The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee is currently engaged in a marathon impeachment hearing session where every member gets to give a lengthy statement. In the first prime time hearing, Jerry Nadler (D-NY) called President Trump a “dictator” and called on Republicans to vote in favor of impeachment.

Nadler said, “If the president can first abuse his power and then stonewall all Congressional requests for information, Congress cannot fulfill its duty to act as a check and balance against the executive. And the president becomes a dictator.” He also said what most Republicans believe, that the Democrats want to overturn the election because they were unhappy with the results. To this point Nadler stated, “We cannot rely on an election to solve our problems.”

He also begged Republicans to join the witch hunt saying, “I hope every member of this Committee will withstand the political pressures of the moment. I hope that we are able to work together to hold this President - or any President - accountable for breaking his most basic obligations to the country and to its citizens.”

He finished with a final parting shot at the President saying, “while you think about that choice [to impeach], please keep in mind that - one way or the other - President Trump will not be president forever. When his time has passed, when his grip on our politics is gone, when our country returns, as surely it will, to calmer times and stronger leadership, history will look back on our actions here today. How would you be remembered?”

Many Republicans stood up for President Trump in their speeches. Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA) called impeachment “the Big Lie”. Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) pointed out how many Democrats around the country have long been angry and disrespectful to the President saying, “’Then the genre of assassination and personal harm began with Kathy Griffin posing with a model of Trump’s severed head, and actor Robert De Niro using his Tony Awards speech to say, ‘F— Trump! I’d like to punch him in the face’”