House Calendar No. 61
116th Congress
1st Session
[Report No. 116-346]
Impeaching Donald John Trump,
President of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
DECEMBER 10, 2019
DECEMBER 15, 2019
Reported
with an amendment, referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed
RESOLUTION
Impeaching Donald John Trump,
President of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors.
Resolved, That Donald John
Trump, President of the United States, is impeached for high crimes and
misdemeanors and that the following articles of impeachment be exhibited to the
United States Senate:
Articles of impeachment exhibited
by the House of Representatives of the United States of America in the name of
itself and of the people of the United States of America, against Donald John
Trump, President of the United States of America, in maintenance and support of
its impeachment against him for high crimes and misdemeanors.
ARTICLE I: ABUSE OF POWER
The Constitution provides that the
House of Representatives “shall have the sole Power of Impeachment” and that
the President “shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and
Misdemeanors”. In his conduct of the office of President of the United
States—and in violation of his constitutional oath faithfully to execute the
office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the
Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty
to take care that the laws be faithfully executed—Donald J. Trump has
abused the powers of the Presidency, in that:
Using the powers of his high
office, President Trump solicited the interference of a foreign government,
Ukraine, in the 2020 United States Presidential election. He did so through a
scheme or course of conduct that included soliciting the Government of Ukraine
to publicly announce investigations that would benefit his reelection, harm the
election prospects of a political opponent, and influence the 2020 United
States Presidential election to his advantage. President Trump also sought to
pressure the Government of Ukraine to take these steps by conditioning official
United States Government acts of significant value to Ukraine on its public
announcement of the investigations. President Trump engaged in this scheme or
course of conduct for corrupt purposes in pursuit of personal political
benefit. In so doing, President Trump used the powers of the Presidency in a
manner that compromised the national security of the United States and
undermined the integrity of the United States democratic process. He thus
ignored and injured the interests of the Nation.
President Trump engaged in this
scheme or course of conduct through the following means:
(1)
President
Trump—acting both directly and through his agents within and outside the United
States Government—corruptly solicited the Government of Ukraine to publicly
announce investigations into—
(A) a political opponent, former Vice President Joseph R.
Biden, Jr.; and
(B) a discredited theory promoted by Russia alleging that Ukraine—rather than
Russia—interfered in the 2016 United States Presidential election.
(2)
With the same corrupt motives,
President Trump—acting both
directly and through his agents within and outside the United States
Government—conditioned two official acts on the public announcements that he
had
requested—
(A)
the release of
$391 million of United States taxpayer funds that Congress had appropriated on
a bipartisan basis for the purpose
of providing vital military and security assistance to Ukraine to oppose
Russian aggression and which President Trump had ordered suspended; and
(B)
a head of state
meeting at the White House, which the
President of Ukraine sought to demonstrate continued United States support for
the Government of Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression.
(3)
Faced with the
public revelation of his actions, President Trump ultimately released the
military and security assistance to the
Government of Ukraine, but has persisted in openly and corruptly urging and
soliciting Ukraine to undertake investigations for his personal political benefit.
These actions were consistent with
President Trump’s previous invitations of foreign interference in United States
elections.
In all of this, President Trump
abused the powers of the Presidency by ignoring and injuring national security
and other vital national interests to obtain an improper personal political
benefit. He has also betrayed the Nation by abusing his high office to enlist a
foreign power in corrupting democratic elections.
Wherefore President Trump, by such
conduct, has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to national security and
the Constitution if allowed to remain in office, and has acted in a manner
grossly incompatible with self-governance and the rule of law. President Trump
thus warrants impeachment and trial, removal from
office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or
profit under the United States.
ARTICLE II: OBSTRUCTION OF CONGRESS
The Constitution provides that the
House of Representatives “shall have the sole Power of Impeachment” and that
the President “shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and
Misdemeanors”. In his conduct of the office of President of the United
States—and in violation of his constitutional oath faithfully to execute the
office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the
Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty
to take care that the laws be faithfully executed—Donald J. Trump has
directed the unprecedented, categorical, and indiscriminate defiance of
subpoenas issued by the House of Representatives pursuant to its “sole Power of
Impeachment”. President Trump has abused the powers of the Presidency in a
manner offensive to, and subversive of, the Constitution, in that:
The House of Representatives has
engaged in an impeachment inquiry focused on President Trump’s corrupt
solicitation of the Government of Ukraine to interfere in the 2020 United
States Presidential election. As part of this impeachment inquiry, the
Committees undertaking the investigation served subpoenas seeking documents and
testimony deemed vital to the inquiry from various Executive Branch agencies
and offices, and current and former officials.
In response, without lawful cause
or excuse, President Trump directed Executive Branch agencies, offices, and
officials not to comply with those subpoenas. President Trump thus interposed
the powers of the Presidency against the lawful subpoenas of the House of
Representatives, and assumed to himself functions and judgments necessary to
the exercise of the “sole Power of Impeachment” vested by the Constitution in
the House of Representatives.
President Trump abused the powers of his high office through the following means:
(1)
Directing the
White House to defy a lawful subpoena by
withholding the production of documents sought therein by the Committees.
(2)
Directing other
Executive Branch agencies and offices to defy
lawful subpoenas and withhold the production of documents and records from the
Committees—in response to which the Department of State, Office of Management
and Budget, Department of Energy, and
Department of Defense refused to produce a single document or record.
(3)
Directing current
and former Executive Branch officials not to cooperate with the Committees—in
response to which nine Administration officials defied subpoenas for testimony,
namely John Michael “Mick” Mulvaney, Robert B. Blair, John A.
Eisenberg, Michael Ellis, Preston Wells Griffith,
Russell T. Vought, Michael Duffey, Brian
McCormack, and T. Ulrich Brechbuhl.
These actions were consistent with
President Trump’s previous efforts to undermine United States
Government investigations into foreign interference in United States elections.
Through these actions, President Trump sought to arrogate to himself the
right to determine the propriety, scope, and nature of an impeachment inquiry
into his own conduct, as well as the unilateral prerogative to deny any and all
information to the House of Representatives in the exercise of its “sole Power
of Impeachment”. In the history of the Republic, no President has ever ordered
the complete defiance of an impeachment inquiry or sought to obstruct and
impede so comprehensively the ability of
the House of Representatives to investigate “high Crimes and Misdemeanors”.
This abuse of office served to cover up the President’s own repeated misconduct
and to seize and control the power of impeachment—and thus to nullify a vital
constitutional safeguard vested solely in the House of Representatives.
In all of this, President Trump
has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as President and subversive of
constitutional government, to the great prejudice of the cause of law and
justice, and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States.
Wherefore, President Trump, by
such conduct, has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to the Constitution
if allowed to remain in office, and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible
with self-governance and the rule of law. President Trump thus warrants
impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and
enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States.
