House Will Draft Formal Impeachment Articles, Pelosi Says
Working Families Party on Creative Commons
This is not the first time Trump has dealt with impeachment talk. Formal efforts to impeach Trump were initiated in 2017 by House Democrats as well. Creative Commons photo: Working Families Party on Creative Commons.
December 6, 2019
In a new update to the impeachment inquiry, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announced Dec. 5 that the House of Representatives would move forward with drafting formal impeachment articles against President Donald Trump.
“The president leaves us no choice but to act because he is trying to corrupt, once again, the election for his own benefit,” Pelosi said in her formal address.
Pelosi’s words follow the House Democrats’ release of an official report finding that Trump “use[d] the powers of his office to solicit foreign interference on his behalf in the 2020 election.”
The Dec. 3 report, compiled by members of the House Intelligence Committee, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, and the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, condemned Trump’s actions, citing his alleged misconduct in dealing with Ukraine along with his obstruction of the impeachment inquiry itself.
“The President placed his personal political interests above the national interests of the United States, sought to undermine the integrity of the U.S. presidential election process, and endangered U.S. national security,” the report said.
The “personal political interests” in question are claims that Trump pressured Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Democratic opponent and former Vice President Joe Biden and his son by withholding a $400 million military aid package from Ukraine.
The report follows 10 weeks of research and over 100 hours of testimony gathered by House Democrats. Its release concludes the first phase of impeachment, as the inquiry will now move into the hands of the House Judiciary Committee.
And just one day after the report’s release, four constitutional scholars testified before the House Judiciary Committee. The three invited by Democrats concurred that Trump committed impeachable offenses. The one invited by Republicans, who made it clear that he does not support the president, dissented.
In this second phase of impeachment, the conflict will likely become even more partisan. The Intelligence Committee will formally present its evidence to the Judiciary Committee in hearings on Dec. 9; the House could conduct a full vote on impeachment before Christmas.
