A 300-page impeachment report by Democrats has been adopted by the US House intelligence committee.
This adoption has moved the inquiry into Donald Trump into its next phase.
Congressional Democrats concluded in the report that was released on Tuesday that Trump “abused the power of his office for personal and political gain, at the expense of national security.”
The report concluded that evidence made plain that the president improperly pressured Ukraine to influence the 2020 election. The Trump-Ukraine Impeachment Inquiry Report used language that seemed to lay the groundwork for several potential articles of impeachment.
The US House intelligence committee voted on Tuesday evening 13-9 along party lines to approve the report for referral to the judiciary committee, which would weigh articles of impeachment the full House could vote on by the end of the year.
Republicans now have two days to submit “minority views” before the intelligence committee chairman, Adam Schiff, transmits the report and its appendices to the House judiciary committee.
The report also accuses Trump of a cover-up in which he “ordered and implemented a campaign to conceal his conduct from the public and frustrate and obstruct the House of Representatives’ impeachment inquiry”.
In a statement, Schiff and the leaders of two associated committees said: “The president’s actions have damaged our national security, undermined the integrity of the next election and violated his oath of office.
“They have also challenged the very core of our constitutional system of checks and balances, separation of powers, and rule of law.”
“The evidence is clear that President Trump used the power of his office to pressure Ukraine into announcing investigations into his political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, and a debunked conspiracy theory that it was Ukraine, not Russia, that interfered in the 2016 election.
“These investigations were designed to benefit his 2020 presidential re-election campaign.”
