Thread by @jpanzer

The House Judiciary Report on impeachment is published:

docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/…

tl;dr: "Taken together, the articles charge that President Trump has placed his personal, political
interests above our national security, our free and fair elections, and our system of checks and balances....

...He has engaged in a pattern of misconduct that will continue if left unchecked. Accordingly, President
Trump should be impeached and removed from office."

"From start to finish, the House conducted its inquiry with
a commitment to transparency, efficiency, and fairness. The Minority was present and able to participate at every stage." True; and sad that it needs to be said to combar lies.

"...unlike past Presidents, President Trump declined to attend any hearings, question any witnesses, or
recommend that the Committee call additional witnesses in his defense."

"The evidence shows that, on the same day that the call took place, Ukrainian officials became aware that
funding had been withheld."

"The President also deployed his private attorney and other agents, some acting outside the official and regular channels of diplomacy, to make his desires known." And Rudy is still doing it right this second.

"[Abuse of power] occurs when a President exercises the powers of his office to obtain an improper personal benefit while injuring and ignoring the national interest." Word.

"When President Trump asked President Zelensky for a favor, he did so at the expense of both our national security and the integrity of our elections ...

...When the President demands that a foreign government announce investigations targeting his domestic political rival, he corrupts our elections."

"President Trump did everything in his power to obstruct the House’s impeachment inquiry.... the White House and other agencies refused to produce a single document in response to Congressional subpoenas." (No exec privilege for documents, folks.)

"President Trump also attempted to muzzle witnesses...and even attacked one witness during her live testimony before Congress." (No exec privilege to intimidate witnesses, either.)

"Within our system of checks and balances, the President may not decide what constitutes a valid impeachment inquiry." True.

Shout-out to Mueller: "this is not the first time he has solicited foreign interference in an election, been exposed, and attempted to obstruct the resulting investigation."

And another shout-out to Rudy: "Indeed, in the same week that the Committee considered these articles of impeachment, the President’s private attorney was back in Ukraine to promote the same sham investigations into the President’s political rivals and,...

...upon returning to the United States, rapidly made his way to the White House. We cannot rely on the next
election as a remedy for presidential misconduct when the President is seeking to threaten the very
integrity of that election." WORD.

"By his actions, President Trump betrayed his office. His high crimes and misdemeanors undermine the Constitution."

(Now to get into some details...)

"Three of the witnesses who testified during the public hearings—...Volker, ... David M. Hale, and ... Timothy A.
Morrison—did so at the request of the Minority." Just to note: YES THE MINORITY WAS ALLOWED TO CALL WITNESSES.

"On December 1, 2019, Mr. Cipollone [stated] that counsel for the President would not participate in the December
4 hearing, ... On December 6, 2019, Mr. Cipollone sent Chairman Nadler another letter indicating the President would not avail himself of any other opportunities...

...to participate in the Committee’s proceedings, urging the Committee to 'end this inquiry now and not waste even more time with additional hearings.'" OK. So it was Trump's decision not to participate or present a rebuttal in the House. Please remember that, folks.

"The principal objection by the President has consisted of a claim that no committee of the House was permitted to investigate Presidential misconduct for impeachment purposes unless or until the House enacted a resolution fully “authorizing” the impeachment inquiry...

...That claim has no basis in the Constitution, any statutes, the House Rules, or House precedent." But other than that, Mrs. Lincoln....

Also, the minority is just lying when they claim the Democrats changed the rules to hinder them. "...the rules governing both the Nixon and Clinton impeachment
inquiries rendered the Minority’s subpoena authority equally contingent on the Majority".

And no, the whistleblower became irrelevant: "the
whistleblower’s allegations were not relied upon by HPSCI or the Judiciary Committee in reaching their conclusions, making his or her testimony 'redundant and unnecessary.'"

"[The President's arguments in defense of his defiance of Congress] are indefensible as a matter of
law...They amount to a claim that the President has the power to dictate the terms on which he is investigated for
'high Crimes and Misdemeanors'"

"The President’s excuses consist mainly of complaints about the procedures" and the House has sole power to impeach & to set its own procedures. Also, " it bears notice that the President has not actually asserted executive privilege in the House’s impeachment inquiry".

