By Glynn Wilson –
In a historic move designed to take on the out of control White House and curb abuses that could lead to tainted elections in 2020 rife with foreign influence, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee formally announced two articles of impeachment against President Donald J. Trump on Wednesday for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress after several months of building the legal case in a focused inquiry with public testimony from professional government officials and constitutional experts.
“Over the last several months, the investigative committees of the House have been engaged in an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump’s efforts to solicit foreign interference in the 2020 elections — efforts that compromised our national security and threatened the integrity of our elections,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said in announcing the charges. “Throughout this inquiry, he has attempted to conceal the evidence from Congress and the American people.”
The first article is for abuse of power, an impeachable offense for the president to exercise the powers of his public office to obtain an improper personal benefit, while ignoring or injuring the national interest.
“Our President holds the ultimate public trust,” Nadler said in his remarks. “When he betrays that trust, and puts himself before country, he endangers the Constitution, he endangers our democracy and he endangers our national security. The Framers prescribed a clear remedy for Presidents who violate their Oath of Office. That is the power of impeachment. ”
This president is guilty of that because he clearly solicited and pressured Ukraine to interfere in the 2020 presidential election on Trump’s behalf, “thus damaging our national security, undermining the integrity of the next election, and violating his oath to the American people,” Nadler said. “These actions, moreover, were consistent with President Trump’s previous invitations of foreign interference in our 2016 Presidential election. And when he was caught — when the House investigated and opened an impeachment inquiry — President Trump engaged in unprecedented, categorical, and indiscriminate defiance of the impeachment inquiry.”
The second article of impeachment, therefore, is for obstruction of Congress.
“Here, too, we see a familiar pattern in President Trump’s misconduct,” Nadler said. “A President who declares himself above accountability, above the American people, and above Congress’s power of impeachment — which is meant to protect against threats to our democratic institutions — is a President who sees himself as above the law. We must be clear: no one, not even the President, is above the law.”
Later this week, the Judiciary Committee will meet to consider the articles of impeachment, and to make a recommendation to the full House of Representatives. With a clear majority in the House, the Democrats have the votes to pass them on to the Senate for trial, even if no Republicans vote for them.
“We do not take this action lightly,” Nadler said. “But we have taken an oath to defend the Constitution and — unlike President Trump — we understand that our duty, first and foremost, is to protect the Constitution and the interests of the American people. That is why we must take this solemn step today. Elections are the cornerstone of democracy and are foundational to the rule of law. But the integrity of our next election is at risk from a President who has already sought foreign interference in the 2016 and 2020 elections, and who consistently puts himself above country. That is why we must act now.”
Nadler recognized other committee chairs, who did their part in the investigation, including Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, Foreign Affairs Chairman Eliot Engel, the Committee on Oversight and Reform’s former Chairman, the late Elijah Cummings, and its new Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, Financial Services Chairwoman Maxine Waters, and Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal.
“The President abused his power by pressuring Ukraine to help his re-election campaign. For members of Congress this is not a question of fact, because the facts are not seriously contested. It is rather a question of duty,” said Chairman Schiff. “The President’s oath of office appears to mean little to him. But the articles put forward today will give us a chance to show that we will defend the constitution, and that our oath means something to us.”
Chairman Engel said it was regrettable that the president’s own actions brought us to this point.
“The facts are uncontested that the President abused his office and threatened our national security to cheat in the 2020 election—then he obstructed Congress’s exercise of its constitutional impeachment powers,” Engel said.
“We are fulfilling our constitutional duty to hold the president accountable for abusing public office and misusing public funds for his personal, political gain,” said Chairwoman Maloney.
Trump denies the charges and Republicans in Congress vow to fight to defend him in the Senate trial.
I am deeply concerned that a large number of our Alabama friends actually consider the Democrats to be “obstructionist” and “out of control.” In our current universe facts mean absolutely nothing as apparently do the words morality and true patriotism.