Democrats lay out impeachment roadmap
US DEMOCRATS laid out a formal roadmap for US President Donald Trump’s impeachment on Thursday as they gathered more evidence to support charges that he improperly pushed Ukraine to boost his own 2020 electoral prospects.
One day after a Purple Heartdecorated army officer told investigators he witnessedTrump and a senior diplomat pressure Ukraine, three other State Department officials onWednesday offered more evidence in testimony that supported the allegations against Trump.
And the inquiry testimony set dates for three more witnesses, including former national security advisor John Bolton, who would have had first-hand knowledge of his July phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Even before those interviews take place, Democrats proposed rules to formalise the investigation and set its next phase – which would have open evidentiary hearings that Trump or his lawyers could take part in – ahead of drawing up articles of impeachment.
On Wednesday, State Department diplomat Christopher Anderson, a former aide to the US special representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker, told the inquiry Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani injected himself into Ukrainian policy discussions to demand Kiev open investigations that could aid Trump.
Another former Volker aide, Catherine Croft, said in prepared testimony that Trump’s chief of staff Mick Mulvaney ordered military aid to Ukraine frozen days before a July 25 phone call in which Trump pressured Zelensky to investigate Biden.
“The only reason given was t hat t he order ca me at t he di rect ion of t he president,”
Croft said.
Trump blasted the investigation as a “witch hunt” and again claimed there was no “quid pro quo” in his dealings with Zelensky.
But Democrats said the evidence was only getting stronger that he did push Ukraine to open investigations into Biden, whose son had ties to a powerful Ukraine energy company.
The impeachment rules will formalise a process Republicans have alleged has no official grounds, but the Democrats comfortable majority in the House is likely to ensure its passage.
“The evidence we have already collected paints the picture of a president who abused his power by using multiple levers of government to press a foreign country to interfere in the 2020 election,” the leaders of the impeachment inquiry said late Tuesday.