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Democrats Unveil 2 Articles of Impeachment Against Trump

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Nancy Pelosi | Democrats Unveil 2 Articles of Impeachment Against Trump | Featured
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WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democrats announced two articles of impeachment Tuesday against President Donald  — abuse of power and obstruction of Congress — pushing toward historic votes over charges he corrupted the U.S. election process and endangered national security.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, flanked by the chairmen of the impeachment inquiry committees, stood at the Capitol in what she called a “solemn act.” Voting is expected in a matter of days in the Judiciary Committee and by Christmas in the full House.  insisted he did “NOTHING” wrong.

“He endangers our democracy, he endangers our national security,” said Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., the Judiciary chairman announcing the charges before a portrait of George Washington. “Our next election is at risk… That is why we must act now.”

 tweeted ahead of the announcement that impeaching a president with a record like his would be “sheer Political Madness!”

The outcome, though, appears increasingly set as the House prepares for voting, as it has only three times in history against a U.S. president.

In drafting the articles of impeachment, Pelosi is facing a legal and political challenge of balancing the views of her majority while hitting the Constitution's bar of “treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors.”

Some liberal lawmakers wanted more expansive charges encompassing the findings from former special counsel Robert Mueller's probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election. Centrist Democrats preferred to keep the impeachment articles more focused on  actions toward Ukraine. House Democrats have announced two articles of impeachment charging President Donald  with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

The charges unveiled Tuesday stem from  pressure on Ukraine to announce investigations of his political rivals as he withheld aid to the country.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democrats are expected to unveil two articles of impeachment Tuesday against President Donald  — abuse of power and obstruction of Congress — pushing toward historic votes as the president insists he did “NOTHING” wrong.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi said ahead of the morning announcement that  tried to “corrupt our upcoming elections” and remains a “threat to our democracy and national security.”

Pelosi said in a tweet that the House was taking next steps to “defend' the democracy.”

Democratic leaders are laying out next steps after their impeachment inquiry determined  put U.S. elections and national security at risk when he asked Ukraine to investigate his rivals, including Democrat Joe Biden, while withholding needed military aid. They say he then tried to obstruct Congress' investigation.

, meanwhile, insisted he did “NOTHING” wrong and that impeaching a president with a record like his would be “sheer Political Madness!”

Democrats have not public released their plans. Details were shared by multiple people familiar with the discussions but not authorized to discuss them and granted anonymity.

Pelosi declined during an event Monday evening to discuss the articles or the coming announcement. Details were shared by multiple people familiar with the discussions but not authorized to discuss them and granted anonymity.

When asked if she has enough votes to impeach the Republican president, Pelosi leader said she would let House lawmakers vote their conscience.

“On an issue like this, we don’t count the votes. People will just make their voices known on it,” Pelosi said at The Wall Street Journal CEO Council. “I haven’t counted votes, nor will I.”

The outcome, though, appears increasingly set as the House prepares to vote, as it has only three times in history against a U.S. president.

, who has declined to mount a defense in the impeachment proceedings, tweeted Tuesday just as the five Democratic House committee chairmen prepared to make their announcement.

“To Impeach a President who has proven through results, including producing perhaps the strongest economy in our country's history, to have one of the most successful presidencies ever, and most importantly, who has done NOTHING wrong, is sheer Political Madness! #2020Election,” he wrote on Twitter.

The president also spent part of Monday tweeting against the impeachment proceedings. He and his allies have called the process “absurd.”

Pelosi convened a meeting of the impeachment committee chairmen at her office in the Capitol late Monday following an acrimonious, nearly 10-hour hearing at the Judiciary Committee, which could vote as soon as this week.

“I think there's a lot of agreement,” Rep. Eliot Engel of New York, the Democratic chairman of the Foreign Affairs committee, told reporters as he exited Pelosi's office. “A lot of us believe that what happened with Ukraine especially is not something we can just close our eyes to.”

At the Judiciary hearing, Democrats said  push to have Ukraine investigate rival Joe Biden while withholding U.S. military aid ran counter to U.S. policy and benefited Russia as well as himself.

