Topline: More than 700 historians have published a scathing open letter urging the House to impeach President Donald Trump, as lawmakers gear up for a historic vote to charge him with abuse of power and obstruction of congress on Wednesday.

Invoking the words of Alexander Hamilton, the letter said that Trump fits the description of what the founding father called an unscrupulous demagogue who is “unprincipled in private life, desperate in his fortune, bold in his temper, possessed of considerable talents …despotic in his ordinary demeanour.”

It adds that Trump’s actions “committed both before and during the House investigations ... manifest utter and deliberate scorn for the rule of law and ‘repeated injuries’ to constitutional democracy.”

The signatories warned that Trump’s continuing disregard constitutes a “clear and present danger to the Constitution.”

Historians who signed the letter, published on Medium, include Robert Dallek, a Pulitzer nominee who has chronicled presidents Nixon and Kennedy, and Brenda Wineapple, author of The Impeachers, which recounts the impeachment of Andrew Johnson.
Trump has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and has called the process a “hoax” and a “sham.”