The impeachment investigation into Donald Trump has entered a new phase as the House Judiciary Committee begins hearings into Mr Trump’s conduct.
Norm Eisen, a committee consultant who was hired by the House Judiciary Committee, asked three law professors testifying today whether they believed President Trump abused the power of his office.
Professors Noah Feldman, Pamela S. Karlan and Michael Gerhardt all agreed that Trump committed “the impeachable high crime and misdemeanor of abuse of power.”
The public testimony by four experts on constitutional law comes one day after the House Intelligence Committee laid out the case for removing Mr Trump.
The intelligence panel’s report said evidence of Mr Trump’s misconduct was “overwhelming”.
With the president abroad at the NATO meetings in London, the shift marks a perilous moment in his troubled presidency after the release on Tuesday of a 300-page report by House Intelligence Committee investigators describing Trump’s months-long effort to pressure Ukraine.
If impeachment passes in the House, the US Senate will put Mr Trump on trial.
The impeachment process began in September after an anonymous whistleblower complained to Congress about a July phone call by Mr Trump to the president of Ukraine, in which Mr Trump appeared to tie US military assistance to Ukraine launching investigations which would help him politically.
The White House has denied allegations made by Democrats – that Mr Trump put his own personal political interests “above the national interests of the United States” by soliciting foreign interference in the 2020 US elections, as the 300-page report argues.
