Trump abused his Office: Democrats' Impeachment report

Democrats on Tuesday (local time) released an impeachment report wherein they asserted that President Donald Trump has abused his powers by pressuring Ukraine to help him in the 2020 presidential election.

The 300-page report released by the House Intelligence Committee concluded that the president has "placed his own personal and political interests above the national interests of the United States," The New York Times reported.

It said that the president had sought to undermine American democracy and endangered national security, then worked to conceal his actions from Congress.

"The founding fathers prescribed a remedy for a chief executive who places his personal interests above those of the country: impeachment," the report added.

 

Though the committee indicated it would continue investigative work, the report's release has accelerated a constitutional clash that has happened only three times in the nation's history.

The House Judiciary Committee is all set to witness a raucous debate by both parties over whether to charge the president with high crimes and misdemeanours-- the Constitution's threshold for removal-- and a likely partisan vote before Christmas.

The report also divulged new details of Trump's personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani's frequent calls to the White House.

But for the most part, the document described the account that emerged over more than two months by witnesses of how the president and his allies pressured Ukraine to announce investigations of former Vice President Joe Biden and other Democrats, while withholding nearly USD 400 million in military assistance and a White House meeting for Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky.

"The impeachment enquiry into Donald J. Trump, the 45th president of the United States, uncovered a monthslong effort by President Trump to use the powers of his office to solicit foreign interference on his behalf in the 2020 election," the report said.

It asserted that Trump's "scheme subverted US foreign policy toward Ukraine and undermined our national security in favour of two politically motivated investigations that would help his presidential re-election campaign."

It further detailed how officials at the highest levels of his administration -- including Vice President Mike Pence; Secretary of State Mike Pompeo; Rick Perry, the energy secretary; and Mick Mulvaney, the acting chief of staff -- either knew of the president's efforts or were deeply involved in carrying them out.

Making a case for urgent congressional action, Democrats tried to place Trump's conduct in a broader context of wrongdoing than during the 2016 presidential elections.

Trump, they argued, first accepted help from one foreign power, Russia, to win the presidency, and then turned around and tried to enlist another, Ukraine, to bolster his 2020 re-election campaign.

"We do not intend to delay when the integrity of the next election is still at risk," House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff was quoted as saying after the release of the report.