A US House of Representatives committee approved two articles of impeachment against Donald Trump yesterday, charging him with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
The vote on the House Judiciary Committee was split along party lines, with 23 Democrats voting in favour and 17 Republicans opposed.
Afterwards, Trump’s press secretary Stephanie Grisham claimed the proceedings were a “desperate charade”.
The abuse of power charge stems from Trump’s July phone call with the Ukrainian president pressuring him to announce an investigation of Democrats as he was withholding US aid. The obstruction charge involves the US president’s blocking of House efforts to investigate his actions. He has denied wrongdoing.
READ MORE: House Judiciary Committee receives Trump impeachment summary
The full, Democratic-majority House is expected to approve the two articles of impeachment next week before legislators depart for the Christmas break. However, the Republican-controlled Senate is likely to acquit Trump after a January trial.
Trump is accused in the first article of abusing his presidential power by asking Ukraine to investigate his 2020 rival Joe Biden while holding military aid as leverage and, in the second, of obstructing Congress by blocking the House’s efforts to probe his actions.
House speaker Nancy Pelosi said as the judiciary panel argued over the charges: “No-one is above the law; the president will be held accountable for his abuse of power and for his obstruction of Congress.”
Grisham said afterwards: “The president looks forward to receiving in the Senate the fair treatment and due process which continues to be disgracefully denied to him by the House.”
Trump took to Twitter to praise the panel’s Republicans, saying they “were fantastic”.
Judiciary Committee chairman Jerrold Nadler said before the vote: “I want the members on both sides of the aisle to think about what has happened over these past two days and to search their consciences before they cast their final votes.”
The Republicans on the panel, blindsided by the move, were livid. When Nadler announced that the committee would not vote until yesterday morning, gasps were heard and Republicans immediately started yelling “unbelievable” and “they just want to be on TV”.
Congress was to be out of session yesterday, and many legislators had other plans, some outside Washington.
“This is a kangaroo court that we’re talking about” said Doug Collins, the top Republican on the panel, who said he had not been consulted on the decision. “They do not care about rules, they have one thing, their hatred of Donald Trump.”
READ MORE: Is impeachment the the start of the endgame for President Trump?
Trump is only the fourth US president to face impeachment proceedings and the first to be running for re-election at the same time. The outcome of the eventual House votes poses potentially serious political consequences for both parties ahead of the 2020 elections.
Americans are deeply divided over whether the president conducted impeachable acts and whether it should be up to Congress, or the voters, to decide whether he should remain in office.
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