December 19, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 206 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session

[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1627-E1628]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




IMPEACHING DONALD JOHN TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, FOR HIGH 
                        CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. WILLIAM R. KEATING

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, December 18, 2019

  Mr. KEATING. Madam Speaker, the United States is based on a principle 
that our second President, John Adams of Massachusetts, so eloquently 
summed up long ago: we are a `government of laws, not of men.'
  No one, absolutely no one, stands above the law.
  Over a century after President Adams uttered those words, another 
Massachusetts statesman, John F. Kennedy, delivered his famous ``City 
on a Hill'' speech before the General Court of Massachusetts prior to 
the start of his administration in 1961. President Kennedy powerfully 
proclaimed that `we must always consider that we shall be a city upon a 
hill [and that] the eyes of all people are upon us.'
  He continued, explaining that:

       For of those to whom much is given, much is required. And 
     when at some future date the high court of history sits in 
     judgment on each one of us--recording whether in our brief 
     span of service we fulfilled our responsibilities to the 
     state--our success or failure, in whatever office we may 
     hold, will be measured by the answers to four questions:
       First, were we truly men of courage--with the courage to 
     stand up to one's enemies--and the courage to stand up, when 
     necessary, to one's associates--the courage to resist public 
     pressure, as well as private greed?
       Secondly, were we truly men of judgment--with perceptive 
     judgment of the future as well as the past--of our own 
     mistakes as well as the mistakes of others--with enough 
     wisdom to know that we did not know, and enough candor to 
     admit it?
       Third, were we truly men of integrity--men who never ran 
     out on either the principles in which they believed or the 
     people who believed in them--men who believed in us--men whom 
     neither financial gain nor political ambition could ever 
     divert from the fulfillment of our sacred trust?

[[Page E1628]]

       Finally, were we truly men of dedication--with an honor 
     mortgaged to no single individual or group, and compromised 
     by no private obligation or aim, but devoted solely to 
     serving the public good and the national interest.
       Courage--judgment--integrity--dedication--these are the 
     historic qualities of the Bay Colony and the Bay State--the 
     qualities which this state has consistently sent to this 
     chamber on Beacon Hill here in Boston and to Capitol Hill 
     back in Washington.

  Madam Speaker, we are called to serve in this great country with 
courage, judgement, integrity, and dedication. And when those among 
us--those in the highest positions of public trust--willingly corrupt 
those values for personal benefit, it is incumbent upon us to act, 
however reluctantly.
  I believe that it has become undeniably clear that the President of 
the United States, Donald J. Trump, has engaged in a pattern of 
behavior designed to extract personal and political benefit from the 
Office of the President. In doing so, President Trump irreparably 
violated his oath to preserve--to protect--and to defend--the 
Constitution of the United States of America. It is with a heavy heart, 
and a deep reverence to that same oath that I refuse to abandon mine.

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