US Congress releases report on Trump impeachment inquiry

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US Congress releases report on Trump impeachment inquiryHouse Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Calif., right, standing with House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., left, speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2019. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

The U.S. Congress is one step closer to impeaching President Trump.

The House Intelligence Committee released a report saying evidence of misconduct by Trump is “overwhelming.”

CGTN’s Roee Ruttenberg has more.

The Congressional intelligence committee, led by House Democrats, concluded on Tuesday that U.S. President Donald Trump placed his own personal interests above those of the nation in pressuring Ukraine’s president to investigate his political rivals and withholding American aid.

It said Trump’s misconduct was not an isolated incident, nor the product of a naive president. In a scathing 300-page report: accused the U.S. President of obstructing Congressional efforts to investigate him.

“This is the result of a president who believes he is beyond indictment, beyond impeachment, beyond any form of accountability, and indeed above the law. And that is a very dangerous thing for this country,” Adam Schiff the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said.

The White House responded with a statement saying the report “utterly failed to produce any evidence of wrongdoing by President Trump” and that it reads “like the ramblings of a basement blogger straining to prove something when there is evidence of nothing.”

The report makes clear the committee’s finding that there is more than enough cause and evidence to support impeaching Trump. But that’s for the House Judiciary Committee to decide, that panel begins its work Wednesday, in a session White House lawyers have declined to attend.