U.S. House of Representatives committees pursuing an impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump concluded Tuesday that he abused his power to pressure Ukraine into taking actions that could have boosted his own chances of re-election in 2020.

The release of the report is part of an ongoing process likely to result in Trump's impeachment by the Democrat-controlled House. But the chance of him being ousted from the presidency remains slim, as removal would require conviction in a trial by the Senate, which is controlled by Trump's Republican Party.

(U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media before departing from the White House on Nov. 20, 2019, about the impeachment inquiry hearings on Capitol Hill.)[Getty/Kyodo]

Trump has been under fire for asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to launch potentially damaging investigations into a key political rival -- former Vice President Joe Biden -- after withholding congressionally approved military aid to Kiev that was seen as crucial in the country's fight against Russian aggression.

The report determined that Trump pressured Ukraine into publicly announcing investigations into Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden, who had served as a board member for a Ukrainian energy company suspected of corruption, in exchange for the military aid and a White House meeting sought by the newly elected Zelenskyy.

"The impeachment inquiry...uncovered a months-long effort by President Trump to use the powers of his office to solicit foreign interference on his behalf in the 2020 election," the report said.

"President Trump's scheme subverted U.S. foreign policy toward Ukraine and undermined our national security" in favor of politically motivated investigations that would boost his re-election campaign, it also said.

The report, compiling evidence gathered by the Intelligence Committee and others, will be transmitted to the House Judiciary Committee, which will draft articles of impeachment.

The U.S. Constitution says the president shall be removed from office after impeachment for, and conviction of, "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors."

Trump has denied any wrongdoing, and released a rough transcript of the July 25 phone call with Zelenskyy that prompted a whistleblower complaint, leading to the impeachment probe.

In London, where he is attending a gathering of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the president reiterated his criticism against the impeachment inquiry, calling accusations of wrongdoing on his part a "hoax."

During the public hearings in the House inquiry, Republican lawmakers have sought to undermine the idea that Trump committed impeachable offenses, citing the fact that Ukraine eventually received the nearly $400 million in aid without announcing investigations of the type Trump supposedly requested.

They have also said the security assistance to Ukraine under the Trump administration has been much more robust than it was under his predecessor Barack Obama, such as through the provision of an anti-tank weapon considered to be one of the most important deterrents against further Russian military action.

But the report criticized Trump for compromising U.S. national security by withholding the aid and the "diplomatic support from a strategic foreign partner government engaged in an ongoing military conflict illegally instigated by Russia."

It also warned that Trump has continued to publicly seek foreign interference in a U.S. election, including from China, even after the Ukraine scandal surfaced.

Such behavior "presents a clear and present danger that the president will continue to use the power of his office for his personal political gain," it said.

Impeachment of the president requires the support of a majority of House members. If the House votes to impeach, a trial would be held in the Senate, with a two-thirds vote needed to convict the president and remove him from office.

In U.S. history, only two presidents have been impeached -- Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998 -- but neither was removed from office as the Senate acquitted them. Clinton faced the disgrace in connection with his extramarital affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

Richard Nixon, facing likely impeachment for his role in covering up the Watergate political scandal, resigned in 1974 before the House could vote on the articles of impeachment against him.