Hakeem Jeffries: Trump 'betrayed his oath of office,' but impeachment 'remains to be seen'

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Rep. Hakeem Jeffries on where Democrats stand on impeachment

Democratic Caucus Chair Hakeem Jeffries, member of the House Judiciary Committee, joins Chris Wallace on 'Fox News Sunday.'

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., expressed harsh criticism for President Trump related to his July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, but remained measured in predicting whether or not it will result in Trump's impeachment.

Jeffries, chair of the House Democratic Caucus, blasted the president based on allegations laid out in an anonymous whistleblower complaint that alleged Trump exerted pressure to have Zelensky help investigate Joe Biden.

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"The president has betrayed his oath of office, he's engaged in serious wrongdoing here. He pressured a foreign government to target an American citizen for political gain," Jeffries told "Fox News Sunday." "That is classic abuse of power, which undermines our national security. This is as serious as it gets."

Host Chris Wallace pointed out that Zelensky himself has stated that there was no pressure imposed on him, but Jeffries discounted this, claiming that if Trump asks a favor of the Ukrainian president, it has added weight due to the power of the U.S.

"That is what you call a high-pressure tactic. And of course the Ukranian president got the message."

Jeffries was less emphatic when asked whether it would be an impeachable offense for the Trump administration to refuse to comply with a subpoena issued to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to turn over documents related to Ukraine.

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"We're going to remain focused on the abuse of power that clearly exists," Jeffries said. "There is evidence that is hiding in plain sight of that fact, including the rough transcript of the July 25 phone call between the president of the United States of America and the president of Ukraine."

Jeffries did say, however, that if there is evidence of "continued obstruction, to the extent that there is a continued cover-up, that could provide potential grounds for an obstruction of Congress charge."

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Ultimately, while Jeffries was adamant about Trump committing wrongdoing, he would not jump to conclusions regarding whether the current investigations being conducted by House Democrats would result in impeachment.

"That remains to be seen because we are in the middle of a process," he said.