THE presidency of Donald Trump may start to unravel within the next hours when the House Judiciary Committee holds public hearings into the allegations that could see Trump become only the third president in American history to face impeachment.

The Committee, which has the power to recommend articles of impeachment to the House of Representatives, will hear evidence from the House Intelligence Committee which investigated Trump’s dealings with Ukraine.

The chair of the Judiciary Committee, Democrat Jerrold Nadler of New York, has already stated: “We’ll bring articles of impeachment presumably before the committee at some point later in the week.”

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The Judiciary also Committee has the task of examining how to take the process forward, and it is being stated in Washington that two main charges will be laid against Trump – as Nadler said on television yesterday, the impeachment would allege “abuse of power” and “obstruction of Congress”. There is growing speculation in Washington that the Committee may also bring back charges relating to the investigation into Trump’s alleged links with Russia that were covered in the Mueller Report. Robert Mueller said that while it could not be determined whether Trump’s campaign conspired or coordinated with Russia, nevertheless Trump could not be exonerated of obstructing justice in the inquiry, Mueller leaving it for Congress to determine.

Nadler tweeted: “The Framers’ [of the Constitution] worst nightmare is what we are facing in this very moment. President Trump abused his power, betrayed our national security, and corrupted our elections, all for personal gain. The Constitution details only one remedy for this misconduct: impeachment.”

In true Trump fashion, the President responded in attack mode on Twitter: “Less than 48 hours before start of the Impeachment Hearing Hoax, on Monday, the No Due Process, Do Nothing Democrats are, believe it or not, changing the Impeachment Guidelines because the facts are not on their side. When you can’t win the game, change the rules.”

The impeachment process began in September after an anonymous whistleblower complained to Congress members about a phone call by Trump to President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, the President appearing to tie $400 million of US military aid to a demand that Ukraine launch corruption investigations into the family of Joe Biden, his possible opponent in next year’s election.

The military aid was granted by Congress and one of the main inquiry strands of the impeachment process will target why Trump threatened to delay or stop it going to an ally of the US at a time when Ukraine needed all the help it could get in standing up to Russia.

Trump has steadfastly refused to either testify himself, or allow senior White House staff to testify to any of the Congressional investigations into his conduct. Rep Nadler told television reporters that Trump’s activities with Ukraine needed to be examined because foreign interference in elections might happen again.

He said: “We have to make sure the next elections are conducted with integrity and not with foreign assistance. There’s overwhelming evidence, uncontested by the Republicans that the president put himself before the country. He completely defied participation in the congressional investigation in order to hide his role.”

With the Democrats in the majority in the House of Representatives, Trump almost inevitably looks set to be impeached and if the Judiciary Committee approves the articles of impeachment the vote in the House could happen before the Christmas break meaning the subsequent trial by the Senate, which Republicans control, could happen in January.