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The House Judiciary Committee was meeting to consider the two articles, which accuse Trump of abusing his power by trying to force Ukraine to investigate political rival Joe Biden and of obstructing Congress when lawmakers tried to look into the matter.

"If the president can first abuse his power and then stonewall all congressional requests for information, Congress cannot fulfill its duty to act as a check and balance against the executive (branch) — and the president becomes a dictator," Representative Jerrold Nadler, the Democratic chairman of the Judiciary panel, said in opening remarks.

But the committee's top Republican, Doug Collins, accused Democrats of being predisposed toward impeachment and argued that the evidence did not support it.