This archive report was first published on 17 December 2019.
Published on December 17, 2019, as the House prepared to vote on impeachment, moderate Democrats were lining up behind the move. Representative Abigail Spanberger of Virginia said she would vote to impeach the president, stating, “the world, and our children, are watching.”
Representative Andy Kim of New Jersey also announced his support for impeachment, saying he was voting to “stand up to those that abuse the power entrusted to them by the people.”
The Judiciary Committee's report argued that the House should charge President Trump with abuse of power for holding up security aid and a White House meeting until Ukraine agreed to announce investigations into former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and whether Ukraine conspired with Democrats to interfere in the 2016 election.
According to the report, President Trump's actions were a form of corruption that undermined American elections, saying, “When the president demands that a foreign government announce investigations targeting his domestic political rival, he corrupts our elections. American elections should be for Americans only.”
The report also urged the House to approve an article of impeachment charging the president with obstruction of Congress, stating, “President Trump's obstruction of Congress does not befit the leader of a democratic society. It calls to mind the very claims of royal privilege against which our founders rebelled.”
However, Representative Doug Collins of Georgia, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, released a scathing 20-page dissent, accusing Democrats of conducting an unfair process in a partisan attempt to drive President Trump from office.
