House Intelligence Approves Trump Impeachment Report, Judiciary Hearings Start Wednesday

The House Intelligence Committee led by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) voted to approve the impeachment inquiry report Tuesday, hours after it released this damning report providing "overwhelming" evidence of president Donald Trump’s misconduct and abuse of power in the Ukraine scandal. The 13-9 vote was along party lines.

The report accuses Trump of abusing his power for personal gain by forcing Ukraine to investigate his political rival Joe Biden, and obstructing Congress’ investigation into his actions. Specifically, the report said “Trump’s scheme subverted U.S. foreign policy toward Ukraine and undermined our national security in favor of two politically motivated investigations that would help his presidential reelection campaign.”

It also said Trump “demanded that the newly-elected Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, publicly announce investigations into a political rival that he apparently feared the most, former Vice President Joe Biden, and into a discredited theory that it was Ukraine, not Russia, that interfered in the 2016 presidential election.”

The report has now been sent to the House Judiciary Committee headed by Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), which is starting its impeachment hearings Wednesday. The Judiciary Committee will call four constitutional law experts to give testimonies relating to impeachment. It will refer to the intelligence committee report when it drafts specific articles of impeachment against Trump.

Based on the intelligence committee's report, the charges will include obstruction of Congress and allegations Trump compromised U.S. national security for personal gain by asking Ukraine to investigate his political rivals. Democrats, who control the House, still intend to hold an impeachment vote before Christmas and to prevail in the impeachment vote.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), however, said she hasn't made a decision yet on impeachment. She said she’s waiting to see the hearings in the House Judiciary Committee starting Wednesday. The senator also said she'd look at the House Intelligence Committee's report more closely.

There's now also talk of Trump being censured, a legislative option that will remove him from office faster. The U.S. Senate describes censure as “a formal statement of disapproval.”

The intelligence committee's 300-page report provides “overwhelming” evidence of Trump’s misconduct, and paints a portrait of the President as someone who would endanger U.S. national security and break U.S. laws for his own personal political advancement.

Section One extensively details Trump's alleged abuse of power. Section two explains Trump's efforts to obstruct the impeachment inquiry. The 19 “Key Findings of Fact” provides massive evidence that corroborate the main charges against Trump.