9:38 p.m. ET, December 11, 2019
Democratic congressman urges members to "stand by the Constitution and take strong action for your country"
Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Democrat from Maryland, implored his colleagues to denounce President Trump's actions with Ukraine during his opening speech tonight.
"I devoted my career to studying, teaching and defending the constitution of the United States. And my passion has been popular self-government and the democratic and voting rights of the people. And I confess that I am afraid if we allow presidents to invite foreign governments to participate overtly or covertly in our elections and this becomes in America a new normal," Raskin said.
Following Rep. Cedric Richmond, who quoted Thomas Paine earlier tonight, Raskin quoted a founding father: "Ben Franklin said, 'As long as I have known the world I have observed that wrong is always growing more wrong, till there is no bearing, and that right, however opposed, comes [out] right at last.'"
"So what must we do? Stand by the constitution and take strong action for your country. Let’s stand strong, America, for our democracy," Raskin said.
Watch here: