Hope they can prove it.
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The New York Times
WASHINGTON — House Democrats on Tuesday released a 300-page impeachment report asserting that President Trump abused his power by trying to enlist Ukraine to help him in the 2020 presidential election. The report said that Mr. Trump “placed his own personal and political interests above the national interests of the United States,” seeking to undermine American democracy and endangering national security.
Adam Schiff, Jim Himes posing for the camera: Representative Adam B. Schiff, chairman of the Intelligence Committee, led the impeachment inquiry investigation.© Anna Moneymaker/The New York TimesRepresentative Adam B. Schiff, chairman of the Intelligence Committee, led the impeachment inquiry investigation.
The document, drawn up by the House Intelligence Committee that has led the inquiry into Mr. Trump’s dealings with Ukraine, left it to another panel to decide whether to recommend his impeachment and removal. But it laid out in searing fashion what are all but certain to be the grounds on which the Democratic-led House moves to impeach the president.
The lengthy document outlined more than two months of public and private testimony from diplomats and other administration officials who described a campaign by the president and his allies to pressure Ukraine for investigations of former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and other Democrats, while withholding nearly $400 million in military assistance and a White House meeting for Ukraine’s president.
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“The impeachment inquiry into Donald J. Trump, the 45th President of the United States, uncovered a monthslong effort by President Trump to use the powers of his office to solicit foreign interference on his behalf in the 2020 election,” said the report, released ahead of a vote Tuesday evening by the Intelligence Committee to formally approve it. It asserts that Mr. 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 re-election campaign.”
The report also lays out what it calls an “unprecedented campaign of obstruction of this impeachment inquiry” by Mr. Trump, in light of his move to prevent the release of documents from agencies including the State Department, the Department of Defense and the White House budget office and instructing potential witnesses not to cooperate.
“The damage to our system of checks and balances, and to the balance of power within our three branches of government, will be long-lasting and potentially irrevocable if the president’s ability to stonewall Congress goes unchecked,” the report concluded. “Any future president will feel empowered to resist an investigation into their own wrongdoing, malfeasance, or corruption, and the result will be a nation at far greater risk of all three.”
The report is a watershed moment for the months-old inquiry. Its delivery sets in motion the next phase in the impeachment of Mr. Trump, accelerating a constitutional clash that has happened only three times in the nation’s history. Both parties are poised for a fierce partisan debate in the House Judiciary Committee over whether the president should be removed from office.
The Judiciary Committee is scheduled to begin its debate on Wednesday with a public hearing that features four constitutional scholars discussing the historical standards for impeachment and their assessment about whether Mr. Trump’s actions constitute “high crimes and misdemeanors” that warrant his removal from office.
Lawyers for the Intelligence Committee are expected to formally present the report to the Judiciary panel and answer questions from its members in the coming days, though no hearing has been scheduled. Mr. Trump’s Republican allies on Capitol Hill released their own report on Monday, condemning the Democratic impeachment effort as illegitimate, and asserting that the president was not seeking personal political advantage when he pressed Ukraine’s leaders to investigate his rivals, but was instead urging the country to address corruption.
In London for a NATO meeting, Mr. Trump accused Democrats of trying to overturn the results of the 2016 elections, saying the impeachment inquiry “turned out to be a hoax.”
“It’s done for purely political gain,” Mr. Trump continued. “They’re going to see whether or not they can do something in 2020, because otherwise they’re going to lose.”
The Intelligence Committee is also expected to vote to transmit all the raw evidence it collected to the Judiciary Committee. Though Representative Adam B. Schiff, Democrat of California and the chairman of the Intelligence panel, has indicated that investigative work could continue, the report largely brings an end to his committee’s inquiry, which began after Speaker Nancy Pelosi formally opened the impeachment inquiry in late September.
The Judiciary Committee will also consider potential evidence presented by other investigative committees — and renew an earlier debate among Democrats over whether Mr. Trump should be impeached for his attempts to thwart attempts by Robert S. Mueller III, the former special counsel, to investigate Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and any connections to the Trump campaign.
If a majority of the House voted to approve articles of impeachment, which would be drafted by the Judiciary Committee, the president would be impeached. The proceedings would move to the Senate for a trial. Two-thirds of senators would have to vote to convict Mr. Trump to end his presidency.
did the exact same thing, you and all the Congressional Democrats would be saying there's nothing to see here.
R prez.
It's a stretch to say Trump solicited help which constitutes "interference in our elections." Prosecutor Shokin was fired for allegedly not investigating corruption. Trump asked that Ukranian corruption be investigated; he did not ask for "dirt" to be found on the Bidens.
But then somehow the Democrats using Russian info via the Steele dossier and Adam Schiff trying to get dirt on Trump from foreign sources doesn't constitute interference.
Personally, I say it's all of it is overblown.
Sondland testified that was a quid pro quo for the WH meeting.
That is soliciting a bribe.
There was no bribe for Fusion, a US company to hire Steele. Of course they used Russian sources that Steele, who had been kicked out of the country by Putin, deemed reliable. Who else would you speak to?
Seriously, would you be dismissing this if it had been a Obama who had done what zOrange did?
Not one of you will answer that question.
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If you were paying attention you would have heard Sondland admit to that as well calling it Quid Pro Quo because that’s what Trump wanted. Also Sondland described how corruption was never discussed. You need to step away from FOX TV.
You are now compromised and no longer trustworthy as a political leader. You lack sound judgement.
So no, what is in your character make up isn't in mine.
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If I remember correctly, Drumph is in office now where countless hires of his are now serving jail time or in prison many are being indicted or under a cloud of indictments criminally and ethics wise. With Donnie D. In office - the guy who promised the drainage of the swamp, there has been a massive amount of corruption, treasonous happenings and ethics irregularities not to mention over 14K lies told (and counting). What is it you want to discuss?
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Does that mean HRC hired a foreigner to help smear (blackmail) Trump? Wow once the media here’s this look out.
and after the Trump was the nominee, the Republicans (The Washington Free Beacon) dropped the dossier and the DNC picked up from there.
You really must work with the facts.
truth is coming out and you deal with that. But was Steele a foreigner? Answer that. That’s the post right?
No one got paid $14mil for looking up Trump dirt - no one!
FIFA. He wasn’t the agent of a hostile foreign power like those that the Orange team dealt with.
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you use, Carter Page, PhD?
And the guys who hired him, Fusion were originally hired by the R’s. Not foreigners either.
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