WASHINGTON _ House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff told colleagues Monday that his committee plans to turn over its findings to the judiciary panel after the holiday weekend, paving way for articles of impeachment against President Trump.
In a letter addressed to the entire House Democratic caucus, Schiff, D-Calif., said his staff will work through Thanksgiving to compile a report summarizing their evidence of Trump's bid to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy into investigating his political opponents while using military aid and a White House meeting as leverage in an apparent quid pro quo.
"(The report) will be transmitted to the Judiciary Committee soon after Congress returns from the Thanksgiving recess," Schiff said.
Once the report is handed over, the Judiciary Committee, which is chaired by New York Rep. Jerry Nadler, will consider and potentially draft articles of impeachment.
The committee would then vote on those articles before sending them over to the full House for a floor vote to impeach the president, sending him on to a trial in the Senate.
Schiff noted that he's leaving the door open for more witnesses or evidence in the interim.
"Even as we draft our report, we are open to the possibility that further evidence will come to light, whether in the form of witnesses who provide testimony or documents that become available," he said. "If other witnesses seek to show the same patriotism and courage of their colleagues and deputies and decide to obey their duty to the country over fealty to the president, we are prepared to hear from them."
Several key witnesses have yet to testify, including John Bolton, Trump's former national security adviser, Rudy Giuliani, Trump's personal lawyer, and Mike Pompeo, Trump's secretary of state.
They have all refused to comply with subpoenas seeking testimony and documents, citing orders from Trump to stonewall the inquiry.
Even if outstanding witnesses don't come forward, Schiff said, the evidence already collected is "overwhelming, unchallenged and damning."
"The evidence of wrongdoing and misconduct by the president that we have gathered to date is clear and hardly in dispute," he said. "What is left to us now is to decide whether this behavior is compatible with the office of the presidency, and whether the Constitutional process of impeachment is warranted."
