Page:Impeachment of Donald J. Trump, President of the United States — Report of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives.pdf/163

 *President Trump lacked lawful cause or excuse for issuing his direction that all Executive Branch officials defy their legal obligations in response to Congressional subpoenas.

Despite President Trump's direction that the Executive Branch blockade the impeachment inquiry, the Investigating Committees found clear and overwhelming evidence of his misconduct. This includes powerful direct evidence, strengthened and supported by compelling circumstantial evidence, of President Trump's course of conduct and corrupt motivations in soliciting and pressuring the Government of Ukraine to interfere in the 2020 Presidential election. Some of the evidence before the Committee consists of testimony from officials who properly complied with their Congressional subpoenas, notwithstanding the President's contrary direction. In response to such testimony, President Trump used the world's most powerful bully pulpit to attack, threaten, and intimidate numerous witnesses and potential witnesses.

Ultimately, as in President Nixon's case, House Committees have "been able to conduct an investigation and determine that grounds for impeachment exist—even in the face of the President's refusal to comply." But here, as there, the President's obstruction of the House impeachment inquiry was not "without practical import." It may have prevented the House from learning the full extent of the President's misdeeds.

The President thus inflicted concrete harm on the House, which is duty-bound to inquire when it has cause to believe the President may have committed "high Crimes and Misdemeanors." The House made that judgment here when evidence emerged that President Trump had solicited and pressured a foreign power to interfere in our elections for his own personal political benefit. To discharge its constitutional obligations, the House—acting through its Committees—pursued an impeachment inquiry and subpoenaed relevant Executive Branch agencies, offices, and officials. In seeking to thwart the House in the faithful performance of that constitutional function, President Trump committed a