Ratcliffe Floor Speech Against Impeachment Vote

Madam Speaker, do you know who doesn't think the Democrats have presented enough testimony or evidence to impeach President Trump today? It's the Democrats. Sure, here in the House, Democrats running this inquiry have declared they've done everything needed. They have all the testimony and evidence necessary to impeach right now. But right now, down the hall, Democrats in the Senate are saying the exact opposite. They're complaining. They need more evidence and more testimony because Senate Democrats know that House Democrats have built them a house of cards impeachment, an impeachment built by the same Democrats who told America, trust us, President Trump committed treason. He's a Russian agent and we've got evidence, which of course proved to be totally false and to quote the favorite catchphrase of one member of this House, they got caught. Along the way, those same Democrats said, trust us, the FISA law and court weren't abused by the Obama administration using Democratic opposition research dossier against the Trump campaign and President Trump. Again, totally false. And again, they got caught. And when Democrats started this latest impeachment inquiry, they said, trust us, we have not yet spoken to the whistleblower. Again, totally false. And they got caught. Sadly, my Democratic colleagues have placed their own credibility in the hands of members of this body that have no credibility left. Members that nobody trusts because they keep getting caught betraying America. But unless a bolt of courage and integrity strikes that side of the room in the next hour, history will reflect that Donald Trump is the third president to be impeached. History may also shortly reflect that he'll be the first president to be reelected after being wrongfully impeached. And if that happens, Democrats won't be able to hide behind a pretend veneer of caring about the Constitution. History will record the Democrats legacy as a betrayal of the Constitution because the founders meant for impeachment to be used for actions so extraordinary, so rare that it's happened three times in two and a half centuries. It wasn't meant for congratulatory phone calls where there's no crime alleged, where there's no victim, and where the Democrats themselves couldn't even decide what to accuse the president of doing wrong before ending up with this embarrassment of a grab bag of abuse of power article. An obstruction of Congress to even allege it is an admission of constitutional illiteracy. The founders had a term for what the Democrats call obstruction of Congress. The founders called it the separation of powers. And the funny thing about obstruction, every time Democrats get caught trying to frame this president for some crime he didn't commit, they follow up by accusing him of obstructing their efforts to frame him for the things he never did in the first place. The founders warned and feared today might come when impeachment was used politically by the party that had the most votes. Today, Democrats are the founders' worst nightmare come true. I think most Americans are probably wishing they could impeach the Democrats. To them, I say, you can next November. I yield back.