News Media Release

For further information contact:

December 16, 2019

Alyson Heyrend
Communications Director
Alyson.heyrend@mail.house.gov
(801) 960-6873
McAdams remarks as scheduled for delivery

I came to Congress to do the right thing for Utah and America. I pledged to put country
over party and to work with both parties and with the President to get things done. And I
have. While some in Congress focused on investigating the President, I’m working to
make prescription drugs affordable, strengthen Utah’s economy, protect seniors and
children from predators and clean our dirty air.

I was sworn in, taking an oath to uphold the Constitution, and the Constitution requires
me to study the articles of impeachment and to vote on them.

In my eleven months of service in Congress, I have been disappointed and distressed

by the behavior of both parties. Some Democrats are all too gleeful about the serious
matter before us and they reflexively oppose anything the President proposes. Senate
Republicans have ignored over 275 bipartisan bills passed by the House, denying
progress on many issues. House Republicans have dismissed the testimony of lifelong
public servants who have implicated the President in alarming behavior.

I recognize that we are living in contentious times. Democrats and Republicans in

Congress have conducted themselves in such a way over the last decade, and
especially in the last year, that neither party has the public’s confidence to fulfill this
serious duty with credibility. They have squandered the trust the Constitution and the
American public demand of them in these serious times.
I hoped to find bipartisan common ground to censure the President instead of putting
the country through a divisive and lengthy Senate impeachment trial with a
predetermined outcome of dismissal. I believe a bipartisan action better protects our
country from future election meddling and presidential wrongdoing than a party line
impeachment followed by a Senate show trial that makes a mockery of objective
consideration of the President’s deeds. But that’s not the choice I have before me.

My duty is to the Constitution and our country. What the President did was wrong. His
actions warrant accountability. I cannot turn a blind eye, thereby condoning this
President and future Presidents, Republican or Democrat, to do the same.

The evidence for me is clear. The President abused the power of his office by
demanding a foreign government perform a personal favor. He obstructed Congress in
its constitutional duty of oversight by withholding pertinent documents and central
witnesses. His actions weakened our country and the checks and balances enshrined in
our founding documents.

People who I respect have reached different conclusions on the best course of action.
We agree that what the President did was wrong.

I will vote yes, knowing full well the Senate will likely acquit the President in a display of
partisan theater that Republicans and Democrats in Washington perform disturbingly
well.

Because of that, I know my vote will not remove the President from office. We must
continue to work together as a Congress and as a country. In eleven months, the
people will ultimately decide President Trump’s fate, not me or politicians in
Washington.

I believe our country is bigger than one man or either party. I trust the American people
to decide President Trump’s political consequences. I trust them to make this decision.

It is with a heavy heart that I reach this decision today, but with the certainty that God
will continue to bless America.