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Contrary to the complicated and confusing picture of bad relations with the Russians and the potential obstruction drawn up by the special advocate Robert Mueller, the outstanding issues in the new confrontation are clear, a factor that adds to the political vulnerability Of the president.
Has Trump abused its power by mobilizing hundreds of millions of dollars of military aid to taxpayers to pressure a foreign country to harm a political opponent? And then did the White House try to hide it?
"The president of the United States has betrayed his oath of office, his oath of defense of national security and his oath of defense of our constitution," said Thursday the President of the House, Adam Schiff.
The character of the president's Republican defense is also clear. Legislators and GOP supporters are already seeking to discredit what appears to be solid documentary evidence of Trump's pressure on Zelensky. And the White House describes the indictment as another flagrant attack by the Democrats against Trump, a president considered illegitimate since his victory in 2016.
"What the Democrats do to this country is a shame and it should not be allowed, there should be a way to stop it," said Trump, of the constitutional process of brakes and counterweight, statement on the tarmac at the airport on his return from New York on Thursday.
Washington turned into a few days
On Monday, Washington came to work hoping that most of the drama of the week would unfold around Trump at the UN General Assembly in New York. Yet, apparently in the blink of an eye, life has changed profoundly for the president, a Democratic majority in the House and Senate Republicans capable of saving the Commander-in-Chief.
In the coming weeks, Trump's story in conversations with his Ukrainian counterpart and to know if he broke the law and flouted the most basic constitutional principles will be distorted into a political whirlwind.
But after a week of leaks, clashes between Trump and House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, revelations of great success and bets on the part of large energy brokers, the facts begin to emerge.
Trump is accused of illegally using $ 400 million military aid to coerce vulnerable Ukraine, who is fighting for his life against Vladimir Putin's Russia, to investigate his potential enemy of 2020, Joe Biden .
In 2016, Trump was accused of having knowingly benefited from a ploy of electoral interference in Russia. If the latest accusations are confirmed, he took himself the interference of the elections of 2020.
The still unknown person who drafted the report accused the president of having "used the power of his office to seek the interference of a foreign country in the US elections of 2020".
If such activity had actually taken place, it would be about as much a charge of abuse of presidential power – a potentially impenetrable offense – that it is possible to obtain.
In another detail that will have far-reaching implications, the whistleblower claimed that the White House had tried to conceal evidence of Trump's behavior.
The report states that officials were instructed to transfer the transcript of Trump's conversation with Zelensky from the computer system in which it was stored in another classified system used for the most sensitive national security information.
This decision potentially corrupted a repository meant to be used only for the country's most sensitive secrets, with the material being protected for purely political purposes.
"It's a hiding," said Pelosi, a California Democrat.
A road map
Democrats believe that they now have a "road map" for the impeachment process announced by Pelosi on Wednesday after months of attempts to contain the liberal wave.
His long reluctance to go that far could strengthen the Democratic hand, since they can now argue that new evidence of anarchy, not the disputed account of events provided by Mueller, has forced their hand.
Schiff's first step was to release the whistleblower's complaint just before a hearing with Acting National Intelligence Director Joseph Maguire, who Democrats have accused of retaining the Congressional complaint.
The whistle-blower complaint, Schiff said, would provide a "road map" to the committee's efforts to question witnesses and solicit requests for documents on the subject.
During the hearing, Maguire, former Navy SEAL commander, stated that the whistleblower and the inspector general of the intelligence community who had found the complaint "urgent and credible" had always respected the law. .
The White House, initially struck by the turn of events, prepares a defense against scorched earth.
"We see many Democrats who have spent the past two years on baseless accusations and continue to try to overthrow the will of the American people in the last presidential election," Vice President Mike Pence said Thursday.
Later, it appeared that Trump had targeted the whistleblower directly with a hint of concealed violence while he was addressing US diplomats at the United Nations.
Biden intervenes
Biden responded to the president with his most combative comments from a saga that fits into the central theme of his campaign, namely that Trump is unfit to perform his duties.
But Trump's statements that Biden and his son Hunter are guilty of corruption in Ukraine and China – for which there is no evidence – also threaten to become a distraction for the former vice president.
"He would like to get foreign help to win elections," said Biden.
But Texas Republican Representative Mike Conaway argued that the president had every right to ask a foreign counterpart to investigate corruption, borrowing from the White House the explanation of the appeal launched between Zelensky and the American leader.
"Having a president ask another president to help enforce the alleged laws of wrongdoing," Conaway said, "is actually appropriate."
CNN's Manu Raju contributed to this story.
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