The third day of Donald Trump’s Senate impeachment trial came to an end with House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) giving an impassioned speech against the president’s abuse of power throughout the Ukraine scandal.

Schiff’s closing remarks lasted almost half an hour, but towards the end of his speech, he argued that Trump’s belief in Russian conspiracy theories – amplified by his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani – is proof that “he needs to be removed.”

“Donald Trump chose Rudy Giuliani over his own intelligence agencies. He chose Rudy Giuliani over his own FBI director. He chose Rudy Giuliani over his own national security advisors. When all of them were telling him this Ukraine 2016 stuff is kooky, crazy Russian propaganda, he chose not to believe them. He chose to believe Rudy Giuliani. That makes him dangerous, to us, to our country. That was Donald Trump’s choice. Now, why would Donald Trump believe a man like Rudy Giuliani over a man like Christopher Wray, okay? Why would anyone in their right mind believe Rudy Giuliani over Christopher Wray? Because he wanted to, and because what Rudy was offering him was something that would help him personally. What Christopher Wray was offering him was merely the truth. What Christopher Wray was offering him was merely the information he needed to protect his country and its elections. But that’s not good enough.”

Schiff continued by saying Trump can do “a lot” of damage to the country if he’s allowed to remain in office until the 2020 election. Schiff pointed to Russia’s alleged hacking of the Burisma gas company before asking, if Russia tries to interfere in America’s elections again, “can you have the least bit of confidence that Donald Trump will stand up to them and protect our national interest?”

“You know you can’t,” Schiff said, “which makes him dangerous to this country. You know you can’t. You know you can’t count on him. None of us can.”

As Schiff went on about the “sad truth” that Trump can’t be entrusted with national security or the integrity of America’s elections, he concluded by saying “if right doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter how good the Constitution is. It doesn’t matter how brilliant the framers were. Doesn’t matter how good or bad our advocacy in this trial is. Doesn’t matter how well written the oath of impartiality is. If right doesn’t matter, we’re lost.”

“If the truth doesn’t matter, we’re lost. The framers couldn’t protect us from ourselves if right and truth don’t matter. And you know that what he did was not right. Right is supposed to matter. It’s what’s made us the greatest nation on Earth. No constitution can protect us, if right doesn’t matter any more. And you know you can’t trust this president to do what’s right for this country. You can trust he will do what’s right for Donald Trump. He’ll do it now. He’s done it before. He’ll do it for the next several months. He’ll do it in the election if he’s allowed to. This is why, if you find him guilty, you must find that he should be removed. Because right matters. And the truth matters. Otherwise we are lost.”

Watch above, via CNN.

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