Booker Statement on Voting to Approve Articles of Impeachment Against President Donald Trump

WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), issued the following statement on his vote earlier today to approve articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump:

“Based on the evidence that has been presented, I have concluded that President Donald John Trump is guilty of committing high crimes and misdemeanors against the United States of America. I believe he abused the awesome powers of his office for personal and political gain to pressure a foreign power to interfere in the most sacred institution of our democracy—our elections. He then engaged in a concerted, far-reaching, and categorical effort to cover up his transgressions and block any effort to learn the truth.

“It brings me no satisfaction to come to this conclusion. And yet we all swore an oath to  ‘support and defend the Constitution of the United States.’

“When our grandchildren read about this chapter in their history books, they will read about how this body abdicated its constitutional responsibilities to partisan passions. They will read about how the Senate shut its doors to the truth, even though it was easily within reach; how, for the first time in history, the world’s greatest deliberative body conducted an impeachment trial without demanding a single witness and without subpoenaing a single document; how, even as new evidence continued to be uncovered, its members failed to view it and failed to pursue even the faintest effort that would have more perfectly revealed the breadth and depth of this President’s misconduct.

“For all of these reasons, this is one of the saddest moments in Senate history. But we as a nation have never been defined by our darkest hours, but rather, by how we responded to such despair.

“The true test of our democracy will not come from the low actions of the one most on high; nor will it turn alone on the actions of this body – a body that before has preserved slavery, denied women suffrage, and marched us to war when we should have sought peace.

“No, the hope of this nation lies with the people. And how we the people respond.

“May we as a nation meet these dark times with our actions of goodwill, with a commitment to love and to justice, and a determination to once again elevate our country so that we too may be, like it says in that great text, a light unto all nations.”

To view Booker’s remarks yesterday on the Senate floor on impeachment, click here.

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