The House Judiciary Committee, tasked by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., this week to draw up articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, released its "constitutional grounds for presidential impeachment" report Saturday.
"A president faithful only to himself — who will sell out democracy and national security for his own personal advantage — is a danger to every American," the report's introduction reads. "Indeed, he threatens America itself.
"Impeachment is the Constitution's final answer to a president who mistakes himself for a monarch."
The report is 55 pages, outlining arguments for "treason and bribery" and "abuse, betrayal, and corruption" as impeachable offenses.
"The Framers worst nightmare is what we are facing in this very moment," House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., wrote in a statement accompying the report Saturday. "President Trump abused his power, betrayed our national security, and corrupted our elections, all for personal gain.
"The Constitution details only one remedy for this misconduct: impeachment. The safety and security of our nation, our democracy, and future generations hang in the balance if we do not address this misconduct. In America, no one is above the law, not even the president."
The report is not the official articles of impeachment, but it will be used in drafting them, according to reports.
"The framers principally aimed the impeachment power at a few core evils, each grounded in a unifying fear that a president might abandon his duty to faithfully execute the laws," the report reads. "Where the president engages in serious abuse of power, betrays the national interest through foreign entanglements, or corrupts his office or elections, he has undoubtedly committed 'high crimes and misdemeanors' as understood by the framers.
"Any one of these violations of the public trust is impeachable. When combined in a scheme to advance the president's personal interests while ignoring or injuring the Constitution, they state the strongest possible case for impeachment and removal from office."
The report also deals with the "criminality issue" and addresses "fallacies about impeachment":
"Since the House began its impeachment inquiry, a number of inaccurate claims have circulated about how impeachment works under the Constitution. To assist the committee in its deliberations, we address six issues of potential relevance:
- The law that governs House procedures for impeachment.
- The law that governs the evaluation of evidence, including where the president orders defiance of House subpoenas.
- Whether the president can be impeached for abuse of his executive powers.
- Whether the president's claims regarding his motives must be accepted at face value.
- Whether the president is immune from impeachment if he attempts an impeachable offense but is caught before he completes it.
- And whether it is preferable to await the next election when a president has sought to corrupt that very same election."
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