Trump impeachment charges unveiled as abuse of power
Washington DC: House Democrats have announced they would proceed with articles of impeachment against Donald Trump, charging the president with obstruction of Congress and abuse of power surrounding his dealings with Ukraine.
"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 US, Donald J. Trump, with committing high crimes and misdemeanours", House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler said on Tuesday morning. "No one, not even the president, is above the law."
Democrats said the president abused his power in demanding political investigations from Ukraine to aid him in his 2020 re-election, while withholding crucial military aid and an important White House visit to the country as it fights a war with Russia.
The historic decision came after key impeachment witnesses described a quid pro quo involving US-Ukraine relations under Mr Trump, in which the president was demanding announcements of the probes from his Ukrainian counterpart in exchange for the support from the US.
The articles of impeachment describe Mr Trump's dealings with Ukraine as a "scheme" and say he "solicited the interference of a foreign government" in the 2020 election, adding: "President Trump engaged in this scheme or course of conduct for corrupt purposes in pursuit of personal political benefit."
"In all of this, President Trump abused the powers of the Presidency by ignoring and injuring national security and other vital national interests to obtain an improper personal political benefit," the articles read. The charges also said Mr Trump obstructed Congress "without lawful cause or excuse" and added: "In the history of the Republic, no President has ever ordered the complete defiance of an impeachment inquiry."
Katherine Clark, a Massachusetts Democrat and the vice chair of the Democratic caucus, said the impeachment articles reflected and "urgency" that was "reflective of our concern of the clear and present danger the president poses to the 2020 elections" in a statement.
"We are confident that we are holding the president accountable," she added, "which is the right thing to do, not only to address his behaviour of the past but to make sure future presidents know that no one is above the law."
Some Democrats went so far as to accuse Mr Trump of bribery after his White House withheld nearly $400m (£304m) of military aid to Ukraine while seeking political probes from Zelensky. However, the House Judiciary Committee declined to draft an article charging the president with bribery — one of the three categories of impeachable offences written in the US Constitution.
Still, Democratic leadership said the efforts on the part of the White House reflected a pattern of misconduct by Mr Trump and his closest aides. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has also tied the White House efforts to block key witnesses from testifying during the Democrat-led impeachment inquiry to its similar intervention in former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
