President Donald Trump has been impeached, becoming only the third commander-in-chief to face such an undertaking in the 243-year history of the United States.
The announcement came after a debate on Wednesday in the US House of Representatives which discussed two charges – that he abused his power and obstructed the US Congress.
Donald Trump Impeachment
Although all Republicans voted against impeachment, there weren’t enough of them in the House to stop it. The vote on the first of the two articles – abuse of power – came in as 230 in favour and 197 against. The second vote was carried by 229 to 198.
Trump labelled his impeachment “a suicide march” for the Democratic Party during a two-hour rally speech that overlapped the vote.
“Crazy Nancy Pelosi’s House Democrats have branded themselves with an eternal mark of shame,” Trump told the crowd in battleground Michigan, where he took the stage just minutes before becoming only the third president in US history to be impeached. “It’s a disgrace”
It was a dramatic and discordant split-screen moment, with Trump emerging from a mock fireplace like Santa Claus at the Christmas-themed rally as the impeachment debate in Washington played out. It was also Trump’s longest rally ever, according to the tracking site Factbase, clocking in at two hours and one minute.
Earlier on Tuesday night, Trump said he was not worried and accused “crazy” Democrats of “breaking the law in so many ways”.
The president had set out his objections in an extraordinary and rambling six-page letter.
The bizarre document smeared the impeachment process as “unconstitutional”, accusing Democrats of “perversion of justice and abuse of power” in their effort to remove him from office.
He also acknowledged he was powerless to stop the expected outcome.
Expressing concerns about the potential bias of a Senate impeachment trial, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Wednesday that she would not immediately be transmitting the articles of impeachment against Trump to the Senate.
“We’re not sending it tonight,” Pelosi told reporters shortly after the impeachment was announced.
Ahead of House votes, one by one, centrist Democratic members of congress – including many first-term freshmen who built the House majority and could risk their reelection in districts where the president is popular – announced they would vote to impeach.
Republicans disagreed, firmly.
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell set the partisan tone for the next step, as attention will shift to the senate which, under the US constitution, is required to hold a trial on the charges, PA Media reports.
That trial is expected to begin in January.
“I’m not an impartial juror,” McConnell declared.
The Republican-majority upper chamber is practically certain to acquit the president.
