Impeachment

Floor Speech

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Mr. MARKEY. Mr. President, the essence of any American President's job is set forth in the oath he or she swears--an oath that the Founders considered so fundamental that they put it in the Constitution. And that job is to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.

A President who violates that oath has committed an impeachable offense. That is a truth. There can be no reasonable dispute that a President who fails at this basic responsibility is unfit to remain in office and cannot and should not be permitted to hold that office again.

Not only did Donald Trump fail to uphold his oath, he took steps intended to violate it. It wasn't mere negligence. It wasn't even recklessness. Donald Trump engaged in an active, willful, intentional attack on our Constitution and our democracy.

Donald Trump incited to violence and riot a mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol and our government. That is a high crime and misdemeanor. We all saw and heard the evidence during the trial. The video. The audio. The tweets. The statements. The affidavits.

Months before the election, Donald Trump laid the groundwork for this insurrection, arguing he would only lose the election if there were fraud. After he lost, he repeated over and over again the ``Big Lie'' that the election was stolen. He agitated his supporters who falsely and wrongly believed that the election was rigged.

Trump beckoned a mob to Washington for a rally when he knew the Congress would be counting the electoral ballots. Trump's people knew from law enforcement bulletins and intelligence that the mob was armed and dangerous. Yet, he riled them up and then sent them up Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol. That rally became an orgy of violence and hate. Mayhem and destruction ensued, all in Donald Trump's pursuit of staying in office beyond his term. Of ignoring our Constitution. Of preventing a peaceful transfer of power. Of promulgating the Big Lie. Donald Trump did not express horror or outrage at the scenes playing out live on television. He did not quickly and decisively urge his supporters to stop. He did not immediately call out the National Guard. He did not show any concern for the law enforcement officers being beaten, maimed, and even killed at the Capitol. He reportedly delighted in what was happening, unable to comprehend why others were not excited about it like he was. And he has never shown any remorse or an ounce of contrition or taken any responsibility. Instead, he has maintained that he acted perfectly appropriately.

The Senate of the United States sat as an Impeachment Court, with Democrats and Republicans serving as jurors. But the vast majority of those Republicans were more interested in fealty to Donald Trump than loyalty to our country. They were more concerned about Trump's base than basic justice. They were willing to ignore the truth to embrace the Big Lie.

I had hoped the House managers would call witnesses. Clearly, there were individuals with direct knowledge of Trump's state of mind during the insurrection, the danger at the Capitol as it unfolded, and his support of it. But even before we debated potential witnesses, Republicans had made up their minds. They were unmoving in their fealty to Trump. Republicans were willfully blind to the truth and the facts of the case.

The rioters wanted to kill Vice President Pence and House Speaker Pelosi. They told us so. We know that the west side of the Capitol was breached around 2 p.m. and that the rioters had overrun the Capitol. We know that the mob was approaching the Senate floor when our session was abruptly recessed at 2:13 p.m. We know that Vice President Pence was whisked off the Senate floor and that he was in mortal danger, as were all Members of Congress in their Chambers doing their constitutional duty. We know that all this was playing out in real time on television and that Donald Trump had to know it was happening. And yet, about 10 minutes later, at 2:24 p.m., knowing all this, Donald Trump tweeted an attack at his own Vice President. ``Mike Pence did not have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution.'' And we know that around 2:26 p.m., Donald Trump called Senator Tuberville not to ascertain what was happening, not ask how the Vice President was or to offer aid and assistance against the insurrection. No, Trump called to ask Senator Tuberville to delay the certification. It is clear whose side Donald Trump was on.

There is no First Amendment defense to what Donald Trump did. The First Amendment has no application in an impeachment proceeding, which does not seek to punish unlawful speech, but to protect the Nation from a President who has violated his oath of office.

But even if the First Amendment applied, even if we bought Trump's lawyers' bogus claims that the First Amendment can be a defense, the argument utterly fails. Trump's lawyers relied on the Supreme Court's decision in Brandenburg v. Ohio, but Brandenburg explained that the First Amendment protects advocacy, ``except where such advocacy is directed to inciting imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action.'' Once the Capitol was breached, the lawless action was no longer imminent, it was actual. And Donald Trump was still tweeting words of encouragement to the rioters. There was a siege actually happening in the Capitol. There was no longer rhetorical fighting; there was actual fighting. On television. Live for everyone to see.

The House managers proved their case with facts and evidence. Donald Trump incited and relished in an effort to violently overthrow our government. He invited. He incited. He delighted.

Anyone who is opposed to abolishing the filibuster need only look at the vote to acquit and see how Republicans willfully blinded themselves to truth and facts in fealty to Trump and their party. Their votes to acquit once again show our hurdles to progress: Republican political calculations and their dereliction to truth and justice.

The final tally on the vote to acquit does nothing to reassure me that Republicans are willing to work together and transcend party politics. Republicans had the opportunity to recognize that faith in the Constitution is a faith that we all share. Instead, they ignored the Constitution for a Big Lie. How can we expect them to work in good faith with Democrats to respond to the big challenges facing our Nation when they refuse to accept undeniable facts?

The only reasonable conclusion based on the evidence presented at the trial was that Donald Trump committed an impeachable offense, should have been convicted, and should have been barred from holding future office. Republicans refused to accept or acknowledge that. I fear that with their votes to acquit, they have sown the seeds of another violent attack on our Constitution and our democracy.

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