WASHINGTON – Top Democrats in the United States House of Representatives made a last-minute pitch to Republicans yesterday for why they should put partisanship aside and vote to impeach President Donald Trump.
Trump is expected to become the third US president to be impeached when the full Democratic-led House votes on the charges, likely this week, setting up a trial in the Senate.
House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff, speaking on ABC’s This Week, warned that Trump poses “a clear and present danger” to democracy.
Schiff and House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerrold Nadler, speaking on the same show, said lawmakers have a constitutional duty to hold Trump to account for trying to recruit Ukraine to launch an investigation into his Democratic political rival Joe Biden.
Democrats described Trump’s actions as a “clear and present danger” to national security and the upcoming U.S. election.
“The facts are clear. The danger to our democracy is clear and our duty is clear,” Nadler said in his closing statement.
U.S. President Donald Trump sits alongside Vice President Mike Pence as they participate in a roundtable discussion on “education choice” in the cabinet room at the White House in Washington, U.S., December 9, 2019. REUTERS/Tom Brenner
The Judiciary panel could vote this week on whether to send formal charges, known as articles of impeachment, to the full Democratic-led House.
If the House approves the articles, as expected, the Republican-controlled Senate would hold a trial to decide whether to remove the president from office. A conviction is considered unlikely.
Trump denies wrongdoing and has called the impeachment probe a hoax (Reuters)
