The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“IMPEACHMENT” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the Senate section on pages S736-S738 on Feb. 13.
The Department is one of the oldest in the US, focused primarily on law enforcement and the federal prison system. Downsizing the Federal Government, a project aimed at lowering taxes and boosting federal efficiency, detailed wasteful expenses such as $16 muffins at conferences and board meetings.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
IMPEACHMENT
Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I take this time to explain why I voted to convict the former President of the United States, Donald Trump, of the Article of Impeachment presented by the House of Representatives in regards to the incitement of insurrection.
Throughout his Presidency, Donald J. Trump has violated his oath of office to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. There are many examples that I can give of how he has violated his oath of office. I could also cite the basis of the first Articles of Impeachment that were tried last year as violating his oath of office. But, by far, the most egregious violation of his oath of office took place in his incitement of insurrection that occurred with the attack on this Capitol on January 6.
But it started well before January 6. The seeds were planted a long time ago and even before the November elections, when President Trump pointed out, when the polls were showing that he might lose in the election, that he refused to acknowledge that he would accept the election results if he lost. He didn't say that once before the November elections, he said it on several occasions. He talked about a rigged election. He talked about a fraudulent election. He talked about the election being ``taken away from us''--the victory--with no evidence of voter fraud.
One of the key provisions of our Constitution, of our democracy, is the peaceful transition of power. Donald Trump called that into question prior to the November 3 elections.
Then came the November 3 elections, and, shortly thereafter, Joe Biden was declared to be the winner. Why? Because he had the most votes--most populace votes--over 7 million. But he was declared the winner because of the electoral votes, 306 to 232. By the way, that is the same electoral margin that Donald Trump won 4 years earlier and which Donald Trump called a ``landslide.''
But then came the legal challenges by President Trump. He didn't accept the electoral vote or the declared elections. And he has his right to contest the elections in the court by asking for recounts or asking for challenges, but in every one of those cases, he could not establish widespread fraud that would have changed the results in any one of the States, let alone enough electoral vote changes to change the outcome of the election.
But did he stop after he was denied relief in all of those legal challenges? The answer is no. He further contested by trying to inappropriately interfere with State election officials and State public officials, urging them to take action to change the certification results.
Now, we have many examples that during this period of time he was talking about a fraudulent election, a stolen election, all the different things about raising questions as to the legitimacy of the voices of people of this Nation. We have so many examples of his interference, but we actually have the tape of his conversation with the Georgia secretary of state that we all heard and heard how the President tried to intimidate and threaten the secretary of state of Georgia in order to change the certified election results from the votes of the people of Georgia--clear examples of how President Trump violated his oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
But that wasn't the end of it. He went to his Department of Justice believing the Department of Justice is his Department of Justice, not the Department of Justice of the United States of America. Now, let's remember that the Department of Justice had found no widespread corruption. In fact, they had determined this was one of the freest elections and one of the least problem elections that we have had. It didn't stop President Trump from trying to intimidate and order his Department of Justice to conduct an additional investigation to find fraud to overturn the will of the people--once again, violating his oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
He continued to do this, contrary to his constitutional obligations.
``Corrupt election,'' ``stop the steal,'' ``rigged elections,''
``tremendous fraud''--all words that he used after the November 3 election. He knew what he was saying was a lie. He knew there was no widespread fraud, but he continued to use the Office of the Presidency and his voice to promote the big lie, and he knew his followers would believe it. He knew he could convince his loyal followers to believe that this was a rigged election--a stolen election--again, compromising our democracy and the will of the people to determine who our leaders are. And he knew his followers would be motivated to action because he knew he could motivate his followers.
He put himself before the Nation and before his responsibilities as President of the United States. He put his own self-interest above his responsibilities under the Constitution of the United States and to the people of this Nation.
And then he summoned his loyal following to Washington on January 6. He knew they would come. He knew dangerous people were in the group. He knew the Proud Boys were there, to which he had directly said: ``Stand back and stand by.'' He knew that they were ready for violent action.
