Democrats look to narrow the impeachment focus to the Trump-Ukraine scandal
House Democrats are coalescing around a strategy to narrow the focus of their impeachment inquiry to President Donald Trump's interactions with the president of Ukraine, an issue that has unified the party in outrage and motivated some Democrats to seek expedited action.
Though there is no explicit timeframe to act and no decisions have been made, some Democrats said they were hopeful articles could be considered by the end of the year or even sooner. In a closed-door meeting Wednesday morning, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer discussed the possibility of focusing exclusively on Trump’s efforts to pressure Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden, including what Democrats say is an implicit threat to withhold military aid to the eastern European country. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler echoed this strategy.
“What those notes reflect is a classic mafia-like shakedown of a foreign leader,” House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said, accusing Trump of implicitly threatening to withhold military aid to Ukraine. “This is how a mafia boss talks.” Trump's call with Zelensky is just one piece of a whistleblower’s complaint that the Trump administration has been withholding from Congress — a move that prompted Pelosi and dozens of House Democrats to call for formal impeachment proceedings on Tuesday.
Rep. Jim Himes , a member of the Intelligence Committee, quipped: “Read the ‘transcript.’ And remember that it is what the White House voluntarily provided.” Even without the complete substance of Trump’s call, more than 200 members of the Democratic caucus — nearly enough to form a majority of the House — had embraced impeachment proceedings as of late Tuesday, citing Trump’s refusal to provide the whistleblower complaint related to the phone call.
Later Wednesday, the House will take its first formal legislative action related to the Ukraine controversy when it votes on a non-binding resolution to disapprove of the Trump administration’s refusal to turn over the whistleblower complaint to the congressional intelligence committees. Democrats largely see that vote as a placeholder for its impeachment push ahead of a planned two-week House recess that starts Friday.
Trump, who is scheduled to meet with Zelensky at the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York later Wednesday, was quick to trash Democrats for escalating their impeachment drive.
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