Trump Impeached for Abuse of Power and Obstruction of Congress…… To Face Trial In Senate

Donald Trump has become the third US president in history to be
impeached by the House of Representatives, setting up a trial in
the Senate that will decide whether he remains in office.

The House voted on two charges – that the president abused his
power and that he had obstructed Congress.

Both votes fell along party lines with nearly all Democrats
voting for the charges and all Republicans against.

As voting took place, President Trump was addressing a campaign
rally.

He told a cheering crowd in Battle Creek, Michigan: “While we’re
creating jobs and fighting for Michigan, the radical left in
Congress is consumed with envy and hatred and rage, you see what’s
going on.”

The White House released a statement saying that the president
was “confident that he will be fully exonerated” in a Senate
trial.

The proceedings on Wednesday began with members of Mr Trump’s
Republican Party calling for votes on procedural issues in an
effort to frustrate the process.

That was followed by a vote on the rules to be set out for the
impeachment, which kicked off 10 hours of partisan debate on the
merits of the two impeachment charges against President Trump.

At about 20:30 local time (01:30 GMT), the House called for
votes on the two charges: first, abuse of power, stemming from Mr
Trump’s alleged attempt to pressure Ukraine to announce
investigations into his Democratic political rival, Joe Biden; and
second, obstruction of Congress, because the president allegedly
refused to co-operate with the impeachment inquiry, withholding
documentary evidence and barring his key aides from giving
evidence.

The vote for the first article of impeachment, abuse of power,
was passed 230-197 and the second, for obstruction of Congress,
229-198.

Being impeached places Donald Trump alongside only two other
presidents in the nation’s history – Andrew Johnson and Bill
Clinton – and sets up a trial in the Senate for his presidency.

A day of hyper-partisanship
Analysis box by Jon Sopel, North America editor
And so it is done. Donald Trump now becomes the third member of the
exclusive club that no-one wants to be a member of.

But the framers of the constitution with its impeachment
provision could never have imagined the hyper-partisanship – on
both sides – that has been witnessed during today’s sterile House
proceedings. Each side with its own narrative, neither side
listening to the other. And one can say with some certainty – I
would bet all my yet-to-be-gifted Christmas presents – that it will
be much the same once this becomes a trial in the Senate in the New
Year.

Donald Trump will be acquitted. He won’t be forced from office.
So what changes? Well, Donald Trump will have a place in the
history books – and for a man with such a huge sense of self that
will hurt. Acutely. But 2020? Far from this being a killer blow
against President Trump, it might turbo charge his bid for a second
term. The House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was always wary about going
down the impeachment route. We’ll discover next November whether
that concern was well founded.

During the House debates, Mr Trump tweeted several times,
calling the Democratic arguments “ATROCIOUS LIES BY THE RADICAL
LEFT” and an “ASSAULT ON THE REPUBLICAN PARTY!!!!”.

The Republican Party has a majority in the Senate, making it
highly unlikely the president will be removed from office when
senators cast their votes. Republican Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell last week said that Republican senators would act in
“total co-ordination” with the president’s team during the trial,
outraging Democrats who pointed out that Senators are obliged to
act as impartial jurors.

Mr McConnell will be the one who decides the rules for the trial
and which witnesses will testify. He is due to address the Senate
later on Thursday.

Ms Pelosi has yet to name the case managers who will act as
prosecutors during the trial.

What did House members say?
Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi opened the debate on
Wednesday.

“For centuries Americans have fought and died to defend
democracy for the people, but very sadly now our founder’s vision
of a republic is under threat from actions from the White House,”
she said,

“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. He gave us no choice.”

Democratic representative Joe Kennedy, a grand-nephew of
President John F Kennedy, used his speech to address his children
directly, explaining his decision to vote for impeachment.

“Dear Ellie and James: This is a moment that you’ll read about
in your history books,” the Massachusetts congressman said, going
on to accuse the president of “using his power as a weapon against
his own people”.

Doug Collins, the top Republican on the House Judiciary
Committee, 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,” Mr Collins said.

Republican Barry Loudermilk compared the impeachment process to
the fate of Jesus Christ. “During that sham trial, Pontius Pilate
afforded more rights to Jesus than Democrats have afforded this
president in this process,” Mr Loudermilk said.

Democrats were reportedly instructed by Ms Pelosi to treat the
process solemnly. She told reporters outside the chamber she was
“sad” about the proceedings, and a number of Democrats reflected on
their disappointment at being involved in the impeachment.

Across the country in the 24 hours leading up to the vote,
pro-impeachment protesters took to the streets. Hundreds of people
gathered in Times Square in New York on Tuesday night, chanting:
“Tell me who’s above the law? Nobody is above the law!”

The president had made an extraordinary intervention on the eve
of Wednesday’s vote, penning an irate six-page letter to Ms Pelosi
accusing her of declaring “open war on American democracy”.

In the letter, which was published by the White House, the
president claimed he had been “deprived of basic Constitutional Due
Process from the beginning of this impeachment scam”. He was in
fact publicly invited by the Democratic chair of the House
Judiciary Committee to give evidence, a move that would also have
allowed his legal team to question witnesses, but he declined.

Culled from BBC

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