House Democrats announce articles of impeachment against President Trump
Democrats unveiled articles of imeachment — abuse of power and obstruction of Congress — against President Trump on Tuesday, a day after evidence from the nearly three-month inquiry was presented to the House Judiciary Committee.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Adam Schiff, leader of the House Intelligence Committee, made the announcement from the Capitol.
“Today, in service to our duty to the Constitution and to our country, the House Committee on the Judiciary is introducing two articles of impeachment charging the president of the United States, Donald J. Trump, with committing high crimes and misdemeanors,” Nadler said.
Speaking of the abuse of power charge, Nadler said: “It is an impeachable offense for the president to exercise the powers of his public office to obtain an improper personal benefit while ignoring or injuring the national interest. That is exactly what President Trump did.”
And when Trump got “caught,” the New York Democrat said, Trump committed his second impeachable act — obstruction of Congress.
“No one is above the law, not even the president of the United States. The evidence is strong that President Trump has obstructed Congress fully, without precedent, and without basis in law,” he said.
Nadler continued that not acting would “decimate Congress’ ability to conduct oversight of this president or any other in the future.”
And that would allow the president “and those who follow to be free to be as corrupt, malfeasance, or incompetent as they would like.”
Schiff, whose committee heard testimony that led to the panel’s report that became the basis of the articles of impeachment, said the House must act now because the Trump administration will continue to stonewall the inquiry while it continues to engage in wrongdoing.
“The argument ‘why don’t you just wait’ amounts to this: Why don’t you just let him cheat in just one more election? Why not let him cheat just one more time?” Schiff said. “Why not let him have foreign help one more time?”
Shortly before charges were announced, Trump went on Twitter to defend himself.
“To Impeach a President who has proven through results, including producing perhaps the strongest economy in our country’s history, to have one of the most successful presidencies ever, and most importantly, who has done NOTHING wrong, is sheer Political Madness! #2020Election,” he posted on his account.
White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham accused Democrats of trying to undercut Trump’s accomplishments.
“Hardworking Americans know this sham is simply the dems weaponizing impeachment to try & undermine @realDonaldTrump, who has done nothing but fulfill the promises he ran on & fight for our country. Their behavior is shameful, but this will only serve to further unify our party,” she wrote on Twitter.
Trump’s 2020 campaign said Americans “don’t agree with this rank partisanship.”
“Democrats are putting on this political theater because they don���t have a viable candidate for 2020 and they know it,” campaign manager Brad Parscale said.
Democrats say Trump abused the power of his office when he withheld nearly $400 million in military assistance to Ukraine to pressure its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, to announce an investigation into 2020 political rival Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
The obstruction charge comes from the White House’s refusal to release documents or allow current and former administration officials to testify before the House panels investigating Trump’s dealings in Ukraine.
At Monday’s Judiciary Committee hearing, Democrats presented evidence of Trump’s wrongdoing uncovered from two months of interviews, while Republicans supported the president in a process they described as a rush to judgment without the presence of a crime.
The Judiciary Committee could vote on the articles Thursday, setting up a vote in the Democrat-controlled House before Christmas — making Trump the third president in US history to be impeached.
Following the full House vote, the proceedings would move to the GOP-controlled Senate to hold a trial to decide whether Trump should be removed from office.
But it’s unlikely the Senate would vote to remove the president, which would require a two-thirds vote.
Republicans hold 53 seats in the 100-member chamber.