Donald Trump could abuse power again if he is not impeached, Democrats claim

The Democrats have claimed that Donald Trump could abuse his presidential powers again if he is not impeached over the "brazen" Ukraine scandal. 

Spelling out their case for removing the US president in detail, a top lawyer for the party argued that what Mr Trump had done was a "big deal" and should not go unpunished. 

Barry Berke, a Democratic counsel for the House Judiciary Committee - which handles impeachment - argued that Mr Trump had "betrayed" the national interest and broken his oath of office. 

He added there was "overwhelming" evidence that the president had attempted to pressure the Ukrainian president to order investigations into a political opponent, the Democrat Joe Biden, for personal political benefit. 

"President Trump's actions are impeachable offences. They threaten our rule of law. They threaten our institutions. And ... they threaten our Republic," Mr Berke said. 

He also warned that if Mr Trump "can get away" with what he did "our imagination is the only limit to what President Trump may do next or what a future president may do next to abuse his powers."

His arguments, presented to the House Judiciary Committee with the cameras rolling on Monday morning, were countered by Steve Castor, a Republican counsel to another congressional committee. 

Sitting alongside Mr Berke, Mr Castor dismissed the Democratic arguments as "baloney" and said Mr Trump neither committed an impeachable offence nor should be removed from office. 

"Democrats are obsessed with impeachment of the president," Mr Castor said, arguing that Mr Trump's political opponents had been "searching" for a reason to remove him from office since he won the 2016 US election. 

Mr Castor noted that the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has repeatedly said he was not pressured into launching investigations, saying that Democrats were ignoring evidence that did not help their narrative. 

"The Democrats do not have the proof", Mr Castor said, claiming "none of this adds up". He accused the Democrats of overseeing a "rushed" impeachment push that has been run in a "manifestly unfair way". 

The competing narratives, while delivered to congressmen, were effectively an attempt to sway an American public that is split down the middle on whether Mr Trump's behaviour warrants impeachment and removal from office. 

It came at the start of a historic week, with the House Judiciary Committee likely to pass articles of impeachment against Mr Trump by the weekend, something that has only happened to three other US presidents - Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton. 

Mr Trump had bombarded Twitter with various rebuttals to the impeachment drive in the preceding 24 hours, sharing a quotation accusing the Democrats of throwing "a wrecking ball at our democracy" and claiming the drive was a "witch hunt". He has always denied wrongdoing.

The first few hours of impeachment hearing was repeatedly disrupted by Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee making points of order which criticised the Democratic handling of the process. 

The Republicans questioned why they had not been allowed to hold their own day of evidence hearing and questioned whether the Democratic lawyer had broken congressional rules by suggesting the president was disloyal to America, among other complaints. 

They were waved away by Mr Nadler. The Democrats have the majority on the committee, and so are able to decide the rules for the hearings and reject proposals from the Republicans.

Polls suggest support for impeachment among US voters is split down party lines, with Republicans overwhelmingly opposing the removal of Mr Trump. 

That means while Mr Trump is likely to be impeached in the Democrat-held House of Representatives before Christmas, he is unlikely to then be removed by the US Senate, which is held by the Republicans.