WASHINGTON – Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) spoke on the Senate floor Wednesday ahead of his vote to acquit President Trump on both articles of impeachment. From his speech:

“At the end of the day, this government does in fact stand accountable to the people. This government is of, by, and, for the people. We cannot remove the 45th President of the United States for doing something that the law and the Constitution allows him to do, without doing undue violence to that system of government to which every single one of us has sworn an oath. We’ve sworn to protect and defend that system of government. And that means standing up for the American people, and those who they have elected to do a job recognized by the Constitution. I will be voting to defend the president’s actions. I will be voting against undoing the vote taken by the American people some three and a half years ago. I will be voting for the principle of freedom. For the very principles that our constitution was designed to protect. I urge all of my colleagues to reject these deeply, factually and legally, flawed articles of impeachment… to vote not guilty.”