Democrats huddle to write impeachment charges against President Trump
WASHINGTON — Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives met on Saturday to prepare for what could be the final week of their months-old impeachment inquiry that has imperilled Donald Trump’s presidency.
After emerging from an allday closed door meeting, House Judiciary Committee Democratic lawmakers said they were still in the process of drafting formal charges, known as articles of impeachment, that the panel could recommend for a full House vote as early as Thursday.
Representative Jamie Raskin told reporters on Saturday evening the committee had spent the day digesting information they received from the House Intelligence Committee and constitutional law scholars who testified before Congress on Wednesday.
“So now we are in the process of putting the law and the facts together to begin to think about the next step,” he said.
The lawmakers released a 55-page report on Saturday morning outlining what they see as the constitutional grounds on which articles of impeachment could be built.
In releasing the report, the panel’s Democratic chairman, Jerrold Nadler, said impeachment was the only way to hold the Republican president to account.
“President Trump abused his power, betrayed our national security, and corrupted our elections, all for personal gain,” Nadler said in a statement. “The Constitution details only one remedy ... impeachment.”
“Now we have the task of focusing on what the exact articles might be,” said Eric Swalwell, another Democratic lawmaker in the House Judiciary Committee, on his way out of Saturday’s meeting.
The committee will hold a public hearing on Monday to consider evidence gathered in the inquiry.
On Friday, the White House told Nadler that it would not take part in the panel’s hearings and condemned the inquiry as “completely baseless.”