Opposing Un-American Impeachment Investigation

Floor Speech

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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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