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Democrats in the US House of Representatives say they are actively preparing for the next step in their eight-week-old impeachment investigation of President Donald Trump, saying they are undeterred by the White House preventing first-hand witnesses from testifying before the House Intelligence Committee.
Democratic Party lawmakers in the lower chamber of Congress expect a busy December that will be filled with proceedings and public hearings, and a likely vote to impeach the Republican president on the House floor by Christmas Day, CNN reported Thursday, citing multiple Democratic sources.
Three House committees are writing a report detailing their findings, which is expected to serve as the basis for an impeachment resolution, or “articles of impeachment”.
Democrats say they are still debating the size and scope of the articles, which are likely to focus on the abuse of power, obstruction of justice, obstruction of Congress and bribery.
Impeachment begins in the House. If the House approves articles of impeachment, a trial is then held in the Senate. House members act as the prosecutors; the senators as jurors; the chief justice of the Supreme Court presides.
Democrats say they have not obtained crucial documents or spoken with several key officials because the White House and State Department have refused to comply with subpoenas.
Democrats have unsuccessfully sought testimony from White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former US national security adviser John Bolton, as well as Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani.
Several Democrats told CNN that those witnesses could remove any doubt that Trump employed the power of the US government in order to get Ukraine to announce investigations that could help Trump politically.
Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi said Thursday they wouldn’t delay their impeachment push to fight for those witnesses through court battles.
She said it would be up for the Senate to decide in a potential trial about whether Trump should be removed from office.
House Democrats launched an impeachment inquiry against Trump in September after a whistleblower alleged the Republican president pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, who had served as a director for Ukrainian energy company Burisma.
The impeachment probe shifted to a public phase on November 13 after weeks of closed-door interviews in the House.
An overwhelming 70 percent of US adults think Trump’s action towards Ukraine was wrong, and a slim majority of Americans, 51 percent, believe Trump’s actions were both wrong and he should be removed from office, according to an ABC News/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday.
