House Democrats filed two articles of impeachment against President Trump: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
“He endangers our the Constitution, endangers our democracy and endangers our national security,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold L. Nadler said Tuesday, flanked by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the chairs of other House committees involved in the impeachment inquiry. “These actions, moreover, are consistent with President Trump’s previous investigations of foreign interference of our 2016 election.”
Mrs. Pelosi announced the House Judiciary Committee will meet later this week to take up the articles before they are sent to the full House.
The articles are rooted in accusations that Mr. Trump leveraged a White House meeting and nearly $400 million in military assistance to pressure the Ukrainian president to open investigations his political rival Joseph R. Biden, and the former vice president’s son, Hunter.
House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Adam B. Schiff countered criticisms that Democrats should hold off until they get key witnesses and documents approved by the courts.
“People should understand what that argument really means. It has taken us eight months … eight months for one court decision,” he said. “The argument ’Why don’t you just wait’ amounts to this: Why don’t you let him cheat in one more election?”
DOCUMENT: Read the articles of impeachment against President Trump
Mr. Trump maintains that he did nothing wrong and has denounced the entire impeachment effort as a partisan witch hunt.
The Trump campaign slammed the decision as a last-ditch effort by Democrats to try and derail the president’s reelection campaign.
“For months, Nancy Pelosi said she wouldn’t move forward on impeachment because it was too divisive and it needed bipartisan support,” Brad Parscale, Trump campaign manager, said in a statement. “Americans don’t agree with this rank partisanship, but Democrats are putting on this political theater because they don’t have a viable candidate for 2020 and they know it.”
And the the president criticized Mr. Nadler for claiming that Mr. Trump pressured Ukraine to interfere in the 2020 election.
“Ridiculous, and he knows that is not true,” Mr. Trump tweeted. “Both the President & Foreign Minister of Ukraine said, many times, that there ’WAS NO PRESSURE.’ Nadler and the Dems know this, but refuse to acknowledge!”
Vice President Mike Pence said Democrats introduced the impeachment articles because they “can’t run against our record.”
Speaking at a VFW post in Rochester in western Pennsylvania, Mr. Pence called the impeachment effort “a disgrace” and added, “Pennsylvania needs another four years of Donald Trump.”
“Pray for America,” he told the audience.
The vice president was embarking on a bus trip across the battleground state to Hershey, where he’ll join the president for a campaign rally Tuesday night.
If the House passes these articles, the process will move on to a trial in the Senate where it will be an uphill battle for Democrats to convince Republicans to remove the president from office.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
• Gabriella Muñoz can be reached at gmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
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