House Democrats Release Full Impeachment Report Accusing Trump of Federal Crimes: Bribery, Wire Fraud in Abuse of Power
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The House Judiciary Committee has released its full report on the articles of impeachment they voted to approve against President Donald Trump. House Democrats are pursuing charges of obstruction of Congress and abuse of power, but the Judiciary Report goes deeper on the latter by folding in accusations of Trump’s bribery and wire fraud.
The Abuse of Power section of the Judiciary Report lays out Trump’s impeachable conduct from the Ukraine scandal, namely the allegations stemming from the efforts by the president and his allies to pressure a foreign government into going after his political opponents. The report alleges that Trump committed “multiple federal crimes” throughout his scheme, and the committee claims “there can be little doubt” Trump’s actions meet the the constitutional definition of Bribery.
From pages 120, 121 of the report:
Although President Trump’s actions need not rise to the level of a criminal violation to justify impeachment, his conduct here was criminal. In this section we address the federal statute banning bribery; in the next section we address the wire fraud statute. Both of these laws underscore the extent to which Congress and the American people have broadly condemned the use of a public position of trust for personal gain.
Criminal bribery occurs when a public official (1) “demands [or] seeks” (2) “anything of value personally,” (3) “in return for being influenced in the performance of any official act.”684 Additionally, the public official must carry out these actions (4) “corruptly.”685 We address the four statutory elements in turn.
The evidence before the committee makes it clear that the president solicited from the President of Ukraine a public announcement that he would undertake two politically motivated investigations. That conduct satisfies the actus reus element of bribery under the federal criminal code.
As the report goes on to decry the “corrupt” element of Trump’s actions, it contends that the president also committed wire fraud when he pushed to advance the pressure campaign during his calls with EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland. Page 127 says Trump “willfully set out to defraud the American people” by advancing the scheme over the phone and failing to provide “honest services” as president.
