The US House intelligence committee voted on Tuesday evening to adopt Democrats’ damning 300-page impeachment report, moving the inquiry into Donald Trump into its next phase.

Trump “abused the power of his office for personal and political gain, at the expense of [US] national security”, congressional Democrats concluded in the report released on Tuesday, which laid out incriminating conclusions after two weeks of public hearings.

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Saying evidence made plain that the president improperly pressured Ukraine to influence the 2020 election, the Trump-Ukraine Impeachment Inquiry Report used language that seemed to lay the groundwork for several potential articles of impeachment.

The US House intelligence committee voted on Tuesday evening 13-9 along party lines to approve the report for referral to the judiciary committee, which would weigh articles of impeachment the full House could vote on by the end of the year. Republicans now have two days to submit “minority views” before the intelligence committee chairman, Adam Schiff, transmits the report and its appendices to the House judiciary committee.

The report also accuses Trump of a cover-up in which he “ordered and implemented a campaign to conceal his conduct from the public and frustrate and obstruct the House of Representatives’ impeachment inquiry”.

In a statement, Schiff and the leaders of two associated committees said: “The president’s actions have damaged our national security, undermined the integrity of the next election and violated his oath of office.

“They have also challenged the very core of our constitutional system of checks and balances, separation of powers, and rule of law.”

Play Video 1:45 Adam Schiff accuses Trump of acting as if he is 'above the law' over Ukraine – video

“The evidence is clear that President Trump used the power of his office to pressure Ukraine into announcing investigations into his political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, and a debunked conspiracy theory that it was Ukraine, not Russia, that interfered in the 2016 election.

“These investigations were designed to benefit his 2020 presidential re-election campaign.”

The White House press secretary, Stephanie Grisham, claimed Democrats had “utterly failed to present evidence of wrongdoing”. She said: “Chairman Schiff’s report reads like the ramblings of a basement blogger.”

Adam Schiff is a deranged human being. I think he grew up with a complex … I think he’s a very sick man. And he lies Donald Trump

That description was difficult to square with the report itself, which over some 300 pages described 100 hours of testimony from 17 witnesses and 30 hours of public hearings. The report is split into two main sections, one on “the president’s misconduct” and the other “the president’s obstruction of the House of Representatives’ impeachment inquiry”.

“The evidence of the president’s misconduct is overwhelming, and so, too, is the evidence of his obstruction of Congress,” it said. “Indeed, it would be hard to imagine a stronger or more complete case of obstruction than that demonstrated by the president since the inquiry began ...

“The broad outlines as well as many of the details of the president’s scheme have been presented by the witnesses with remarkable consistency. There will always be some variation in the testimony of multiple people witnessing the same events, but few of the differences here go to the heart of the matter.”

On Monday, House Republicans issued a 123-page defence of Trump, insisting there was “no quid pro quo, bribery, extortion or abuse of power”, a blueprint for House Republicans to defend Trump at a high-stakes judiciary committee hearing, scheduled for Wednesday, where constitutional law experts will lay out the grounds for impeachment.

In London on Tuesday, Trump told reporters: “The Democrats have gone crazy and you know what? They have to be careful because when the shoe is on the other foot, and some day, hopefully in the very long distant future, you’ll have a Democrat president, you’ll have a Republican House and they’ll do the same thing because somebody picked an orange out of a refrigerator and you don’t like it so let’s go and impeach them. That’s not the way our country is supposed to be run.”

Trump also attacked Schiff in highly personal terms.

“I learn nothing from Adam Schiff,” he said. “I think he’s a maniac. I think Adam Schiff is a deranged human being. I think he grew up with a complex for lots of reasons that are obvious. I think he’s a very sick man. And he lies.”

But back in Washington, Trump’s contention that Ukraine, rather than Russia, may have interfered in the 2016 election suffered another blow. David Hale, the No 3 official at the state department, told the Senate foreign relations committee he had seen no evidence of Ukrainian meddling.

Asked if he agreed that Russian interference was a “hoax”, Hale replied: “No.”

Asked if he was aware of any evidence to support such a theory, he said: “I am not.”

Play Video 0:51 Trump denies interest in NHS even if it was handed to US 'on a silver platter' – video

Trump would be only the fourth president to undergo the impeachment process and could become the first to be removed by the Senate. Such an outcome seems unlikely, however, as the Republican report underlined how the party has rallied to the president’s defence.

Congress heard evidence that Trump attempted to bribe the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, by making a White House meeting and nearly $400m in military aid conditional on an investigation into Biden and the theory Ukraine meddled in 2016.

Monday’s Republican report directly contradicted the testimony of diplomats. It made little attempt to get to grips with the devastating evidence of Gordon Sondland, US ambassador to the European Union, who spoke about the existence of a quid pro quo, or Fiona Hill, former top Russia expert at the White House, who warned against falling for Moscow’s propaganda.

Instead it presented the affair as a Democratic plot.

Republicans also claimed evidence does not prove that Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, and a “shadow” group of US officials conspired to benefit the president politically.

“At the heart of the matter,” it said, “the impeachment inquiry involves the actions of only two people: President Trump and President Zelenskiy. The summary of their 25 July 2019 telephone conversation shows no quid pro quo or indication of conditionality, threats, or pressure – much less evidence of bribery or extortion.”

Trump has persistently told Democrats and other critics to read the transcript of that call. They have pointed to 10 words – “I would like you to do us a favor, though” – as clear proof he expected a quid pro quo. The military aid was later released.