Democrats push on with impeachment

WASHINGTON－Democrats moved aggressively to draw up formal articles of impeachment against US President Donald Trump on Thursday, with House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying he "leaves us no choice" but to act swiftly.

Pelosi said Trump would be likely to corrupt the system again unless removed before next year's presidential election.

A strictly partisan effort at this point, the Democrats' move was immediately derided by Trump and other leading Republicans as a sham and a hoax. It is a politically risky undertaking for the president's accusers. Democrats say it is their duty, in the aftermath of the Ukraine probe that triggered the process, while Republicans say it will drive Pelosi's Democrat majority from office.

Congress must act, Pelosi said. "The democracy is what is at stake. The president's actions have seriously violated the Constitution," she said in a somber address at the Capitol. "He is trying to corrupt, once again, the election for his own benefit. The president has engaged in abuse of power, undermining our national security and jeopardizing the integrity of our elections."

Trump has insisted he did nothing wrong. He tweeted that the Democrats "have gone crazy".

At the core of the impeachment probe is a July phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in which Trump pressed the leader to investigate Democrats, including political rival Joe Biden. At the same time the White House was withholding military aid from Ukraine, an ally bordering an aggressive Russia.

Drafting articles of impeachment is a milestone moment, only the fourth time in US history that Congress has tried to remove a president, and it intensifies the rigid and polarizing partisanship of the Trump era that is consuming Washington and dividing the nation.

The speaker delivered her historic announcement in solemn tones at the Capitol, drawing on the Constitution and the nation's Founding Fathers in forcefully claiming Congress' oversight of the president in the system of checks and balances. Democrats are already beginning to prepare the formal charges, pushing toward House votes, possibly before Christmas.

"Sadly, but with confidence and humility, with allegiance to our founders and a heart full of love for America, today I am asking our chairmen to proceed with articles of impeachment," Pelosi said.

Seemingly eager to fight, Trump tweeted that if Democrats "are going to impeach me, do it now, fast." Though he has fought the House investigation, trying to bar current and former officials from testifying, he said he now wants to move on to a "fair trial" in the Senate.

Senate resistance

Approval of articles of impeachment is considered likely in the Democratic-majority House. Conviction in a following trial in the Republican-dominated Senate seems very unlikely.

Once reluctant to pursue impeachment, warning it was too divisive for the country and needed to be bipartisan, Pelosi is now leading Congress into politically uncertain terrain for all sides just ahead of the election year.

Republicans are standing lockstep with Trump, unswayed by arguments that his actions amount to wrongdoing, let alone impeachable offenses. That is leaving Democrats to go it alone in a campaign to consider removing Trump from office.

At a town hall late on Thursday on CNN, Pelosi said she would have no regrets if impeachment ended up helping Trump's reelection effort. "This isn't about politics at all," she said. "It's about honoring our oath of office"－to defend the constitution.

Trump quickly tweeted back that he didn't believe her.

His allies argue that voters, not lawmakers, should decide the president's future. But Democrats say the nation cannot wait for the 2020 election, alleging Trump's past efforts to have foreign countries intervene in the presidential campaign are forcing them to act to prevent him from doing it again. Pelosi said the stillanonymous whistleblower's complaint about Trump's Ukraine call changed the dynamic, creating the urgency to act.