Iran Press/America: The House Intelligence Committee released a sweeping impeachment report Tuesday that asserts President Donald Trump misused his office to pressure Ukraine into opening investigations that he believed would help his reelection bid.
The report also makes the case that Trump obstructed Congress by stonewalling the committee’s requests for testimony and documents, The Associated Press reported.
The House Intelligence Committee’s report is the culmination of a two-month investigation into Trump’s handling of Ukraine, including a July 25 phone call with the country’s new president and the decision to withhold military assistance from the country.
SIGNIFICANT MISCONDUCT
The report states that lawmakers uncovered “significant misconduct” by the president toward Ukraine that broadly placed his own personal interests above those of the nation.
It asserts that the president “subverted” national security by withholding critical military aid to Ukraine, removing an anti-corruption “champion” from her post as ambassador, and by using “hand-picked” agents to pressure the new Ukrainian president to investigate Democrats, including Joe Biden and his son.
Trump conditioned White House meetings on the investigations and asked Ukraine’s president to do him a favor during the July 25 conversation.
Rep. Adam Schiff, the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, called the push on Ukraine the “act of a president unbound,” with Trump “determined to use his vast official powers to secure his reelection.”
Republicans in a rebuttal to the report said Democrats have no evidence of impeachable offenses by Trump, the only proof that he “holds a deep-seated, genuine, and reasonable skepticism of Ukraine.”
Trump’s obstruction, unprecedented
The Democratic report describes a concerted and unprecedented effort by Trump and his lawyers to obstruct the House investigation and to encourage others to do so as well.
The White House told witnesses not to testify and executive branch agencies not to provide any records. Deadlines were missed, subpoenas ignored and combative tweets about “a COUP” greeted Congress in place of conciliatory niceties.
Pointedly, the report asserts, Trump’s obstruction went far beyond anything attempted by President Richard Nixon, who agreed to let his staff testify voluntarily in the Watergate investigation, or President Bill Clinton, who provided written responses to 81 interrogatories.
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