“President ’s persistent and continuing effort to coerce a foreign country to help him cheat to win an election is a clear and present danger to our free and fair elections and to our national security,” said Dan Goldman, the director of investigations at the House Intelligence Committee, presenting the finding of the panel's 300-page report of the inquiry.

Republicans rejected not just Goldman's conclusion of the Ukraine matter; they also questioned his very appearance before the Judiciary panel. In a series of heated exchanges, they said Rep. Adam Schiff, the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, should appear rather than sending his lawyer.

From the White House,  tweeted repeatedly, assailing the “Witch Hunt!” and “Do Nothing Democrats.”

In drafting the articles of impeachment, Pelosi is facing a legal and political challenge of balancing the views of her majority while hitting the Constitution's bar of “treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors.”

Some liberal lawmakers wanted more expansive charges encompassing the findings from former special counsel Robert Mueller's probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election. Centrist Democrats preferred to keep the impeachment articles more focused on  actions toward Ukraine.

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Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., was blunt as he opened Monday's hearing, saying, “President  put himself before country.”

 conduct, Nadler said at the end of the daylong hearing, “is clearly impeachable.”

Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia, the top Republican on the committee, said Democrats are racing to jam impeachment through on a “clock and a calendar” ahead of the 2020 presidential election.

“They can't get over the fact that Donald  is the president of the United States, and they don’t have a candidate that can beat him,” Collins said.

In one testy exchange, Republican attorney Stephen Castor dismissed the transcript of  crucial call with Ukraine as “eight ambiguous lines” that did not amount to the president seeking a personal political favor.

Democrats argued vigorously that  meaning could not have been clearer in seeking political dirt on Biden, his possible opponent in the 2020 election.

The Republicans tried numerous times to halt or slow the proceedings, and the hearing was briefly interrupted early on by a protester shouting, “We voted for Donald !” The protester was escorted from the House hearing room by Capitol Police.

The White House is refusing to participate in the impeachment process.  and and his allies acknowledge he likely will be impeached in the Democratic-controlled House, but they also expect acquittal next year in the Senate, where Republicans have the majority.

The president was focused instead on Monday's long-awaited release of the Justice Department report into the 2016 Russia investigation. The inspector general found that the FBI was justified in opening its investigation into ties between the  presidential campaign and Russia and that the FBI did not act with political bias, despite “serious performance failures” up the bureau’s chain of command.

Democrats say  abused his power in a July 25 phone call when he asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for a favor in investigating Democrats. That was bribery, they say, since  was withholding nearly $400 million in military aid that Ukraine depended on to counter Russian aggression.

Pelosi and Democrats point to what they call a pattern of misconduct by  in seeking foreign interference in elections from Mueller's inquiry of the Russia probe to Ukraine.

In his report, Mueller said he could not determine that  campaign conspired or coordinated with Russia in the 2016 election. But Mueller said he could not exonerate  of obstructing justice in the probe and left it for Congress to determine.

Associated Press writers Julie Pace, Laurie Kellman, Matthew Daly and Eric Tucker contributed to this report.

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5 Comments

5 Comments

  • David Hagens says:

    Put it to the people. Congress is so crooked it spent an entire term trying to figure out how to oust Trump, they never did a bit of work.The only items put to a vote, besides get Trump, were the same Bill’s that were voted against in the last presidents term.

  • Angie Grimes says:

    Trump 2020. I’m for the president!!!!

  • Jonathan says:

    There is on such crime or statute on the books as “Obstruction of Congress.”
    The Dems seem to think that they can make up a name that sounds like “Obstruction of Justice” and get away with it. We the people are NOT THAT STUPID.
    Abuse of Power? That is exactly what Polpsi and her henchmen are doing. Trump has done nothing specially in comparison to OBAMA, or any other lefty President. They seem to be immune from scrutiny.

  • Jim Morris says:

    Does bullshit ring a bell

  • ROY L ENGLAND says:

    ABUSE OF POWERS YES I AGREE that SPEAKER of the HOUSE PELOSI has been abusing her powers and has kept the CONGRESS from doing more important things for the people of this country but would rather waste tax payers monies on an impeachment that has been proven unjust over and over for 3 years SHE is the one who should be impeached SHE has done nothing to help this country and its people

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