Trump Impeachment Report With 'Summary Of Evidence' Ready By Next Week, Schiff Says

House Democrats continue to move swiftly forward to impeach president Donald Trump with the impeachment inquiry report and its summary of evidence set to be delivered to the House Judiciary Committee chaired by Jerry Nadler (D-NY) as early as next week.

The judiciary committee will draft the articles of impeachment following its receipt of the report from other committees involved in the impeachment inquiry. Adam Schiff (D-CA), Chair of the House Intelligence Committee, said this process might begin as soon as next week, or after Congress returns from the Thanksgiving recess that began last Friday.

The articles of impeachment to be drawn-up come on the heels of several closed-door depositions of key witnesses and two weeks of public hearings where stunning testimony under oath revealed the extent of Trump's attempt on a quid pro quo with Ukraine.

“The Committees are now preparing a report summarizing the evidence we have found this far, which will be transmitted to the Judiciary Committee soon after Congress returns from the Thanksgiving recess,” wrote Schiff in a letter to his fellow members of Congress.

Schiff, however, did say his committee is open to the possibility new evidence will continue to emerge, “whether in the form of witnesses who provide testimony or documents that become available.” He said if more witnesses come forward, his committee “is prepared to hear from them.”

Schiff also said, “the testimony and documents we have succeeded in acquiring reveal a fact pattern that is overwhelming, unchallenged, and damning.” He pointed out that over the course of the impeachment inquiry, "we have uncovered a months-long effort in which President Trump again sought foreign interference in our elections for his personal and political benefit at the expense of our national interest.”

Schiff said Trump “conditioned official acts -- a White House meeting desperately desired by the new Ukrainian president and critical U.S. military assistance -- on Ukraine announcing sham, politically-motivated investigations that would help President Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign.”

The United States Constitution limits the grounds for presidential impeachment to "Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors." The precise meaning of the phrase "high Crimes and Misdemeanors" isn’t defined by the Constitution.

Last week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said Trump has committed worse crimes than did former president Richard Nixon. She inferred Trump should be man enough to emulate Nixon.

“I mean, what the president (Trump) did was so much worse than even what Richard Nixon did, that at some point Richard Nixon cared about the country enough to recognize that this could not continue,” said Pelosi.

She accused Trump of bribery two weeks ago for offering Zelensky a meeting with him, and Trump's unfreezing $400 million in suspended U.S. military aid to Ukraine, if Zelensky announced an investigation into former vice president Joe Biden.