And then he incited the mob to action on January 6. We know the words that he used. We saw the videos as part of the record of the impeachment trial. ``We will never surrender,'' ``we will never concede,'' ``we will stop the steal,'' ``stolen election''--all words that he had been using during the entire 2020 election cycle, particularly when he thought he was going to lose.
But the most damning part of the President's violation of his oath of office--the most serious part--is what he did and did not do after seeing the violence erupt in the United States Capitol. After the Capitol was penetrated, after we saw the violence being committed, where we knew that the Members of Congress were in danger, the Vice President of the United States was in danger, the people that work here were in danger, all the people that were in the Capitol legitimately were in danger--we all saw that--and the President of the United States knew that, and he did nothing to stop the violence. He could have called off his loyalists and told them to get out of the Capitol. He didn't do that. He could have sent in the National Guard in order to protect us. He didn't do that. And he never condemned the participants in this mob in penetrating the Capitol for what they did.
I am going to sort of summarize my feeling about that by agreeing with Representative Liz Cheney, the House Republican caucus chair, who said it on the floor of the House. Let me just quote her statement:
The President of the United States summoned this mob, assembled this mob, and lit the flame of this attack. Everything that followed was his doing. None of this would have happened without the President. The President could have immediately and forcefully intervened to stop the violence. He did not. There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.
I agree with that. President Trump violated his oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. He violated that.
But let's take a look at what he did do after knowing the violence that occurred--his tweet of 2:24 p.m. Now, this is after the Vice President had been removed from presiding in the Chamber, after he knew the violence that was taking place in the Capitol of the United States. He was aware of all that. He knew that we had shut down the operations of the House and the Senate, that there was violence taking place within the Capitol, and that his Vice President was the target of that attack. And what he tweeted at 2:24 p.m.--I am quoting the President:
``Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our country.'' He inflamed the group even more to violence after he knew that it was a violent circumstance.
He had known violence had taken place, and we heard put into the record of the impeachment trial today Congresswoman Beutler's report of Majority Leader McCarthy's conversation, which, again, is during this period of time. Here we are. The Republican leader of the House of Representatives gets the President on the phone. He says: Mr. President, we are being attacked. My office is being broken into. We need help. Send the Guard. Take care of us.
And then President Trump said something like: Well, it is not my supporters. It is some leftwing group.
And Leader McCarthy said: No, Mr. President, these are your supporters who are doing this.
And what did the leader say? What did the President say? I guess, Kevin, these people are more upset about the election than you are.
Here we have the Members of Congress in harm's way, and the President is talking about the support for those who are causing the violence and putting his own interest above the safety of the people whom he is sworn to protect as our Commander in Chief.
And then, at the end of the day, about 6 o'clock, he sends out a tweet that really sums up his feelings about what these people were doing. Now, these are people who came into the Capitol. They killed people. They hurt people. They stole property. They damaged property. They invaded the Capitol of the United States. They hurt law enforcement officers. They hurt all of us. They hurt our democracy. So how does the President sum up the day? His tweet:
These are the things that happen when a sacred landslide victory is so unceremoniously and viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long. Go home with love & in peace. Remember this day forever!
He was repeating the big lie and saying the day was a day of celebration when it was one of the bleakest days, dark days in the history of our Nation. That is what President Trump did, rather than bringing in the National Guard, rather than telling his people to go home, rather than being concerned about the safety of the Vice President and the Members of Congress as the President of the United States should have been doing.
He violated his oath of office over and over and over again--a pattern of practice that we have seen for so long. It clearly establishes that he incited an insurrection against our country--that the facts included as a basis for the Article of Impeachment brought to us by the House of Representatives have been proven.
The purpose of impeachment is not just the accountability for the President but also to protect our Constitution and to make sure this conduct never happens again. No one is above the law, including the President of the United States. Everyone who was responsible for the insurrection that occurred on January 6 should be held accountable--from those who broke into the Capitol and caused the harm and damage to the President of the United States who incited the violence.
That is why I voted to convict President Trump of the Article of Impeachment for inciting an insurrection, and that is why I would have voted for disqualifying him from ever holding an office of trust again.
With that, I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maine.
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