Trump abused presidency

• White House dismissed the report and slammed the House Democrats

• In the report, Democrats detail accusations that Trump obstructed probe

US President Donald Trump solicited foreign interference to boost his re-election chances, undermined national security and ordered an "unprecedented" campaign to obstruct Congress, Democrats said on Tuesday in a report that lawmakers will use as the basis of any formal impeachment charges. 

In the 300-page report, Democrats leading the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee levelled allegations of sweeping abuse of power by Trump, saying he used US military aid and the prospect of a White House visit to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to undertake investigations that would benefit Trump politically. 

Trump's spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham dismissed both the report and Schiff's investigation.  "At the end of a one-sided sham process, Chairman Schiff and the Democrats utterly failed to produce any evidence of wrongdoing by President Trump," she said in a statement. 

Behind closed doors, the Democratic-led panel voted 13 to 9 on Tuesday, along strict party lines as expected, to officially adopt and issue the report to the committee, reported AFP. 

The heart of the impeachment probe is whether Trump misused the power of his office to pressure Ukraine to investigate the son of former Vice President Joe Biden, a leading contender for the Democratic nomination to face Trump in the 2020 election. 

The public release of the report is a milestone in a weeks-long investigation into whether Trump should be removed from office over his dealings on Ukraine, reported Reuters.

It summarizes hours of private testimony and televised hearings in which former government officials described a months-long effort to pressure Ukraine to carry out the investigations sought by Trump in July. 

The report's completions hands the process over to the House Judiciary Committee, which will now be responsible for drafting actual articles of impeachment should lawmakers decide to move forward. Lawmakers were set to start debating whether to draw up articles of impeachment against Trump yesterday.