Nadler boils down impeachment case: 'No president should put himself before the country'

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold L. Nadler on Monday put a fine point on Democrats’ impeachment case against President Trump, arguing that the president put himself before the country.

“We surely agree that no public official, including and especially the president of the United States, should use his public office for private gain,” he said at the opening of an evidentiary hearing before his committee.

Based on the evidence presented, the committee will proceed to write articles of impeachment against Mr. Trump.

Mr. Nadler, New York Democrat, called the process a “solemn and serious undertaking” that Congress must engage in to address serious threats to America’s institutions, such as “free and fair elections.”

He said both sides should be able to agree on the fact of the case if Republicans would remove “their blinders.”

“We agree that no president should put himself before the country,” Mr. Nadler said. “The Constitution and his oath of office, his promise to American citizens, require the country’s president to put the country first.”

Mr. Trump has denied wrongdoing and denounced the House impeachment drive as a partisan “sham.”

The articles of impeachment are expected to include charges of abuse of power, bribery and obstructing the congressional probe, all of which stem from Mr. Trump asking Ukraine to investigate political rival Joseph R. Biden and his son Hunter.