Impeaching Donald John Trump, President of the United States, for High Crimes and Misdemeanors

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. COSTA. Madam Speaker, as an elected Member of Congress, I take the same oath as the President of the United States: ``I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.'' I believe President Donald Trump violated that oath of office on and before January 6, 2021. So, it is with heavy heart that I vote, for the second time, to impeach.

This decision was not done rashly. I have listened to my constituents, who overwhelmingly support impeachment, and consulted with Republicans, Independents and Democrats. It is my firm resolve that in America no person is above the law. We must hold the President accountable for his actions. The President violated his oath of office when he worked to invalidate the votes of American citizens with false and unproven accusations of voter fraud over the last three months. He took it further by inciting a violent mob to attack the Capitol on January 6, 2021. In a well-documented public address, he urged his supporters to march on the Capitol and to do everything they could to stop ``a fraudulent election'' that the Congress was voting to certify, as we are required to do under the constitution. The result was an attack on our Nation's Capitol, our symbol of democracy here in the United States and around the world. This group of thugs, took over the Senate chamber, desecrated the Speaker's office, paraded the Confederate battle flag in the rotunda and killed a Capitol Police officer.

The President has blood on his hands.

We cannot let his action go unchecked. If we do not act, we send the message that our oath does not matter, and we will erode the very principles this great country was founded on.

It didn't have to be this way. The President could have adhered to the norms that all his predecessors followed by acknowledging that he lost the election fair and square. A transfer of power from a defeated incumbent to a victor of a different party has happened throughout our history starting with John Adams conceding to Thomas Jefferson. As his predecessors did, the President could have committed to a peaceful transfer of power. He could have avoided putting our country through this traumatic and frightful confrontation by speaking the truth.

No person is above the law. President Donald Trump lied to the American people and then urged a violent group of traitors to overthrow our legislative branch of government and overturn an election. For these reasons I sadly voted to impeach the President of the United States.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source