Trump Charged

The Democratic-controlled US House Judiciary Committee has unveiled charges against President Donald Trump, as they move closer to impeaching him.

The allegations are that Trump committed “high crimes and misdemeanours” (a phrase from the US Constitution) on two counts, outlined by Mr. Nadler (chairman of the Judiciary Committee):

• The first allegation is that he exercised the powers of his public office to “obtain an improper personal benefit while ignoring or injuring the national interest”, by allegedly pressuring Ukraine to interfere in the 2020 presidential election
• The second allegation is that “when he was caught, when the House investigated and opened an impeachment inquiry, President Trump engaged in unprecedented categorical and indiscriminate defiance of the impeachment inquiry…”, thereby obstructing Congress

The Trump-Ukraine scandal began in September 2019 with the revelation that an intelligence officer had filed a whistleblower complaint to the intelligence community inspector general alleging wrongdoing on the part of Trump.