G:\OFFICE\RAMSEYER\R16\RH\HR755_RH.XML H.L.C. House Calendar No. 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. RES. 755 [Report No. 116–] Impeaching Donald John Trump, President of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Mr. NADLER DECEMBER 10, 2019 submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary DECEMBER --, 2019 Reported with an amendment, referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed [Strike out all after the resolving clause and insert the part printed in italic] [For text of introduced resolution, see copy of resolution as introduced on December 10, 2019] RESOLUTION Impeaching Donald John Trump, President of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors. 1 Resolved, That Donald John Trump, President of the 2 United States, is impeached for high crimes and mis3 demeanors and that the following articles of impeachment 4 be exhibited to the United States Senate: g:\VHLC\121319\121319.065.xml December 13, 2019 (11:38 a.m.) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 11:38 Dec 13, 2019 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 C:\USERS\CASTERKX\APPDATA\ROAMING\SOFTQUAD\XMETAL\7.0\GEN\C\HR755_RH.X G:\OFFICE\RAMSEYER\R16\RH\HR755_RH.XML H.L.C. 2 1 Articles of impeachment exhibited by the House of Rep- 2 resentatives of the United States of America in the name 3 of itself and of the people of the United States of America, 4 against Donald John Trump, President of the United States 5 of America, in maintenance and support of its impeach6 ment against him for high crimes and misdemeanors. 7 8 ARTICLE I: ABUSE OF POWER The Constitution provides that the House of Represent- 9 atives ‘‘shall have the sole Power of Impeachment’’ and that 10 the President ‘‘shall be removed from Office on Impeach11 ment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high 12 Crimes and Misdemeanors’’. In his conduct of the office of 13 President of the United States—and in violation of his con14 stitutional oath faithfully to execute the office of President 15 of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, 16 protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, 17 and in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that 18 the laws be faithfully executed—Donald J. Trump has 19 abused the powers of the Presidency, in that: 20 Using the powers of his high office, President Trump 21 solicited the interference of a foreign government, Ukraine, 22 in the 2020 United States Presidential election. He did so 23 through a scheme or course of conduct that included solic24 iting the Government of Ukraine to publicly announce in25 vestigations that would benefit his reelection, harm the elec26 tion prospects of a political opponent, and influence the g:\VHLC\121319\121319.065.xml December 13, 2019 (11:38 a.m.) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 11:38 Dec 13, 2019 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 C:\USERS\CASTERKX\APPDATA\ROAMING\SOFTQUAD\XMETAL\7.0\GEN\C\HR755_RH.X G:\OFFICE\RAMSEYER\R16\RH\HR755_RH.XML H.L.C. 3 1 2020 United States Presidential election to his advantage. 2 President Trump also sought to pressure the Government 3 of Ukraine to take these steps by conditioning official 4 United States Government acts of significant value to 5 Ukraine on its public announcement of the investigations. 6 President Trump engaged in this scheme or course of con7 duct for corrupt purposes in pursuit of personal political 8 benefit. In so doing, President Trump used the powers of 9 the Presidency in a manner that compromised the national 10 security of the United States and undermined the integrity 11 of the United States democratic process. He thus ignored 12 and injured the interests of the Nation. 13 President Trump engaged in this scheme or course of 14 conduct through the following means: 15 (1) President Trump—acting both directly and 16 through his agents within and outside the United 17 States Government—corruptly solicited the Govern- 18 ment of Ukraine to publicly announce investigations 19 into— 20 (A) a political opponent, former Vice Presi- 21 dent Joseph R. Biden, Jr.; and 22 (B) a discredited theory promoted by Rus- 23 sia alleging that Ukraine—rather than Russia— 24 interfered in the 2016 United States Presidential 25 election. g:\VHLC\121319\121319.065.xml December 13, 2019 (11:38 a.m.) