“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 to prevent the American people from learning the truth about his conduct.” “You just don’t like the guy. You didn’t like him since November of 2016. This may be a new time, a new place, and we may be all scrubbed up and looking pretty for impeachment. But this is not an impeachment. This is just a simple railroad job. And today’s is a waste of time.” “President Trump’s conduct as described in the testimony and evidence clearly constitutes impeachable high crimes and misdemeanors under the Constitution. The words ‘abuse of office’ are not mystical or magical — they are very clear. The abuse of office occurs when the president uses a feature of his power, the awesome power of his office, not to serve the interests of the American public but to serve his personal, individual, partisan electoral interests.” “Everything I know about our Constitution and its values and my review of the evidentiary record — and here, Mr. Collins., I would like to say to you, sir, that I read transcripts of every one of the witnesses who appeared in the live hearing because I would not speak about these things without reviewing the facts, so I’m insulted by the suggestion that as a law professor I don’t care about those facts — but everything I read on those occasions tells me that when President Trump invited, indeed demanded, foreign involvement in our upcoming election, he struck at the very heart of what makes this a republic to which we pledge allegiance.” “If what we’re talking about is not impeachable, then nothing is impeachable. This is precisely the misconduct that the framers created a Constitution including impeachment to protect against.” “So we’re all mad. Where has that taken us? Will a slipshod impeachment make us less mad? Will it only invite an invitation for the madness to follow every future administration? That is why this is wrong. It’s not wrong because President Trump is right — his call was anything but perfect. It’s not wrong because the House has no legitimate reason to investigate the Ukrainian controversy. It’s not wrong because we’re in an election year — there is no good time for an impeachment. No, it’s wrong because this is not how you impeach an American president.” “Professor Karlan, as you said, the right to vote is the most precious legal right we have in this country. Does the president’s conduct endanger that right?” “By inviting a foreign government to influence our elections, it takes the right away from the American people and it turns that into a right that foreign governments decide to interfere for their own benefit. Foreign governments don’t interfere in our elections to benefit us — they intervene to benefit themselves.” “Professor Feldman, did President Trump commit the impeachable high crime and misdemeanor of abuse of power based on that evidence and those findings?” “Based on that evidence and those findings, the president did commit an impeachable abuse of office.” “Professor Karlan? Same question.” “Same answer.” “And Professor Gerhardt, did President Trump commit the impeachable high crime and misdemeanor of abuse of power?” “We three are unanimous, yes.” “I’ve gone through all of the crimes mentioned. They do not meet any reasonable interpretation of those crimes. And I’m relying on expressed statements from the federal courts. I understand that the language in the statutes are often broad. That’s not the controlling language. It’s the language of the interpretation of federal courts. And I think that all of those decisions stand mightily in the way of these theories.” “And you gave 2,000 bucks to Hillary Clinton?” “That’s correct —” “Why so much more for Hillary than the other two?” “Because I’ve been giving a lot of money to charity recently, because of all of the poor people in the United States.” “Well, those aren’t the only, those aren’t the only folks you’ve been giving to.” “If this committee and this House fail to act, then you’re sending a message to this president and to future presidents that it’s no longer a problem if they abuse their power, it’s no longer a problem if they invite other countries to interfere in our elections, and it’s no longer a problem if they put the interests of other countries ahead of ours.” “Professor Karlan?” “I agree with Professor Feldman and I should say just one thing. And I apologize for getting a little overheated a moment ago, but I have a constitutional right under the First Amendment to give money to candidates. At the same time, we have a constitutional duty to keep foreigners from spending money in our elections. And those two things are two sides of the same coin.” “All members will have five legislative days to submit additional written questions for the witnesses or additional —” “We have a unanimous consent request.“ “Too late. The witnesses are additional —” “It’s too late? It’s too late for a unanimous consent request?” “Without objection, the hearing is adjourned.” “Well, that’s just typical, isn’t it?”