if that unanimous bipartisan precedent was good enough for president clinton, it should be our template for president trump. fair is fair. r the speaker of the house is not going to handwrite new rules for the senate. it's not can happen. look, these are serious matters, at some.in time the democrats need to rage at this to kill her president will begin to fade. but the sad precedents theye are setting will live on. the american people deserve a lot better. they deserve a lot better than this. >> i returned to the most pressing question facing my colleagues at this moment. will the senate conduct a fair impeachment trial of the president of the united states of america? the framers suspected that any impeachment will ignite the passion of the public and will naturally create partisans who are either sympathetic or.

[inaudible] to the president. but that's why the framers gave the senate the responsibility to try impeachment cases. when it came to matter as serious as a potential removal of the president, they believe the senate was the only body of government, with enough independence to rise to the partisan consideration and act with the necessary impartiality. will we live up to that vision? right now the republican leader and i have very different ideas about what it means to conduct a fair trial. democrats believe a fair trial considers all of the relevant facts and allows for witnesses and documents. we m don't know what the evidence will say. it may exculpate the president it may very well incriminate him. we only wanted trial that examine it's all the facts and lets the chips fall where they may. the republican leader in contrast apparently leaves at

trial should feature no witnesses, no relevant documents, and proceed according toen the desires of the white house, the defendant. the republican leader seems more concerned with being able to claim he went through the constitutional motions and actually carrying out our constitutional duty. because the republican leader has been completely unwilling on the facts of why he doesn't have a trial the question will have to be decided by majority of senators in this chamber. that means for republican senators atl any.can compel the senate should call the fact witnesses and subpoenaed the relative documents that we know will shed additional light on the troop. now i've heard several arguments from the other side we should not vote on witnesses and documents at the onset of the trial. the republican leader in several republican senators have suggested that each side complete their arguments, and then we decide on witnesses. this idea is as backward as it

sounds. trial should be informed by witnesses and documents, they are not an afterthought. they are reasoning,ni mcconnell's reasoning hast. an alice in wonderlandir logic to it. let's have each side make their case he says, and then vote on whether or not the prosecutors and defense should have allng the available evidence to make their cases. we know it's going on here. i republican colleague, even leader mccullough knows that american people want witnesses and documents. 60% of the voters -- over 60% ever voters do. so they are afraid to say no, but they don't want to vote on them because that might offends the president trump. they're trying to kick the can down the road. it is a strange position for republican colleagues to take. they are willing to kick the can down the road as i said on questions of witnesses and documents, but they are not willing to say when or if they

will ever support them. just yesterday, one of the four witnesses we requested, national security adviser bolton said he is ready to testify and has new information to share related to the case at hand. republicans were dodging and twisting themselves into pretzels trying to explain why someone with direct knowledge of what the president dead, shouldn't testify under oath immediately. i believe that illustrates the fundamental weakness of the republican position. none of our republican colleagues can advance an argument about why this evidence should not be part of a trial from the beginning. to put it another way, none of our republicans have advanced an argument about why it would make sense for the senate to wait until the end of the trial to obtain all the evidence. make no mistake, on the question of witnesses and documents, republicans may run but they can't hide. there will be votes at the beginning on whether to call

the four witnesses we propose and subpoenaed documents we have identified. america, the eyes of history will berd watching what my republican colleagues do. another argument i've heard from the other side as it is not the senate's job to go outside of the record established by the house impeachment probe. i reply it's very much is that tnate's job. the constitution gives the senate the sole power to try impeachment cases. not review impeachment cases, not go over impeachment cases, the sole power to try them. it is not the senate's job to put the house impeachment proceedings on a weeklong rerun on c-span. our job is to try the case. to hold a real, fair, honest trial. that means examining the arguments, that means letting the prosecutor's request aswitnesses and documents to make their case. and this is not just my view.

it is been the view of every senate facing an impeachment trial in our history. every single impeachment trial a president has featured witnesses. andrew johnson sent each meant trial had 41 witnesses. several of my republican colleagues here today voted for witnesses and the clinton trial. except for one solitary case, every impeachment trial of any thecial in the history of senate's and there are a a bunch, had witnesses. a trial is not of trial without evidence. a trial without all the facts is a farce. if the president is openy at leah acquitted at the end of a sham trial, his acquittal will be meaningless. that is why the president himself should demand a full and fair trial. president trump, if you've got nothing to hide if you've think the cases as flimsy as you say, collier chief of staff, tell him to release the

documents. mcconnell and tell him what you've already told the country that you would love for your aides to testify in a senate trial. mr. president trump if you believe you have done nothing wrong, you have nothing to be afraid of with witnesses and documents. and contrariwise, if you are afraid of witnesses and documents, most americans will believe you've got something to hide that you fear you have done something very, very wrong. if my republican colleagues believe the president has done nothingit wrong, they should have nothing to fear from witnesses and documents. in fact they should welcome them. what better way to prove to the american people that we are treating this matter with the gravity it requires.ro what better way to prove to their constituents that they are not just doing the president's bidding and not just making this a sham trial. becausbecause if every senate

republican votes to prevent witnesses and documents to come before the senate, if every republican senator votes for a rigged trial that hides the truth, the american people will see that the republican senate is part of a large and awful cover-up. i yield the floor. smacked the impeachment of trust president trump continue to follow the process on c-span leading to a senate trial live unfiltered coverage on c-span. on demand at c-span.org/impeachment. watch on the free c-span radio app. ♪ ♪ >> earlier today virginia democrat senator came to the floor to discuss the war powers resolution. but would force a debate and vote in congress to prevent war and escalation of hostilities with iran.