Democrat Report: It’s Obvious – and Impeachable – That Trump Extorted Ukraine
Democrats on the House intelligence committee concluded that President Donald Trump was “the author of his own impeachment inquiry” by withholding critical political and military support from Ukraine until President Volodymyr Zelensky agreed to announce damaging investigations into Trump’s domestic political enemies.
As widely expected, the Democratic report, released Tuesday ahead of a committee vote to formally adopt it, found Trump to have compromised the presidency through what it called “the scheme” to enlist Ukraine to damage rival Joe Biden. “The President engaged in this course of conduct for the benefit of his reelection, to harm the election prospects of a political opponent, and to influence our nation’s upcoming presidential election to his advantage,” the report found.
In addition to the substance of “the scheme,” the Democrats characterized Trump as the first president in U.S. history “to seek to completely obstruct an impeachment inquiry.” They cited a “coordinated and comprehensive” effort across the administration to stop witnesses from testifying before the inquiry. More successful was a complementary administration campaign that stifled 71 document requests to various government agencies.