House Intel Report Nails Trump On Conspiracy, Witness Intimidation, And Obstruction of Justice

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Last updated on July 18th, 2023 at 11:54 am

The House Intelligence Committee report on the Trump impeachment investigation details the Ukraine conspiracy, abuse of power, witness tampering, and obstruction of justice.

According to the report:
The impeachment inquiry into Donald J. Trump, the 45th President of the United States, uncovered a months-long effort by President Trump to use the powers of his office to solicit foreign interference on his behalf in the 2020 election. As described in this executive summary and the report that follows, President Trump’s scheme subverted U.S. foreign policy toward Ukraine and undermined our national security in favor of two politically motivated investigations that would help his presidential reelection campaign.

The President demanded that the newly-elected Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, publicly announce investigations into a political rival that he apparently feared the most, former Vice President Joe Biden, and into a discredited theory that it was Ukraine, not Russia, that interfered in the 2016 presidential election.

To compel the Ukrainian President to do his political bidding, President Trump conditioned two official acts on the public announcement of the investigations: a coveted White House visit and critical U.S. military assistance Ukraine needed to fight its Russian adversary.

The report also detailed Trump witness intimidation and witness tampering:

He issued threats, openly discussed possible retaliation, made insinuations about their character and patriotism, and subjected them to mockery and derision—when they deserved the opposite. The President’s attacks were broadcast to millions of Americans—including witnesses’ families, friends, and coworkers.

It is a federal crime to intimidate or seek to intimidate any witness appearing before Congress. This prohibition applies to anyone who knowingly “uses intimidation, threatens, or corruptly persuades” another person in order to “influence, delay, or prevent the testimony of any person in an official proceeding.” Violations of this law can carry a criminal sentence of up to 20 years in prison.

The report is devastating. It lays out over the course of hundreds of pages all of the evidence that the scheme wasn’t about a phone to Zelensky, but a months-long operation designed to pressure a foreign government into helping Trump in the 2020 election.

Trump tampered with and intimidated witnesses in public, and he has obstructed a legal congressional investigation by refusing to comply with subpoenas and turn over documents.

There are multiple impeachable offenses laid out in the House Intelligence Committee report, and it will be a challenge for the Judiciary Committee to narrow the list down to a few articles of impeachment.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

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Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association

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