-The facts before us are undisputed.
On July 25th,
President Trump called President Zelensky of Ukraine
and, in President Trump's words, asked him for a favor.
That call was part of a concerted effort
by the president and his men to solicit a personal advantage
in the next election.
This time in the form of an investigation
of his political adversaries by a foreign government.
To obtain that private political advantage,
President Trump withheld both an official White House
meeting from the newly elected president of a fragile democracy
and withheld vital military aid from a vulnerable ally.
When congress found out about this scheme
and began to investigate,
President Trump took extraordinary
and unprecedented steps to cover up his efforts
and to withhold evidence from the investigators.
And when witnesses disobeyed him,
when career professionals came forward
and told us the truth, he attacked them viciously,
calling them traitors and liars,
promising that they will "go through some things."
Of course this is not the first time
that President Trump has engaged in this pattern of conduct.
In 2016, the Russian government engaged in a sweeping
and systematic campaign of interference in our elections.
In the words of Special Council Robert Mueller,
"The Russian government perceived
it would benefit from Trump presidency
and worked to secure that outcome."
The president welcomed that interference.
We saw this in real time when President Trump asked Russia
to hack his political opponent.
The very next day, a Russian military intelligence unit
attempted to hack that political opponent.
When his own justice department tried to uncover the extent
to which a foreign government had broken our laws,
President Trump took extraordinary
and unprecedented steps
to obstruct the investigation, including ignoring subpoenas,
ordering the creation of false records,
and publicly attacking and intimidating witnesses.
Then, as now, this administration's level
of obstruction is without precedent.
No other president has vowed to "fight all of the subpoenas",
as President Trump promised.
In the 1974 impeachment proceedings,
President Nixon produced dozens of recordings.
In 1998, President Clinton physically gave his blood.
President Trump, by contrast,
has refused to produce a single document
and directed every witness not to testify.
Those are the facts before us.
The impeachment inquiry has moved back
to the House Judiciary Committee,
and as we begin a review of these facts,
the president's pattern of behavior becomes clear.
President Trump welcomed foreign interference
in the 2016 election.
He demanded it for the 2020 election.
In both cases, he got caught.
And in both cases, he did everything in his power
from preventing the American people
from learning the truth about his conduct.
On July 24th,
the Special Council testified before this committee.
He implored us to see the nature of the threat to our country.
"Over the course of my career,
I have seen a number of challenges to our democracy.
The Russian government's efforts to interfere in our elections
is among the most serious.
This deserves the attention of every American."
Ignoring that warning,
President Trump called the Ukrainian president
the very next day to ask him to investigate
the president's political opponent.
As we exercise our responsibility to determine
whether this pattern of behavior constitutes
an impeachable offense, it is important to place
President Trump's conduct into historical context.
Since the founding of our country,
the House of Representatives has impeached only two presidents.
A third was on his way to impeachment when he resigned.
This committee has voted to impeach two presidents
for obstructing justice.
We have voted to impeach one president
for obstructing a congressional investigation.
To the extent that President Trump conduct
fits these categories,
there is precedent for recommending impeachment here.
But never before in the history of the republic have we been
forced to consider the conduct of a president
who appears to have solicited personally political favors
from a foreign government.
Never before has a president engaged in a course of conduct
that included all of the acts that most concerned the framers.
The patriots who founded our country were not fearful men.
They fought a war.
They witnessed terrible violence.
They overthrew a king,
but as they met to frame our Constitution,
those patriots still feared one threat above all --
foreign interference in our elections.
They had just opposed a tyrant.
They were deeply worried that we would lose
our newfound liberty, not through a war.
If a foreign army would to invade,
we would see that coming.
But through corruption from within.
And in the early years of the Republic,
they asked each of us to be vigilant to that threat.
Washington warned us
"to be constantly awake since history and experience
proved that foreign influence
is one of the most baneful foes of Republican government."
Adams wrote to Jefferson, "As often as elections happen,
the danger of foreign influence recurs."
Hamilton's warning was more specific specific and more dire.
In the federalists paper, he wrote that
"the most deadly adversaries of Republican government"
would almost certainly attempt
"to raise a creature of their own
to chief magistrate of the Union."
In short, the founders warned us that we should expect
our foreign adversaries to target our elections,
that we would fine ourselves in grave danger
if the President willingly opens the door to their influence.
What kind of president would do that?
How will we know if the President
has betrayed his country in this manner?
How will we know if has President has betrayed
his country in this manner for petty personal gain?
Hamilton had a response for that as well.
He wrote, "When a man unprincipled in private life,
desperate in his fortune, bold in his temper,
possessed of considerable talents,
known to have scoffed in private at the principles of liberty,
when such a man has seen to mount
the hobby horse of popularity
to join the cry of danger to liberty,
to take every opportunity of embarrassing
the general government and bringing it under suspicion,
it may justly be suspected
that his object is to throw things into confusion
that he may ride the storm and direct the whirlwind.
Ladies and gentlemen,
the storm in which we found ourselves today
was set in motion by President Trump.
I do not wish this moment on the country.
It is not a pleasant task that undertake today,
but we have each taken an oath to protect the Constitution,
and the facts before us are clear.
President Trump did not merely seek to benefit
from foreign interference in our elections,
he directly and explicitly invited foreign interference
in our elections.
He used the powers of his office to try to make it happen.
He sent his agents to make clear
that this is what he wanted and demanded.
He was willing to compromise our security
and his office for personal political gain.
It does not matter that President Trump got caught
and ultimately released the funds that Ukraine
so desperately needed.
It matters that he enlisted a foreign government
to intervene in our elections in the first place.
It does not matter that President Trump felt
that these investigations were unfair to him.
It matters that he used his office,
not merely to defend himself,
but to obstruct investigators at every turn.
We are all aware that the next election is looming,
but we cannot wait for the election
to address the present crisis.
The integrity of that election
is one of the very things at stake.
The President has shown us his pattern of conduct.
If we do not act to hold him in check now,
President Trump will almost certainly try again
to solicit interference in the election
for his personal political gain.
Today, we will begin our conversation where we should,
with a text of the Constitution.
We are empowered to recommend
the impeachment of President Trump to the House.
If we find that he has committed treason, bribery
or high crimes and misdemeanors.
Our witness panel will help us to guide that conversation.
In a few days, we will reconvene and hear from the committees
that worked to uncover the facts before us.
And we will apply the Constitution to those facts,
if it is true that President Trump
has committed an impeachable offense
or multiple impeachable offenses,
then we must move swiftly to do our duties
and charge him accordingly.
I thank the witnesses for being here today.
I know recognize the ranking members
of the judiciary committee, gentleman from Georgia, Mr.
Collins, his opening statement.