U.S. Democrats expected to unveil two articles of impeachment against Trump

[webfact]

U.S. Democrats expected to unveil two articles of impeachment against Trump

By Susan Cornwell and David Morgan

 

U.S. President Donald Trump listens during a roundtable discussion on "education choice" at the White House in Washington, U.S., December 9, 2019. REUTERS/Tom Brenner

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives were expected to unveil two articles of impeachment against Republican President Donald Trump on Tuesday, a senior Democratic aide said, setting the stage for a possible vote this week on impeachment.

 

The House aide spoke on condition of anonymity on Monday night and declined to give any details.

 

Democrats were expected to draft articles of impeachment on abuse of power and on obstruction of Congress, the aide told Reuters. The Washington Post first reported the expected articles, citing three unidentified officials.

 

Trump is accused of pressuring Ukraine to initiate a probe of a Democratic political rival and then of obstructing Congress' efforts to investigate his actions.

 

Democratic committee leaders met with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi after the last scheduled impeachment hearing concluded on Monday evening.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel said Democratic lawmakers planned to make an announcement on articles of impeachment on Tuesday morning. He would not elaborate as he left Pelosi's office.

 

Jerrold Nadler, the Democratic chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, closed the nine-hour hearing on Monday with a condemnation of Trump's actions soliciting help from Ukraine against Democratic 2020 U.S. presidential rival Joe Biden.

 

U.S. Democrats on Monday sought to strengthen the case for impeaching President Donald Trump, describing his pressuring of Ukraine to investigate a political rival as a “clear and present danger” to free and fair elections and national security. Jonah Green reports.

 

Democrats described Trump's actions as a "clear and present danger" to national security and the upcoming U.S. election.

 

"The facts are clear. The danger to our democracy is clear and our duty is clear," Nadler said in his closing statement.

 

The Judiciary panel could vote this week on whether to send formal charges, known as articles of impeachment, to the full Democratic-led House.

If the House approves the articles, as expected, the Republican-controlled Senate would hold a trial to decide whether to remove the president from office. A conviction is considered unlikely.

 

Trump denies wrongdoing and has called the impeachment probe a hoax.

 

'DESPERATE'

Monday's hearing was punctuated by shouting and recriminations from Trump's fellow Republicans, unhappy with the process they said was unfair.

 

Republicans accused Democrats of embarking on a politically driven mission to oust Trump from office without direct evidence he had abused his power, obstructed Congress or committed other impeachable offenses.

 

"They're desperate to have an impeachment vote on this president," said Representative Doug Collins, the top Republican on the panel.

 

Republicans said there was no proof Trump improperly pressured Ukraine to investigate Biden.

 

They also argued there was no first-hand evidence Trump withheld $391 million in military aid or a White House meeting to get his Ukrainian counterpart to investigate Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, as well as a debunked theory that Ukraine, not Russia, interfered in the 2016 U.S. election.

 

Republicans repeatedly called for testimony by Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, whose panel led the investigation and held five days of hearings last month. Nadler rejected Republicans' request to call Schiff as a witness, so Republicans put up a poster with his picture on a milk carton under the word, "Missing."

 

The White House has refused to participate in the hearings in the House because it says the process is unfair. Nadler denied Republicans' request for eight witnesses to appear before the inquiry, saying they were either not necessary for Monday's hearing or beyond the scope of the inquiry.

 

'HELP OUR COUNTRY'

Democrats accuse Trump of abusing his power by withholding aid to Ukraine, vulnerable as it faced Russian aggression, as well as dangling a possible White House meeting to get Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to launch the probes.

 

They appeared to back away from basing one of the articles of impeachment on former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian interference in the 2016 election. The report identified multiple contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia but did not establish there was collusion to sway the election.

 

Daniel Goldman, the majority counsel for the House Intelligence Committee, picked up on Democrats' argument that leaving Trump in office would hurt the country.

 

"Trump's persistent and continuing effort to coerce a foreign country to help him cheat to win an election is a clear and present danger to our free and fair elections and to our national security," Goldman said during Monday's hearing.

 

Stephen Castor, a Republican lawyer, said facts that Democrats have presented as damning could be explained in other ways.

