Donald John Trump has been impeached for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
The House of Representatives voted along party lines on Wednesday on both charges, which arises from Trump’s pressure on Ukraine for investigations to tarnish political rivals and to cover up Russia’s involvement in the 2016 US election.
The vote on the abuse of power charge was 230-197, with two Democrats joining all Repubicans in voting No. The vote on obstruction of Congress was 229-198.
Democrat Tulsi Gabbard, a candidate for the Presidency, voted Present on both articles.
In six hours of debate, Democrats continued to emphasize the evidence, accumulated from documents and testimony of 17 former and current US officials about the 10-month campaign by Trump and his attorney Rudy Giuliani in an “irregular channel” of US foreign policy. They spoke of the necessity to defend the US Constitution and American system.
Republicans avoided the evidence, instead echoing Trump’s Twitter lines about an illegitimate process in which Democrats are trying to reverse the 2016 election and seize power.
The Senate is scheduled to begin Trump’s trial, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested late Wednesday that she might delay sending the articles of impeachment to the upper chamber because of issues over the trial’s conduct.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, abandoning the Constitutional oath of “impartial juror”, is trying to enable the White House’s blocking of any witnesses in the trial. They include officials who have defied Congressional subpoenas on Trump’s orders, including White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney.
“The Right Side of History”
In the House debate, Intelligence Committee chair Rep. Adam Schiff drove home the gravity of the evidence and its significance:
Over the course of the last three months, we have found incontrovertible evidence that President Trump abused his power by pressuring the newly elected president of Ukraine to announce an investigation into President Trump’s political rival.
The president and his men plot on. The danger persists. The risk is real. Our democracy is at peril.
Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights pioneer in the 1960s, told the chamber:
Our nation is founded on the principle that we do not have kings. We have presidents. And the Constitution is our compass.
When you see something that is not right, not just, not fair, you have a moral obligation to say something, to do something. Our children and their children will ask us, ‘What did you do? What did you say?’ For some, this vote may be hard. We have a mission and a mandate to be on the right side of history.
Other legislators spoke of agonizing over their decision before — sometimes guided by their children — concluding that Trump must be held accountable for the sake of the American system and future generations.
In contrast, GOP Rep. Louie Gohmert, sparked a confrontation by repeating Trump’s false conspiracy theory that Ukraine rather than Russia interfered in the 2016 election.
House Judiciary Committee chair Rep. Jerry Nadler replied, “I am deeply concerned that any member of the House would spout Russian propaganda on the floor of the House.”
Gohmert charged back to the podium, shouting loudly, but his microphone had been turned off.
Trump’s All-Caps Complaint
Meanwhile, Trump engaged in all-caps tweets: “SUCH ATROCIOUS LIES BY THE RADICAL LEFT, DO NOTHING DEMOCRATS. THIS IS AN ASSAULT ON AMERICA, AND AN ASSAULT ON THE REPUBLICAN PARTY!!!!”
He took refuge in a rally in Michigan where he rambled for almost two hours.
Bolstered by McConnell’s collaboration with the White House, he assured the crowd that Senators are “going to do the right thing”.
Rep. Mark Meadows, one of Trump’s leading outlets in the House, tried to rewrite history even as it was being made:
When all is said and done…it will be said that my Washington Democrat friends couldn’t bring themselves to work with Donald Trump, so they consoled themselves instead by silencing the will of those who did, the American people.
