President Trump
Donald TrumpBill Maher says Cuomo can't stay after scandal: He's no 'Donald Trump' Former acting AG testifies before panel probing election interference GOP senator vows to slow-walk T infrastructure bill, sparking standoff MORE's efforts to get Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden
Joe BidenBill Maher says Cuomo can't stay after scandal: He's no 'Donald Trump' Senate confirms Biden's pick for Navy secretary CNN's Jim Acosta on delta variant: 'Why not call it the DeSantis variant?' MORE was meant to interfere in next year's election and "is a clear and present danger" to fair elections and U.S. national security, a Democratic staff investigator presenting impeachment evidence testified Monday.
Intelligence Committee investigator Daniel Goldman accused Trump of an “unprecedented campaign of obstruction of Congress” in his opening statement.
“President Trump’s persistent and continuing effort to coerce a foreign country to help him cheat to win an election is a clear and present danger to our free and fair elections and to our national security,” Goldman said.
Goldman, who questioned witnesses when the House Intelligence Committee interviewed a number of Trump administration officials and career diplomats last month, outlined what Democrats contend were Trump’s attempts to persuade Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to publicly announce investigations into Biden and his son Hunter Biden, as well as conspiracy theories on Ukraine's interference in the 2016 election.
The Judiciary Committee is hearing evidence for and against Trump's impeachment on Monday. It is widely expected to begin drafting articles of impeachment this week, and it's likely the House will vote to impeach Trump before Christmas.
Republicans on Monday focused their fire on Democrats, saying the party had run an unfair process and not provided sufficient evidence to impeach Trump. They also argued that Democrats are seeking to undo an election won by Trump.
Goldman said the House’s impeachment inquiry had moved swiftly and intensively "as all good investigations should.”
“To the extent that other witnesses would be able to provide more context and detail about this scheme, their failure to testify is due solely to the fact that President Trump obstructed the inquiry and refused to make them available,” he added.
“Admittedly, it is a lot to digest. But let me say this: The president’s scheme is actually quite simple, and it can be boiled down to four key takeaways,” Goldman added.
These, he said, were that Trump “directed a scheme to pressure Ukraine into opening two investigations that would benefit his 2020 reelection campaign, not the U.S. national interest” and “used his official office and the official tools of U.S. foreign policy—the withholding of an Oval Office meeting and $391 million in security assistance—to pressure Ukraine into meeting his demands.”
