Trump on attack as open impeachment hearings begin

Donald Trump has launched a final volley of angry accusations against Democrats ahead of public impeachment hearings.

Donald and Melania Trump prepare to board Air Force One at JFK Airport in New York on Wednesday. Picture: AFP

Donald Trump has launched a final volley of angry accusations against Democrats for their “total impeachment scam” ahead of historic public hearings due to begin early on Thursday, Australian time.

House intelligence committee chairman Adam Schiff, who will preside over only the fourth ­impeachment hearings for a US president, hit back, saying he ­believed Mr Trump committed two impeachable offences — “bribery” and “high crimes and misdemeanours”.

Both sides of politics in Washington are prepared for a bruising public battle in the coming weeks as they struggle to win the hearts and minds of Americans who are largely divided over the impeachment inquiry.

Mr Trump delivered an angry attack on what he called “a total impeachment scam by the Do Nothing Democrats”.

“Why is such a focus put on 2nd and 3rd hand witnesses, many of whom are Never Trumpers, or whose lawyers are Never Trumpers, when all you have to do is read the phone call (transcript) with the Ukraine president and see first hand,” the President tweeted.

Mr Trump said Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky had ­admitted there was no pressure put on him as a result of their July 25 phone call that triggered a whistleblower complaint and in turn triggered the impeachment inquiry.

Mr Trump said as President he had an “obligation” to look into corruption, and that former vice-president Joe Biden’s actions in Ukraine, and “his son (Hunter) taking millions of dollars with no money or talent”, were worthy of investigation.

“Both Bidens should be forced to testify in this No Due Process Scam,” Mr Trump said.

Mr Schiff said that the President could be guilty of bribery if he was shown to be “soliciting something of value” in his dealings with Ukraine.

“The basic allegations against the President are that he sought foreign interference in a US election, that he conditioned official acts on the performance of these political favours,” Mr Schiff said.

“And those official acts include a White House meeting that the President of Ukraine desperately sought with President Trump, as well as hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded military assistance for a country that is at war with Russia and a country that the United States has a deep ­national security interest in making sure it can defend itself.”

The public hearings will be held in the same room in congress where the blockbuster 2017 hearings were held with former FBI ­director James Comey.

The first two witnesses, acting US ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor and senior State ­Department official George Kent, have previously given closed-door testimony saying they were told Mr Trump wanted the delivery of US aid to be contingent on Ukraine announcing an investigation into the Bidens.

Mr Taylor, a West Point graduate and Vietnam War veteran, has served under both Democrat and Republican administrations and is a highly respected diplomat.

Only three US presidents have previously faced impeachment proceedings.

Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton were impeached by the house in 1868 and 1998 respectively but were acquitted by the Senate, ­allowing them to remain as president. Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 before the house could ­impeach him.

A series of US officials have testified behind closed doors that they believe US military aid to Ukraine was frozen until Ukraine agreed to launch a public probe into the Bidens.

Mr Trump has strongly denied that he ordered any quid pro quo between aid and an investigation of the Bidens. Democrats say it is an impeachable offence.

So far congressional debate on impeachment has been split ­clearly along party lines.

All but two Democrats in the Democrat-controlled house voted to formalise impeachment proceedings against Mr Trump but every one of the house Republicans voted against it.

Unless the public hearings ­reveal new information, it is ­unlikely that any impeachment by the house would be backed by the Republican-controlled Senate.