WASHINGTON • House investigators could turn over a report laying out the evidence for impeaching President Trump to the House Judiciary Committee as early as next week, setting the stage for the House to vote on the matter before the end of the year.

In the letter to House Democrats on Monday, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said that the three panels leading the impeachment probe had started compiling the document. He wrote that the report would be “transmitted to the Judiciary Committee soon after Congress returns from the Thanksgiving recess.”

While the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, and Oversight committees have so far led the impeachment inquiry, the Judiciary Committee is tasked with holding its own set of hearings and drafting articles of impeachment for the full House to then consider. House Democratic leadership hasn’t committed to voting on articles of impeachment, though some members and aides expect the House to vote to impeach Trump before Christmas. The House returns Dec. 3 from Thanksgiving recess.

Schiff, in his letter, maintained that House Democrats wouldn’t wait to go to court to compel administration officials to appear before the committees leading the inquiry. Even as they compile their report laying out the case for impeachment, Schiff said the committees could still gather new evidence or hear from additional witnesses in the coming weeks.

“While we will continue with our investigative work and do not foreclose the possibility of further depositions or hearings, we will not allow the President or others to drag this out for months on end in the courts,” Schiff wrote.

The White House has refused to cooperate with the House’s impeachment probe, dismissing it as political theatrics and a waste of time.

When Democrats opened the impeachment probe in September, several members indicated that they wanted to see the investigation completed quickly, before the beginning of an election year. If the House votes to impeach Trump, the GOP-led Senate will then conduct an impeachment trial, which requires a two-thirds majority to vote to remove the president.