The U.S. House of Representatives impeached U.S. President Donald Trump Wednesday night on accusations he abused the power of the presidency to benefit himself politically and then obstructed congressional efforts to investigate his actions.
Trump is only the third president in US history to be impeached by the full House. Wednesday's vote set up a likely January trial in the Republican-controlled Senate.
"It is tragic that the president's reckless actions make impeachment necessary," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said as she "solemnly and sadly" opened the House debate on impeachment.
"He gave us no choice," Pelosi said.
The House of Representatives voted on Wednesday, December 18, 2019, to impeach Trump for abuse of power, the first of two charges against him: that he abused the power of his office by pressuring Ukraine to interfere in the 2020 election on his behalf.
The House approved the first article by a vote of 230 to 197 at 8:34 p.m. after a daylong debate. Of the 233 Democrats, 228 voted in favour, along with the House’s one Independent. Two Democrats opposed the measure. No Republicans voted in favour.
The two Democrats who were black legs were Reps. Jeff Van Drew, of New Jersey, and Collin Peterson, of Minnesota. They voted along with all of the members of the Republican minority.
The Democratic majority was joined by Rep. Justin Amash, of Michigan, a former Republican who turned independent.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had laid out the Democratic case: “The president violated the Constitution. It is a matter of fact that the president is an ongoing threat to our national security and the integrity of our elections: the basis of our democracy.”
Pelosi said that Trump “used the power of his public office to obtain an improper personal, political benefit at the expense of America’s national security.”
The only other two presidents to be impeached in American history were Andrew Johnson, in 1868, and Bill Clinton, in 1998. Both survived their Senate trials and served out their terms. The House began impeachment proceedings against Richard Nixon in 1973, but Nixon resigned before he was impeached.
Even though Trump appeared unfazed by his impeachment by the House, his White House slammed the action as a shameful historic episode.
In another reaction, Trump said “every single Republican voted for us”.
“So we had 198, 229, 198. We didn’t lose one Republican vote”. “The Republican party has never been so affronted but they have never been so united as they are right now”, Trump said.
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