 

He told the panel that Trump asked Zelenskiy for the investigations in a July 25 call not to serve his own political interests but to "help our country move forward from the divisiveness of the Russia collusion investigation."

 

Separately, the U.S. Justice Department's internal watchdog said on Monday it found numerous errors but no evidence of political bias by the FBI in opening a probe into contacts between Trump's presidential campaign and Russia in 2016.

 

(Reporting by David Morgan, Patricia Zengerle, Susan Cornwell, Susan Heavey, Tim Ahmann, Mark Hosenball and Lisa Lambert; Writing by Paul Simao and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Peter Cooney)

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-12-10

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[darksidedog]

I am not going to make any judgment call on if Trump is or is not guilty, that is up to the two houses to decide after they have listened to ALL of the evidence for and against. Sadly, I think we all know that both parties will vote along purely partisan lines rather than on any "evidence" they hear, rendering the impeachment process itself essentially farcical. You can get away with whatever you like, if your party has enough seats.

[GalaxyMan]

10 minutes ago, darksidedog said:

I am not going to make any judgment call on if Trump is or is not guilty, that is up to the two houses to decide after they have listened to ALL of the evidence for and against. Sadly, I think we all know that both parties will vote along purely partisan lines rather than on any "evidence" they hear, rendering the impeachment process itself essentially farcical. You can get away with whatever you like, if your party has enough seats.

While I agree with you for the most part, sticking your head in the sand as far as an opinion is laughable. The man is clearly guilty of the charges, as was Clinton. Sadly, the Senate will NOT do its job, again. It will simply whitewash everything to preserve the majority party's power, the country be damned. Deja vu. ????

[pmarlin]

Waist of time and money.  Congress does nothing while this scam goes on. When it is all over Trump will still be president and will be re-elected.

[Tounge Thaied]

Democracy: The manipulation of the 51%

[GalaxyMan]

4 minutes ago, pmarlin said:

Waist of time and money.  Congress does nothing while this scam goes on. When it is all over Trump will still be president and will be re-elected.

I disagree. I see the House actually trying to pass legislation. The problems occur when they send anything to the Senate and Moscow Mitch simply puts it in his IGNORE drawer. He's actually the most evil person in the government, Stephen Miller included. Trump is just a bad joke.

[Tippaporn]

Danny Goldman hasn't deleted his Aug. 6, 2018 tweet reply to Trump yet?

 

Daniel Goldman:

What lying? Nothing in the dossier has proved to be false (including your pee tape). But we can agree that we all look forward to the facts coming out. Everything that has come out so far has shown you to be an out and out liar (eg Cohen tape, purpose of June 9 meeting, etc).

 

Trump:

...Why aren’t Mueller and the 17 Angry Democrats looking at the meetings concerning the Fake Dossier and all of the lying that went on in the FBI and DOJ? This is the most one sided Witch Hunt in the history of our country. Fortunately, the facts are all coming out, and fast!

 

These fools expose themselves on social media and forget that nothing on the Internet is ever forgotten.  LOL

 

[riclag]

1 hour ago, darksidedog said:

I am not going to make any judgment call on if Trump is or is not guilty, that is up to the two houses to decide after they have listened to ALL of the evidence for and against. Sadly, I think we all know that both parties will vote along purely partisan lines rather than on any "evidence" they hear, rendering the impeachment process itself essentially farcical. You can get away with whatever you like, if your party has enough seats.

The framers instituted a check and balance for the 3 branches of my government. They had it in their wisdom and experience to leave it up to the senate (regardless of the majority seats) to watch over a peoples house who could be bias in their broad interpretation of impeachment! 

If the charges or allegations were indisputable (house GOP) would support their counterparts ! Not one of the GOP are buying the tripe that the dems are spewing so far 

[Tippaporn]

This is no different than the Russia hoax playbook.  Try and pin a fictitious crime on him (colluding with Russians/abuse of power) and if the fantasy charge fails then get him on obstruction.  Is that it???  But they tried that already and failed.  What's that definition of insanity again?

 

Hey, whatever happened to quid pro quo?  Or was it bribery?  No, I think that changed to extortion.  Hard to remember as it went back and forth a few times, I think depending on what verbiage the polls seemed to recommend.  I guess it's now just under the umbrella of "abuse of power."

 

Too funny.

