Trump blasts censure idea as House panel readies impeachment report vote

President Donald Trump on Tuesday rejected the possibility of U.S. lawmakers censuring him instead of impeaching him over accusations he improperly pressured Ukraine to probe a political rival, as Democrats prepared to lay out their case for impeachment.

Trump, speaking at a wide-ranging news conference at a NATO summit in London, lashed out at Democrats in the House of Representatives who are leading the impeachment inquiry into the Ukraine matter and denounced the censure idea raised by some members of Congress as “unacceptable.”

The Democratic-controlled House Intelligence Committee, which has spearheaded the impeachment probe, is scheduled to meet at 6 p.m. EST (2300 GMT) to vote on its findings. It is expected to release its report to the public after the vote, a congressional source said.

The matter will then go to the House Judiciary Committee, which will launch its proceedings on Wednesday.

The full House would then vote on the formal impeachment charges. If the House votes to impeach Trump, then a trial would be held in the Republican-led U.S. Senate.

So far, analysts doubt Trump’s fellow Republicans in the Senate would convict and remove him from power, although some lawmakers have raised the idea of a censure in recent days as a way to rebuke the president’s actions without the risk of removal from office.

“I did nothing wrong,” Trump said in London. “You don’t censure somebody when they did nothing wrong.”

Trump has accused Democrats of using the impeachment process to overturn the results of the 2016 presidential election as he seeks re-election next November. Opinion polls show Americans are bitterly divided over whether to impeach Trump.