Read the House Intelligence Committee’s Impeachment Report
The House Intelligence Committee has released a scathing report that lays out the case for the impeachment of Donald J. Trump, the 45th President of the United States.
The document, released Tuesday, lays out stark misbehavior by the president. The committee is controlled by the Democratic majority and recaps the evidence produced through weeks of hearings chaired by Rep. Adam Schiff. While the document runs 300 pages, the report conveys the sweep of Trump’s impeachable conduct in simple language:
[T]he impeachment inquiry has found that President Trump… solicited the interference of a foreign government, Ukraine, to benefit his reelection….The President engaged in this course of conduct… to harm the election prospects of a political rival, and to influence our nation’s upcoming presidential election to his advantage. In doing so, the President placed his own personal and political interests above the national interests of the United States, sought to undermine the integrity of the U.S. presidential election process, and endangered U.S. national security.
The Intelligence Committee report also rebukes Trump for what it describes as “a sweeping effort to stonewall the House of Representatives’ ‘sole Power of Impeachment’ under the Constitution.” It highlights the White House’s refusal to produce relevant documents and its orders to top members of the executive branch to defy the committee’s subpoenas:
[T]he damage to our system of checks and balances, and to the balance of power within our three branches of government, will be long-lasting and potentially irrevocable if the President’s ability to stonewall Congress goes unchecked. Any future President will feel empowered to resist an investigation into their own wrongdoing, malfeasance, or corruption, and the result will be a nation at far greater risk of all three.
This formal committee report serves as a referral to the House Judiciary Committee, which is beginning its own hearings this week. That committee is expected to produce formal articles of impeachment later this year.
Read the full report below: