Abuse Of Power And Obstructing Congress: The Impeachment Inquiry Moves Forward

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Published December 11, 2019 at 10:06 AM EST

Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) speaks as (L-R) Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA) hold a news conference. Chairman Nadler announced that the Judiciary Committee is introducing two articles on abuse of power and obstruction of Congress during the next steps of the House impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump.

After hours of testimony in public and private, countless hot takes, and a viral tote bag and bow tie, House Democrats issued a formal call for the impeachment of President Donald Trump.

In a nine-page resolution, Democratic lawmakers said that President Trump obstructed Congress during their Ukraine investigation and abused the power of his office.

The New York Times’ Nick Fandos has more:

In announcing a pair of charges that was narrowly focused on the Ukraine matter, Democrats made a careful political calculation designed to project unity and protect moderate lawmakers who face steep re-election challenges in conservative-leaning districts. They left out an article that had been the subject of internal debate among Democrats in recent weeks that would have charged Mr. Trump with obstruction of justice based on his attempts to thwart Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation into his campaign’s ties to Russian election interference in 2016.

We answer your questions about the latest in the impeachment inquiry and talk about the next steps in the process.

Produced by Haili Blassingame.

GUESTS

Josh Blackman, Associate professor, South Texas College of Law; adjunct scholar, the Cato Institute; author of “Unraveled: Obamacare, Religious Liberty and Executive Power.”; @JoshMBlackman

Elizabeth Wydra, President, Constitutional Accountability Center; @ElizabethWydra

Angie Holan, Editor, PolitiFact; @AngieHolan

For more, visit https://the1a.org.