WASHINGTON (AP) —President Donald Trump is striking a defiant tone in the wake of becoming only the third president in American history to be impeached. Trump was hosting a rally in Michigan on Wednesday night when the House approved two articles of impeachment that accuse him of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
As expected, the House votes were mainly along party lines. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says Trump's actions gave lawmakers no choice. In a record-long two-hour rally speech, Trump told supporters that the effort against him was “illegal" and accused Democrats of demonstrating “deep hatred and disdain” for voters.
-------------
WASHINGTON (AP)—The U.S. House has impeached President Donald Trump on a charge he abused the power of his office to investigate a political rival ahead of the 2020 election. Trump becomes the third president in U.S. history to be impeached.
The House then approved a second charge, obstruction of Congress. Democrats control the House, and the voting was mostly along party lines.
The charges against Trump will next go to the Republican-controlled Senate for a trial in January. Trump, who says he's done nothing wrong, would almost certainly be acquitted there.
------------
---------------
WASHINGTON (AP) — A majority in U.S. House has voted to impeach President Donald Trump on the charge of abuse of power for enlisting a foreign ally to investigate a political rival ahead of the 2020 election.
With voting still underway, Trump is on track to become the third president in U.S. history to be impeached, and the only one in modern times to be running for reelection facing the political equivalent of an indictment, an indelible mark on a purposely disruptive presidency.
Democrats led the voting on the first article of impeachment, abuse of power, and were expected to approve another, obstruction of Congress, in what many framed as their duty to protect the Constitution to uphold the nation’s system of checks and balances. Republicans stood beside the party’s president who tests the bounds of civic norms calling the whole affair a “witch hunt,” a “hoax” and a “sham,” and sometimes all three.
Trump, who began Wednesday tweeting his anger at the proceedings, headed for an evening rally in Battle Creek, Michigan.
As the House debated the articles of impeachment, Trump's tweets switched to all capital letters: “SUCH ATROCIOUS LIES BY THE RADICAL LEFT, DO NOTHING DEMOCRATS. THIS IS AN ASSAULT ON AMERICA, AND AN ASSAULT ON THE REPUBLICAN PARTY!!!!" he wrote.
Impeachment would send the matter to the Senate for a trial, where a two-thirds vote is necessary for conviction. While Democrats have the majority in the House, Republicans control the Senate and expect to acquit the president of the charges in the new year ahead of early state presidential primary voting.
But the focus Wednesday was on the House, which conducted lengthy debate into the evening hours.
"Today we are here to defend democracy for the people,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi said as she opened debate.
What Pelosi calls a sad and solemn moment for the country, coming just 11 months after Democrats swept control of the House, actually unfolded in a caustic day-long session that showcased the nation’s divide. The split not just along party lines, but the cultural, regional and racial differences that underscore the partisanship in Congress. People gathered at the Capitol steps, and in protests across the nation, for impeachment.
“President Trump used the powers of the Presidency in a manner that compromised the national security of the United States and undermined the integrity of the United States democratic process,” according to the impeachment resolution.
The president “betrayed the nation by abusing his high office to enlist a foreign power in corrupting democratic elections,” it said, and then he obstructed Congress’ oversight like “no president”’ in U.S. history.
“President Trump, by such conduct, has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to national security and the Constitution if allowed to remain in office,” it said.
Democrats drew from history, the founders and their own experiences as minorities, women and some immigrants to the U.S., seeking to honor their oath of office to uphold the constitution. Rep. Lou Correa, D-Calif., spoke in Spanish asking God to unite the nation. “In America,” said Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., “no one is above the law.”
Republicans aired Trump-style grievances about what Rep. Debbie Lesko called a “rigged” process and what Alabama Rep. Chris Stewart of Utah said was about Democrats who “hate this president” and want to undo the will of voters to remove him.
“We face this horror because of this map,” said Rep. Clay Higgins, R-Ala., before a poster of red and blue states. “This is what Democrats fear.... They call this Republican map flyover country, they call us deplorables, they fear our faith, they fear our strength, they fear our unity, they fear our vote, and they fear our president.”
The outcome brings the Trump presidency to a milestone moment that has building almost from the time the New York businessman-turned-reality-TV host unexpectedly won the White House in 2016 amid questions about Russian interference in the U.S. election --- and the rise of the “resistance.”
Republicans argued that Democrats are impeaching Trump because they can’t beat him in 2020. But Democrats warned the country cannot wait for the next election to decide whether Trump should remain in office because he has shown a pattern of behavior, particularly toward Russia, and will try to corrupt U.S. elections in 2020.
"This is not about making history, this is about holding a lawless president accountable," said Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I.
“This is not a solemn occasion,” said GOP Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia. "You've been wanting to do this ever since the gentlemen was elected.''
The political fallout from the vote will reverberate across an already polarized country with divergent views of Trump’s July phone call when he asked Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for a “favor” —an investigation of Democrats in the 2016 election and his 2020 rival Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, who worked on the board of a gas company in Ukraine while his father was the vice president.
At the time, Zelenskiy, a young comedian newly elected to politics, was seeking a coveted White House visit to show backing from the U.S. ally as it confronts a hostile Russia at its border. He was also counting on $391 million in military aid already approved by Congress. The White House delayed the funds, but Trump eventually released the money once Congress intervened.
