Trump abused power for re-election in 2020: Panel

Washington, December 4

President Donald Trump abused powers of his office and endangered US national security by soliciting the interference of a foreign government to benefit his re-election in 2020, the Opposition Democrats have alleged and said there was "overwhelming evidence" to impeach him.

According to the House Intelligence Committee leading the impeachment inquiry against Trump, the President placed personal political interests "above the national interests of the United States" by trying to "solicit foreign interference" from Ukraine to help his 2020 re-election bid.

"The evidence is clear that President Trump used the power of his office to pressure Ukraine into announcing investigations into his political rival, former Vice-President Joe Biden, and a debunked conspiracy theory that it was Ukraine, not Russia, that interfered in the 2016 election," said chairs of the three House Committees after the release of a damning report on Tuesday.

Released by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, 'The Trump-Ukraine Impeachment Inquiry Report' was written by the staff of the House Intelligence, Oversight and Reform and Foreign Affairs Committees. In a joint statement, Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, Oversight Committee Chairwoman Carolyn B Maloney and Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel alleged that Trump conditioned official acts on the public announcement of these investigations: a coveted White House visit and critical US military assistance Ukraine needed to fight its Russian adversary. — PTI

‘Report a joke'

Watford: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday slammed a Democratic report presenting the case for his impeachment as a “joke” and lambasted his opponents for proceeding with hearings during his trip to a NATO summit. “What they are doing is a very bad thing for our country,” Trump said when asked about the report from the House Intelligence Committee during a meeting in Britain with Italy's PM. "It's a joke.” He called it a “disgrace” that the House Judiciary Committee was holding a hearing on Wednesday “when we are in London”. AFP