The United States House of Representatives has impeached President Donald Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of congress.
This followed several hours of fierce debate and vote on two articles of impeachment against the American President on Wednesday after weeks of testimony related to his dealings with Ukraine.
In the early hours of Thursday, the House voted 230-197 to impeach Trump for abusing his power in the dealings.
The representatives voted 229-198 for obstruction of justice. Both articles of impeachment were passed.
Both votes fell along party lines with nearly all Democrats (but two) voting for the charges and all Republicans against.
Kicking off formal impeachment debate on Wednesday, House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, in a lengthy speech called impeachment “one of the most solemn powers this body can take.”
“No member, regardless of political or party, comes to congress to impeach a president,” said Pelosi.
She noted that Trump had pursued an “improper personal benefit” at “the expense of our national security,” which “gave us no choice” but to impeach.
“If we do not act now, we would be derelict in our duties,” Pelosi added.
The top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, Doug Collins, accused Democrats of conducting an unfair and illegitimate inquiry.
“This is an impeachment based on presumption. This is a poll-tested impeachment about what actually sells to the American people,” Collins said.
Trump was alleged to have blocked the payment of a congressionally mandated $400 million military aid package to obtain quid pro quo cooperation from, Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky. He later released the aid package.
U.S. President, Donald Trump
allegedly pressured Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter over Hunter’s involvement with the Ukrainian natural-gas company Burisma Holdings. Trump also allegedly asked Zelensky to look into the conspiracy theory alleging Ukrainian interference in the 2016 U.S. election.
Trump repeatedly denied wrongdoing, noting that his interest in launching the investigations was legitimate because he wanted to eradicate corruption. He described the impeachment inquiry as “sham” and “hoax”.
On Wednesday, he again denied any wrongdoing, tweeting: “I DID NOTHING WRONG”
“Can you believe that I will be impeached today by the Radical left, Do Nothing Democrats, AND I DID NOTHING WRONG! A terrible Thing.
Read the transcripts. This should never happen to another President again. Say a PRAYER!” Trump said via his official Twitter handle.
Before the vote, the President had sent an angry letter to Speaker Pelosi, accusing her of declaring “open war on American democracy.”
Next stop is the U.S. Senate where there would be a trial on whether to remove him from office or not.
Trump will remain in office until he is tried and convicted by the Senate.
Setting the tone for the Senate impeachment trial, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, on Tuesday, bluntly acknowledged that he was “not impartial about this at all.”
“I’m not an impartial juror. This is a political process. There is not anything judicial about it. Impeachment is a political decision,” he said.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, said he was “utterly amazed” McConnell would describe himself as not impartial.
“Mitch McConnell said proudly he is not an impartial juror. The American people want Mitch McConnell to be an impartial juror in this situation,” Schumer said, challenging other Republican senators to pledge to be impartial as well.
During a press conference after Thursday’s votes, Pelosi also demanded for a fair trial at the Senate.
Trump is only the third President to be impeached in the history of the country.
The House of Representatives can only impeach, which is analogous to an indictment.
The Senate’s role is to hold a trial to either convict or acquit. It appears they will acquit him given Republicans have more seats there.
Yet it is a really bad thing for a President to be impeached in the first place. Only 4 out of 44 Presidents have suffered that fate, including Richard Nixon, who did not even wait for his Senate trial but resigned.
An indictment is like an “official accusation” after preliminary investigation. It just says you have a case to answer. It’s bad though because it means the preliminary investigation found some evidence of wrongdoing.
(C) Control TV 2019.