 

There was a news article that ran here yesterday, Democrats zoom in on Trump impeachment charges this week.  I posted an open question as to what libs thought the impeachment charges should be.  I was shocked.  Not a single response.  5555555

 

BTW, I called the "obstruction charge" after Schiff's first presser where he threatened obstruction if his subpoenas were ignored.  It was obvious to anyone that he set it all up from the start in case all bogus charges failed.

[Becker]

Link: Chris Wallace: Trump Impeachment 'Much Bigger Issue' Than Clinton's

 

"The allegation that President Trump conditioned support for a key foreign policy ally on political benefit to him, strikes me as not narrow but far broader than the Clinton impeachment,” Wallace said.
It seems that there’s a very different standard in how the Clinton impeachment went and how this impeachment is being judged,” Wallace said. “It’s a much bigger issue than whether or not Bill Clinton lied about sex."

[Tippaporn]

9 minutes ago, Becker said:

Link: Chris Wallace: Trump Impeachment 'Much Bigger Issue' Than Clinton's

 

"The allegation that President Trump conditioned support for a key foreign policy ally on political benefit to him, strikes me as not narrow but far broader than the Clinton impeachment,” Wallace said.
It seems that there’s a very different standard in how the Clinton impeachment went and how this impeachment is being judged,” Wallace said. “It’s a much bigger issue than whether or not Bill Clinton lied about sex."

Sounds serious . . . and scary.  OMG!!  Chris Wallace's opinion is golden, too.

[Becker]

9 minutes ago, Tippaporn said:

Sounds serious . . . and scary. 

And you sound like you've got nothing (as usual). If you had anything you would have tried refuting the claims he made. Agreed?

[Tippaporn]

17 minutes ago, Becker said:

And you sound like you've got nothing (as usual). If you had anything you would have tried refuting the claims he made. Agreed?

It's Chris Wallace's opinion.  What's there to refute?  He can think whatever he likes.  I don't care.  He's just another talking head.  They're a dime a dozen.

 

And you sound like you've got nothing (as usual).

 

Now that statement is purely delusional.  Count the number of quality posts just from this morning, none of which you refuted.

 

 

[Kelsall]

"U.S. Democrats expected to unveil two articles of impeachment against Trump"

 

Translation: Pelosi doesn't have the votes.  Those 31 vulnerable Dems aren't going to fire themselves.

[Boon Mee]

This impeachment scam is virtually clinching Trump's relection. The Democrats have not shown one iota of a crime. Kangaroo Court or what? 555 

 

MAGA 

[JHolmesJr]

6 minutes ago, Kelsall said:

"U.S. Democrats expected to unveil two articles of impeachment against Trump"

 

Translation: Pelosi doesn't have the votes.  Those 31 vulnerable Dems aren't going to fire themselves.

 

I doubt the impeachment will even make it to the Senate after the explosive IG revelations of today.

Trump needs to press on with getting Ukraine to investigate Biden....alongside Barr

[Kelsall]

2 minutes ago, JHolmesJr said:

 

I doubt the impeachment will even make it to the Senate after the explosive IG revelations of today.

Trump needs to press on with getting Ukraine to investigate Biden....alongside Barr

Agree, and with Durham saying his criminal probe has more, much more....well it's over for impeachment.

[Jingthing]

It's happening folks, regardless of the absurdity of the 45 fan's defense.

In the house, that is. 

In the senate, oh well, hard to imagine how that sorry crew will convict.

Quote

The GOP: If it looks, swims and quacks like a duck, it’s an avocado

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/12/09/gop-if-it-looks-swims-quacks-like-duck-its-an-avocado/

[Kelsall]

Even Bloomberg's rag admits Trump's future is bright.

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-09/don-t-look-now-but-things-are-getting-brighter-for-trump?srnd=premium-africa

 

Sorry haters, impeachment isn't going anywhere.

[JHolmesJr]

2 minutes ago, Kelsall said:

Sorry haters, impeachment isn't going anywhere.

Is it even going to get the votes required to move forward in the House...I think many Dems who value their seats

will decide to judiciously abstain...as they should.

[Becker]

1 minute ago, Tippaporn said:

O.K., O.K., I didn't add /sarc.  Thought you would've figured it out on your own.  Geesh!

Nice backpedaling!

