In-Depth: House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) offered the following statement about the articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump in a committee hearing:

“The first article of impeachment charges President Trump with abuse of power. The article describes President Trump’s conduct and lays out two aggravating factors that we must consider: in pressuring Ukraine for a personal favor, President Trump both betrayed our national security and attempted to corrupt our elections. When the President weakens an ally who advances American security interests by fighting an American adversary, the President weakens America. And when the President demands that a foreign government investigate his domestic political rivals, he corrupts our elections. To the Founders, this kind of corruption was especially pernicious.  Free and fair elections are the bedrock of our democracy. If our elections are corrupt, everything is corrupt. The president faces a second article of impeachment for his ongoing efforts to obstruct a lawful investigation of his conduct. We have never, in the history of our nation, seen a President categorically defy Congress in this manner. If the president can first abuse his power and then stonewall all congressional requests for information, Congress cannot fulfill its duty to act as a check and balance against the Executive—and the President becomes a dictator.”

A report prepared by Republicans on the House Intelligence, Oversight, and Foreign Affairs Committees expressed opposition to Democrats’ impeachment effort:

“Democrats in the House of Representatives have been working to impeach President Trump since his election. Democrats introduced four separate resolutions in 2017 and 2018 seeking to impeach President Trump. In January 2019, on their first day in power, House Democrats again introduced articles of impeachment. That same day, a newly elected Congresswoman promised to an audience of her supporters, “we’re going to go in there and we’re going to impeach the [expletive deleted].” Her comments are not isolated. Speaker Nancy Pelosi called President Trump “an impostor” and said it is “dangerous” to allow American voters to evaluate his performance in 2020. The Democrats’ impeachment inquiry is not the organic outgrowth of serious misconduct; it is an orchestrated campaign to upend our political system. The Democrats are trying to impeach a duly elected President based on the accusations and assumptions of unelected bureaucrats who disagreed with President Trump’s policy initiatives and processes. They are trying to impeach President Trump because some unelected bureaucrats were discomforted by an elected President’s telephone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. They are trying to impeach President Trump because some unelected bureaucrats chafed at an elected President’s “outside the beltway” approach to diplomacy.”

President Donald Trump wrote a six-page letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on the eve of the House’s planned impeachment to “express my strongest and most powerful protest against the partisan impeachment crusade”, which read in part:

“This is nothing more than an illegal, partisan attempted coup that will, based on recent sentiment, badly fail at the voting booth. You are not just after me, as President, you are after the entire Republican Party. But because of this colossal injustice, our party is more united that it has ever been before. History will judge you harshly as you proceed with this impeachment charade. Your legacy will be that of turning the House of Representatives from a revered legislative body into a Star Chamber of partisan persecution… There is far too much that needs to be done to improve the lives of our citizens. It is time for you and the highly partisan Democrats in Congress to immediately cease this impeachment fantasy and get back to work for the American People. While I have no expectation that you will do so, I write this letter to you for the purpose of history and to put my thoughts on a permanent and indelible record. One hundred years from now, when people look back at this affair, I want them to understand it, and learn from it, so that it can never happen to another President again.”

The House Judiciary Committee passed these articles of impeachment on a party-line 23-17 vote, with all Democrats in favor and all Republicans opposed.

Media:

• House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) Statement

• House Judiciary Democrats Impeachment Report (In Favor)

• House Republicans Impeachment Report (Opposed)

• President Trump Letter to Speaker Pelosi (Opposed)

• Countable Impeachment Coverage (Context)