"To state the obvious, a President cannot obstruct a House impeachment inquiry because he believes his conduct was proper and sees no need for his acts to be investigated. ... These are judgments for the House alone to make, guided always by the Constitution."

"there are lines that a President cannot cross in an impeachment inquiry. Those lines exist to ensure that the Impeachment Clause can serve its fundamental purpose... In comprehensively obstructing this House impeachment inquiry, President Trump crossed every one of these lines."

" He did so without any valid cause or excuse. He must therefore be impeached, lest future Presidents follow his example and persist in corruption, oppression, and abuse
of power with little risk of discovery or accountability. "

"It has been suggested that the House cannot impeach President Trump for obstruction of Congress without seeking judicial enforcement of the subpoenas that he has ordered be defied."

"This claim is mistaken as a matter of constitutional law, precedent, and common sense...the Constitution vests the House—rather than the President or Judiciary—with 'the sole Power of Impeachment.'" including investigatory power.

"This Committee therefore concluded in President Nixon’s case that it would frustrate the constitutional plan for the House to depend entirely on the Judiciary to enforce subpoenas in impeachment proceedings."

"That would risk making the House subservient to courts in matters where the Constitution gives the House the final word."

"the House has never before relied on litigation to compel witness testimony or the production of documents in a Presidential impeachment proceeding" (despite what the minority party claims)

Nor is Trump actually willing to seek judicial review in practice. "Where the President orders total defiance of House subpoenas and vigorously argues that the courthouse door is locked, it is clear that he seeks to obstruct the House in the exercise of its impeachment power."

"where the ... misconduct is a constitutional crime in progress, waiting for the courts is the practical equivalent of inaction. This Committee will not stand idly by while the President abuses power by asking and pressuring foreign powers to corrupt the upcoming election."

With regard to Trump's positions: "It is not hyperbole to describe this reasoning as better suited to George Orwell or Franz Kafka than the Office of the President." 🔥

"The President is a constitutional officer. Unlike a despot,
he answers to a higher legal authority. "

And it goes into Trump's previous obstructive acts during the Mueller investigation as part of his pattern of conduct continuing today. Good:

"These previous efforts include, but are not limited to, President Trump’s endeavor to impede
the Special Counsel’s investigation into Russian interference with the 2016 United States Presidential
election, ...

...as well as President Trump’s sustained efforts to obstruct the Special Counsel after learning that he was under investigation for obstruction of justice."

[And by the way in a footnote " Should the Committee obtain the [McGahn] information, it would be utilized, among other purposes, in a Senate trial on these articles of impeachment, if any." Yep, it's relevant and urgent.]

"Rather than aid the Special Counsel’s investigation into Russian interference, President Trump sought to thwart it—and used the powers of his office as part of that scheme"

"after learning that he was himself under investigation, President Trump among other things ordered the firing
of the Special Counsel, sought to curtail the Special Counsel’s investigation in a manner exempting
his own prior conduct, ...

...instructed the White House Counsel to create a false record and make false public statements, and tampered with at least two key witnesses in the Special Counsel’s
investigation."

"Based on the Special Counsel’s report, these acts were obstructive in nature, and there
is evidence strongly supporting that President Trump acted with the improper (and criminal) purpose of avoiding potential liability ...

...and concealing information that he viewed as personally and politically damaging."

The pattern: "There, President Trump welcomed and invited
a foreign nation to interfere in a United States Presidential election to his advantage; here, President
Trump solicited and pressured a foreign nation to do so." Yup.

"In the history of our Republic, no President has obstructed Congress like President Trump.
If President Nixon’s obstruction of Congress raised a slippery slope concern, we now find ourselves at
the bottom of the slope, surveying the damage to our Constitution. "

"In word and deed, President Trump has sought to write the Impeachment Clause out of the Constitution. If his excuses for that conduct are accepted, then every future President can choose to ignore House subpoenas, and a bulwark against tyranny will be undone." LISTEN.