Democrats Are Trying to Impeach the President for Following A Law That They Voted for

Floor Speech

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Mr. BARR. Madam Speaker, we know the Democrats' hyperpartisan closed- door impeachment process lacks any semblance of fundamental fairness. We know from the transcript between President Trump and President Zelensky that there was no quid pro quo.

But what many people don't know is this: In 2014, this House unanimously passed the Ukraine Freedom Support Act, which tasks the executive branch to use U.S. assistance to bolster democratic institutions of Ukraine and counter corruption and improve transparency and accountability of the Ukrainian Government. Every Democrat voted for this measure.

In 2017, this House overwhelmingly passed the National Defense Authorization Act, which required the administration to certify as a condition of providing assistance that the Government of Ukraine has taken substantial actions to counter corruption and increase accountability. 145 Democrats voted for that.

In 2019, the NDAA that passed this House required that certification requirement again, and 139 Democrats voted for that.

So here is the bottom line: Given recent elections, President Trump not only had the authority to address the issue of corruption in the call with President Zelensky, he had a legal duty to speak and secure assurances from the new Ukrainian Government that those anticorruption measures would be carried forward. The Democrats are trying to impeach the President for following a law that they voted for.

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