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U.S. NEWS Monday 10 deceMber 2018

Impeachment this as a part of a broader
pattern of potential mis-
conduct by the president,
Continued from Front the extent of Trump’s mis- and it’s that broad pattern,
conduct.
Rep. Jerry Nadler, the in- Regarding the illegal pay- I think, that will lead us to a
conclusion about whether
coming chairman of the ments, “whether they are
House Judiciary Commit- important enough to justify it rises to the level to war-
rant removal from office,”
tee, described the details an impeachment is a differ-
in prosecutors’ filings Friday ent question, but certainly Schiff said.
In the legal filings, the Jus-
in the case of Trump’s for- they’d be impeachable
mer personal lawyer, Mi- offenses because even tice Department stopped
short of accusing Trump
chael Cohen, as evidence though they were commit-
that Trump was “at the ted before the president of directly committing a
crime. But it said Trump
center of a massive fraud.” became president, they
“They would be impeach- were committed in the ser- told Cohen to make illegal
payments to porn actress
able offenses,” Nadler said. vice of fraudulently obtain-
In the filings, prosecutors ing the office,” Nadler said. President Donald Trump waves as he walks from Marine One to Stormy Daniels and for-
mer Playboy model Karen
in New York for the first Mueller has not said when Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base in Md., Saturday, Dec.
time link Trump to a fed- he will complete a report 8, 2018. Associated Press McDougal, both of whom
claimed to have had af-
eral crime of illegal pay- of any findings, and it isn’t panel would seek to look ness ties with Russia.
ments to buy the silence clear that any such report into the Trump family’s busi- fairs with Trump more than
of two women during the would be made available “I think we also need to see a decade ago.q
2016 campaign. Special to Congress. That would be
counsel Robert Mueller’s up to the attorney general.
office also laid out previ- Trump on Friday said he
ously undisclosed contacts would nominate former At-
between Trump associates torney General William Barr
and Russian intermediaries to the post to succeed Jeff
and suggested the Kremlin Sessions.
aimed early on to influence Nadler indicated that Dem-
Trump and his Republican ocrats, who will control the
campaign by playing to House in January, will step
both his political and per- up their own investigations.
sonal business interests. He said Congress, the Jus-
Trump has denied wrong- tice Department and the
doing and has compared special counsel need to
the investigations to a dig deeper into the allega-
“witch hunt.” tions, which include ques-
Nadler, D-N.Y., said it was tions about whether Trump
too early to say whether lied about his business ar-
Congress would pursue rangements with Russians
impeachment proceed- and about possible ob-
ings based on the illegal struction of justice.
payments alone because “The new Congress will not
lawmakers would need to try to shield the president,”
weigh the gravity of the he said. “We will try to get
offense to justify “over- to the bottom of this, in or-
turning” the 2016 election. der to serve the American
Nadler and other lawmak- people and to stop this
ers said Sunday they would massive conspiracy — this
await additional details massive fraud on the Amer-
from Mueller’s investigation ican people.”
into Russian election inter- Schiff, D-Calif., also stressed
ference and possible co- a need to wait “until we
ordination with the Trump see the full picture.” He
campaign to determine has previously indicated his