WASHINGTON -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Monday widely distributed a new "fact sheet" outlining what her office characterized as a gross abuse of power by President Donald Trump, with sections titled "The Shakedown," "The Pressure Campaign" and "The Cover Up."
The move came as a Republican effort to censure House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., for his handling of the impeachment inquiry against Trump was derailed by Democrats.
The "fact sheet" from Pelosi, D-Calif., outlines the Democrats' main arguments in their impeachment inquiry, accusing Trump of pressuring Ukraine to interfere in next year's election. It says that the White House memo detailing Trump's July 25 call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy "paints a damning picture of Trump abusing his office by pressing a foreign government to interfere in our 2020 elections."
In the call, Trump had asked Zelenskiy to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, who is a 2020 presidential candidate, and his son Hunter.
Pelosi's document also refers to text messages from Bill Taylor, the top official at the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine, to other U.S. diplomats in which he raised alarms about the White House holding back military aid to Ukraine and pressing for investigations into the Bidens.
Taylor will testify today in a closed deposition.
After Trump's July phone call with Zelenskiy, a whistleblower filed a complaint alleging the president was using his office to ask a foreign government to investigate a political rival. Pelosi's document quotes the part of the complaint in which the whistleblower raises concern that White House officials were involved in covering up Trump's conversation, including allegations that officials "had intervened to 'lock down' all records of the phone call."
Pelosi's document says, "President Trump abused the power of the presidency by using multiple levers of government ... to advance a scheme to undermine our 2020 elections for his political gain, and then to obstruct the congressional inquiry into that scheme."
Meanwhile, Trump's congressional allies on Monday renewed their criticism of the impeachment inquiry and the Democrats leading it.
"This PROCESS has been a joke & the SUBSTANCE has been NOTHING to impeach POTUS for," tweeted Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., noting that the "super secret" depositions were being held in the Capitol's basement. "This coup attempt will fail!"
On Fox News, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, also emphasized the location of the hearings, saying they were being conducted "in the basement of the Capitol, where no one can see." He said the process has been unfair and unlike other impeachment inquiries.
"On process, this is not your average investigation," Jordan said. "This is about impeaching the president of the United States 13 months before an election because they're afraid he's going to win in 2020."
Democrats say the closed depositions are necessary so witnesses don't have the advantage of hearing one another's testimony.
On Monday, Trump called for fellow Republicans to "get tougher and fight" as he lashed out at the impeachment inquiry during a Cabinet meeting.
Trump, defending his conduct as he spoke in front of the Cabinet, senior aides and the media, insisted his phone call with Zelenskiy that sparked the impeachment inquiry was entirely unproblematic. And he accused Democrats of proceeding with impeachment only to bolster their chances in 2020.
Trump also called out Republicans for not sticking together, pointing a finger at Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, who has emerged as his most notable GOP critic.
While lambasting Democrats' policies, Trump said he respects members of the party for sticking together.
"They don't have Mitt Romney in their midst," he said. "They don't have people like that. They stick together. You never see them break off."
Hours after Trump spoke, Democrats blocked a bid by House Republicans to censure Schiff over the way he is conducting the investigation. Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., sponsored the resolution.
Biggs and other Republicans say that at a committee hearing last month, Schiff misled voters when he "manufactured a false retelling" of the conversation between Trump and Zelenskiy. Schiff has said his words were meant as a parody.
"Chairman Schiff deliberately misled the American people during a high-profile hearing last month, and he has persistently used his perch on a vital committee to spread falsehoods about President Trump," Biggs said.
Democrats say Schiff has acted in a fair and bipartisan manner. The House voted 218-185 on Monday to postpone a vote on the GOP resolution.
Schiff tweeted after the vote that House Republicans "lacked the courage to confront the most dangerous and unethical president in American history" and instead "consoled themselves by attacking those who did" confront Trump.
Trump on Monday also continued to insist that his private Miami-area golf club would have been the best place to host next year's international Group of Seven summit, two days after he backed off the plan amid criticism from impeachment-weary Republicans.
"The Democrats went crazy," Trump said, commenting on criticism that he was using the presidency to enrich himself. "You don't think I get enough promotion? I get more promotion than every human being that has ever lived. I don't need promotion. It would have been the greatest G-7 ever.
"You people with this phony Emoluments Clause," Trump said, commenting on the clause in the Constitution that bars federal officials from taking emoluments, or forms of payment or profit, from any "king, prince or foreign state" as an ethics guideline.
The president repeated his claim that he had lost billions of dollars by becoming president, particularly in the hospitality sector, and asserted that holding the G-7 event at his club would have saved the country money.
"I'm making a big difference for the country," Trump said. "So whether I lost $2 billion, $5 billion, more or less, it doesn't make any difference to me. I don't care. If you're rich, it doesn't matter. I'm doing this for the country."
Democrats had mulled adding the allegation of an emoluments violation to the articles of impeachment they are preparing.
Also on Monday, Lev Parnas, one of two businessmen accused of working with Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani to try to get Ukrainian officials to investigate the Bidens, was released from jail in Alexandria, Va., after paying a $200,000 cash bond. He and his co-defendant Igor Fruman, were both jailed on charges that they violated campaign finance laws.
"I have the truth on my side, and God is with me," Parnas said as he left the courthouse with his wife, Svetlana, son Aaron and a private security guard.
Parnas' new attorney, Edward MacMahon, successfully argued last week that the initial $1 million bond set by a magistrate judge was excessively high.
Fruman, who was released last week, and Parnas are required to remain in their homes except for court appearances and are under GPS monitoring. Both are set to appear in court in New York on Wednesday.
Information for this article was contributed by John Wagner and Brittany Shammas of The Washington Post; by Jill Colvin and Matthew Daly of The Associated Press; and by Alexa Diaz and Eli Stokols of the Los Angeles Times.
A Section on 10/22/2019