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International Desk: US Democrats presented a forceful case for impeaching and removing President Donald Trump from office Tuesday in a report detailing \u201coverwhelming evidence\u201d of misconduct in office and obstruction.<\/p>\nInternational Desk: US Democrats presented a forceful case for impeaching and removing President Donald Trump from office Tuesday in a report detailing \u201coverwhelming evidence\u201d of misconduct in office and obstruction.<\/p>\n
Immediately dismissed by the White House as the product of a \u201cone-sided sham process,\u201d the House Intelligence Committee report accused Trump of subverting national security as he pressured Ukraine for dirt on a Democratic election rival.<\/p>\n
Behind closed doors late Tuesday, the Democratic-led panel voted 13 to 9, along strict party lines as expected, to officially adopt and issue the report to the House Judiciary Committee, which is tasked with drafting articles of impeachment against the president.<\/p>\n
The 300-page document, meant to serve as the basis for the charges against Trump, also mapped out in detail what it called an unparalleled effort of obstruction, including witness intimidation, to stifle the investigation into Trump\u2019s Ukraine scheme.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe president placed his personal 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,\u201d said the final report on the Intelligence Committee\u2019s investigation.<\/p>\n
\u201cPresident Trump and his senior officials may see nothing wrong with using the power of the office of the president to pressure a foreign country to help the president\u2019s reelection campaign,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, the Founding Fathers prescribed a remedy for a chief executive who places his personal interests above those of the country: impeachment.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u2018The president\u2019s dirty work\u2019 \u2013<\/p>\n
The report, the product of a rapid-fire probe sparked by a whistleblower\u2019s complaint in August, mapped out a months-long scheme by Trump, his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and senior diplomats to pressure Ukraine\u2019s president into investigating Joe Biden, the current favorite to win the Democratic 2020 White House nomination.<\/p>\n
Trump also pressured President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate a \u201cconspiracy theory\u201d that it was Ukraine, and not Russia, that interfered in the 2016 US election, to benefit the Democrats.<\/p>\n
In both cases, the report said, Trump conditioned nearly $400 million in US military aid and a high-profile summit with Zelensky on Kiev opening the investigations.<\/p>\n
Democrat Adam Schiff, the head of the House Intelligence Committee, said the White House demands left Ukraine, which is under constant threat from Russia-backed rebels, vulnerable as Trump sought help for his 2020 reelection.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis report chronicles a scheme by the president of the United States to coerce an ally, Ukraine, that is at war with an adversary, Russia, into doing the president\u2019s dirty work,\u201d he told reporters.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u2018Ramblings of a basement blogger\u2019 \u2013<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cDonald Trump is the first president in the history of the United States to seek to completely obstruct an impeachment inquiry undertaken by the House of Representatives,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPresident Trump\u2019s ongoing effort to thwart Congress\u2019 impeachment power risks doing grave harm to the institution of Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n
In London for a NATO summit, Trump again accused the Democrats of playing a political game.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe impeachment is a hoax. It\u2019s turned out to be a hoax. It\u2019s done for purely political gain,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
His spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham doubled down in dismissing both the report and Schiff\u2019s investigation.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of a one-sided sham process, Chairman Schiff and the Democrats utterly failed to produce any evidence of wrongdoing by President Trump,\u201d she said in a statement.<\/p>\n
The report \u201creads like the ramblings of a basement blogger straining to prove something when there is evidence of nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2013 Impeachment before Christmas? \u2013<\/p>\n
The report is expected to form the basis for the Judiciary Committee to draw up formal charges, or articles of impeachment, in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n
If, as expected, the articles are passed by the Democratic-led House, the case will go to the Republican-controlled Senate for trial in January.<\/p>\n
The Judiciary panel, which begins meeting Wednesday, has set no formal timeframe.<\/p>\n
But Democrats aim to hold a full House impeachment vote before the body goes on break for Christmas, December 25.<\/p>\n
Schiff said that while the Judiciary Committee meets, his panel could continue investigating other angles of the Ukraine scheme, including whether Trump actually began much earlier to pressure Zelensky\u2019s predecessor Petro Poroshenko for the investigations, and whether some members of Congress were involved.<\/p>\n
But he stressed the need to move quickly, accusing Trump of seeking election help not only from Ukraine but Russia and China.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is I think grave risk to the country with waiting until we have every last fact when we already know enough about the president\u2019s misconduct to make a responsible judgement,\u201d Schiff said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
International Desk: US Democrats presented a forceful case for impeaching and removing President Donald Trump from office Tuesday in a report detailing \u201coverwhelming evidence\u201d of misconduct in office and obstruction. Immediately dismissed by the White House as the product of a \u201cone-sided sham process,\u201d the House Intelligence Committee report accused Trump of subverting national security […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":56217,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[44,5,14],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n