Impeachment Live Updates: Democrats Defeat Republican Bid to Kill the Abuse of Power Charge vs. Trump

Democrats handily defeated an amendment by Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee to kill one of the articles of impeachment against President Trump after a two-hour debate in which lawmakers fiercely debated the accusation that the president abused his power by inviting foreign interference in the 2020 election.

The committee voted, 23-17 along party lines, to reject the amendment after lawmakers engaged in heated back-and-forth, which Republicans used as a chance to denounce the impeachment process and to try to undermine the Democratic case against the president.

Representative Jim Jordan, Republican of Ohio, who offered the amendment, said his proposal “strikes Article I, because Article I ignores the truth.”

“It’s obvious to all of the American public that this is a railroad job,” said Representative Jim Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin, one of the most senior Republicans on the panel, as he argued on behalf of Mr. Jordan’s amendment. “The facts speak for themselves. There was no impeachable offense here.”

Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, Democrat of Texas, urged her colleagues to turn back the Republican effort, insisting that “the president abused his power and is a continuing threat, not only to democracy but also to our security.”

Other amendments that Republicans plan to offer are all but certain to be rejected on party-line votes by the committee. But the efforts to make changes are intended to show Mr. Trump — who has watched hours of the impeachment hearings — and voters that Republicans are fighting back against attempts to impeach the president next week.

Representative Doug Collins of Georgia, the top Republican on the panel, objected to consideration of the articles, arguing that Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York, the chairman of the committee, and other Democrats had violated the committee’s rules by refusing to allow a public hearing for witnesses requested by the minority.

But the chairman ruled against his motion, quickly gaveling it down, and the panel voted along party lines to put it aside.

Trump blasted Democrats as liars as he watched the debate.

The president took to Twitter to accuse two Democratic lawmakers of lying during Thursday’s debate, making it clear that he is watching closely as the Judiciary Committee considers whether to approve articles of impeachment against him.

In a tweet, he lashed out at Representatives Veronica Escobar and Sheila Jackson Lee, both of Texas, claiming they had misquoted his July 25 call with the president of Ukraine. A rough transcript of the call showed Mr. Trump told President Volodymyr Zelensky, “I want you to do us a favor, though” after the Ukrainian leader asked about purchasing military equipment.

In her comments, Ms. Jackson Lee quoted Mr. Trump almost verbatim, saying “I would like you to do a favor, though.” Ms. Escobar compared the president’s actions to those of a hypothetical governor who has held up aid for a community hit by a natural disaster and then told the mayor in need of the funding, “I want you to do me a favor, though.”

Mr. Trump spent several hours Thursday morning retweeting Republican allies defending him against the impeachment charges. He retweeted Rudolph W. Giuliani, his personal lawyer, who wrote that “despite the swamp media lying constantly, 51% of Americans reject this attempted coup.”

He also recirculated an attack he made Tuesday on Representative Adam B. Schiff, Democrat of California, appending the comment “very dishonest pols!” to his tweet.

Democrats made a small change to the impeachment articles, allowing them to control the meeting.

Mr. Nadler officially began consideration of the articles of impeachment against Mr. Trump by having the panel’s clerk read them into the record. He then offered up a new and slightly different draft, a parliamentary tactic that will allow him to control today’s meeting, known as a markup.

Committees usually skip the reading of legislative text, and one Republican on the panel asked to dispense with the step. But Mr. Nadler dismissed the request, saying that the importance of the historic moment at hand called for the nine-page resolution to be read out loud.

“In his conduct of the office of president of the United States — and in violation of his constitutional oath faithfully to execute the office of president of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed — Donald J. Trump has abused the powers of the presidency,” the clerk read.

By offering up a new draft of the article with a minor change — instead of referring to the president as “Donald J. Trump,” as the original articles of impeachment did, it uses his full middle name, John — Mr. Nadler ensured that he will have maximum control over any further changes that may be proposed.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she is not asking Democrats to vote to impeach Mr. Trump, and will allow them to follow their conscience when articles of impeachment come to the House floor.

“I have no message to them,” Ms. Pelosi told reporters, when asked about what she is telling moderate Democrats who might be wavering.

Using congressional slang for vote-counting, she added, “We are not whipping this legislation, nor would we ever whip something like this. People have to come to their own conclusions.”

A small number of moderate Democrats from conservative-leaning districts are still on the fence about impeaching Mr. Trump. Only two Democrats — Representatives Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey and Collin Peterson, both representing Trump-friendly districts — voted against moving forward with the impeachment inquiry.

But a small number of other Democrats, including some of the so-called “frontliners” who flipped Republican districts last year, briefly explored the idea of avoiding an impeachment vote by censuring Mr. Trump instead. The idea was quickly dropped earlier this week when it became apparent it would not gain traction in the House.

Trump lawyers consider adding Alan Dershowitz, the high-profile lawyer, to the president’s legal team.

As impeachment marches forward, Mr. Trump’s lawyers are discussing hiring Alan Dershowitz, a professor emeritus at Harvard Law School and high-profile lawyer who has frequently defended the president on television, to help with his defense during a trial in the Senate, according to people familiar with the discussions.

Several advisers to the president support making Mr. Dershowitz part of the team of outside lawyers to advise the White House on constitutional issues, they said. But no formal offer has been made to Mr. Dershowitz. Mr. Dershowitz declined to comment.

Catch up on some important background on the impeachment inquiry.

• Mr. Trump and his advisers repeatedly pressured President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine to investigate people and issues of political concern to Mr. Trump, including former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. Here’s a timeline of events since January.

• A C.I.A. officer who was once detailed to the White House filed a whistle-blower complaint on Mr. Trump’s interactions with Mr. Zelensky. Read the complaint.