This archive report was first published on 10 December 2019.
On December 10, 2019, US President Donald Trump became the third US leader to face impeachment charges, with Democrats unveiling two articles of impeachment against him.
The charges, abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, were announced by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a solemn moment at the US Capitol.
The allegations against Trump center on his alleged pressure on Ukraine to interfere in the 2020 US election, with his accusers claiming he conditioned vital military aid and a White House meeting on Kiev announcing investigations into Democratic former vice president Joe Biden.
Trump is also accused of pressing his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky to probe a debunked Kremlin conspiracy theory that it was Kiev, and not Moscow, that interfered in the 2016 US election.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff described the evidence of Trump's misconduct as 'overwhelming and uncontested,' adding that his actions threatened the integrity of the 2020 election.
Trump has maintained his fighting posture, tweeting that the impeachment effort is 'sheer Political Madness!'
