Donald Trump impeachment report finds ‘overwhelming’ evidence of misconduct
A key US lawmaker says the impeachment case against Donald Trump is “very rock-solid”.
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The chairman of the US House Judiciary Committee said that if the impeachment case against President Donald Trump were put to a jury, there “would be a guilty verdict in three minutes flat.”
Representative Jerry Nadler, whose panel is to convene Monday US time to begin drawing up articles of impeachment, told CNN that the evidence that Trump put personal interests above those of his country in dealing with Ukraine was “rock solid.”
While not specifying what those articles might include, Nadler did not rule out the possibility of a House vote on impeachment by the end of the week.
That would put it on a fast track to a trial in early 2020 before the Republican-controlled Senate, where Trump is expected to prevail.
The president has repeatedly blasted the House inquiry as a partisan attack by House Democrats, and on Sunday he tweeted that the Judiciary hearings are part of a “hoax” by the “No Due Process, Do Nothing Democrats.”
But while complaining that Democrats have not given Trump’s lawyers adequate opportunity to call their own witnesses and make their case, the White House signalled on Friday that it would not seek to defend the president before Nadler’s panel.
‘OVERWHELMING’ EVIDENCE OF MISCONDUCT
The evidence for impeaching Trump for misconduct in office and obstruction is “overwhelming,” the final report on the House investigation into the US leader found.
The 300-page report, meant as the basis for articles of impeachment, accused Trump of endangering national security and of an unparalleled effort to stifle the probe into claims he pressured Ukraine for dirt on a Democratic election rival.
“The impeachment inquiry has found that President Trump, personally and acting through agents within and outside of the US government, solicited the interference of a foreign government, Ukraine, to benefit his re-election” next year, the report released last week said.
“The president placed his own personal and political interests above the national interests of the United States, sought to undermine the integrity of the US presidential election process, and endangered US national security.”
REPORT’S KEY FINDINGS
The report, which will form the basis for the House Judiciary Committee to draw up formal charges, or articles of impeachment, in the coming weeks, spells out two key areas of wrongdoing by Trump.
In the first instance, it alleged, Trump conditioned military aid and a face-to-face meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky on Kiev opening several politically-motivated investigations, including into former vice president Joe Biden, the Democratic frontrunner in the 2020 election race.
Secondly, the report said, Trump actively sought to obstruct the congressional probe, refusing to provide documents to investigators, preventing witnesses from appearing, and threatening some of those who did appear.
“The evidence of the President’s misconduct is overwhelming, and so too is the evidence of his obstruction of Congress,” said the report.
“No other president has flouted the Constitution and power of Congress to conduct oversight to this extent.”
WHITE HOUSE’S RESPONSE
In a statement, White House spokesman Stephanie Grisham dismissed both the report and the investigation led by House Intelligence Committee chair Adam Schiff.
“At the end of a one-sided sham process, Chairman Schiff and the Democrats utterly failed to produce any evidence of wrongdoing by President Trump,” she said.
The report “reads like the ramblings of a basement blogger straining to prove something when there is evidence of nothing.”
Trump has previously denied any wrongdoing and accused Democrats of using the impeachment process to overturn the results of the 2016 presidential election.
Opinion polls show Americans are bitterly divided over whether to impeach Trump.
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WHAT HAPPENS NOW
Democrats in the House of Representatives are drafting articles of impeachment against Trump and the judiciary committee may hold a vote this week, the panel’s chairman says.
Nadler told CNN his committee will not decide on the charges against the Republican president until after a hearing on Monday US time to consider evidence gathered by the House intelligence committee that led the investigation.
The panel is considering articles of impeachment that would accuse Trump of abuse of power in his dealings with Ukraine and obstruction of congress for refusing to co-operate with the inquiries.
Democrats also need to settle the question of whether to draft a third article alleging obstruction of justice based on former special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
The Justice Department’s internal watchdog will release a highly anticipated report Monday US time that is expected to reject Trump’s claims that the Russia investigation was illegitimate and tainted by political bias from FBI leaders.
If the full House votes to approve formal impeachment charges, a trial would be held in the Republican-led US Senate, where a two-thirds majority of those present would be required to convict and remove Trump from office.
Originally published as Donald Trump impeachment report finds ‘overwhelming’ evidence of misconduct
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