The Judicial Committee of the House of Representatives begins its sessions and constitutional experts confirm that Trump has committed the impeachment

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The first hearings of the House Judiciary Committee in Democrat investigations that could lead to the trial of President Donald Trump have begun in Washington, while constitutional experts say Trump has committed irregularities.

The hearings come after the Intelligence Committee delivered a report that confirmed US President Donald Trump's abuse of presidential powers by putting pressure on Ukraine.

The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Jerry Nadler, said President Trump's behavior requires accountability, warning that the next presidential election is at stake, he said.

He stressed that it is not important that President Trump feels that these investigations are unfair, but that he used the presidency to impede the work of investigators at all stages of the investigation.

"Elections are imminent, and we cannot wait until the disaster is resolved. The integrity of the elections is at stake, and the president has shown a pattern of behavior. If we do not hold him accountable, he will repeat his attempts again and ask for external interference in our elections for personal and political gains."

Irregularities requiring removal
Three constitutional experts on Wednesday backed Democrats' efforts to isolate US President Donald Trump, arguing that the White House's push to push a third party to intervene in the US election is a viable basis for his removal as the second phase of the House investigation begins.

However, a fourth expert strongly opposed this position, saying the evidence was "absolutely insufficient" to accuse Trump of major crimes or misdemeanors requiring isolation.

The Democrats said Tuesday that the final report of the Intelligence Committee, which investigated the removal of Trump confirms the need to remove him from office, to use his powers to pressure Ukraine to discredit his Democratic rival.

"The founding fathers have found a cure for the president, who puts his personal interests above the country's interests - isolation."

In a noisy hearing of the House Judiciary Committee charged with preparing the indictment against the president, the deputies heard testimony from four constitutional experts, three of whom considered that Trump committed irregularities.

"All three of us have identical views," said Michael Gerhart, a professor of jurisprudence at the University of North Carolina, referring to Pamela Karlan, a professor of law at Stanford University and Noa Feldman, a Harvard law school professor.

The Americans on television, which covered the session directly, followed a heated debate between Democratic committee members opposed to Trump and Republicans in support of him.

Gerhart said Trump committed one of the most serious political abuses in US history.

"Serious misconduct by the president, which includes bribery and personal service from a foreign president in exchange for using his influence, obstructing the course of justice and obstructing the work of Congress, goes beyond the misconduct of any former president."

"If Congress fails to isolate the current president, the process of isolation will be meaningless, as will our carefully designed constitution to prevent the inauguration of a king on American soil," Gerhart said.

White House spokeswoman Stephanie Gresham responded on Twitter, saying that "three out of four experts in this mock hearing are biased" against Trump.

The fourth expert, Jonathan Tarley, a professor at the George Washington University School of Law, the only Republican chosen by the Republicans, was completely at odds.

Tarley, who testified in the 1998 launch of US President Bill Clinton's impeachment proceedings, said there was "no evidence" that Trump had "acted with a corrupt structure that requires obstruction of justice."

Tarley revealed that he did not elect Trump in 2016, but considered that the president's opposition "has nothing to do" with the constitutional issues before Congress.

farce
From London, where he attended a NATO summit, Trump denounced the report as a "farce", attacking his opponents to press ahead with the hearings despite being abroad.

"What they are doing is very bad for our country," Trump said when asked about the report.

"What is happening today is just a waste of time," said Dag Collins, the top Republican on the committee.

If, as expected, the House of Representatives approves the launch of the impeachment proceedings, the case will be referred to the Republican-majority Senate for a trial in January.