The House Intelligence Committee released their full report of the impeachment inquiry about President Donald Trump's bribery of Ukraine. The report detailed a series of impeachable crimes including obstruction of justice and an abuse of his office.
As a CNN panel outlined, the first 140 pages outline the findings revealed by witnesses called by the committee. The second part of the report, the last 100 pages, detailed the obstructions of justice. The latter was not contested by the president or his Republican allies, as the president made it clear in public he would not allow anyone in the U.S. government to speak to Congress nor would he give documents subpoenaed by Congress.
One substantial line was quoted by former House GOP Investigative Counsel Sophia Nelson.
"A line in it that struck me, here, very first page," she began. "'An unprecedented campaign of obstruction of this impeachment inquiry.' Again, I see three articles in here: Obstruction of justice, abuse of power, abuse of office, however you want to say it, and then obstruction of Congress. Those you can jump out at. Whatever else they might come up with, they're going to be I think at least three articles."
CNN's chief political analyst Gloria Borger explained that the report isn't just about the July 25 call, but it goes into what happened both before and after.
"And that part that you read of this executive summary talked about a dramatic crescendo that was a month-long campaign driven by President Trump in which his own senior officials participated," said Borger. "So, to those people who would say, 'Well, Trump is just being Trump, and this is who he is and it was that phone call, which he calls perfect.' They're saying, stop."
"They're saying, essentially, it's a conspiracy," said host Brianna Keilar.
Watch the full panel discussion below:
