The gavel came down twice on Wednesday, December 18, 2019. By the end of the evening, the House of Representatives had impeached President Donald Trump, charging him with abuse of power, along with obstruction of Congress, and making him only the third president in American history to face removal by the Senate.
The first article accused Trump of using the levers of government to pressure Ukraine into investigating his political rivals. It passed 230 to 197, with just two Democrats joining Republicans in opposition. The second article, obstruction of Congress, passed 229 to 198 after a third Democrat broke ranks. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii voted “present” on both.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi gaveled the first vote to a close, then left open when she would send the articles across the Capitol. Late Wednesday she suggested she might hold them back while the terms of a Senate trial were negotiated.
Trump was not in Washington for any of it. As members cast their votes, he stood on stage at an arena rally in Battle Creek, Michigan, and brushed the whole proceeding aside as a “hoax” built on unfounded charges. “I’m not worried,” he told the crowd. “You don’t do anything wrong and you get impeached. That may be a record that will last forever.”
From the White House earlier, he had raged on Twitter as the debate ran on. “SUCH ATROCIOUS LIES BY THE RADICAL LEFT, DO NOTHING DEMOCRATS,” he wrote. “THIS IS AN ASSAULT ON AMERICA, AND AN ASSAULT ON THE REPUBLICAN PARTY!!!!”
“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,” said Representative Adam Schiff, the California Democrat who led the impeachment inquiry.
The vote sent the matter to a Senate trial early the next year, where the Republican majority would decide whether to convict the 45th president or acquit him.
Sources
- Trump Impeached for Abuse of Power and Obstruction of Congress – The New York Times
- Donald Trump impeachment: president impeached following vote in House of Representatives – as it happened | Trump impeachment (2019) | The Guardian
