A vote on impeaching President Donald Trump is expected to happen before Christmas and could come as soon as next week.
Democratic leaders and the president are urging haste after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Thursday she is instructing Democratic leaders to draft impeachment articles.
Impeachment hearings resume Monday on Capitol Hill.
On Thursday night, Trump urged the issue forward:
Pelosi said the impeachment must move quickly but for far different reasons. According to The Associated Press, Pelosi is afraid the president will corrupt the system again unless removed before next year's election.
During a CNN town hall Thursday night, Pelosi said she would have no regrets if impeachment ended up helping Trump's reelection effort. "This isn't about politics at all," she said. "It's about honoring our oath of office."
If the House votes along party lines to impeach the president, Trump will face a trial in the GOP-controlled Senate during a presidential election year. A two-thirds vote is required to remove the president, and Republicans are virtually united in the president’s defense.
In the Senate, U.S. Sen. David Perdue of Georgia has been a staunch Trump ally.
Newly appointed U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who will take office in 2020 to fulfill the remaining term of the soon-to-be retired Johnny Isakson, has said she is a strong supporter of the president.
“The president’s actions have seriously violated the Constitution,” Pelosi said Thursday. “He is trying to corrupt, once again, the election for his own benefit. The president has engaged in abuse of power, undermining our national security and jeopardizing the integrity of our elections.”
Trump has insisted he did nothing wrong, tweeting Democrats “have gone crazy.”
At the core of the impeachment probe is a July phone call with the president of Ukraine, in which Trump pressed the leader to investigate Democrats, including political rival Joe Biden. At the same time, the White House was withholding military aid from Ukraine, an ally bordering an aggressive Russia.
On Friday, Trump touted the November jobs report, citing 266,000 jobs added in November. Analysts had expected a gain of about 180,000, according to MarketWatch.
Unemployment rates are also at a 50-year low.
Pelosi's announcement on national television came one day after the U.S. House Judiciary Committee heard from four legal scholars on the issue of whether Trump had committed impeachable offenses.
U.S. Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia is one of the president’s staunchest defenders in the House. Collins is the House Judiciary Committee’s ranking Republican member. Other members of Georgia’s congressional delegation sitting on the committee are U.S. Reps. Hank Johnson (D-4) and Lucy McBath (D-6).
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