In a letter to his House colleagues, Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) said that Trump spent months seeking foreign election interference.
Schiff wrote in a letter provided to PoliticusUSA:
Over the course of our inquiry, we have uncovered a months-long effort in which President Trump again sought foreign interference in our elections for his personal and political benefit at the expense of our national interest. As the evidence conclusively shows, President Trump conditioned official acts—a White House meeting desperately desired by the new Ukrainian president and critical U.S. military assistance—on Ukraine announcing sham, politically-motivated investigations that would help President Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign.
The corrupt intent made plain in the record of the July 25 call between Presidents Trump and Zelensky has been supplemented by significant evidence showing the extent of the President’s abuse of power both before and after the July 25 telephone call. This conduct directed by the President not only became more “insidious†over time, but was known to the Vice President, the President’s Chief of Staff, the Secretary of State, and others down the line.
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As required of them by duly authorized subpoenas, many witnesses came forward to present the facts of the President’s misconduct to the Committees. Several witnesses did this despite great risk to their careers as public servants, and at great personal risk, as well. The testimony and documents we have succeeded in acquiring reveal a fact pattern that is overwhelming, unchallenged, and damning.
The importance of what Schiff is pointing out is that it wasn’t just one phone call to Ukraine. At Trump’s direction, the administration and lawyer Rudy Giuliani waged a months-long campaign to extort or recruit foreign governments to interfere in the 2020 election.
Donald Trump isn’t being impeached for a phone call. He’s being impeached for trying to destroy democracy.
Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