Trump implores Americans read the transcript of the call he said was “perfect.” But the facts it revealed, and those in an anonymous whistleblower’s complaint that sparked the probe, are largely undisputed.
------------
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is on the cusp of being impeached by the House, with a historic debate set Wednesday on charges that he abused his power and obstructed Congress ahead of votes that will leave a defining mark on his tenure at the White House.
Trump, who would be just the third U.S. president to be impeached, on Tuesday fired off a furious letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi denouncing the “vicious crusade” against him, but he also acknowledged he was powerless to stop the expected outcome.
“When people look back at this affair, I want them to understand it, and learn for it, so that it can never happen to another president again,” he wrote.
Pelosi, who warned earlier this year against pursuing a strictly partisan impeachment, nonetheless has the numbers from Democrats to approve it. According to a tally compiled by The Associated Press, Trump is on track to be formally charged by a House majority.
“Very sadly, the facts have made clear that the President abused his power for his own personal, political benefit and that he obstructed Congress,” Pelosi wrote to colleagues, asking them to join in the morning as the House convenes.
“In America, no one is above the law,” she said. “During this very prayerful moment in our nation’s history, we must honor our oath to support and defend our Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic.”
The rare undertaking to impeach a president, set to unfold over more than six hours of debate Wednesday, is splitting the lawmakers in Congress much the way Americans have different views of Trump’s unusual presidency and the articles of impeachment against him.
Trump implores Americans to “read the transcript,” but the facts of his phone call with the Ukraine president are not necessarily in dispute. Trump asked Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate Democrats and his 2020 political rival Joe Biden. At the time, the newly elected Ukraine leader was hoping for a coveted White House visit to showcase his standing with the U.S., his country’s most important ally. He was also counting on nearly $400 million in military aid as his country confronts a hostile neighbor, Russia.
The question for lawmakers, and Americans, is whether those actions, and the White House’s block on officials testifying for the House investigation, are impeachable offenses.
In his letter on Tuesday, Trump defended his “absolutely perfect” phone call that sparked the impeachment inquiry.
On the eve of the House debate, Trump appeared to intend his lengthy, accusatory message less for Pelosi than for the broad audience of citizens — including 2020 voters — watching history unfolding on Capitol Hill.
He accused the Democrats of acting out of “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” still smarting from their 2016 election losses. “You are the ones bringing pain and suffering to our Republic for your own selfish, personal political and partisan gain,” he wrote.
Portraying himself as a blameless victim, as he often does, Trump compared the impeachment inquiry to the “Salem Witch Trials.” Asked later if he bore any responsibility for the proceedings, he said, “No, I don’t think any. Zero, to put it mildly.”
But the House impeachment resolution says that Trump abused the power of his office and then tried to obstruct the investigation in Congress like “no other″ president in history.
Trump “betrayed the Nation by abusing his high office to enlist a foreign power in corrupting democratic elections,” the resolution says. ”President Trump, by such conduct, has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to national security and the Constitution if allowed to remain in office.”
Ahead of House votes, one by one, centrist Democratic lawmakers, 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.
Many drew on the Constitution and the intent of the country’s founders as they considered the role of Congress to conduct oversight in the nation’s system of checks and balances.
Rep. Abby Finkenauer, D-Iowa, referred to the oath she took in January as she was sworn into office as guiding her decision. She announced support for both articles of impeachment to “honor my duty to defend our Constitution and democracy from abuse of power at the highest levels.”
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 Constitution, is required to hold a trial on the charges. That trial is expected to begin in January.
“I’m not an impartial juror,” McConnell declared. The Republican-majority chamber is all but sure to acquit the president.
Lawmakers crossing party lines face consequences. One freshman Democrat, Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, is indicating he will switch parties to become a Republican after opposing impeachment. Earlier this year, Michigan conservative Rep. Justin Amash left the GOP when he favored impeachment.
One new Democrat congressman, Jared Golden of Maine, said he would vote to impeach on abuse of power but not obstruction.
Hoping to dispatch with lengthy Senate proceedings, McConnell rejected Senate Democrats’ push for fresh impeachment testimony and made a last-ditch plea that House Democrats “turn back from the cliff” of Wednesday’s expected vote.
“Impeachment is a political decision,” McConnell said. “The House made a partisan political decision to impeach. I would anticipate we will have a largely partisan outcome in the Senate. I’m not impartial about this at all.″
McConnell’s remarks Tuesday effectively slapped the door shut on negotiations for a deal proposed by the Democratic leader, Sen. Chuck Schumer, who wants to call top White House officials for the Senate trial.
Schumer’s proposal was the first overture in what were expected to be negotiations between the two leaders. Trump wants a relatively broad, perhaps showy, Senate proceeding to not only acquit but also vindicate him of the impeachment charges.
McConnell and most other GOP senators prefer a swift trial to move on from impeachment. Still, Schumer wants to hear from John Bolton, Mick Mulvaney and other current and former Trump officials who were instructed by the president not to appear for House proceedings.
“Why is the leader, why is the president so afraid to have these witnesses come testify?” asked Schumer from the Senate floor. “They certainly ought to be heard.”
Trump has promoted lawyer Rudy Giuliani’s investigation of Biden and a widely debunked theory that it was actually Ukraine, not Russia, that interfered in the 2016 election, a conspiracy-laden idea that most other Republicans have actively avoided.