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 11:38 Dec 13, 2019 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 C:\USERS\CASTERKX\APPDATA\ROAMING\SOFTQUAD\XMETAL\7.0\GEN\C\HR755_RH.X G:\OFFICE\RAMSEYER\R16\RH\HR755_RH.XML H.L.C. 4 1 (2) With the same corrupt motives, President 2 Trump—acting both directly and through his agents 3 within and outside the United States Government— 4 conditioned two official acts on the public announce- 5 ments that he had requested— 6 (A) the release of $391 million of United 7 States taxpayer funds that Congress had appro- 8 priated on a bipartisan basis for the purpose of 9 providing vital military and security assistance 10 to Ukraine to oppose Russian aggression and 11 which President Trump had ordered suspended; 12 and 13 (B) a head of state meeting at the White 14 House, which the President of Ukraine sought to 15 demonstrate continued United States support for 16 the Government of Ukraine in the face of Rus- 17 sian aggression. 18 (3) Faced with the public revelation of his ac- 19 tions, President Trump ultimately released the mili- 20 tary and security assistance to the Government of 21 Ukraine, but has persisted in openly and corruptly 22 urging and soliciting Ukraine to undertake investiga- 23 tions for his personal political benefit. g:\VHLC\121319\121319.065.xml December 13, 2019 (11:38 a.m.) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 11:38 Dec 13, 2019 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 C:\USERS\CASTERKX\APPDATA\ROAMING\SOFTQUAD\XMETAL\7.0\GEN\C\HR755_RH.X G:\OFFICE\RAMSEYER\R16\RH\HR755_RH.XML H.L.C. 5 1 These actions were consistent with President Trump’s 2 previous invitations of foreign interference in United States 3 elections. 4 In all of this, President Trump abused the powers of 5 the Presidency by ignoring and injuring national security 6 and other vital national interests to obtain an improper 7 personal political benefit. He has also betrayed the Nation 8 by abusing his high office to enlist a foreign power in cor9 rupting democratic elections. 10 Wherefore President Trump, by such conduct, has dem- 11 onstrated that he will remain a threat to national security 12 and the Constitution if allowed to remain in office, and 13 has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with self-gov14 ernance and the rule of law. President Trump thus war15 rants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and dis16 qualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, 17 or profit under the United States. 18 19 ARTICLE II: OBSTRUCTION OF CONGRESS The Constitution provides that the House of Represent- 20 atives ‘‘shall have the sole Power of Impeachment’’ and that 21 the President ‘‘shall be removed from Office on Impeach22 ment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high 23 Crimes and Misdemeanors’’. In his conduct of the office of 24 President of the United States—and in violation of his con25 stitutional oath faithfully to execute the office of President 26 of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, g:\VHLC\121319\121319.065.xml December 13, 2019 (11:38 a.m.) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 11:38 Dec 13, 2019 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 C:\USERS\CASTERKX\APPDATA\ROAMING\SOFTQUAD\XMETAL\7.0\GEN\C\HR755_RH.X G:\OFFICE\RAMSEYER\R16\RH\HR755_RH.XML H.L.C. 6 1 protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, 2 and in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that 3 the laws be faithfully executed—Donald J. Trump has di4 rected the unprecedented, categorical, and indiscriminate 5 defiance of subpoenas issued by the House of Representa6 tives pursuant to its ‘‘sole Power of Impeachment’’. Presi7 dent Trump has abused the powers of the Presidency in a 8 manner offensive to, and subversive of, the Constitution, in 9 that: 10 The House of Representatives has engaged in an im- 11 peachment inquiry focused on President Trump’s corrupt 12 solicitation of the Government of Ukraine to interfere in 13 the 2020 United States Presidential election. As part of this 14 impeachment inquiry, the Committees undertaking the in15 vestigation served subpoenas seeking documents and testi16 mony deemed vital to the inquiry from various Executive 17 Branch agencies and offices, and current and former offi18 cials. 