Senator Warren Releases Statement for the Trial Record on Her Vote to Convict and Remove President Trump from Office

Washington, DC - Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has submitted the following statement for the trial record on her vote to convict and remove President Donald J. Trump from office.



SENATOR WARREN'S STATEMENT FOR THE TRIAL RECORD ON THE VOTE TO CONVICT AND REMOVE PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP

When I was elected to serve in the U.S. Senate, I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. Every U.S. Senator takes the same oath. The Constitution makes clear that no one is above the law, not even the President of the United States.

Over the past two weeks, the Senate has heard overwhelming evidence showing that the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, abused the power of his office to pressure the president of Ukraine to dig up dirt on a political rival to help President Trump in the next election. The President then executed an unprecedented campaign to cover up his actions, including a wholesale obstruction of Congress's effort to investigate his abuse of power.

The Constitution gives the Senate the sole power to conduct impeachment trials. A fair trial is one in which senators are allowed to see and hear all of the relevant information needed to evaluate the articles of impeachment, including relevant witnesses and documents. The American people expected and deserved a fair trial. But that's not what they got. Instead of engaging in a pursuit for the truth, Senate Republicans locked arms with the President and refused to subpoena a single witness or document. They even refused to allow the testimony of the President's former National Security Advisor John Bolton, who possesses direct evidence related to the issues at the heart of the trial, even as more evidence continued to come to light and as Bolton repeatedly volunteered to share what he knows.

This trial boils down to one word: corruption. The corruption of a president who has repeatedly put his interests ahead of the interests of the American people -- and violated the Constitution in the process. The corruption of this President's political appointees -- including individuals like U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, who paid one million dollars for an ambassadorship. The corruption running throughout our government that protects and defends the interests of the wealthy and powerful to the detriment of everyone else.

Americans have a right to hear and see information that further exposes the gravity of the President's actions and the unprecedented steps he and his agents took to hide it from the American people. But more importantly, Americans deserve to know that the President of the United States is using the power of his office to work in the nation's interest, not his own personal interest.

I voted to convict and to remove the President from office in order to stand up to the corruption that has permeated this administration and that was on full display with President Trump's abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. I will continue to call out this corruption and fight to make this government work not just for the wealthy and well-connected, but to make it work for everyone.

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