These Are The Articles Of impeachment Against President Trump

What the articles of impeachment say

Article I, “Abuse of Power,” focuses on the underlying facts of the Ukraine scandal. It asserts that Trump:

• “Corruptly solicited the Government of Ukraine to publicly announce investigations” into his political rival Joe Biden, and into “a discredited theory” that Ukraine interfered with the 2016 election.
• Attempted to condition two “official acts” on this announcement — a White House meeting with Ukraine’s president, and the release of $391 million of blocked military aid for Ukraine.

All this, Article I continues, is abusing the powers of the presidency “by ignoring and injuring national security and other vital national interests to obtain an improper personal political benefit.” The article also asserts that Trump “betrayed the Nation by abusing his high office to enlist a foreign power in corrupting democratic elections.”

Article II, “Obstruction of Congress,” states that President Trump “has directed the unprecedented, categorical, and indiscriminate defiance of subpoenas issued by the House of Representatives pursuant to its ‘sole Power of Impeachment.’”

Specifically, the article goes on, Trump:

• Directed the White House to defy a subpoena for documents
• Directed other executive branch agencies, such as the State Department and Defense Department, to defy subpoenas
• Directed current and former executive branch officials to refuse subpoenas for their testimony

“This abuse of office served to cover up the President’s own repeated misconduct and to seize and control the power of impeachment,” Article II reads. Therefore, both articles conclude, Trump should be removed from office and barred from holding any future office. And now, both have been approved by the House Judiciary Committee.

In introducing just these two articles, Democrats made a decision to focus narrowly on the facts surrounding the Ukraine scandal, instead of broadening their impeachment push to include other topics, such as the Mueller report.