Updated
The Democrats have announced two articles of
impeachment against President Donald Trump — abuse of power and
obstruction of Congress — pushing toward historic votes over charges he
corrupted the US election process and endangered national security.
Key points:
- The White House said the charges were "baseless," and the President will address these false charges in the Senate
- Chairman of the House's judiciary committee Jerry Nadler said "no one, not even the president, is above the law''
- Voting is expected in a matter of days in the Judiciary Committee and by Christmas in the full House
The charges stem from Mr Trump's pressure on Ukraine to announce investigations of his political rivals as he withheld aid to the country.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, flanked by the chairmen of the impeachment inquiry committees, declared at the US Capitol that they were upholding their solemn oath to defend the constitution.
Voting is expected in a matter of days in the Judiciary Committee and by Christmas in the full House.
Mr Trump swiftly responded in a capital-letters tweet with the words he uses repeatedly to decry the investigations against him: "WITCH HUNT!" and called the Democrats' accusations against him "ridiculous" and "not true".
The White House said the charges were "baseless," and his re-election campaign called them "rank partisanship".
"The President will address these false charges in the Senate and expects to be fully exonerated, because he did nothing wrong," White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement.
In a tweet, Ms Grisham called it a sham that was simply the Democrats weaponising impeachment to try and undermine Mr Trump.
In outlining the charges, Democrats said they had no choice but to act because Mr Trump had shown a pattern of behaviour that, if left unchecked, posed risks to the democratic process ahead of the 2020 election.
Chairman of the House's judiciary committee, Jerry Nadler, said "our President holds the ultimate public trust. When he betrays that trust and puts himself before country, he endangers the constitution, he endangers our democracy, he endangers our national security".
"Our next election is at risk. … That is why we must act now," he said."No-one, not even the President, is above the law."
Chairman Adam Schiff of the Intelligence Committee said: "We stand here today because the President's abuse of power leaves us with no choice."
Mr Trump's allies immediately plunged into the fight that will extend into the new year.
Ms Grisham said Democrats were trying to "overthrow'' the administration.
Campaign manager Brad Parscale said Democrats were "putting on this political theatre because they don't have a viable candidate for 2020 and they know it."
The President's son, Eric, embraced his father's penchant for name calling, assailing Ms Pelosi and "her swamp creatures".
The House chairmen were greeted with applause as they arrived at a closed-door meeting of the chamber's Democrats after the announcement.
'I haven't counted votes, nor will I'
The outcome appears increasingly set as the House prepares for voting, as it has only three times in history against a US president.
Approval of the charges would send them to the Senate in January, where the Republican majority would be unlikely to convict Mr Trump.
Democratic leaders say Mr Trump put his political interests above those of the nation when he asked Ukraine to investigate his rivals, including Democrat Joe Biden, and then withheld $400 million in military aid as the US ally faced an aggressive Russia.
They say he then obstructed Congress by stonewalling the House investigation.
In drafting the articles of impeachment, Ms Pelosi faced a legal and political challenge of balancing the views of her majority while hitting the constitution's bar of "treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanours".
Some liberal lawmakers wanted more expansive charges encompassing the findings from former special counsel Robert Mueller's probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Centrist Democrats preferred to keep the impeachment articles more focused on Trump's actions toward Ukraine.
When asked during a Monday evening event if she had enough votes to impeach the Republican President, Ms Pelosi said she would let House lawmakers vote their conscience.
"On an issue like this, we don't count the votes. People will just make their voices known on it," Ms Pelosi said at The Wall Street Journal CEO Council.
"I haven't counted votes, nor will I."Mr Trump, who has declined to mount a defence in the actual House hearings, tweeted on Tuesday just as the six Democratic House committee chairmen prepared to make their announcement.
"To Impeach a President who has proven through results, including producing perhaps the strongest economy in our country's history, to have one of the most successful presidencies ever, and most importantly, who has done NOTHING wrong, is sheer Political Madness," he wrote on Twitter.
The next steps are expected to come swiftly after months of investigation into the Ukraine matter, which followed Mueller's two-year Russia probe.
AP/Reuters
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