Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat from Washington state, argued for impeachment in a moving opening statement on the first day of the impeachment articles markup on Wednesday night, which has quickly gone viral on Twitter. Among other strong points, Jayapal argues that Trump has abused his power as president by putting pressure on a “fragile foreign ally” (making reference to Ukraine) by threatening to withhold aid if it didn’t try to dig up dirt on 2020 hopeful Joe Biden.
“The facts are clear: Donald Trump abused the power of the office of the presidency to pursue his own personal political gain,” Jayapal states, “and leveraged critically needed, congressionally approved military aid to coerce a fragile foreign ally to interfere in our elections.”
Perhaps most movingly, the congresswoman talked about her own experience of becoming a U.S. citizen, and what citizenship means for naturalized citizens like herself. She describes it as a “conscious choice” and a “dream we chase across deserts and seas to join the larger American story, one of generations overcoming every challenge and every obstacle because America is worth it.”
Jayapal also stressed that if Congress doesn’t act now, it’s basically giving Trump free rein to abuse his power as president again and again.
Here’s the clip from the House Judiciary Committee meeting on Twitter.
The congresswoman stresses that Donald Trump’s “obstruction of Congress and blanket directive to deny us even a single witness, a single document, is unprecedented. And yet, in spite of that obstruction, multiple patriots came forward and provided damning corroborating testimony.”
In the biggest zinger of her statement, Jayapal sums up her argument, stating, “President Trump has solicited foreign interference before, he is doing it now, and he will do it again. The smoking gun is already reloaded. And whether or not it gets fired, that’s up to us.”
“We must reflect on our responsibility to our children and our children’s children. We must summon the courage to do what is right. ...Mine is not a vote against any person,” she concludes. “It is a vote for the constitution and for we the people.”
For those who can’t view the video on Twitter, here is the full video on YouTube.