Watch Nancy Pelosi Open the House’s Final Impeachment Debate

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Clearing the final procedural hurdles in the House of Representatives’ impeachment process, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Wednesday announced the opening of the last stretch of debate before the chamber’s historic vote on whether to impeach President Donald Trump.

“We gather today under the dome of this temple of democracy to exercise one of the most solemn powers that this body can take: the impeachment of the president of the United States,” Pelosi said, standing beside a poster of a billowing American flag above an excerpt from the Pledge of Allegiance: “To the republic for which it stands…”

Pointing to the poster, Pelosi said, “The republic for which it stands is what we are here to talk about today.” Then, with a nod to Benjamin Franklin, “A republic, if we can keep it.”

“Very sadly now, our founders’ vision of a Republic is under threat from actions from the White House,” she continued. Perhaps rebutting Trump’s Impeachment Eve accusation that her demeanor constituted a “false display of solemnity,” she said, “That is why today, as speaker of the House, I solemnly and sadly open the debate on the impeachment of the president of the United States.”

Watch Pelosi’s statement below:

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

The short of it: Last year, we had to cut $1 million from our budget so we could have any chance of breaking even by the time our fiscal year ended in June. And despite a huge rally from so many of you leading up to the deadline, we still came up a bit short on the whole. We can’t let that happen again. We have no wiggle room to begin with, and now we have a hole to dig out of.

Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

The upshot: Being able to rally $253,000 in donations over these next few weeks is vitally important simply because it is the number that keeps us right on track, helping make sure we don't end up with a bigger gap than can be filled again, helping us avoid any significant (and knowable) cash-flow crunches for now. We used to be more nonchalant about coming up short this time of year, thinking we can make it by the time June rolls around. Not anymore.

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