Latest updates on Thursday’s hearing
- The House Judiciary Committee is considering amendments to the two articles of impeachment against President Trump.
- The committee will then vote on each article separately, starting with abuse of power and followed by obstruction of Congress.
- Download the free CBS News app to stream live coverage of the Judiciary Committee hearing.
Washington — The House Judiciary Committee is meeting to consider amendments to the two articles of impeachment against President Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, the last step before full House votes on each article.
The committee met Wednesday night in a session that lasted well into the night, and resumed work Thursday morning.
The hearing began with the clerk reading the nine-page resolution containing the articles of impeachment into the record, followed by members offering and debating amendments. The committee will then vote on the resolution later in the day, the last step before the articles go before the full House.
Democrats don’t plan to offer any substantive amendments, while Republicans are expected to offer several of their own.
Trump accuses Democrats of misrepresenting July 25 call
10:41 a.m.: The president accused Democratic members of misquoting his call with the president of Ukraine, echoing an argument being made by Representative Jim Jordan in the hearing room:
Dems Veronica Escobar and Jackson Lee purposely misquoted my call. I said I want you to do us (our Country!) a favor, not me a favor. They know that but decided to LIE in order to make a fraudulent point! Very sad.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2019
Lawmakers who served during Clinton impeachment spar
10:00 a.m.: Only a handful of lawmakers on the Judiciary Committee today were also on the committee during the 1998 impeachment proceedings against President Clinton. In a lengthy back and forth, Democrats Zoe Lofgren and Sheila Jackson Lee and Republicans Jim Sensenbrenner and Steve Chabot weighed in on how the Clinton impeachment differed from the proceedings today.
The arguments fell largely along party lines. Sensenbrenner insisted that “it’s obvious to all the American public that this is a railroad job.” Jackson Lee responded that it was clear that “the president abused his power and is a continuing threat to democracy.”
Nadler, the chairman of the committee, was also in Congress during the 1998 proceedings. — Grace Segers
Jordan proposes amendment to strike abuse of power article
9:32 a.m.: Representative Jim Jordan introduced an amendment to strike the first article describing abuse of power, insisting the allegations are not true.
“This amendment strikes Article I because Article I ignores the truth!” Jordan exclaimed.
Jordan explained that, in his view, the president did not abuse his power, and claimed the evidence House Democrats included in the articles of impeachment is simply not true. Jordan insisted that if the president was indeed withholding aid for political reasons, Ukrainians would have objected in calls and meetings.
“Article I in this resolution ignores the truth, it ignores the facts, it ignores what happened and what has been laid out for the American people over the last three weeks,” Jordan said.
Representative David Cicilline, a Democrat, then ran through the evidence compiled by the House Intelligence Committee, including Mr. Trump’s public, on-camera requests that Ukraine and China investigate the Bidens. — Kathryn Watson
Committee begins considering amendments
9:22 a.m.: After Republican Ranking Member Doug Collins tried to postpone the markup after another day of hearings, the committee began considering amendments to the articles of impeachment.
Democrats only offered one amendment, that the reference to “Donald J. Trump” in the articles be changed to “Donald John Trump.”
Collins, when given the opportunity to comment on the proposed amendment, condemned the procedure of the impeachment inquiry and argued that Democrats were undermining the rights of the minority on the committee. — Grace Segers
Read the Trump articles of impeachment
9:05 a.m.: The hearing is getting underway with the clerk reading the articles of impeachment into the record. Article I is for abuse of power, and Article II is for obstruction of Congress. Read the full articles here or below:
How Thursday’s hearing will play out
7:15 a.m.: Once the amendment phase starts, any member can offer an amendment if it’s relevant to the bill. That member gets to speak for five minutes in support, and another member can speak for five minutes in opposition. At this point, any member of the committee may move to “strike the last word,” which allows them five minutes to weigh in on the amendment at hand. In theory, this means there could be more than three hours of debate on every amendment offered, but that appears unlikely.
After debate, amendments will receive either a voice or roll call vote — likely the latter — where the committee clerk will read each name and allow the member to vote yea or nay. Those votes are in addition to any other procedural motions — “points of order” — that Republicans raise, which could also receive roll call votes. — Rebecca Kaplan
Full House impeachment vote likely next week
6:30 a.m.:Leaving a meeting in her office on Wednesday, Pelosi and two of her chairmen, Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, confirmed the House will vote on each article of impeachment separately, meaning there will be one vote on Article I, abuse of power, and a second vote on Article II, obstruction of Congress.
Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, who controls the floor schedule, said they are still working on which day the vote will take place. — Kimberly Brown and Lauren Peller
What happened at Wednesday’s hearing
5:45 a.m.: At Wednesday’s hearing, many Democrats used personal anecdotes to defend the value of following and defending the rule of law. Republicans expressed outrage at the process and alleged that the proceedings have been based off hearsay. They also continued to criticize House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, and argued he should testify before the committees. — Victoria Albert
How to watch the markup hearing
- Date: Wednesday, December 11, and Thursday, December 12, 2019
- Time: Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET; Thursday at 9 a.m.
- Who: The House Judiciary Committee
- Online stream: CBSN, in the player above and on your mobile or streaming device
