House Unveils Two Articles of Impeachment Against President Trump

Democrat leadership in the US House of Representatives on Tuesday said they plan to proceed with two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump charging him with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

The charges stem from what Democrats characterized as a Constitutional violation. Trump is accused of an attempt to force Ukraine to meddle in the 2020 presidential election by investigating the son of former Vice President Joe Biden, a chief political rival running for the Democratic nomination.

“Today, in service to our duty to the Constitution and to our country, the House Committee on the Judiciary is introducing two articles of impeachment, charging the president of the United States, Donald J. Trump, with committing high crimes and misdemeanors,” said House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-New York).

“No one, not even the president, is above the law.”

The grounds for the articles of impeachment came out of weeks of testimony surrounding a phone call between Trump and Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky. The articles accuse Trump of leveraging $391 million in foreign aid to Ukraine, which is embedded in a military conflict with Russia, and a White House meeting with Zelensky in exchange for political favors that would benefit Trump’s bid for reelection.

His actions, Democrats say, threatened the integrity of the US election process and compromised national security.

Debate on the articles of impeachment within the Judiciary Committee are likely to begin as early as this week. A House vote on impeachment could be held prior to the Christmas holiday. If impeached, the process would then head to the Senate for trial.

White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham called the articles of impeachment a “baseless and partisan attempt to undermine a sitting President.”

“The announcement of two baseless articles of impeachment does not hurt the President, it hurts the American people, who expect their elected officials to work on their behalf to strengthen our Nation,” Stephanie Grisham, White House press secretary, said in a written statement. “The President will address these false charges in the Senate and expects to be fully exonerated, because he did nothing wrong.”