Source: BBC.comhttps://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50650216
Evidence for impeaching US President Donald Trump for misconduct in office is “overwhelming”, according to the panel leading the impeachment inquiry.
The president placed personal political interests “above the national interests of the United States”, it states in a key report to House lawmakers.
He tried over months to “solicit foreign interference” from Ukraine to help his 2020 re-election bid, it adds.
The report is designed to lay out the case to remove Mr. Trump from office.
He denies any wrongdoing, and has described the inquiry as a witch-hunt.
Before the draft report was released, the Republican president attacked the Democrat-led investigation as “very unpatriotic”.
Following publication, White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said the Democrats “utterly failed to produce any evidence of wrongdoing” and that the report “reflects nothing more than their frustrations”.
Among formal impeachment charges expected to be considered are abuse of power, obstruction of justice and contempt of Congress.
EDITOR: A series of in-depth articles explore the mountains of evidence that the US President “placed personal political interests “above the national interests of the United States”
Below are links to numerous articles published by the Brittish Broadcasting Channel website (BBC.com).
Following publication, White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said the Democrats “utterly failed to produce any evidence of wrongdoing” and that the report “reflects nothing more than their frustrations”.
Among formal impeachment charges expected to be considered are abuse of power, obstruction of justice and contempt of Congress.
What does the report say?
The Trump-Ukraine Impeachment Inquiry Report was made public on Tuesday by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
It says the inquiry “uncovered a months-long effort by President Trump to use the powers of his office to solicit foreign interference on his behalf in the 2020 election”.
“President Trump’s scheme subverted US foreign policy toward Ukraine and undermined our national security in favour of two politically-motivated investigations that would help his presidential re-election campaign,” it says.
“The president demanded that the newly-elected Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, publicly announce investigations into a political rival that he apparently feared the most, former Vice-President Joe Biden, and into a discredited theory that it was Ukraine, not Russia, that interfered in the 2016 presidential election.”
Evidence of misconduct is overwhelming “and so too is the evidence of his obstruction of Congress”, the report says.
Striking new details
What happens next?
Trump and impeachment
- A SIMPLE GUIDE: If you want a basic take, this one is for you
- GO DEEPER: Here is a 100, 300 and 800-word summary of the story
- WHAT IS IMPEACHMENT? A political process to remove a president
- VIEW FROM TRUMP COUNTRY: Reaction from a West Virginia town
- CONTEXT: Why Ukraine matters to the US
- FACT-CHECK: Is the whistleblower linked to the Democrats?
What are Republicans saying?
Before the draft report was made public, House Republicans released their own 123-page report that condemned the “unelected bureaucrats” who testified, saying they “fundamentally disagreed with President Trump’s style, world view and decisions”.
The document accuses Democrats of “trying to undo the will of the American people” and argues that they have been trying to depose the president since his first day in office.
“None of the Democrats’ witnesses testified to having evidence of bribery, extortion, or any high crime or misdemeanours,” it argues, in reference to the constitutional clause that permits the removal of a president.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff dismissed the Republican rebuttal, saying it was “intended for an audience of one”, Mr Trump, and “ignores voluminous evidence “against him.
In London, where is attending the 70th anniversary of defence alliance Nato, Mr Trump slammed Mr Schiff by name, calling him “a maniac”, “a very sick man” and “a deranged human being”.
What is Trump accused of?
How does impeachment work?
