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[Page H8302]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
OPPOSING UN-AMERICAN IMPEACHMENT INVESTIGATION
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from
Florida (Mr. Rutherford) for 5 minutes.
Mr. RUTHERFORD. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to the
secretive and un-American impeachment investigation taking place right
now in the House of Representatives.
Behind closed doors, our President is being tried, tried by my
colleagues on the other side of the aisle using an undemocratic process
that wouldn't hold up in any American court of law.
Democrats talk about Russian collusion while using Soviet-style
investigative techniques against President Trump, denying him due
process.
In fact, one of my Democratic colleagues from New York recently said:
``The President says he is innocent, so all we are saying is prove
it.''
Really? Mr. Speaker, I spent 41 years in law enforcement, and I know
a little something about due process, and that sure isn't it.
What is taking place before us is an insult to fairness, a mockery of
justice, and a political witch hunt designed to reverse the will of the
American voter. There were over 62 million people who voted for this
President.
The Speaker hasn't even formally held a vote on whether or not this
is an impeachment inquiry. If this is an impeachment inquiry like the
Speaker says, come to the floor and hold a vote.
Some have called this process fair because Republican Members of
certain committees--only certain committees--are allowed to be in the
room during depositions and interviews. However, they are not even
allowed to call witnesses or openly discuss the smears that have been
selectively leaked by the Democrats.
But this is not about us. It is not about the Members of this
Congress. It is about transparency for the American public. The
American people deserve to know what is going on.
Let's recap the last 3 years of searching for a smoking gun that just
did not exist.
First, Democrats claimed that President Trump colluded with Russians
to influence the 2016 election. That was the message played every
single night on television--collusion, collusion, collusion.
Then, Democrats supported Robert Mueller and told him to go find that
collusion, which, of course, he didn't.
So they dragged Robert Mueller into a congressional hearing room, and
this time, they had no problem being open and transparent before the
cameras.
But when that failed, I thought the dog and pony show was going to be
over. I had to hope that my colleagues on the other side would get this
legislative body back to work for the American public, but, no, here we
go again. We have a whistleblower with secondary information, which the
only way they could do that was to change the rule in secret--secret
depositions in the underbelly of Congress, targeted leaks, and rampant
speculation.
Mr. Speaker, this is the House of Representatives, not the KGB. It is
about time my friends on the other side of the aisle started acting
like it. If you actually believe the President has committed an
impeachable offense, why hide the truth from the public?
If you don't like this President, you will have an opportunity to
vote against him in November 2020. Until then, let's stop wasting the
taxpayers' hard-earned money on frivolous, expensive investigations to
nowhere and come together to solve America's problems.
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