[Jingthing]

9 minutes ago, JHolmesJr said:

Is it even going to get the votes required to move forward in the House...I think many Dems who value their seats

will decide to judiciously abstain...as they should.

He'll be impeached in the house. Wake up and smell the coffee. 

[Tippaporn]

40 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

It's happening folks, regardless of the absurdity of the 45 fan's defense.

In the house, that is. 

In the senate, oh well, hard to imagine how that sorry crew will convict.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/12/09/gop-if-it-looks-swims-quacks-like-duck-its-an-avocado/

All day long, over a number of threads, the libs have been strangely absent.  So things must be getting very serious now.  And when things get very serious who do you call?  No, no, not Ghostbusters.  Jingthing!  Armed with a devastating opinion piece from none other than the formidable Washington Post to annihilate the right's facts.  When you can't fight 'em with facts you tickle 'em to death with comic relief.  I'm laughing so hard tears are welling up and it looks like I'm crying.  And the libs point to me exclaiming, "See, Tippaporn is defeated and crying."

 

Sorry, Jingthing.  Just thought I'd throw in a bit of humour.  No offense.

[JHolmesJr]

12 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

He'll be impeached in the house. Wake up and smell the coffee. 

House Democrats plan to charge President Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress on Tuesday in articles of impeachment. They continue debate a third charge, Obstruction of Justice.

 

Debate? Hahahaha.

 

Whatever happened to extortion, bribery etc?

 

The IG Report has confirmed what everyone knew...that this is just a case of sour grapes by the losers.

 

I'll be interested to see how the house votes...prepare for many abstentions.

[Curt1591]

The title of the piece sums it all up. It says "U. S. Democrats", not "The House".

But, this hearing isn't political or anything ....

[Paul Henry]

Trump has shown many times he has no brains or morals, the 30% who support him are from the same mould. All of the Republicans including the Baby took an oath to put the country first. Maybe the 22 Republicans that are resigning (and probably more because they will face defeat at the ballot box) may have a pang of conscious and vote as a juror rather than a bias politician sucking up to a crazed demigod who will punish or belittle them if they vote for impeachment.

[phkauf]

I didn't vote for him the last election, but this whole BullSh!t with the Dems acting like babies the last three years will make me vote for him next year. I despise him as a human being but like his policies and the way he's focusing on America First. America is not the World's Policeman and we need to stop being pulled into conflicts that are not in our interest. Likewise America has been taken advantage of in trade for the longest time, it's about time that came to a halt. 

This whole approach towards impeachment will come back to bite the Dems in the rump when they have a President (hopefully never) and the Republicans run the Congress. Harry Reid changed the rules for Judicial Appointments and now the Dems are screaming murder that McConnell and Trump are confirming judges at a record pace. Probably would not have happened if Reid never changed the rules. Som Nam Na!

[howbri]

5 hours ago, GalaxyMan said:

While I agree with you for the most part, sticking your head in the sand as far as an opinion is laughable. The man is clearly guilty of the charges, as was Clinton. Sadly, the Senate will NOT do its job, again. It will simply whitewash everything to preserve the majority party's power, the country be damned. Deja vu. ????

CLEARLY GUILTY? Of What? and where is the evidence. More of the commie scam. He's being impeached not for what he did but to distract from the corruption and lies of the democrat party which are soon to be exposed. The globalist, communist democrat party is going to pay big time in November.

[Sujo]

3 hours ago, JHolmesJr said:

 

I doubt the impeachment will even make it to the Senate after the explosive IG revelations of today.

Trump needs to press on with getting Ukraine to investigate Biden....alongside Barr

what does the IG report have to do with this impeachment?

[JHolmesJr]

11 minutes ago, Sujo said:

what does the IG report have to do with this impeachment?

 

to you, nothing at all.

 

to independent voters it clearly illustrates how the previous admin set out to ruthlessly 

unseat the man who humiliated their sure win candidate at the polls.

 

they see this fraudulently started surveillance as the first domino that set into motion all the events up until today.

 

now the first domino has fallen....so expect the others to come crashing down as well.

 

as you and your democrat pals in congress like to say....we don't need a crime to impeach.

all that %$#$ will not wash any more.

 

We're now in the area of public opinion and any notions of winning a house vote on impeachment are fast evaporating.