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CNN reports Democrats momentous impeachment finale against Trump
CNN reports Democrats momentous impeachment finale against Trump. Its report had it Democrats are heading into a momentous impeachment finale as they set the pace and scope of their charges against President Donald Trump.
That has prompted Republicans to escalate their effort to swamp the historic process in disinformation and partisanship.
CNN reports Democrats momentous impeachment finale
Meanwhile, Majority members of the House Judiciary Committee spent the weekend mapping out a critical hearing Monday (today).
Congressional investigators will lay out the sweeping case that could make Trump only the third president to be impeached.
Republicans
But Republicans intensified their counter-attack, with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz taking up contentious accusations that Ukraine intervened in the 2016 election. Specially, he made this effort to ease the heat on Trump — a former bitter political rival.
Capitol Hill remains divided
More than ever, disagreements on Capitol Hill over the nuances of the case suggest that the mechanisms created by the founders to allow an objective assessment of an unrestrained president no longer function in an age of party polarization.
They also break down when neither side can agree on what adds up to impeachable behavior.
Monday’s hearing heralds a week that is likely to end with a committee vote that will send articles of impeachment — in effect the charges against Trump — to a full House vote in the next two weeks.
Democrats allege Trump solicited Ukraine’s interference in the 2020 election by withholding nearly $400 million in US military aid. He demanded an investigation into a political foe — former vice president and 2020 candidate Joe Biden.
They also argue Trump obstructed the investigation by withholding key witness testimony in a way that flouts Congress’ constitutional role of checking the presidency.
“We have a very rock solid case,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler told CNN’s Dana Bash Sunday.
“I think the case we have, if presented to a jury, would be a guilty verdict in about three minutes flat.”
Witnesses testify
Specially, witnesses drawn from within the US government testified that Trump set up a back-door diplomatic effort. His personal attorney Rudy Giuliani facilitated it to pressure Ukraine’s new government into investigating Biden and his son Hunter’s business ties in Kiev.
They described a quid pro quo demanded of Ukraine’s President and senior officials in return for meetings at the White House and military assistance.
They also discredited Trump’s claim that he withheld the aid over concerns about corruption in the ex-Soviet state.
Judiciary Committee
The Judiciary Committee provided the White House with the investigative materials from Congress that are part of the impeachment proceedings against the President, according to a letter Nadler sent White House counsel Pat Cipollone on Sunday.
Debate over shape of articles of impeachment
Investigators for the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees will testify in the Judiciary committee room Monday in what is likely to be the final hearing before the panel drafts articles of impeachment.
That process, currently going on behind closed Democratic doors, is expected to move into the open later in the week.
However, Party leaders are still debating the political ramifications of including evidence from Robert Mueller’s special counsel report.