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USA TODAY
WASHINGTON – Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee considered amendments to thearticles of impeachment against President Donald Trumpduring a Thursday session that lasted more than hours ahead of Friday’s expected vote.
Trump is accused of abuse of power and the obstruction of Congress, due to his alleged pressure campaign to get Ukraine to investigate his domestic political rivals leveraging military aid, and blocking of Congressional committees from pursuing the inquiry.
Here’s some of what Republicans tried to change about the articles.Remove ‘abuse of power’ article
Right off the bat, GOP Rep. Jim Jordan, Ohio, moved to strike the entire first article of impeachment — abuse of power — on the grounds that it “ignores the truth” about Trump’s dealings with Ukraine.
“Article one in this resolution ignores the truth, it ignores the facts, it ignores what happened and what was laid out for the American people over the last three weeks,” Jordan said. “I hope this committee will come to its senses.”
More:********************** An abrupt ending that inspired GOP fury and other takeaways from Thursday’s marathon impeachment debate Rep. David Cicilline, DR.I., said Trump asked for the investigation of Biden during a July 34 call with Zelensky. Cicilline leafed through pages of documents quoting several diplomatic administration officials who testified that Trump was pressuring Ukraine in his requests during July and August.
“There is overwhelming evidence of the existence of a scheme led by the president, led by his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, to corrupt the American elections, to continue to withhold military aid until such time as an announcement was made that would smear the president’s chief political rival, “Cicilline said.After much debate, the committee rejected the amendment on a party-line vote of (to ****************************
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Focus on investigations into Hunter Biden and Burisma, not Joe Biden Another prominent committee Republican and Trump ally, Matt Gaetz of Florida, presented an amendment that would replace a reference to investigations into Joe Biden with “the true topic of the investigation, Burisma and Hunter Biden.”
Gaetz said Trump’s target in the Ukraine investigations was Hunter Biden and the Ukraine energy company that hired him, Burisma Holdings.
************************** (Explainer: Biden, allies pushed out Ukrainian prosecutor because he did not pursue corruption cases
“It can only be an abuse of power and not a correct use of power if the president was pursuing something under which there was no reasonable basis to ask a question about Hunter Biden and Burisma, “Gaetz said.
Reading excerpts from a New Yorker magazine profile of Hunter Biden that described his drug use, Gaetz questioned why Burisma would have hired Biden to resolve its international disputes.“We have the ability to show that Bur isma is corrupt, ”Gaetz said. “We have the ability to show that Hunter Biden is corrupt. That totally exculpates the president. ”
This amendment failed, also – along party lines.Change the reason Ukraine aid money was finally released
********** Presidents have been impeached, but none have been removed from office due to impeachment. Confusing? Here’s how. Just the FAQs, USA TODAY
*********************** Arizona Republican Rep. Andy Biggs had the third GOP amendment discussed Thursday, to insert language into the impeachment articles asserting the aid to Ukraine was eventually released following Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s signing of anti-corruption measures into law.
This diverges from Democrats’ view, which is that Trump only released the aid money once knowledge of the anonymous whistleblower complaint began surfacing.
“The bottom line is the aid was lawfully delayed and lawfully delivered, and that means this entire process has been a sham,” Biggs said.
“The administration never intended to or actually violated the law,” Biggs said, adding the aid’s release “destroys Democrats’ case for impeachment.”
“They got their material on time,” Biggs concluded .
************************** (More: Read USA TODAY’s coverage of the impeachment articles voting session************************ (Remove ‘obstruction of Congress’ article
Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Pa., Proposed another amendment to remove the article accusing Trump of obstructing Congress. Reschenthaler said there are three branches of government for a reason. The legislative and executive branches must reach compromises on oversight, with the judicial branch resolving disputes.
Reschenthaler also accused Democrats on the committees investigating impeachment of railroading their Republican counterparts in the inquiry.
“The Democrats have no case when it comes to obstruction. This obstruction charge is completely baseless and bogus. If they really wanted to charge someone with obstruction, how about they start with [Intelligence Committee Chairman] Adam Schiff? ” Reschenthaler said.**** Nadler said Trump’s White House refused to comply with subpoenas during the inquiry. Nadler called that a “large step toward dictatorship” because it would remove any check on the president.vote against the Reschenthaler amendment was 28 to************************ (No recommendation for removal from office
Jordan also proposed the fifth Republican amendment, to remove the final eight lines of each of the two articles of impeachment. Those are the sections that conclude Trump’s misconduct described earlier in each article should be punished with removal from office.
The articles say that Trump “has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to the Constitution if allowed to remain in office, and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with self-governance and the rule of law.”
The articles also conclude Trump should be disqualified to hold public office in the future.
“They are afraid they cannot beat him at the ballot box so they’re going to do this rigged, rushed and wrong impeachment process,” Jordan said of Democrats .
“It is silly,” Nadler said.
Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., Said the decision over whether Trump should hold office should belong to the American people rather than Democrats in Congress. (**************************************** Contributing: Bart Jansen and Christal Hayes, USA TODAY
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