House sets up Monday hearing to hear evidence on Trump impeachment

The Thursday announcement came hours after Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) formally announced that the House is drafting articles of impeachment.

 

It also comes the day after the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing with constitutional experts to discuss whether Trump’s efforts to pressure the Ukrainian government to investigate his political opponents amounted to impeachable offenses. 

 

Monday’s hearing, which will start at 9 a.m., will feature presentations from staff counsels for both parties on the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees. 

“The facts are uncontested: the president abused his power for his own personal, political benefit at the expense of our national security, by withholding military aid and a crucial Oval Office meeting in exchange for an announcement of an investigation into his political rival,” Pelosi said in her statement earlier Thursday.

 

With Democrats eyeing a vote on articles of impeachment before Christmas, the House Judiciary Committee could move as soon as later next week to send articles to the floor for consideration.

 

Under the rules established for the impeachment inquiry, the president and his counsel will be invited to attend and observe the presentations. The president’s counsel may also ask questions.

The White House declined to participate in this week’s hearing, but did not rule out taking part in future ones.

At Wednesday’s hearing with the constitutional experts, Democrats gave the clearest sign yet that they are eyeing three possible articles of impeachment: abuse of power and bribery, obstruction of Congress and obstruction of justice.

While the investigative phase of the impeachment inquiry focused on Trump’s push for the Ukrainian government to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and unproven allegations of 2016 election interference, some Democrats have called for including obstruction of justice allegations from former special counsel Robert Mueller’s report as part of any articles of impeachment.

Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) on Wednesday also called for including Trump’s actions and rhetoric that have inflamed racial tensions — such as his equivocal response to the racial violence in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017 or urging four progressive freshman congresswomen to “go back” to the countries from which their families immigrated — as an abuse of power charge.

Other Democrats, especially those in swing districts, are keen to keep the articles of impeachment focused on Trump’s dealings with Ukraine to avoid complicating their message.