President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign and the Republican National Committee (RNC) accused Democrats in the House of hitting a “new disgusting, partisan low” after articles of impeachment against Trump were unveiled.
“For months, [House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi said she wouldn’t move forward on impeachment because it was too divisive and it needed bipartisan support. Well, it is divisive and only the Democrats are pushing it, but she’s doing it anyway. Americans don’t agree with this rank partisanship, but Democrats are putting on this political theater because they don’t have a viable candidate for 2020 and they know it,” Brad Parscale, Trump’s 2020 campaign manager, said in a statement.
They have “stomped on the will of the American people. America will remember these impeachment articles as a sad, self-interested low in American history!”
And RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel accused Democrats of moving the goalposts during the impeachment inquiry.
Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), and House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) unveiled two articles of impeachment on Tuesday morning.
Nadler said in the press conference that Trump is being accused of “committing high crimes and misdemeanors” including “abuse of power.”
The second article of impeachment is “obstruction of Congress,” Nadler said, adding that Trump allegedly declared himself above “accountability” and Congress. “No one is above the law,” he said.
Democrats have alleged Trump misused his office by withholding $400 million to Ukraine in exchange for investigations into a potential 2020 rival, former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden. The younger Biden sat on the board of Ukrainian energy firm Burisma Holdings while his father was in office. The elder Biden also bragged in a video that he was able to withhold $1 billion in aid to Ukraine in order to get the country’s prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, fired.
Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have both denied allegations of quid pro quo, which are at the center of the impeachment inquiry.
The House will now hold a vote on the two articles of impeachment before it is sent to the Senate. The House needs a simple majority to approve the articles while the Senate needs 67 out of 100 votes.
Several weeks ago, the president said he wants the impeachment process to move forward so he can get a Senate trial where he will call up relevant witnesses, including Schiff.