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Thursday, December 19, 2019, 18:23
US House impeaches Trump for abuse of power, obstruction
By Reuters
Thursday, December 19, 2019, 18:23 By Reuters

House members vote as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California stands on the dais, during a vote on article II of impeachment against US President Donald Trump, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Dec 18, 2019. (PATRICK SEMANSKY / AP)

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump became the third US president to be impeached on Wednesday, as the House of Representatives formally charged him with abuse of power in a historic step that will inflame partisan tensions across a deeply divided America.

The Democratic-led House passed the abuse of power article of impeachment on a 230-197 vote. The obstruction article was passed by 229-198

The Democratic-led House's passage of two articles of impeachment on a mostly party-line vote sets the stage for a trial next month in the Republican-controlled Senate - friendlier terrain for Trump - on whether to convict and remove him from office.

The abuse of power article was passed on a 230-197 vote. The obstruction article was passed by 229-198.

All of the House Republicans opposed the articles, and two Democrats, Collin Peterson and Jeff Van Drew, voted no on both. Democrat Jared Golden voted against the obstruction charge but for abuse of power. US Representative Tulsi Gabbard, a Democratic presidential candidate, voted present on both articles, declaring in a statement: "I could not in good conscience vote either yes or no."

READ MORE: Trump left 'no choice' as House unveils impeachment charges


No president in the 243-year history of the United States has been removed from office by impeachment. That would require a two-thirds majority in the 100-member Senate, meaning at least 20 Republicans would have to join Democrats in voting against Trump - and none have indicated they will.

The Senate's top Republican, Mitch McConnell, has predicted there is "no chance" his chamber will remove Trump when it holds its trial.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said after the vote she would wait to name the House managers, or prosecutors, until she knew more about the procedures for the Senate trial. She did not specify when she would send the articles to the Senate.

"So far, we haven't seen anything that looks fair to us," Pelosi told reporters.

Defiant in the face of a historic rebuke, Trump labeled his impeachment by the House “a suicide march” for the Democratic Party as he delivered a rambling two-hour rally speech for his re-election campaign in Battle Creek, Michigan.

“Crazy Nancy Pelosi's House Democrats have branded themselves with an eternal mark of shame," Trump told the crowd. 

“After three years of sinister witch hunts, hoaxes, scams, tonight the House Democrats are trying to nullify the ballots of tens of millions of patriotic Americans," Trump said, claiming that it was the Democrats who were "interfering in America's elections" and “subverting American democracy."

“I’m not worried. I’m not worried,” Trump said at the rally. He told the crowd the Republican Party has "never been so united".

US President Donald Trump leaves the White House for a campaign trip to Battle Creek, Michigan, on Dec 18, 2019. (STEVE HELBER / AP)

Trump, who is seeking another four-year term in the November 2020 presidential election, has denied wrongdoing and called the impeachment inquiry, launched by Pelosi in September, a "witch hunt." 

The first of the articles accused Trump, 73, of abusing his power by pressuring Ukraine to investigate political rival Joe Biden, a leading contender for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, as well as a discredited theory promoted by the president and beneficial to Russia that Democrats conspired with Ukraine to meddle in the 2016 election. 

Democrats said Trump held back US$391 million in security aid intended to combat Russia-backed separatists and a coveted White House meeting for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as leverage to coerce Kiev into interfering in the 2020 election by smearing Biden.

The second article accuses Trump of obstruction of Congress by directing administration officials and agencies not to comply with lawful House subpoenas for testimony and documents related to impeachment.

'HERE TO DEFEND DEMOCRACY'

During a daylong debate before the vote, Pelosi read the US Pledge of Allegiance and said: "We are here to defend democracy for the people."

"If we do not act now, we would be derelict in our duty. It is tragic that the president's reckless actions make impeachment necessary," Pelosi said.

As the debate unfolded, Trump on Twitter called the proceedings "AN ASSAULT ON AMERICA" and on his party. On the House floor, Republicans accused Democrats of seeking to use an unfair, rigged process to nullify the 2016 election.

ALSO READ: Trump impeachment looms as House committee passes charges

"The matter before the House today is based solely on a fundamental hatred of our president. It's a sham, a witch hunt - and it's tantamount to a coup against the duly elected president of the United States," Republican Representative Mike Rogers said.

No president in the 243-year history of the US has been removed from office by impeachment. That would require a two-thirds majority in the 100-member Senate, meaning at least 20 Republicans would have to join Democrats in voting against Trump

"The only part of the vote that was bipartisan was in opposition. The President is just getting stronger while support for the Democrats’ political theater has faded," Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale said in a statement.

Republican Representative Mike Kelly compared the impeachment to the Japanese attack on Hawaii's Pearl Harbor in 1941, calling the House proceedings another "date that will live in infamy" - similar to the words Democratic President Franklin Roosevelt used to describe the raid that killed about 2,400 people and led to America's entry into World War II.

POLARIZED COUNTRY

Trump's election has polarized the United States, dividing families and friends and making it more difficult for politicians in Washington to find middle ground as they try to confront pressing challenges like the rise of China and climate change.

The impeachment vote comes ahead of Trump's 2020 re-election campaign, which will pit him against the winner among a field of Democratic contenders, including Biden, who have repeatedly criticized Trump's conduct in office and promised to make it a key issue.

Reuters/Ipsos polls show that while most Democrats want to see him impeached, most Republicans do not. Televised hearings last month that were meant to build public support for impeachment appear to have pushed the two sides further apart.

The House vote on Wednesday was just the latest, but also unquestionably the biggest, in a string of controversies that have buffeted the turbulent presidency of the New York real estate mogul and former reality TV personality.

Central to the impeachment inquiry was a July 25 telephone call in which Trump asked Zelenskiy to investigate Biden and his son Hunter Biden, who had joined the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma while his father was US vice-president.

ALSO READ: Mountain of impeachment evidence beyond dispute

Trump has accused the Bidens of corruption without offering evidence. They have denied wrongdoing.

The articles of impeachment against US President Donald Trump photographed on Dec 10, 2019 in Washington. (PABLO MARTINEZ MONSIVAIS / AP)

A rough transcript of the call released by the White House showed Trump asking Zelenskiy, elected only three months earlier and eager for American support, to "do us a favor" and conduct the investigations in coordination with his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani.

Giuliani in the prior months had engaged in a concerted effort to persuade Ukraine to carry out the investigations.

Testimony before House committees showed that Giuliani helped engineer Trump's removal last May of the US ambassador to Ukraine, who was perceived as a roadblock to those investigations.

Impeachment is a remedy devised by the United States' founders, wary of a monarch on American soil after breaking away from Britain and King George III in the 18th century, to enable Congress to remove a president who has committed "high crimes and misdemeanors."

Only two previous presidents have been impeached. The House in 1998 impeached President Bill Clinton on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice arising from a sexual relationship he had with a White House intern, but the Senate acquitted him. The House impeached President Andrew Johnson in 1868, focused on his removal of the secretary of war, but he was acquitted by one vote in the Senate.

In 1974, President Richard Nixon resigned after the House Judiciary Committee approved articles of impeachment in the Watergate corruption scandal but before the full House could pass them.

With AP inputs

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