The latest on the Trump impeachment inquiry: Live updates - CNN

House Democrats are increasingly focusing on multiple articles of impeachment against President Trump over the Ukraine scandal — as some lawmakers push to go even further and include what many in the party see as clear criminality detailed in former special counsel Robert Mueller's report.

In private, Democrats are debating how broadly to draft the articles of impeachment against Trump, especially given what many in the House view as clear misconduct detailed in the Mueller report and violations of the Constitution's emoluments clause by allegedly enriching himself while in office.

But adding more allegations to the impeachment effort could divert the focus from the two-month-old investigation into Ukraine, which some Democrats argue is a clearer case of abuse of power: the President using his office to push a foreign country to announce investigations that could bolster his reelection chances in 2020.

"We could have pages and pages and pages of articles of impeachment," said Rep. Veronica Escobar of Texas, a member of the Democratic leadership team who sits on the House Judiciary Committee. "What we have seen over the last three years is, I think, unprecedented. I absolutely believe in being as focused as possible as well. I think the broader we go — that may pose challenges for the American people."

The party is zeroing in on multiple articles of impeachment, including charges of abuse of power, bribery and obstruction of Congress for defying subpoenas. It is also weighing whether to add multiple instances of obstruction of justice that Mueller found as a separate article, including allegations Trump lied in his written responses to the special counsel. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has yet to embrace including the Mueller findings in the impeachment inquiry.

Trump has maintained that he did nothing wrong concerning both the Mueller report allegations and in the incidents investigated in the impeachment inquiry.

Let's block ads! (Why?)