US President Donald Trump was on Wednesday night impeached by the US House of Representatives, becoming only the third US chief executive to be formally charged under the US constitution’s ultimate remedy for high crimes and misdemeanors.
The historic vote split along party lines, much the way it has divided the nation, over a charge that the 45th US president abused the power of his office by enlisting a foreign government to investigate a political rival ahead of next year’s presidential election.
The House then approved a second charge, that he obstructed the US Congress in its investigation.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The articles of impeachment, the political equivalent of an indictment, now go to the US Senate for trial. If Trump is acquitted by the Republican-led chamber, as expected, he still would have to run for re-election carrying the enduring stain of impeachment on his purposely disruptive presidency.
“The president is impeached,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared after the vote.
She called it “great day for the constitution of the United States, a sad one for America that the president’s reckless activities necessitated us having to introduce articles of impeachment.”
Trump, who began the day tweeting his anger at the proceedings, pumped his fist before an evening rally in Battle Creek, Michigan, boasting of “tremendous support” in the Republican Party and saying: “By the way, it doesn’t feel like I’m being impeached.”
Democrats led the voting, framed in what many said was their duty to protect the constitution, and uphold the nation’s system of checks and balances. Republicans stood by their party’s leader, who has frequently tested the bounds of civic norms.
Trump has called the whole affair a “witch hunt,” a “hoax” and a “sham,” and sometimes all three.
The trial is expected to begin next month in the Senate, where a vote of two-thirds is necessary for conviction. While Democrats had the majority in the House to impeach Trump, Republicans control the Senate and few if any are expected to diverge from plans to acquit the president ahead of early state election-year primary voting.
Pelosi, once reluctant to lead Democrats into a partisan impeachment, gaveled both votes closed, risking her majority and speakership to follow the effort to its House conclusion.
However, she then threw uncertainty into the process by refusing to say, repeatedly, when or whether she would send the two articles to the Senate for a trial.
Her comments came as a surprise in a news conference that was intended to express Democrats’ somber closing message after voting to impeach Trump.
Until the articles are submitted, the Senate cannot hold the trial that is nearly certain to acquit the president.
House Democrats could not name impeachment managers — House prosecutors who make the case for Trump’s conviction and removal from office — until they know more about how the Senate would conduct a trial, Pelosi said.
No Republicans voted for impeachment and Democrats had only slight defections on their side.
Voting was conducted manually with ballots, to mark the moment.
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