Trump Impeachment: What Happens Next After House Democrats Unveil 2 Articles?

House Democrats unveiled two articles of impeachment Tuesday against President Trump, accusing him of holding himself above the law and using his office “to obtain improper personal benefit while ignoring or injuring the national interest.”

Trump, the fourth president to face articles of impeachment, reacted on Twitter ahead of the announcement, saying it’s wrong to impeach a president who has presided over a strong economy.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said the committee had drafted two articles, one accusing Trump of abuse of power and the other accusing him of obstructing Congress.

The full House could vote on Trump’s impeachment as early as next week. If the articles are adopted, Trump would then go on trial in the Republican-controlled Senate.

Declaring that the committee was charging Trump with “high crimes and misdemeanors,” Nadler continued: “It is an impeachable offense for the president to exercise the powers of his public office to to obtain an improper personal benefit while ignoring or injuring the national interest. That is exactly what President Trump did when he solicited and pressured Ukraine to interfere in our 2020 presidential election, thus damaging our national security and undermining the integrity of the next election and violating his oath to the American people.”

Nadler said Trump’s actions are consistent with what he did as a presidential candidate in 2016 when he invited Russia to find Hilary Clinton’s emails. Shortly after that challenge was issued, Russian hackers turned over Democrats’ emails to WikiLeaks, which published them in batches, undermining the election.

At issue this time, is Trump’s effort to get Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, Biden’s son, Hunter, who held a position on the board of a Ukrainian energy company, and a debunked theory that Ukraine, not Russia, interfered in the 2016 election, what one witness described as a “fictional narrative” promoted by Moscow. Testimony indicated it was understood Trump was holding up $391 million in military aid in exchange for the investigations.

As the House Intelligence, Oversight and Foreign Affairs committees attempted to investigate Trump’s actions, the president directed administration officials not to cooperate by refusing to testify and declining to turn over subpoenaed documents, leading to the second article of impeachment, obstruction of Congress.

“A president who declares himself above accountability above the American people and above Congress’ power of impeachment, which is meant to protect against threats to our democratic institutions, is a president who sees himself above the law. We must be clear: No one, not even a president is above the law,” Nadler said.

The Judiciary Committee steered clear of obstruction of justice charges based on the special counsel’s investigation of 2016 Russian election interference.

Trump has raged throughout the process that he was being treated unfairly and labeled the investigation variously as a “witch hunt” and a “scam.” Initially, he complained he was not afforded an opportunity to defend himself but then turned down a Judiciary Committee invitation to participate in the two hearings it held before drafting the articles of impeachment.

Trump called the Judiciary Committee action “sheer political madness” in saying it is wrong to impeach a president who has produced “perhaps the strongest economy in our country’s history.”

He later went on the attack against House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., calling him “corrupt.”

A HarrisX poll conducted for the Washington news operation The Hill indicates 56% of Americans approve of the way Democrats have handled the impeachment process.