House Intelligence Committee approves report on impeachment inquiry News
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House Intelligence Committee approves report on impeachment inquiry

The US House Intelligence Committee approved a report on Tuesday summarizing the evidence it has collected in regards to the impeachment inquiry. The vote, which was cast down party lines, will send the report to the House Judiciary Committee.

The Trump-Ukraine Impeachment Inquiry Report highlights two instances of presidential misconduct: withholding Ukrainian aid in exchange for public investigations into a political rival and obstructing the House’s impeachment inquiry. This inquiry was formally launched in September when a whistleblower complaint detailed how President Donald Trump used Ukrainian aid as a bargaining chip to persuade Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son. In efforts to prevent the impeachment inquiry from progressing, as detailed by the report, Trump intimidated witnesses, refused to comply with subpoenas and refused to allow his top aids to testify.

Adam Schiff, Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, stated:

By doubling down on his misconduct and declaring that his July 25 call with President Zelensky was “perfect,” President Trump has shown a continued willingness to use the power of his office to seek foreign intervention in our next election. His Acting Chief of Staff, Mick Mulvaney, in the course of admitting that the President had linked security assistance to Ukraine to the announcement of one of his desired investigations, told the American people to “get over it.” In these statements and actions, the President became the author of his own impeachment inquiry.

As the report indicates, the House plans to move forward with the impeachment of Trump. On Wednesday the House Judiciary Committee will conduct hearings regarding the constitutional grounds for presidential impeachment.

Moving forward, Schiff and the rest of the House Intelligence Committee believe “the question presented by the set of facts enumerated in this report may be as simple as that posed by the President and his chief of staff’s brazenness: is the remedy of impeachment warranted for a president who would use the power of his office to coerce foreign interference in a U.S. election, or is that now a mere perk of the office that Americans must simply ‘get over’?”

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