19 In response, without lawful cause or excuse, President 20 Trump directed Executive Branch agencies, offices, and offi21 cials not to comply with those subpoenas. President Trump 22 thus interposed the powers of the Presidency against the 23 lawful subpoenas of the House of Representatives, and as24 sumed to himself functions and judgments necessary to the g:\VHLC\121319\121319.065.xml December 13, 2019 (11:38 a.m.) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 11:38 Dec 13, 2019 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 C:\USERS\CASTERKX\APPDATA\ROAMING\SOFTQUAD\XMETAL\7.0\GEN\C\HR755_RH.X G:\OFFICE\RAMSEYER\R16\RH\HR755_RH.XML H.L.C. 7 1 exercise of the ‘‘sole Power of Impeachment’’ vested by the 2 Constitution in the House of Representatives. 3 President Trump abused the powers of his high office 4 through the following means: 5 (1) Directing the White House to defy a lawful 6 subpoena by withholding the production of documents 7 sought therein by the Committees. 8 (2) Directing other Executive Branch agencies 9 and offices to defy lawful subpoenas and withhold the 10 production of documents and records from the Com- 11 mittees—in response to which the Department of 12 State, Office of Management and Budget, Department 13 of Energy, and Department of Defense refused to 14 produce a single document or record. 15 (3) Directing current and former Executive 16 Branch officials not to cooperate with the Commit- 17 tees—in response to which nine Administration offi- 18 cials defied subpoenas for testimony, namely John 19 Michael ‘‘Mick’’ Mulvaney, Robert B. Blair, John A. 20 Eisenberg, Michael Ellis, Preston Wells Griffith, Rus- 21 sell T. Vought, Michael Duffey, Brian McCormack, 22 and T. Ulrich Brechbuhl. 23 These actions were consistent with President Trump’s 24 previous efforts to undermine United States Government in- g:\VHLC\121319\121319.065.xml December 13, 2019 (11:38 a.m.) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 11:38 Dec 13, 2019 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 C:\USERS\CASTERKX\APPDATA\ROAMING\SOFTQUAD\XMETAL\7.0\GEN\C\HR755_RH.X G:\OFFICE\RAMSEYER\R16\RH\HR755_RH.XML H.L.C. 8 1 vestigations into foreign interference in United States elec2 tions. 3 Through these actions, President Trump sought to ar- 4 rogate to himself the right to determine the propriety, scope, 5 and nature of an impeachment inquiry into his own con6 duct, as well as the unilateral prerogative to deny any and 7 all information to the House of Representatives in the exer8 cise of its ‘‘sole Power of Impeachment’’. In the history of 9 the Republic, no President has ever ordered the complete 10 defiance of an impeachment inquiry or sought to obstruct 11 and impede so comprehensively the ability of the House of 12 Representatives to investigate ‘‘high Crimes and Mis13 demeanors’’. This abuse of office served to cover up the 14 President’s own repeated misconduct and to seize and con15 trol the power of impeachment—and thus to nullify a vital 16 constitutional safeguard vested solely in the House of Rep17 resentatives. 18 In all of this, President Trump has acted in a manner 19 contrary to his trust as President and subversive of con20 stitutional government, to the great prejudice of the cause 21 of law and justice, and to the manifest injury of the people 22 of the United States. 23 Wherefore, President Trump, by such conduct, has 24 demonstrated that he will remain a threat to the Constitu25 tion if allowed to remain in office, and has acted in a man- g:\VHLC\121319\121319.065.xml December 13, 2019 (11:38 a.m.) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 11:38 Dec 13, 2019 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 C:\USERS\CASTERKX\APPDATA\ROAMING\SOFTQUAD\XMETAL\7.0\GEN\C\HR755_RH.X G:\OFFICE\RAMSEYER\R16\RH\HR755_RH.XML H.L.C. 9 1 ner grossly incompatible with self-governance and the rule 2 of law. President Trump thus warrants impeachment and 3 trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and 4 enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United 5 States. g:\VHLC\121319\121319.065.xml December 13, 2019 (11:38 a.m.) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 11:38 Dec 13, 2019 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 C:\USERS\CASTERKX\APPDATA\ROAMING\SOFTQUAD\XMETAL\7.0\GEN\C\HR755_RH.X