House Democrats present impeachment case

WASHINGTON—House Democrats began making their case for impeachment on Wednesday before the 100 U.S. senators-turned-jurors. House impeachment managers have two more days to make opening arguments before White House lawyers get their turn.

What did the impeachment managers focus on? Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., took the lead and lectured longer than all the others, laying out the timeline of President Donald Trump’s interactions with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Schiff accused the president of a self-serving pressure campaign and argued he is the kind of dangerous executive the Founding Fathers believed should be removed from office. Schiff also pushed back against those who argue voters should decide Trump’s fate in November: “The president’s misconduct cannot be decided at the ballot box, for we cannot be assured that the vote will be fairly won.”

Dig deeper: Read the full text of Schiff’s opening arguments and read my report in The Stew about the important question eclipsed by the impeachment proceedings: Did the Bidens do something in Ukraine that merits investigating?