Evidence shows Trump tried to extort Ukraine: Rep. Swalwell

A Democratic representative, who is spearheading an inquiry into potentially impeachable conduct by Donald Trump, says there is evidence that the US president tried to extort Ukraine into action targeting leading Democratic presidential aspirant Joe Biden.

The inquiry was launched after a whistleblower in the US intelligence community revealed that Trump had asked Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky to help incriminate the former US vice president. Biden is expected to pose a serious challenge to Trump’s 2020 re-election hopes. Trump and allies reportedly made the smear campaign against Biden a pre-condition for military aide to the former Soviet republic and a gift meeting between Trump and Zelensky at the White House.

PressTV-US House to intensify Trump’s impeachment inquiry

The US House of Representatives in Congress plans to intensify this week the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.

On Sunday, Eric Swalwell, the member of the House Intelligence Committee heading the inquiry, told CBS News that politicians had evidence of an “extortion scheme” by Trump to try to pressure a foreign government to investigate his opponents. He was respectively referring to Ukraine and Biden.

He said, “We have enough evidence from the depositions that we’ve done to warrant bringing this forward. Evidence of an extortion scheme, using taxpayer dollars to ask a foreign government to investigate the president’s opponent.”

“But it’s important that these witnesses raise their right hands and take questions from both Republicans and Democrats. The president is going to get that,” Swalwell added.

The most revelatory part of the inquiry so far is to play out this week featuring public impeachment hearings.

On Wednesday, the Intelligence Committee is slated to hear evidence by William Taylor, the most senior US diplomat in Ukraine, and George Kent, the deputy assistant secretary for European and Eurasian affairs. On Friday, Marie Yovanovitch, the former US ambassador to Ukraine, who was abruptly recalled in May after apparently refusing to cooperate with Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, in the mudslinging effort targeting Biden, will give evidence.

Also on Sunday, a lawyer representing an associate of Giuliani told The New York Times that his client had warned Ukrainian officials that the Trump administration would freeze military aid unless Kiev announced an investigation targeting Biden and his son.

According to The Times, Lev Parnas, who has found himself at the center of the impeachment inquiry, is planning to tell House Democrats that he traveled to Ukraine to deliver the warning, and also caution them that Vice President Pence would not attend Zelensky's inauguration if the investigation did not go underway.

Giuliani, however, sharply disputed Parnas's claim in a statement to The Times. "Categorically, I did not tell him to say that," he said.

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