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House Democrats announced two articles of impeachment Tuesday against President Donald Trump 鈥� abuse of power and obstruction of Congress 鈥� pushing toward historic votes over charges he corrupted the U.S. election process and endangered national security in his dealings with Ukraine.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, flanked by the chairmen of the impeachment inquiry committees, stood at the Capitol for what she called a 鈥渟olemn act.'' Voting is expected in a matter of days in the Judiciary Committee and by Christmas in the full House. Democrats announced two articles of impeachment against Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump insisted he did nothing wrong and his reelection campaign called it 鈥渞ank partisanship.鈥�

"He endangers our democracy; he endangers our national security," said Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., the Judiciary chairman announcing the charges before a portrait of George Washington. 鈥淥ur next election is at risk. ... That is why we must act now.鈥�

Mr. Trump tweeted ahead of the announcement that impeaching a president with a record like his would be 鈥渟heer Political Madness!鈥�

The outcome, though, appears increasingly set as the House prepares for voting, as it has only three times in history against a U.S. president. Approval of the charges would send them to the Senate in January, where the Republican majority would be unlikely to convict Mr. Trump.

Democratic leaders say Mr.聽Trump put his political interests above those of the nation when he asked Ukraine to investigate his rivals, including Democrat Joe Biden, and then withheld $400 million in military aid as the U.S. ally faced an aggressive Russia. They say he then tried obstructed Congress by stonewalling the House investigation.

In drafting the articles of impeachment, Ms. Pelosi faced a legal and political challenge of balancing the views of her majority while hitting the Constitution's bar of "treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors."

Some liberal lawmakers wanted more expansive charges encompassing the findings from former special counsel Robert Mueller's probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election. Centrist Democrats preferred to keep the impeachment articles more focused on Mr.聽Trump's actions toward Ukraine. House Democrats have announced two articles of impeachment charging President Donald Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

When asked during a Monday evening event if she had enough votes to impeach the Republican president, Ms. Pelosi said she would let House lawmakers vote their conscience.

鈥淥n an issue like this, we don鈥檛 count the votes. People will just make their voices known on it,鈥� Ms. Pelosi said at The Wall Street Journal CEO Council. "I haven鈥檛 counted votes, nor will I.鈥�

Mr.聽Trump, who has declined to mount a defense in the actual House hearings, tweeted Tuesday just as the six Democratic House committee chairmen prepared to make their announcement.

鈥淭o Impeach a President who has proven through results, including producing perhaps the strongest economy in our country's history, to have one of the most successful presidencies ever, and most importantly, who has done NOTHING wrong, is sheer Political Madness! #2020Election,鈥� he wrote on Twitter.

The president also spent part of Monday tweeting against the impeachment proceedings. He and his allies have called the process 鈥渁bsurd.鈥�

The next steps emerged in the swiftly moving proceedings as Ms. Pelosi convened a meeting of the impeachment committee chairmen at her office in the Capitol late Monday following an acrimonious, nearly 10-hour hearing at the Judiciary Committee, which could vote as soon as this week.

鈥淚 think there's a lot of agreement,鈥� Rep. Eliot Engel of New York, the Democratic chairman of the Foreign Affairs committee, told reporters as he exited Ms. Pelosi's office. 鈥淎 lot of us believe that what happened with Ukraine especially is not something we can just close our eyes to.鈥�

At the Judiciary hearing, Democrats said Mr.聽Trump's push to have Ukraine investigate rival Joe Biden while withholding U.S. military aid ran counter to U.S. policy and benefited Russia as well as himself.

鈥淧resident Trump鈥檚 persistent and continuing effort to coerce a foreign country to help him cheat to win an election is a clear and present danger to our free and fair elections and to our national security,鈥� said Dan Goldman, the director of investigations at the House Intelligence Committee, presenting the finding of the panel's 300-page report of the inquiry.

Republicans rejected not just Mr. Goldman's conclusion of the Ukraine matter; they also questioned his very appearance before the Judiciary panel. In a series of heated exchanges, they said Rep. Adam Schiff, the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, should appear rather than sending his lawyer.

From the White House, Mr.聽Trump tweeted repeatedly, assailing the 鈥淲itch Hunt!鈥� and 鈥淒o Nothing Democrats."

Mr. Nadler was blunt as he opened Monday's hearing, saying, 鈥淧resident Trump put himself before country.鈥�

Mr.聽Trump's conduct, Mr.聽Nadler said at the end of the daylong hearing, 鈥渋s clearly impeachable."

Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia, the top Republican on the committee, said Democrats are racing to jam impeachment through on a 鈥渃lock and a calendar鈥� ahead of the 2020 presidential election.

鈥淭hey can't get over the fact that Donald Trump is the president of the United States, and they don鈥檛 have a candidate that can beat him," Mr.聽Collins said.

In one testy exchange, Republican attorney Stephen Castor dismissed the transcript of Mr.聽Trump's crucial call with Ukraine as 鈥渆ight ambiguous lines" that did not amount to the president seeking a personal political favor.

Democrats argued vigorously that Mr.聽Trump's meaning could not have been clearer in seeking political dirt on Mr.聽Biden, his possible opponent in the 2020 election.

The Republicans tried numerous times to halt or slow the proceedings, and the hearing was briefly interrupted early on by a protester shouting, 鈥淲e voted for Donald Trump!鈥� The protester was escorted from the House hearing room by Capitol Police.

The White House is refusing to participate in the impeachment process. Mr.聽Trump and and his allies acknowledge he likely will be impeached in the Democratic-controlled House, but they also expect acquittal next year in the Senate, where Republicans have the majority.

The president focused Monday on the long-awaited release of the Justice Department report into the 2016 Russia investigation. The inspector general found that the FBI was justified in opening its investigation into ties between the Trump presidential campaign and Russia and that the FBI did not act with political bias, despite 鈥渟erious performance failures鈥� up the bureau鈥檚 chain of command.

Democrats say Mr.聽Trump abused his power in a July 25 phone call when he asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for a favor in investigating Democrats. That was bribery, they say, since Mr.聽Trump was withholding nearly $400 million in military aid that Ukraine depended on to counter Russian aggression.

Ms. Pelosi and Democrats point to what they call a pattern of misconduct by Mr.聽Trump in seeking foreign interference in elections, from Mr.聽Mueller's inquiry of the Russia probe to Ukraine.

In his report, Mr.聽Mueller said he could not determine that Mr.聽Trump's campaign conspired or coordinated with Russia in the 2016 election. But Mr.聽Mueller said he could not exonerate Mr.聽Trump of obstructing justice in the probe and left it for Congress to determine.

This story was reported by The Associated Press.聽Associated Press writers Julie Pace, Laurie Kellman, Matthew Daly, and Eric Tucker contributed to this report.