT APPEAR OUT OF A
VACUUM.
THEY WERE SENT HERE, SENT HERE
BY THE PRESIDENT WITH WORDS SUCH
AS A CRY TO FIGHT LIKE HELL.
WORDS MATTER.
ACCOUNTABILITY MATTERS.
AND PUBLIC OUR SANCTION THAT THE
PRESIDENT SAW THE
INSURRECTIONIST NOT AS THE FACE,
THE FOES OF FREEDOM AS THEY ARE
BUT AS A MEANS TO A TERRIBLE
GOAL.
THE GOAL OF HIS PERSONALLY
CLINGING TO POWER.
THE GOAL OF THWARTING THE WILL
OF THE PEOPLE.
THE GOAL OF ENDING IN A FIERY
AND BLOODY CLASH NEARLY TWO AND
A HALF CENTURIES OF OUR
DEMOCRACY.
THIS IS NOT THEORETICAL AND NOT
MOTIVATED BY PARTISANSHIP.
I STAND BEFORE YOU TODAY AS AN
OFFICER OF THE CONSTITUTION, AS
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES.
I STAND BEFORE YOU AS A WIFE, A
MOTHER, A GRANDMOTHER, A
DAUGHTER, A DAUGHTER WHOSE FATHER PROUDLY SERVED IN THIS
FATHER PROUDLY SERVED IN THIS
CONGRESS THOMAS DELL SANDRO JR.
ONE OF THE FIRST ITALIAN
AMERICANS TO SERVE IN THE
CONGRESS.
I STAND BEFORE YOU AS A NOBLIST
OF THINGS, A CITIZEN OF THE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
WITH MY VOTE AND MY PLEA TO ALL
OF YOU, DEMOCRATS AND RPEDS, I
REPUBLICANS, I ASK YOU TO SEARCH
YOUR SOUL AND ANSWER THESE
QUESTIONS.
IS THE PRESIDENT’S WAR ON
DEMOCRACY IN KEEPING WITH THE
CONSTITUTION?
WERE HIS WORDS AND
INSURRECTIONARY MOB A HIGH CRIME
MISDEMEANOR?
DO WE NOT HAVE THE DUTY OF OUR
OATH ALL WE CAN CONSTITUTIONALLY
CAN TO PROTECT OUR DEMOCRACY
FROM THE AMBITIONS OF A MAN WHO
SELF-EVIDENTLY DEMONSTRATED HE
IS A VITAL THREAT TO LIBERTY, TO
SELF-GOVERNMENT, AND TO THE RULE
OF LAW?
OUR COUNTRY IS DIVIDED.
WE ALL KNOW THAT.
THERE ARE LIVES ABROAD IN THE
LAND AND SPREAD BY A DESPERATE
PRESIDENT WHO FEELS HIS POWER
SLIPPING AWAY.
WE KNOW THAT TOO.
BUT I KNOW THIS AS WELL.
THAT WE HERE IN THIS HOUSE HAVE
A SACRED OBLIGATION TO STAND FOR
TRUTH, TO STAND UP FOR THE
CONSTITUTIONAL, TO STAND AS
GUARDIANS OF THE REPUBLIC.
THE SPEECH HE WAS PREPARED TO
GIVE IN DALLAS ON FRIDAY,
NOVEMBER 22nd, 1963, PRESIDENT
JOHN F. KENNEDY WAS TO SAY WE,
IN THIS COUNTRY, IN THIS
GENERATION, ARE BY DESTINY
RATHER THAN CHOICE THE WATCHMEN
ON THE WALLS OF WORLD FREEDOM. WE ASK, THEREFORE, THAT WE MAY
WE ASK, THEREFORE, THAT WE MAY
BE WORTHY OF OUR POWER AND
RESPONSIBILITY.
THAT WE MAY BE WORTHY.
PRESIDENT KENNEDY WAS
ASSASSINATED BEFORE HE COULD
DELIVER THOSE WORDS FOR THE
NATION BUT THEY RESONATE EVEN
MORE NOW AND OUR TIME AND IN
THIS PLACE.
LET US BE WORTHY OF OUR POWER
AND OUR RESPONSIBILITY THAT WHEN
LINCOLN THOUGHT WAS A WORLD’S
LAST BEST HOPE, THE UNITED
STATES OF AMERICA MAY LONG
SURVIVE.
MY FELLOW MEMBERS, MY FELLOW
AMERICANS, WE CANNOT ESCAPE
HISTORY.
LET US EMBRACE OUR DUTY AND
FULFILL OUR OATH AND HONOR THE
TRUST OF OUR NATION.